One World to Star Allaince transit in Sydney

Status
Not open for further replies.

Saintly

Junior Member
Joined
Mar 18, 2010
Posts
23
On a Tuesday in April, I'll be taking a Qantas flight QF410 at 0715 from Melbourne arriving in Sydney at 0840 to catch an Air Canada flight AC034 to Vancouver at 1025. That gives me 1 hour and 45 minutes to transfer from domestic to international. Is that enough time for me to get from a One World flight to a Star Alliance flight with my luggage? I don't suppose It's possible to check my luggage in Melbourne all the way through to Vancouver, as the two flights are operated by different carrier groups?
 
Too tight.

Also don't forget that:

  • the Sydney Domestic Terminal is separate from the International.
So you have to collect you bags and then swap terminals.

  • if your first flight is late you have no recall with the second flight
 
On a Tuesday in April, I'll be taking a Qantas flight QF410 at 0715 from Melbourne arriving in Sydney at 0840 to catch an Air Canada flight AC034 to Vancouver at 1025. That gives me 1 hour and 45 minutes to transfer from domestic to international. Is that enough time for me to get from a One World flight to a Star Alliance flight with my luggage? I don't suppose It's possible to check my luggage in Melbourne all the way through to Vancouver, as the two flights are operated by different carrier groups?

aircanada.com said:
Check-in and baggage drop-off deadline
You must have checked in, obtained your boarding pass and deposited all checked baggage at the baggage drop-off counter before the check-in deadline for your flight.
E.g. if your flight to or from a U.S. city leaves at 7 am, you are required to have checked in and deposited your checked baggage by 6 am (60 minutes before your flight).

You are cutting it very fine, I'm assuming the boarding time is 1025 so with some quick maths:

1hr 45m layover

-60m deadline = 45m to collect your baggage from QF (early on a tuesday morning), transfer from T3 to T1, check in & stop for a loo break (unless you hold it in)

Unless you are sprinting and don't have lazy baggage handlers at QF SYD, My answer would be that you might not make it


Josh:p
 
1:45 is enough time if QF interline with AC, although for changing airlines, I would probably allow another 30 minutes or so if you can - catch th 0645 flight (if there is one) or 0630.

I am pretty sure QF do interline with AC (they interline with a lot of carriers), and usually QF do interline even when booked on separate tickets. You should call Qantas and check (and ensure you mention you are on different tickets), and not 100% rely on advice from AFF.
 
Is this a through booking or 2 separate bookings?

If it is a through booking then I dont see anything to worry about since the luggage should be checked through to the onward flight and 1:45 is plenty of time to get across to the international terminal

If it is 2 separate bookings then I think that it is risky. With 2 bookings there is no guarantee that the luggage will be checked through to the onward flight and with the time to collect bags, get across to the international terminal and then check in before check in closes seems tight plus , if you do miss the flight , depending on the fare purchased could be up for large costs if you miss the international flight
 
8.40AM is a busy time during the week at SYD, its likely you will not be off the plane until 9AM (it arrived at 8.55 yesterday) and not have your bags until 9.15/30. The last fifteen flights have been late 1/3rd of the time. I would give yourself a bit more time, you might not get to the international terminal much before 10AM otherwise.
 
If your baggage is checked through you should be fine. You will have access to the free Qantas Bus that departs every 10 minutes that time of the morning.

Personally, I'd go for 30 minutes earlier.

In any case, present yourself in Qantas T1 at the dedicated "Domestic Connection to international flight" check-in desk with printed copies of ALL relevant e-tickets.
 
Whether its all on 1 booking or on 2 separate bookings shouldnt really matter, as long as you check in for your domestic flight AT LEAST 1 hour beforehand, QF should interline your bags through to AC, as long as you ask them.

I've never had an issue interlining from QF to star alliance in the past on 2 separate bookings nor have I had any issues with clients.

If you check in for your domestic under an hour before (yes I know the actual cut off for a domestic is 30 mins), QF can refuse to interline your bags.

I think as long as QF are on time, and your bags are interlined, you'll be fine, just dont walk too slowly.

TG
 
Agree with other posters. Only issue is whether AC and QF interline. If they do then doesn't matter if on one or two tickets. You just need the ticket number for the AC flight and QF will do the rest.

QF interlines with lots of carriers. I even interlined Shanghai Airlines to QF, separate tickets, with only a booking reference to give Shanghai check-in for the QF flight (it took them a couple of minutes to find it but all worked ok). They even accepted QF status as being entitled to additional baggage allowance and while FM charged me for their sector (no star status), they didn't charge for the QF sector (based on FF status).
 
Agree with other posters. Only issue is whether AC and QF interline. If they do then doesn't matter if on one or two tickets. You just need the ticket number for the AC flight and QF will do the rest.
.

I would say that it does still matter. If all is on time then the time allowed is fine, but if the QF flight is delayed and so misses the Ac flight, with separate tickets there is no protection and so could be up for significant costs to rebook
 
I would say that it does still matter. If all is on time then the time allowed is fine, but if the QF flight is delayed and so misses the Ac flight, with separate tickets there is no protection and so could be up for significant costs to rebook

On this basis, other than overnighting, it is probably prudent to book either the 6 or 6:30 flight. These two flights both have excellent on time performance, and there is some fat in the connection should there be some delays.
 
According to the following QF does interline with AC

https://www.qantas.com.au/agents/dyn/qf/news/200612/1255

I expect it's still current. As others have said 1:45 is enough time at SYD if you've checked in for both your QF and AC flights at MEL. Also your bags will be tagged with International Connection tags in MEL, so all you'd need to do is get yourself onto the bus between T3 and T1...
 
I would say that it does still matter. If all is on time then the time allowed is fine, but if the QF flight is delayed and so misses the Ac flight, with separate tickets there is no protection and so could be up for significant costs to rebook

Agree which is why I raised it.

Also it is not just the money. A late QF flight will most likely not have them delaying the AC flight at all and so you could well have the hassle and delay of missing it.

An earlier QF flight covers a lot more bases. Canceled flights, delayed flights ets.....but yes interliinng will certainly help.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

On this basis, other than overnighting, it is probably prudent to book either the 6 or 6:30 flight. These two flights both have excellent on time performance, and there is some fat in the connection should there be some delays.

I would always recommend an overnight stop if planning to use 2 discrete tickets and is the process I follow when I have them.

Dave
 
I would always recommend an overnight stop if planning to use 2 discrete tickets and is the process I follow when I have them.

Dave

Yes, but not everyone feels the same way, many are prepared to take a chance, especially if involving two non-LCCs. . I could add days and days and lots of $$ to my travel if I did that everytime I had a connection on different tickets, so I take the balance of probability approach. On the $ front I think I am ahead, a bit like deciding whether to take the excess reduction on car insurance or not. The 6am and 6:30am are planes (as well as a few of the later ones) are on the ground overnight so the chances of them leaving on or close to time are very high ( flight stats indicate that both have perforemed well this year) , and there are other options if these are cancelled on morning of departure. If going the night before though, I would recommend taking an earlier rather than later flight, certainly avoiding the 9pm departure. If anything goes wrong with that flight it's almost certainly a night in Melbourne anyway due to the curfew issues.
 
Thank you all for your advice. Even though my ticket is on one booking and with the possibly of QF interlining with AC, it is worth my while to play safe and go for an earlier Qantas flight. With interline does that mean Qantas in addition to checking thru my luggage can also allocate my seat and issue my boarding pass in Melbourne?
 
Thank you all for your advice. Even though my ticket is on one booking and with the possibly of QF interlining with AC, it is worth my while to play safe and go for an earlier Qantas flight. With interline does that mean Qantas in addition to checking thru my luggage can also allocate my seat and issue my boarding pass in Melbourne?

If it is all a single booking I wouldn't worry at all. Your bags should be checked through and the connection time seems quite reasonable to me.
 
I have a similar question...

My wife & I and our 2 year old will be travelling to LHR from SYD on TG in December, but first we'll have to fly from MEL to SYD to get the flight.

It seems that QF & TG don't have an interlining agreement, so what's the quickest/easiest option for transferring from the QF terminal to the International terminal?

I did read that DJ have an interline agreement with TG, so might this be a better option?
 
I did read that DJ have an interline agreement with TG, so might this be a better option?

If it's on separate tickets, I'd suggest that you contact DJ and confirm they'll be able to check your bags through to the final destination - otherwise you may find yourself needing to collect bags in SYD, schlep across to the International terminal and then re-check with TG - not exactly a pleasant thought!
 
I know that my experience today is the other way round compared to the OP's request, but this morning I got off an Air China flight at 0934, and was in the shower at the T3 J lounge shower at 1020, having hit the duty free shop, immigration, collected luggage, gone through customs, endured a broken luggage belt in the domestic transfer lounge (thankfully the J/Club queue was 1 person. The Y queue was at the door).

Fastest I've ever got through SYD, just waiting for QF524 so I can go home now. 3 weeks away is a looooong time :(
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..
Back
Top