Sorry; your airline forgot to offload your luggage

Error-prone Indian airline IndiGo came under fire after forgetting to offload passenger baggage and taking off again with their suitcases still on board.

The blunder came just a few weeks after IndiGo neglected to put an elderly couple on their connecting flight to India at Istanbul airport a few weeks ago, The Times of India reported.

The IndiGo international flight bound for Bengaluru, India had to make a U-turn to Singapore Changi Airport after the error.

Not long after take off it had to return to Changi after the carrier "forgot to offload luggage" from a previous international flight.

The Airbus A321neo landed back at Changi about one hour after it took off.

It contributed to a four-hour delay for passengers - and a very long wait for passengers at the baggage carousel.

It is unclear how the bags remained on board.

“We acknowledge the baggage error on part of our service partners at Singapore airport and we sincerely regret the inconvenience,” the airline said.

IndiGo is India’s largest airline operating up to 2,000 flights daily.

China news sees optimism return to the Australian wine industry

There were toasts all round in the Australian wine industry today after Prime Minister Albanese announced that China has agreed to a review of the 220% import duties currently imposed on Australian bottled wine.

There has been an oversupply of Australian wine over the past three years after Chinese markets virtually closed.

"This is great; all Australian winemakers are very happy about this," said Mitchell Taylor, managing director Taylors Wines, talking to Channel 9.

"We've been suffering for the past three years."

Treasury Wine Estates CEO Tim Ford said: “It’s great to see an agreement for an expedited pathway forward to allow our Australian brands and wine to be sold in the Chinese market.

"There are only positives to come out of a favourable review, for the Chinese consumer, customers, and the wine category, as well as for the Australian wine industry and TWE.

"We're well placed to rebuild our Australian wine export business to China should tariffs be removed at the end of the review period."

NSW Wine Industry Association president Mark Bourne echoed that the announcement was good news for the entire industry.

“This is an encouraging step forward that will hopefully lead to the removal of Chinese import duties on Australian wine,” Bourne said.

“It is currently a very difficult time for the wine industry. Following several seasons of challenging weather events and the Covid pandemic, we are now facing worldwide falling consumer demand and an oversupply of wine.

"The announcement of a potential pathway to resolve the multi-year trade dispute, and the reopening of the Chinese market, is positive news for many grape growers and winemakers.”

It has been reported the Chinese Government’s review may take five months to complete.

“Under the current circumstances, we are hopeful that the proposed approach is the best way for the Australian wine industry to achieve its desired result within the shortest time frame.” 

Prior to the imposition of crippling import duties in 2020, the value of Australian wine exports to China were $1.2 billion annually.

Bamboo Airways disappears from Australian skies

The dangers of booking with low-cost start-up airlines.   

Bamboo Airways, which debuted in 2022, has abruptly quit the Australian market - and cancelled all its long-haul flights.

The Vietnam-based airway has sacked all its Australian staff and announced a move into “long-term restructuring”.

Bamboo offered direct flights from Sydney and Melbourne to Ho Chi Minh City, along with Melbourne to Hanoi.

"It is with a heavy heart that I advise all Bamboo Airways Australia staff have been made redundant including my national sales manager role,” the former national sales manager Australia and New Zealand, Brad Crawford, said on LinkedIn.

Other long-haul routes scrapped include London and Frankfurt, which were served by Boeing 787 jets the airline is phasing out.

Many Australians used Bamboo as a budget option for flying to Europe via Vietnam.

"For the route network, Bamboo Airways has improved commercial efficiency by reducing the frequency of a number of inefficient routes with low passenger demand while increasing operation on routes recording high demand," the airline said on its website.

"The carrier's fleet structure is expected to incorporate narrow-body aircraft and jets, which will be deployed on key domestic routes, strongly emphasizing trunk routes such as Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, and Da Nang. The airline will also offer services on domestic tourist routes with high demand and international routes to south-east Asia."

For those who have bookings with Bamboo, the airline says: "Affected passengers will be promptly notified and assisted in adherence to the airline's policies and applicable laws."

Head off the beaten track with a seriously niche tome

Is a trip to Baldy Knob on your radar?

Dingo Tops, the Guy Fawkes Wilderness, or Rowleys Rock, perhaps?

Or maybe a picnic at Hanging Rock? 

This has to be one of the most niche books I have been sent for review.

But 4WD Treks of Northeast NSW delivers exactly what it says.

Author Yvonne Everett has put together a very useful, brilliantly illustrated guide to getting off the beaten track in one region of Australia with a lot to offer.

There are terrific maps, lots of good background info and details on campsites and picnic areas. there are 25 suggested itineraries in all.

If you are heading to the region and want to get away from it all, this is recommended. 

Unfortunately, that is probably less than 1% of you.

4WD TREKS of NORTHEAST NSW by Yvonne Everett. Published by Woodslane Press, RRP: $44.99. Available from all good bookstores and online.

Tourists warned they could be terror targets

The US wants to be the world's policeman.

But the global arbiter of what is good and evil - and the country that is what war more often than any other - has admitted that its politics put its citizens at increased risk around the globe.

The US State Department this weekend issued a global travel warning for all Americans abroad.

It advised all US nationals around the world to "exercise increased caution because of tensions in various locations around the world".

Increased tensions have the potential for ‘terrorist attacks, demonstrations or violent actions against US citizens and interests, it said.

So look out loud, gum-chewing, baseball hats on backwards types. You are easy to spot.

The warning came as a response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and terrorist group Hamas.

State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said: “We take a number of factors into consideration when making the determination.

“It’s not necessarily any one thing but everything that we’re watching around the world."

Travel advisories for Lebanon and Israel are currently at the highest level, with non-essential government staff and their families are asked to leave, Travel Mole reports.

Global travel warnings are fairly rare but the State Department issued a similar worldwide advisory last year when al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri was killed.

US citizens are advised to "stay alert in locations frequented by tourists".

Australians - whose government has taken a strong pro-Israel stance - have been issued with a similar warning from the government's SmartTraveller app. 

"We continue to advise reconsider your need to travel to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories overall due to the volatile security situation, including the threat of terrorism, armed conflict and civil unrest," it said over the weekend.

"We continue to advise do not travel to Gaza, border areas with Gaza and border areas with Lebanon closed by Israeli authorities. We now also advise do not travel to the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem) due to the volatile security situation.

"The situation is highly challenging and rapidly changing. Australians who want to leave are strongly encouraged to take the first available option. Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion International Airport remains open and commercial flights are available."

Do you really know where your seafood comes from?

An innovative hand-held scanner could change the way Australians buy their seafood.

Warming waters due to climate change, pollution, overfishing and fraud in the seafood supply chain means that knowing where our seafood comes from is more important than ever.

Australia has the third-largest fishing zone in the world, covering over 8 million square kilometres, , but it is estimated that over 60% of seafood eaten in Australia is imported from overseas. 

Researchers at UNSW Sydney are part of an ongoing collaborative project, led by ANSTO, that is developing novel ways to determine exactly where seafood has been sourced, and whether it has been farmed or was wild caught.

“The seafood supply chain, especially with seafood imported from across the globe, is quite long," says Associate Professor Jes Sammut, from the School of BEES.

"And there are various people at different points in the supply chain that handle a seafood product. In that process, there is the risk of what we call ‘food fraud’.”

A common type of food fraud is mislabeling. “For example, a product may say that it’s a barramundi fillet from Australia, when it’s really a barramundi fillet from overseas. Mislabeling can also happen at the retail end, so a cheaper product can be labelled as more expensive based on its origin and production method,” says Sammut.

Looking for solutions to these ongoing challenges, ANSTO scientists, led by Dr Debashish Mazumder and a research team at UNSW have developed protocols and mathematical models for a hand-held device that is able to determine the origin of seafood by providing a unique profile of its elements.

“The idea is to use the hand-held device at any point in the supply chain, providing details that can lead to a more sustainable and ethical seafood trade,” says Sammut.

This ongoing research is part of a huge collaborative effort between ANSTO, UNSW, Sydney Fish Market, Macquarie University and the National Measurement Institute.

“This device is really about empowering the consumer, empowering the retailer and also empowering the wholesalers to know more about the produce they’re buying and selling.”

In a recent study published in Food Control, the team used the hand-held X-ray device to locate the site of origin of black tiger prawns from across Australia, with over 80% accuracy.

“This paper brings us a step closer to seeing the scanner device being used on the fish-market floor, to determine in real time, where seafood has come from, and how it was produced,” says Sammut.

Image: Marco Brivo, Scop.io