A Qantas passenger has slammed the airline after her dream holiday to Fiji was ruined when her luggage was returned to her soaking wet.
Shirley Becke, 70, planned the getaway to celebrate her birthday with her husband and booked a flight from Sydney to the island hotspot on April 5.
To her horror, Ms Becke claimed her luggage was returned wet after being left on the tarmac in Sydney for at least 30 minutes in the rain.
The NSW capital had one of its wettest days on record as the region was hit by the heaviest rainfall in four years.
“When we arrived at our hotel and opened our bags, our clothes and toiletries were wet,” Ms Becke said Yahoo.
Shirley Becke (pictured right) had planned a dream holiday with her husband (pictured left) to Fiji to celebrate her birthday, but was shocked to discover her bags were soaking wet
The 70-year-old had to spend the first night of her holiday without clothes, including her underwear.
Ms Becke said she had to dry her wet clothes and belongings, including her suitcase, on the hotel balcony.
“I didn’t have dry clothes available until the next day because I had to drape all the wet clothes on the furniture on the balcony,” she said.
Ms Becke took photos of the damage, which showed wet spots on the suitcase and clothing, as well as soaked medicine containers.
However, her husband’s luggage was not affected.
Ms Becke claimed her luggage was left out in the rain for what she believes was at least half an hour on the day she boarded her flight from Sydney Airport.
She said several suitcases and even pets were left on a trailer that was towed to the tarmac to be loaded onto the plane.
“It is completely unacceptable as Qantas would have been aware of the bad weather and certainly should have prepared for it,” Ms Becke said.
Ms Becke claims her luggage was left on a trailer which was towed to the Sydney Airport tarmac while it rained heavily (pictured)
Sydney was hit with 111mm of rain until 9am on April 5.
After returning to Australia from her week-long holiday, Ms Becke contacted Qantas to raise the issue directly with them.
She claims the airline told her she should have informed airport staff on the day of her departure.
Ms Becke claimed she was only aware of the problem when she arrived at her hotel in Fiji.
Qantas told Ms Becke in an email that staff are ensuring luggage is not left out in the rain for extended periods.
The airline told her it could not account for water damage to her luggage as a result of the incident.
The 70-year-old took photos of several belongings she packed for the trip (pictured), which were left with stains from the water after her belongings were soaked
A Qantas spokeswoman told Daily Mail Australia that staff always puts safety first during periods of heavy rainfall.
“When airports are affected by severe storms, staff may be instructed to leave the airport tarmac for a period of time until it is safe to continue working,” she said.
‘While we do everything we can to ensure bags remain covered in wet weather, safety is always our first priority.’
The spokeswoman explained that most passengers understand that their bags can get wet when items are loaded and unloaded onto planes.