Flew Adelaide to Christchurch, via Brisbane. All book on the Qantas web site, with a preference for Qantas. But they don't have a service into NZ any more, you have to get Jetstar.
The ADL to Brisband part was Qantas with a change to Jetstar in Brisbane.
We were told on the phone to the Qantas call centre, and again in the airport that the luggage would be checked all the way through with no need for collection and re-checking.
On arrival in Christchurch - no luggage. Not just me and my family but also 2 other people travelled the same route and had no luggage turn up either.
Perhaps the warning was when the Qantas staff went through the plan before landing in Brisbane to single out the passengers transferring on to the Jetstar flight. All of us were seat allocated and ticket with boarding passes all the way through, but had to report to a Jetstar service desk to have new boarding passes made with the same seat numbers! That - and the fact that the Qantas online checkin system was borked and could not see our seat allocation at all.
Anyhow after filling out the form for lost luggage in Christchurch the counter staff told us all (thats us and the other passengers from Adelaide also) that the bags were most likely still in Brisbane and should arrive the following day, probably mid afternoon.
Jetstar called the following morning asking for more information about the bags - but they all had the bar code labels on used as part of the tracking systems so that SHOULD be all they need. Heard nothing until an angry phone call to them late in the afternoon - long after the next Brisbane flight should have arrived. After getting very grumpy at having a family in the same clothing for 36 hours, hot tired, dirty and sweaty with no prospect in sight of a change of clothes (and leaving Christchurch the next morning with no place to be contacted - setting out for 2 weeks of driving) they finally agreed to pay $40 each to buy jocks, socks, deodorant, etc.
Still no idea HOW to get that money.
There was a happy ending: The bags arrived later the same evening. From the labels attached it looks like they were sent to one of the other passengers, then returned to the airport before being sent on ti the right place.
You have to wonder why they put the tracking number labels on.
Communication from No-star has been hopeless, and the only way to offer of $40 was made was by getting pretty damn angry on the phone. Screwing the money out of them is a job still to be done.
I'd suggest every person logging story hear also write to Alan Joyce. He's the CEO of Qantas - who own No-Star.