One piece check-in luggage allowance health hazard and not elderly friendly

I'm so out of touch with domestic sector flights. Flew Qantas EY from MEL to BNE recently and only to find out that I can only check-in 1 piece of luggage weighing up to 23kg. Because I have a bad back and didn't want to handle a single piece of 20kg, I separated it into 2 bags of 14kg and 6kg so that I won't hurt my back, but only to be told that I have to pay $70 excess for the extra piece.

Jetstar allow multiple pieces up to whatever weight you've paid for.

So sad to see the business world is moving towards being more heartless and all about the money and higher share price, but nothing about thinking of the not so rich.

Additional baggage charges are much lower if you pre-purchase online, $35 per piece. Could you have taken your 6kg item as carry-on?

It’s my fault for applying the same “rules” that I usually get for international flight baggage allowance which is by total weight regardless of the number of pieces.

I do sympathise with your situation. Commercial realities aside I’m sure the staff would rather not have to tell you ‘no’ when you get to the check in desk. I disagree with you that the baggage allowance information is hidden, and I think that Qantas and jetstar and virgin (I can’t comment on tiger) have started to make you allowance reasonably clear up front during the booking process. Later in ‘manage my booking’ it’s also normally not to hard to find out what you are entitled to without having to look to deep.

Flights to the U.S. also use a piece system for luggage allowance

I really don't mind being voted down by fellow readers on this matter, however it looks like the one point that I'm pointing out here, doesn't seem to be of concern to the people who voted "dislike". Elderly folks having to handle one piece of 20-23kg bag, and the $35 - $70 cost for the extra piece is a fair bit of money to most.

Don't we care about the aged and less fortunate (but still have to travel from time to time)?

I understand the other aspect of airlines having to "balance" the running cost which trickle down to the airfare, and it's not an easy task for the company, and to be competitive. But have we gone so far with it and got caught up with just making money that we have forgotten the other logical aspect of things? Like a simple compassionate logic?

On the matter of "clearly stating" the rules, a simple word of "only" would have made it really simple and clear. Would have been better with "1 piece only of up to 23kg".

I have drilled down further in search of the baggage allowance rules, and here is one of many of the set of rules for Qantas - Domestic Economy,

Non Frequent Flyer, Bronze - 1 piece up to 23kg (50lb)

Qantas Club, Silver - 1 piece up to 32kg (70lb)

Gold, Platinum/Platinum One - 2 pieces up to 32kg (70lb) each

Very nice generous allowance indeed in terms of weight for passengers in the more elite level. But realistically, is it easy to handle a 32kg bag? Seems like a case of being generous but not entirely so and not a very sincere gesture.
Unless you're a muscled up and very fit person, it's very hard to lift 32kg. I used to be able to handle a 32kg bag without batting an eyelid during my younger days.

And as I remember it there are some airports where they won't accept a single piece of luggage weighing more than 23kg even when the allowance is 30kg, but fortunately they don't restrict the number of pieces.

We all grow old, you know.

Space. It's limited. And they make more money sending freight.

Rather than coming on here and complaining about a 'lack of heart' from the airlines when they actually waived the normal baggage rules for you anyway and charged you nothing extra, have you considered the logical action of packing less stuff? You mentioned you were flying from Melbourne to Brisbane. I regularly take the same route, and even if I'm going for a whole week, I can get by comfortably with only cabin baggage.

Unless you're going for weeks at a time, you really don't need to be carting a 20kg checked bag around (plus whatever you're taking into the cabin as well): you're just choosing to pack lots of stuff and then complaining about the fact that you're travelling with more than you can lift. Whose fault is that?

You could have easily checked in the 14kg bag and took the 6kg bag as carry-on, unless you've already maxed out your carry-on with other things that you probably didn't need to pack, in which case you've created this problem for yourself by bringing everything along bar the kitchen sink.

You also had the option of flying with Jetstar or Tiger where the allowance is already based on weight (across a number of bags) rather than piece (across a set number of bags, in this case, one). You've come on here to complain about wanting something that's already in place with two of Australia's four airlines, which you chose not to fly with on this occasion.

When you've admitted you saw you were allowed one bag but thought you could get away with two, it's hard to find sympathy for people who just want to whinge. If the airline says your allowance is one bag, they don't need to say it's "only" one bag to reinforce that idea for you when you thought you could get away with it, because one bag ain't two bags. If you were allowed two bags, the allowance would say two bags, not one bag.

deanr .... all I can say is read carefully the comments that were posted and their timeline.

Can't say much further if other point of this matter that could be constructive is being put aside and instead another point is brought out as the "sore" point and misunderstood.