Qantas Freight new rules?

[Allan]

Hi,
Just found out today that from the 19th August last year, you have to go via a "Pet travel specialist" when freighting reptiles.
Has anyone sent reptiles recently (through Qantas or a pet travel specialist)
Which ones have you used? Good/bad experience? charges?

 

[Sdaji]

Many people have abandoned Qantas Freight since then. I've stopped using them after about 20 years, the available 'pet travel specialists' have been an utter nightmare to work with. Most of the breeders who regularly freight have done the same over the last 2-3 months and I'm hoping Qantas Freight will bring in some common sense to bring us back.

I'm using road freight more often than before, and where air freight is the only option, I'm using Virgin. It's nowhere near as good (the animals are still freighted safely etc, but it's more expensive and much more hassle to book than the old Qantas Freight system was).

A lot of breeders have stopped freighting altogether, and if I wasn't committed to the hobby, I'd do the same. I'm putting a lot more time and effort into freighting than it's worth if you look at it in terms of money. I've tried to pass as little of the cost on to the buyers as possible but have still had to increase what I charge for air freight.

 

[JoshsAussieReptiles]

I've used Feathers and Scales and they've been great, from Melb to Syd price wise was much the same as Qantas (roughly $100) they were very easy to work with especially considering the initial date I'd booked in, Melbourne went into lockdown on and we were able to work out another day for it all. I don't have a bad word to say about them to be honest. Additionally, I got quotes from them to freight to a few different places and prices were all much the same (Brisbane, Gold Coast and Mackay I think from memory).

 

[Sdaji]

I've used Feathers and Scales and they've been great, from Melb to Syd price wise was much the same as Qantas (roughly $100) they were very easy to work with especially considering the initial date I'd booked in, Melbourne went into lockdown on and we were able to work out another day for it all. I don't have a bad word to say about them to be honest. Additionally, I got quotes from them to freight to a few different places and prices were all much the same (Brisbane, Gold Coast and Mackay I think from memory).

First positive review I've heard of them after many bad ones, and I have nothing positive to say myself. They've booked the wrong times after I've told them those times were no good (they responded with 'but I booked them for an earlier date, which means they'll be there sooner', and seemed dumbfounded when I said the reason I'd told them not to use earlier dates was that the buyer would be unavailable then!), they've booked reptiles as birds (then told me they just assumed I made a mistake when I said snakes because they had more birds that week, I'm not making this up!), they've made so many errors it's ridiculous, literally most of the time I was using them there were issues, and this is much the same as what I've heard from others who were using them until we all found an alternative recently. They've often been slow to respond with quotes (sometimes days) and sometimes don't answer the phone and you need to keep trying for hours, or try again the following day.

 

[Harpo]

I have used "Shiply" road freight twice with no problem. The cost was around 150 from Sydney to VIC, maybe less. It was easy enough. You deal with a driver one on one the whole time, with the ability to book weeks in advance and communicate what you need even before paying, if I recall right. One driver was a Motorcycle transport specialist, he moved bikes in his awesome rig - not rode them, to be clear. Easy money for him to add my snake, he took awesome care - updates with photos and all, we talked alot before he did the delivery and it was A1 service because of clear and comprehensive communication first.

@Herptology

 

[Sdaji]

I have used "Shiply" road freight twice with no problem. The cost was around 150 from Sydney to VIC, maybe less. It was easy enough. You deal with a driver one on one the whole time, with the ability to book weeks in advance and communicate what you need even before paying, if I recall right. One driver was a Motorcycle transport specialist, he moved bikes in his awesome rig - not rode them, to be clear. Easy money for him to add my snake, he took awesome care - updates with photos and all, we talked alot before he did the delivery and it was A1 service because of clear and comprehensive communication first.

@Herptology

I've had mixed results with road freight, and in more than one case they've left me in the lurch while I've had customers waiting and I've literally opted to just do the road freight run personally (I love a road trip anyway, so it's not so bad!). In some cases I've had good experiences.

 

[Harpo]

Makes sense Sdaji, I really got lucky with my drivers. If I or the other snake owner didn't feel comfortable with the driver we'd have pulled the pin straight away, and either driven ourselves or canned the sale ? Lucky! That particular snake is Fantastic! It's risky for sure,
We were so nervous the courier was ultra careful, but that was just his customer service, the next chap might not be any good at all.

 

[JoshsAussieReptiles]

First positive review I've heard of them after many bad ones, and I have nothing positive to say myself. They've booked the wrong times after I've told them those times were no good (they responded with 'but I booked them for an earlier date, which means they'll be there sooner', and seemed dumbfounded when I said the reason I'd told them not to use earlier dates was that the buyer would be unavailable then!), they've booked reptiles as birds (then told me they just assumed I made a mistake when I said snakes because they had more birds that week, I'm not making this up!), they've made so many errors it's ridiculous, literally most of the time I was using them there were issues, and this is much the same as what I've heard from others who were using them until we all found an alternative recently. They've often been slow to respond with quotes (sometimes days) and sometimes don't answer the phone and you need to keep trying for hours, or try again the following day.

Interesting, I must have got them on a good day. They were more then accommodating and took under 24hrs to get back to me on quotes and such. In saying that I’m overly not surprised the whole freighting situation at the moment is just a mess.

 

[longirostris]

I agree completely with Sdaji. Feathers and Scales are a friggin joke. I had to use Feathers and Scales a couple of months back because Qantas would not accept bookings directly. Feathers and Scales WERE ABSOLUTELY HOPELESS. Worst service ever. In spite of the fact that I have had animals shipped into and out of my local Regional airport at Moruya NSW for the last 17 years, Feathers and Scales could not and would not actually try to get this done. In the end it got so hard and it was becoming increasingly frustrating for the person shipping me the dragons from Cairns, that I got involved in trying to organise the freight with Feathers and Scales myself to try and reduce the hassle for the guy sending me the animals. He was just continually hitting the wall with the can't be done responses and me saying yes it can. The woman the shipper was dealing with was the same one I spoke with at Feathers and Scales. She was without exception the most unhelpful clown I have ever come across and was totally uninterested in anything I tried to explain to her about how many dozens of times I have had animals shipped through Sydney and then put on a REX Airlines flight to Moruya. Her attitude was it cannot be done and just literally told me the best she could do was send them to Canberra and that I would have to pick them up from there. Canberra is a 3 hour drive from Narooma where I live where as Moruya airport is only 35 minutes. I asked her to talk to Qantas and see if she could get them to do a trans shipment and get back to me. She never did, so in the end I had to go back to the guy in Cairns and get him to ship them to Canberra and I would pick them up from there. On top of this the actual cost of the shipment was 100% more than from the same shipper for a different consignment of dragons only 8 months or so earlier that came via the normal booking process through Qantas Freight and actually WAS shipped to Moruya Airport.
How these people at Feathers and Scales have a business is totally beyond me. I will NEVER use them ever. For commonsense sake, QANTAS please bring back your direct booking process for freighting reptiles around Australia, because what you are asking us to do right now using a third party booking agent DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Sdaji]

I agree completely with Sdaji. Feathers and Scales are a friggin joke. I had to use Feathers and Scales a couple of months back because Qantas would not accept bookings directly. Feathers and Scales WERE ABSOLUTELY HOPELESS. Worst service ever. In spite of the fact that I have had animals shipped into and out of my local Regional airport at Moruya NSW for the last 17 years, Feathers and Scales could not and would not actually try to get this done. In the end it got so hard and it was becoming increasingly frustrating for the person shipping me the dragons from Cairns, that I got involved in trying to organise the freight with Feathers and Scales myself to try and reduce the hassle for the guy sending me the animals. He was just continually hitting the wall with the can't be done responses and me saying yes it can. The woman the shipper was dealing with was the same one I spoke with at Feathers and Scales. She was without exception the most unhelpful clown I have ever come across and was totally uninterested in anything I tried to explain to her about how many dozens of times I have had animals shipped through Sydney and then put on a REX Airlines flight to Moruya. Her attitude was it cannot be done and just literally told me the best she could do was send them to Canberra and that I would have to pick them up from there. Canberra is a 3 hour drive from Narooma where I live where as Moruya airport is only 35 minutes. I asked her to talk to Qantas and see if she could get them to do a trans shipment and get back to me. She never did, so in the end I had to go back to the guy in Cairns and get him to ship them to Canberra and I would pick them up from there. On top of this the actual cost of the shipment was 100% more than from the same shipper for a different consignment of dragons only 8 months or so earlier that came via the normal booking process through Qantas Freight and actually WAS shipped to Moruya Airport.
How these people at Feathers and Scales have a business is totally beyond me. I will NEVER use them ever. For commonsense sake, QANTAS please bring back your direct booking process for freighting reptiles around Australia, because what you are asking us to do right now using a third party booking agent DOES NOT WORK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Haha, this is by no means the most pissed off I've seen people after dealing with them, and I've heard of so many reasons for the frustrations (several of which I share ? )

Definitely more of a typical response among those I've heard ?

 

[Allan]

Thanks for the feedback guys.
The somewhat confusing reason on Qantas Freight's website is that there are limited flights available in these virus times, hence the need for these "experts"
I'll be using one of them (experts) in the coming weeks and post my experience(s)
Like Sdaji said, hopefully Qantas will bring us back to their folds, it was so easy (and cheaper)