Qantas slammed after Aussie band posts video of baggage handlers roughly throwing their instruments onto a plane

A popular band has slammed Qantas after they posted a video on social media showing baggage handlers roughly throwing their instruments onto a conveyor belt. 

Chimers, a band from Wollongong on the NSW south coast, captured the careless treatment of their luggage before they boarded their flight on Wednesday. 

Travelling down to Melbourne for an upcoming concert, the rock band filmed the dreaded moment their instruments were thoughtlessly handled by the workers. 

Video posted to the group's Instagram page shows one of the baggage handlers throwing several guitar cases onto a trailer parked in front of the conveyor belt. 

A male baggage handler in a hi-vis jacket throws what appears to be a small trolley with a backpack onto the trailer. 

He then dumps several black guitar cases onto the trailer, with the force of one case threatening to knock a smaller case onto the ground. 

Later the same worker is seen lifting up a thin circular case from underneath a larger guitar case, forcing the case on top to topple over onto the trailer. 

The case nearly slides off the trailer before the handler stops it with his hand. 

Meanwhile another man also wearing a hi-vis jacket can be seen roughly loading the guitars onto the conveyor belt. 

The band was left shocked by the way their equipment was handled by the two handlers. 

'Coming in hot Melbourne!' the band captioned the video on their social media post. 

'BTW (by the way) we only started filming after they launched Binx's snare case so hard it bounced off the conveyor belt onto the ground.'

Several users who commented on the band's post urged them to make a complaint to Qantas. 

'I hope you send this Quantas feedback (sic),' one user wrote. 

'Hope you're sending this video with your request for a full refund,' another said. 

'Wow. Just wow. I'm super fired up after seeing that! So f****ed.' 

One user who is a guitarist for another band said he encountered a similar situation when he was travelling with his instruments.  

'I once looked out the plane window. Saw my guitar come flying off the moving trailer and slide across the tarmac,' he said. 

Chimers singer and songwriter Padraic Skehan told Daily Mail Australia that Qantas had not contacted the band about the way their instruments were treated by the handlers. 

Lindsay McDougall, the guitarist for Australian hard rock band Frenzal Rhomb and host of the drive program on ABC Radio Illawarra, took to X to vent his frustration at the lack of care taken when unloading the instruments. 

'Looking forward to reading comments like 'this is your own fault for not having a better case/having a tougher guitar/driving or flying yourself to the gig' and 'it is actually good that the handlers treat instruments like this' etc…' he said.  

A spokesperson from Qantas told Daily Mail Australia that one of baggage handlers has been stood down from their duties while an investigation into the incident is conducted. 

'We are incredibly disappointed with the behaviour of this baggage handler. It's completely unacceptable to handle any bags in this manner, particularly musical instruments,' the spokesperson said. 

'We were made aware of the incident on Wednesday and raised it with our ground handling contractor, Swissport. The baggage handler has been removed from working on Qantas flights while Swissport investigates.

'We are reaching out to the band members to apologise.'

Skehan along with fellow artist Binx will be performing at the Brunswick Ballroom in Melbourne on Friday.

The band formed in 2020 during the COVID lockdown and has released the singles 'Tooth, 'Turn on the lights' and 'Generator' this year.  

Chimers will play as a supporting act to iconic Perth '70s punk band The Victims, who will be playing their final live shows 46 years after they burst onto Australia's live music scene.