• An ex-Qantas baggage handler told Nine's Today Show that luggage has been left in rooms for weeks.

• The whistleblower, who was sacked in the pandemic, said there has also been damage to planes.

• He told Today the travel chaos followed Qantas laying off staff during the pandemic.

A former Qantas worker has revealed how passengers' bags were left in rooms for weeks after the Australian airline fired thousands of staff in the pandemic.

The whistleblower, who remained anonymous, told the Nine network's Today show that he was one of the employees laid off following the outbreak of COVID-19.

Qantas let 2,000 workers go during the pandemic, according to the Transport Workers Union. The sackings have since triggered travel mayhem, the former baggage handler told the breakfast TV programme.

"You've got a skilled workforce that has just been totally sacked," he said in the interview.

Luggage has been left in rooms "for weeks at a time, waiting to be claimed," he told Nine. "There has been damage to planes."

He told Today that he enjoyed working at Qantas because of the camaraderie, but there was now no morale or incentive to work there.

Last month Qantas asked its office workers to help out at airports to cope with the surge in travel during school holidays in Australia.

However, the whistleblower told Today: "You can't just learn 30 years experience with a 20-minute security or safety online course. Bringing in a 50-year-old middle management person, that's a sedentary lifestyle...

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