British tennis star was fuming after Jetstar airline damaged her racquets

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vokazu

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She should've packed the racquets in a big hard shell suitcase.


British star slams Jetstar after racquets, bags left mangled​

A British tennis star has slammed Jetstar after her racquets were destroyed during her flight to a competition in Hobart - but not everyone agrees.

British tennis star Olivia Nicholls has fired shots at Aussie budget airliner Jetstar for breaking her racquets and destroying her bag.

Ranked 39 in the world, Mrs Nicholls was on her way to Hobart from Sydney when the doubles player says she was charged a $160 check-in fee for her racquet bags.

But when collecting her luggage post-flight, the star says she was shocked to discover her equipment had been totally destroyed.

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Taking to X to share her frustrations, Mrs Nicholls described the situation as “unacceptable” in a Saturday afternoon post.

“160AUD to check in because I’m not allowed to take it as carry on, and you deliver my bag like this?”, the post read.

“How is this possible. My bag and rackets are totally destroyed,” she added.

But users were divided on who was at fault.

“I hate to say it, but the bag sizes are above chin limits. You thought you would try and get around it. It’s a you problem not a Jetstar problem,” one user replied on X.

“Disgraceful but not surprising. Jetstar are a shocking airline.”, another said.

Jumping to her defence on social media was Slovakian player and Ms Nicholls’ doubles partner Tereza Mihalikov.

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British tennis player Olivia Nicholls poses with her broken racquets.

She jokingly posted a photo of her teammate wielding the broken racquet alongside the caption, “Our team is ready to roll 2025 season!!!”

“Just @Jetstaraustralia making it a little bit difficult to start with all rackets broken!”, she added.

The two will play together in the Hobart International.

A Jetstar spokesperson said the airline will aim to work with Ms Nicholls to ensure she’s ready to play.

“We’re really sorry for the damage to Olivia Nicholls’ racquets and for the inconvenience it has caused her,” they said.

“Our teams are working to ensure that she receives replacement racquets today so that she can compete in her tournament this week.

“We have reached out to Ms Nicholls to apologise and offered to refund for costs incurred and provide compensation for the damage.”
 
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Maybe the luggage handling could have been a little better... But the player is also pretty foolish not checking the carry-on requirements before flight.

If forced to check the baggage, invest in sturdier luggage or at least give your racquets a fragile label or something
 
vokazu said:
She should've packed the racquets in a big hard shell suitcase.


British star slams Jetstar after racquets, bags left mangled​

A British tennis star has slammed Jetstar after her racquets were destroyed during her flight to a competition in Hobart - but not everyone agrees.

British tennis star Olivia Nicholls has fired shots at Aussie budget airliner Jetstar for breaking her racquets and destroying her bag.

Ranked 39 in the world, Mrs Nicholls was on her way to Hobart from Sydney when the doubles player says she was charged a $160 check-in fee for her racquet bags.

But when collecting her luggage post-flight, the star says she was shocked to discover her equipment had been totally destroyed.

3010072e610c930399484d0a01cdce28


35772533ec7da5d2b8abf0655c7754df


Taking to X to share her frustrations, Mrs Nicholls described the situation as “unacceptable” in a Saturday afternoon post.

“160AUD to check in because I’m not allowed to take it as carry on, and you deliver my bag like this?”, the post read.

“How is this possible. My bag and rackets are totally destroyed,” she added.

But users were divided on who was at fault.

“I hate to say it, but the bag sizes are above chin limits. You thought you would try and get around it. It’s a you problem not a Jetstar problem,” one user replied on X.

“Disgraceful but not surprising. Jetstar are a shocking airline.”, another said.

Jumping to her defence on social media was Slovakian player and Ms Nicholls’ doubles partner Tereza Mihalikov.

9c011483d36630601b20f2eb0a3c3d88

British tennis player Olivia Nicholls poses with her broken racquets.

She jokingly posted a photo of her teammate wielding the broken racquet alongside the caption, “Our team is ready to roll 2025 season!!!”

“Just @Jetstaraustralia making it a little bit difficult to start with all rackets broken!”, she added.

The two will play together in the Hobart International.

A Jetstar spokesperson said the airline will aim to work with Ms Nicholls to ensure she’s ready to play.

“We’re really sorry for the damage to Olivia Nicholls’ racquets and for the inconvenience it has caused her,” they said.

“Our teams are working to ensure that she receives replacement racquets today so that she can compete in her tournament this week.

“We have reached out to Ms Nicholls to apologise and offered to refund for costs incurred and provide compensation for the damage.”
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imagine if it was ivanisevic, gulbis or safin who posted this... :X3:

'all three' (racquets) seems really impressive/unlikely (even when you consider how brutally they handle the luggage)... :unsure:
(did they drop a piano on her bag?)
the letsgoyelling zviraffe, for instance, often needs several tries to manage to break it properly! :cool:

PS: i'm not sure to understand the 'size' comment... isn't that precisely why she had to pay an extra fee for special luggage?
junior74 said:
That's like having Pablo Carreno Busta for caddie.
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i'm sure pablo can throw a bag from new zealand to australia :)
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What I would like to know is whether she was required to check in her racquets, or whether she was required to check in a bag, and the bag she elected to check in was the one that contained her racquets? I've carried tennis racquets on Jetstar flights as hand luggage.
 
reaper said:
What I would like to know is whether she was required to check in her racquets, or whether she was required to check in a bag, and the bag she elected to check in was the one that contained her racquets? I've carried tennis racquets on Jetstar flights as hand luggage.
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Maybe her racquet bag was deemed too big or too heavy as a carry on bag (if I remember correctly the weight limit for carry on bag for Jetstar is 7 kg, and that size of tennis bag exceeds the size limit of a carry on bag).

So perhaps Jetstar forced her to check her tennis bag as checked luggage, not as a carry on bag, and that would cost her extra -- if adding the tennis bag would exceed her checked luggage allowance that she purchased. I assume she had a big suitcase as a checked luggage already.
 
Im guessing this is like spirit airlines. One guy took a special deal for 35$ to fly to vegas and said he felt like an idiot. Like hes paying 35$ to maybe die in a crash.
i know journeymen players dont get the big dollars and often have to make last minute travel arrangement. i dont think that bag wouldfit in the overhead bins or under her seat. I dont know how much she saved using that airline esp considering the 160 checkin fee. if possible, she should buy another seat for her bag or just take the racquets in by hand.
is she sponsored by babolat? Surely they can replace the frames.
 
jm1972 said:
How much of a douchenozzle do you have to be to attack the player for this... just terrible service from the airline.
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I wouldn't say I'm "attacking" her. But to me if you have tools necessary for your trade, you would think about how to protect them best i.e. finding out whether it's allowed to stay with you, and if not, finding something more sturdy to protect it. That's what ordinary people do to even simple things like cosmetic products or souvenirs they wanna protect, let alone an expensive tool you require for your profession.

All this doesn't mean the airlines get a free pass for handling her equipment roughly, of course.
 
reaper said:
What I would like to know is whether she was required to check in her racquets, or whether she was required to check in a bag, and the bag she elected to check in was the one that contained her racquets? I've carried tennis racquets on Jetstar flights as hand luggage.
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My experience is that airlines do not allow tennis rackets as carry on for, as they say, the sports equipment could be used as a weapon.
Clay lover said:
If forced to check the baggage, invest in sturdier luggage or at least give your racquets a fragile label or something
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That for sure. But I've seen some of those aiport guys handling bags/suitcases horrendously. Then, if you have a connecting flight, you may get your checked in bags a day or two later after the arrival to your destination too. I know of a bunch of cases when they lost bags too. About a year ago, the whole youth team from the US that was to play in Canada had their hockey bags lost by an airline. Pretty costly mishandling.
Clay lover said:
Maybe the luggage handling could have been a little better
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That most likely.

With golf or hockey it is pretty difficult to allow their equipment as carry on, but the ITF/ATP/WTA could negotiate with airlines something there. There must be so many tennis players with their IPIN that spend loads of money on their flight tickets around the world so I believe there's room for negotiations there.
 
Clay lover said:
I wouldn't say I'm "attacking" her. But to me if you have tools necessary for your trade, you would think about how to protect them best i.e. finding out whether it's allowed to stay with you, and if not, finding something more sturdy to protect it. That's what ordinary people do to even simple things like cosmetic products or souvenirs they wanna protect, let alone an expensive tool you require for your profession.

All this doesn't mean the airlines get a free pass for handling her equipment roughly, of course.
Click to expand...
Having to deal with a plethora of different flight operators each with their own idiosyncrasies sounds pretty hellish.
 
vokazu said:
Maybe her racquet bag was deemed too big or too heavy as a carry on bag (if I remember correctly the weight limit for carry on bag for Jetstar is 7 kg, and that size of tennis bag exceeds the size limit of a carry on bag).

So perhaps Jetstar forced her to check her tennis bag as checked luggage, not as a carry on bag, and that would cost her extra -- if adding the tennis bag would exceed her checked luggage allowance that she purchased. I assume she had a big suitcase as a checked luggage already.
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Yes. A six pack bag is much too large to fit in the overhead compartment.
Always assumed pros check it in as luggage.
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
imagine if it was ivanisevic, gulbis or safin who posted this... :X3:

'all three' (racquets) seems really impressive/unlikely (even when you consider how brutally they handle the luggage)... :unsure:
(did they drop a piano on her bag?)
the letsgoyelling zviraffe, for instance, often needs several tries to manage to break it properly! :cool:

PS: i'm not sure to understand the 'size' comment... isn't that precisely why she had to pay an extra fee for special luggage?

i'm sure pablo can throw a bag from new zealand to australia :)
1075478_1.jpg
Click to expand...

I wonder if Pablo iced that shoulder afterwards or checked to see if he had torn his rotator cuff. :-)
 
vokazu said:
Maybe her racquet bag was deemed too big or too heavy as a carry on bag (if I remember correctly the weight limit for carry on bag for Jetstar is 7 kg, and that size of tennis bag exceeds the size limit of a carry on bag).

So perhaps Jetstar forced her to check her tennis bag as checked luggage, not as a carry on bag, and that would cost her extra -- if adding the tennis bag would exceed her checked luggage allowance that she purchased. I assume she had a big suitcase as a checked luggage already.
Click to expand...
Nah, surely she’d know Jetstar is like EasyJet/Ryan Air in the EU. So trying to get away carrying on that big racquet bag is not going to happen…..
 
It looks like the airline luggage handling team had an accident and this bag was dropped from a great height. I can’t imagine that normal luggage handling would lead to this kind of damage even with careless handlers.
 
socallefty said:
It looks like the airline luggage handling team had an accident and this bag was dropped from a great height. I can’t imagine that normal luggage handling would lead to this kind of damage even with careless handlers.
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I travel a lot for work and have seen how rough the ground crews handle luggage (throwing them off the plane or onto the ground as an example). This looks like the bag got caught on the conveyance and the luggage behind it crushed it (log jam). That or they threw some really heavy freight on top of
It. Sounds like the airline did the right thing, but still a major inconvenience.
 
vokazu said:
A lot of airport baggage handlers are very rough.
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Don't know what is going on. They already lift luggage all day. What is the thrill of expending energy throwing around luggage?
Once heard a guy tell us not to label our luggage as "Fragile" as it will be targeted for rough handling by luggage handlers.
Thought he was pulling our legs but maybe he was serious.:unsure:
 
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In Daria Kasatkina's YT, she's usually filmed carrying (in her hands) two rackets when she boards and leaves the plane. I had wondered about that; now I know why (and she seems to travel in 1st class).
 
sovertennis said:
In Daria Kasatkina's YT, she's usually filmed carrying (in her hands) two rackets when she boards and leaves the plane. I had wondered about that; now I know why (and she seems to travel in 1st class).
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She’s making enough money to always fly 1st. Plus once you get that many flights you get upgraded constantly.
 
sovertennis said:
In Daria Kasatkina's YT, she's usually filmed carrying (in her hands) two rackets when she boards and leaves the plane. I had wondered about that; now I know why (and she seems to travel in 1st class).
Click to expand...

That's just a marketing thing and part of her contract with Decathlon.
 
Better_Call_Raul said:
Will airlines reimburse her for the damaged racquets?
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My experience is that there's a formal request to be written to the HQ of the airline to claim damages. The reimbursement, if any, take a while to get. So, it's an inconvenience on inconvenience. Airlines don't have much assistance at individual airports.
 
Grafil Injection said:
I mean you've got to try pretty hard to crack three rackets and shred a racket bag. Someone's deliberately pummeled that.
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The idiots in baggage handling just toss suitcases and bags. These guys are usually in some union and have security clearance to work at the airport, so it is difficult to replace them.

This is why most jobs done by humans should be given to robots.
 
At least in the US I have been allowed to bring a tennis bag (6 racquet bag usually 2-3 racquets) or tennis backpack with 2 racquets a carry on with no issues. It's outside the listed carry on dimensions but I've never been stopped from using it even when they're force-checking people's (appropriately sized) rollers.

Because of the tapered bag shape they often fit into the roller compartment wedging in small side first where a roller would not.
 
reaper said:
What I would like to know is whether she was required to check in her racquets, or whether she was required to check in a bag, and the bag she elected to check in was the one that contained her racquets? I've carried tennis racquets on Jetstar flights as hand luggage.
Click to expand...

IDK where all JetStar flies, but was this in Australia?

In my experience is seems Aussie airlines really don't allow much carry on luggage, whereas US airlines you can carry on some pretty big bags.
 
We all know that tennis pros travel in grand style,
and those strange pickleball pros travel in their 1995 Toyota.
 
Connor35 said:
IDK where all JetStar flies, but was this in Australia?

In my experience is seems Aussie airlines really don't allow much carry on luggage, whereas US airlines you can carry on some pretty big bags.
Click to expand...
Jetstar is a budget airline owned by QANTAS. You can purchase up to 40kg checked baggage, but you have to pay more.
 
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