Flying ahead with a tight intl connection on MH

[ajd]

I've just booked a ticket for CBR-KUL via SYD, issued by MH. For the CBR-SYD connection, MH only offered to sell me a flight with a 1h15m connection time in SYD, which is awfully short especially given Canberra winters mean lots of delays. I phoned MH and they confirmed they could only sell me that even though from what I can tell QF has other availability that morning.

I've gone ahead and booked it anyway, because I have to end up on the same MH flight as my sister flying out of SYD on that day...

Anyway, for those of you with more experience than me - what are my chances if I rock up early at CBR and plead my case to the QF ground crew? I know they're usually good at moving people ahead when there's a potential to avoid a tight international connection, but does the fact that I'm ticketed by MH have any impact on that?

 

[madrooster]

They can move you, but at their discretion on the day. QF would be on the hook for re-routing you if you missed the connection so generally they are happy to look to avoid that cost.

 

[Hvr]

It will be easier if you're HLO. What time is your flight from CBR-SYD? And what day of the week?

 

[Quickstatus]

You can ring Qantas and request and explain. They will likely say that your itinerary meets MCT (minimum connection times) of 1 hour. But tell them you are worried you will miss the flight as you have to connect from Domestic to International terminal then clear immigration and be at gate when boarding commences 45 minutes prior to departure. Effectively that means be at gate at 12:40hrs. So your QF1422 which arrives at 12:10 only gives you 30 minutes to get off the plane and get to gate.

Assuming you are travelling weekday:
Ask for the QF1466 (0915-1010) or QF1516 (0945-1045)

 

[ajd]

It will be easier if you're HLO. What time is your flight from CBR-SYD? And what day of the week?

If I were flying HLO I regret to admit I would probably have to give in to family pressure to fly AirAsia on this trip, the AirAsia baggage fees are the thing that convinced them that booking MH, in the deepest of discount buckets, wasn't that expensive in comparison. (If I were planning this trip only with myself in mind, there was J award space going out via ADL I could have used instead...)

Quickstatus has guessed my flight number correctly. Friday 11:15.

It does indeed meet the MCT, and I know on a good day I can definitely make it... I'll ring up again today and see if there's anything they can do.

 

[madrooster]

You can ring Qantas and request and explain.

General reservations can't touch it - it's a MH booking and ticket.

This can only be done at the airport on the day.

 

[ajd]

Called MH again today - they confirmed that their system simply will not show anything other than the one QF flight they're allowed to sell. They could also see an earlier VA connection but were unable to price it.

Sigh.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

It will be easier if you're HLO. What time is your flight from CBR-SYD? And what day of the week?

Doesn't matter if you're HLO or not - however make sure you ask before you check your bags though as they won't want to move once bags have been accepted on your original flight. Aim to arrive at CBR Airport one hour prior to the flight you want to take so you've still got a buffer on 30 mins up your sleeve before baggage acceptance closes.

Tell the CSA you wanted to have a longer MCT but the 1.15 connection was the only one offered by MH.

Called MH again today - they confirmed that their system simply will not show anything other than the one QF flight they're allowed to sell. They could also see an earlier VA connection but were unable to price it.

Sigh.

How many other QF flights are there before the one you're booked on now?

 

[ajd]

Doesn't matter if you're HLO or not - however make sure you ask before you check your bags though as they won't want to move once bags have been accepted on your original flight. Aim to arrive at CBR Airport one hour prior to the flight you want to take so you've still got a buffer on 30 mins up your sleeve before baggage acceptance closes.

Good points! I'll have to remember to mention it as the very first thing before they start tagging my bags.

Tell the CSA you wanted to have a longer MCT but the 1.15 connection was the only one offered by MH.



How many other QF flights are there before the one you're booked on now?

It's CBR-SYD, and I'm on QF1422 departing at 11:15. Before that - there's QF1516 (09:50), QF1466 (09:15), QF1514 (08:20), QF1460 (08:05), QF1510 (06:35) and QF1424 (06:10).

So a few options...

 

[Ade]

I've just booked a ticket for CBR-KUL via SYD, issued by MH. For the CBR-SYD connection, MH only offered to sell me a flight with a 1h15m connection time in SYD, which is awfully short especially given Canberra winters mean lots of delays. I phoned MH and they confirmed they could only sell me that even though from what I can tell QF has other availability that morning.

I've gone ahead and booked it anyway, because I have to end up on the same MH flight as my sister flying out of SYD on that day...

Anyway, for those of you with more experience than me - what are my chances if I rock up early at CBR and plead my case to the QF ground crew? I know they're usually good at moving people ahead when there's a potential to avoid a tight international connection, but does the fact that I'm ticketed by MH have any impact on that?

QF can move you to an earlier flight if your connection is too close to make.

From personal experience, flying MEL-SYD-SIN, arrived 2 hours earlier to the airport for MEL-SYD sector and requested if I'd be able to get on to an earlier flight as I only had 1 hour 15 mins (just like you in SYD).

The agent was more than happy to put me on an earlier flight and also mentioned that she was going to offer the early flight even if I didn't ask.

So ask the agent before you put your bags through and ideally you should be able to get on to an earlier flight out of CBR