New Qantas bag tags alarm airport security
Some airport security staff think the new Qantas bag tag is something altogether different…
By David Flynn, October 16 2024
Take a close look at the luggage tag in the photo above. Does it strike you as anything more than a Qantas-branded accessory for your carry-on bag?
In the eyes of some airport security staff, this is not as much a bag tag as a pizza cutter... and it’s led to Qantas passengers being pulled out of the line at airport checkpoints across Australia.
Since Qantas began issuing these stylish but sizeable tags to its frequent flyers, there have been an increasing number of reports on social media from travellers who’ve had to explain that the large aluminium disc is not in fact a pizza cutter.
The new-look Qantas Luggage Tags.
Gold and Platinum-grade frequent flyers have cited being stopped by security at Sydney, Cairns and Perth airport – although perhaps at the latter, they assumed this was a kitchen implement to be used at the Qantas Business Lounge’s popular pizza bar.
BYO pizza cutter..?
Qantas Luggage Tags are available free of charge to frequent flyers of Silver, Gold, Platinum and Platinum One status, along with members of the invitation-only Qantas Chairman’s Lounge.
Qantas Luggage Tags are colour-coded to reflect your frequent flyer status.
They’re the successor to the original Q Bag Tag which the airline launched in 2010 to streamline the process of checking luggage onto a flight, thanks to an RFID chip embedded within the plastic disc.
Qantas' Q Bag Tag 'coasters' are a familiar sight at airports and in Qantas lounges.
The new Qantas Luggage Tags don’t have any such high-tech smarts. They’re intended to be placed on carry-on cabin bags rather than checked luggage, with the sole mission of reflecting the travellers’ status according to the colour of the metallic disc.
No surprise, then, that some people call them brag tags rather than bag tags.
“The new luggage tags will help our teams to spot our valued members, recognise their continued loyalty and deliver that signature Qantas service,” a Qantas spokesperson has told Executive Traveller.
Maybe being hauled up by airport security isn’t quite the recognition those frequent flyers were after…
Read more: How to get your free Qantas Luggage Tag
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
25 Oct 2019
Total posts 22
This is just another example of the utterly incompetent and rude security personnel at Australian airports.
01 Dec 2012
Total posts 68
I think the incompetence "tag" more appropriately applies to Qantas, which should have done its due diligence about security images.
I find Australian airport security personnel friendly and professional. If you want brusque and sometimes rude, try some European countries or the US!
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
26 Nov 2012
Total posts 127
Ours are fine. Try flying in the US
Jetstar Airways - Qantas Frequent Flyer
24 Aug 2018
Total posts 112
Since attaching mine to a backpack, I have gone through the security in Melbourne, Dubai, Rome, Bari, Trieste, Ljubljana and Venice. The return trip via Dubai had the same result: zero unwanted security concerns. Bit of Hype?
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 775
But did you get the recognition you deserve for continued loyalty and enjoy the signature Qantas service (wholly dependent on your QFF status)?
Etihad - Etihad Guest
19 Jun 2019
Total posts 21
I agree I have been through Bangkok, Hongkong, Auckland and domestic Australia and never had an issue as well.
American Airlines - AAdvantage
13 Jul 2015
Total posts 274
Not quite the brightest bunch are they?
This is like when people started buying those July suitcases with the powerbanks inbuilt and everyone was askign for that to be removed - before security, while in flight, etc
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
14 Jan 2014
Total posts 340
I would hope Qantas team members provide that level of service to ALL Paying Customers 😩
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 775
“The new luggage tags will help our teams to spot our valued members,
I'd have thought that information could have been gleaned (Ok, read) from the boarding pass?
19 Feb 2020
Total posts 7
"The new Qantas Luggage Tags don’t have any such high-tech smarts." Really? Why would you use them then? If it's just to show your "status" that's incredibly cringe-worthy.
Etihad - Etihad Guest
21 Jul 2019
Total posts 189
Security 'theatre' is well and truly alive in Australia. Reminds me of the time at Town Hall Station, Sydney, I witnessed an entire train platform shut down and cleared of waiting commuters by at least 8 security and railway officers. The extremely alarming cause? A (drunk?) quiet and calm man urinated, causing a very small puddle to form at the far end of the platform..
25 Oct 2019
Total posts 6
I've been stopped in Melbourne Internation twice and Denpasar once for my "pizza cutter". Passed through many more airports without being stopped, but depends on the scanning equipment. The older style x-ray machines don't pick it up. The newer computed tomography scanners however automatically flag suspicious objects.
Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards
24 Jan 2018
Total posts 775
Yeah, I've lost count of the number of times my left ankle sets off the scanning machines and security wands, resulting in shoe removal and a pat down (from calf downwards). Never had so much as a stitch/suture below the knee. At least the wife finds it entertaining.
04 Dec 2013
Total posts 156
I was just offered the new tags when I renewed my status again. I said yep, go ahead - always handy to have the Q bag tags on everything. Save swapping them between different suitcases.
Wouldn't have bothered if I'd known they didn't actually work for checked luggage!
22 Aug 2019
Total posts 1
I've travelled through a number of domestic and international terminals with no issues. Then last weekend, at Da Nang (Vietnam) domestic terminal, I was stopped because security believed I had a knife in my luggage, it turned out to be the metal name plate inside the luggage tag.
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