Flying Domestic via Intl Terminal and then connecting Intl Flight

[ronaldh]

I had a look over the forums and the web and couldn't find info on this, so thought some of the much more well travelled flyers here might be able to help!

I have a trip in a few weeks, MEL-SYD-HNL and I'm wondering two things..
- Whether it would be worth it to change the MEL-SYD leg to a flight to that departs from the International terminal rather than Domestic. Is the QF International J Lounge appreciably better than the QF Domestic Club Lounge?
- and...if I do depart from the Interntional terminal, would it be possible to clear customs etc. in Melbourne, so when I arrive in SYD, there's not need to do that again (and also don't need to go from domestic from international as well).

I'm flying Jetstar in Y.

Thanks!

 

[JohnK]

Jetstar! Don't know much about them.

The international Qantas Lounge is much better than the domestic Qantas Lounges and has alcohol available 24 hours.

If on a normal carrier you would be able to check your luggage through and you would clear immigration/customs at your airport of origin so you would be in transit in SYD. Not sure about Jetstar....

 

[amaroo]

Not sure what options you have for the MEL-SYD flight......if the flight is delayed/cancelled are there other flights you can take? I've done QF8 BNE-SYD connecting to an international flight & I've decided in the future it's just not worth the risk of reduced/missed connections!

Connecting from T2 - T1 is easy with or without luggage.

I agree with JK in regards to the lounge.

If you can check your luggage all the way through - you only need to pass customs once. The question is if J* will do this?

 

[mannej]

I think you only have the choice of JQ flights between SYD and MEL that depart at the respective international terminals.

The JQ website does state luggage can be transferred from JQ international to JQ international. Would the domestic tag along flight be considered as JQi I don't know, but if you could transfer it all and receive both sets of boarding passes, I would assume there would be no issues.

Over to the experts.

 

[ronaldh]

Cool..thanks guys! I have a long layover at SYD anyway, around 4.5hrs if I stick to the current domestic flight, but I only realised today after reading through a few posts about flying domestic from an international terminal, that there is a flight (JQ30) 30 minutes before this one! My thinking is that I'll save that time anyway as I don't need to transfer terminals at SYD.

I'm just not entirely sure that customs would do the whole immigration at MEL, as I thought we get at D stamp so we don't go through it?

As for missing flights, I'm sort of hoping that the longish layover will negate the risk

It's actually the first time I'll be having lounge access etc. (recently got on board that Qantas Club 2 years for one promo as I'll be travelling a lot more in the future), anything you guys think I should take advantage of/avoid?

Is the food much different from J Lounge international compared with dom lounge at MEL?

 

[flyingfan]

I'm just not entirely sure that customs would do the whole immigration at MEL, as I thought we get at D stamp so we don't go through it?

I expect what you do is when checking in at MEL, you tell the agent that you have the international SYD-HNL leg and what they do is not give you the orange D sticker. You clear immigration at MEL. When you reach SYD - arriving at the international terminal - you follow the transit signs, clear security and go upstairs to international departures and the lounge before your HNL flight.

This is what I did once however both flights were QF (and my bags were checked through), not Jetstar. I'm not confident enough to answer what happens with your bags when on Jetstar.

As for food, as I recall (I don't see the international J lounge often) it's similar to domestic offerings - allowing you to assemble salads and cold meat dishes and possibly a soup, rice and curry or similar I think?

 

[Mal]

I expect what you do is when checking in at MEL, you tell the agent that you have the international SYD-HNL leg and what they do is not give you the orange D sticker. You clear immigration at MEL. When you reach SYD - arriving at the international terminal - you follow the transit signs, clear security and go upstairs to international departures and the lounge before your HNL flight.

This is what I did once however both flights were QF (and my bags were checked through), not Jetstar. I'm not confident enough to answer what happens with your bags when on Jetstar.

I never trust JQ for anything so complicated ... And regardless of what the website indicates, check-in staff on the day will have their own interpretation.

If on the same booking (through Qantas), I would have more confidence, but again - Quite simply I don't trust JQ to come to the party.

 

[wingspan]

Is the food much different from J Lounge international compared with dom lounge at MEL?

The food at the international J lounge is better than the domestic qantas club. For example, at breakfast times there are a range of smoothies you can choose from, and at lunch times there are more 'meal' options, there is usually a range of fruit, the tea is the same as the tea available in domestic business lounge (dilmah exceptional range in international and domestic business, dilmah regular range in qantas club), usually you will find a greater range of cheeses in the int j lounge too.

Good luck with having everything checked through. Let us know how you go!

 

[ronaldh]

So I called up Jetstar, only to be advised that I couldn't change my booking, as all the flights from MEL to SYD that day was full. This was despite that fact that the website clearly shows that all flights MEL to SYD were available for around $69/79.

I have purchased a Starter Plus fare for the reason that there was some flexiblility in changing the domestic sectors of the flight, but this does not appear to be possible. I'm not even sure whether they would be able to market as "Date/Time Changes Permitted". This was even after I said that I would be happy to pay the difference in fees etc. (wouldn't expect there to be much on the MEL-SYD sector).

A bit frustrated, but I guess I'll have to deal with it!

Should have flown Qantas instead! (One thing that was drawing me back was the reviews that said that the AC on the SYD-HNL sector was really old and in poor form).

 

[mannej]

Have you tried changing online?

 

[ronaldh]

Yeah I have, it also shows no flights - but it appears that it treats the MEL-SYD-HNL flights as one and doesn't allow you to selectively modify just the MEL-SYD leg.

 

[JessicaTam]

You could try ringing JQ a few times until you get someone who will help you change the flight. Might work, might not.


Sent from my iThing.
Why, because iCan.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If you are connecting from a JQ dom flight to a JQi flight in SYD I don't believe they will check the bags through as AFAIK this is the case in MEL, SYD & CNS which would mean you would have to checkin at the domestic terminal in MEL then collect your bags at T2 at SYD domestic & take the Tbus or train around to the international terminal where you will need to checkin again.

Can you find out from JQ what sub-class or fare bucket the Starter fare is booked in eg M, L etc then check the MEL/SYD availability on www.expertflyer.com as it's possible when you called JQ to change the first flight, when they did the availability they looked at MEL/HNL & it could just be that the SYD/HNL sector is not available in the same class. This may be an explanation for why they're telling you MEL/SYD is full.

Once you know the class you're already booked in you can then check if the JQ30 flight has that availability which gives you more leverage when speaking to reservations eg tell them "I have booked a changeable fare & I've already checked there is availability in 'L' class on JQ30 MEL/SYD". Sometimes you need to be the one project managing the event.

If you are able to change to the JQ30 then you would need to checkin at the international terminal in MEL & I expect they would be able to check your bags to HNL & issue both boarding passes.

 

[mannej]

As always Oz has penned it perfectly!!

 

[ronaldh]

Thanks Ozbeachbabe! I checked ExpertFlyer. All booking classes have availability!
J4 D0 Y4 B4 V4 T4 S4 R4 Q4 P4 O4 N4 M4 E4 L4 K4 A4 H4 I4
Surely Jetstar would be doing something wrong when they sell you a Plus bundle which says you can change flights, they tell you it's all full, when it is really available?
Will try calling again later tonight as you suggested Jessica.

 

[ronaldh]

Ok, so after a few weeks, I called up Jetstar again tonight. Also confirmed online that there was availability for the flight JQ30.

The call centre said that the change would cost more than $1000 each person, as the whole booking would need to be redone! All I was after was to change the MEL to SYD leg half an hour earlier to get onto the flight which departs from the international terminal. The person on the phone also confirmed that baggage would be transferred if I did depart from the international terminal which was good.

Just wondering whether anyone else has faced this sort of experience, where even after adding the Plus bundle for flexibility, they treat all those flights as one and don't allow you to change a particular leg, instead requiring the whole trip rebooked and changing the difference in price. Has anyone had any success with similar incidents? Even trying to change it online produced the same outcome...

 

[ozbeachbabe]

Not sure how far you live from the airport but if I was faced with the same situation I would make a special trip out to the airport to see staff at the JQ Service Desk at the intl terminal.

They will only be there 3 hours before a JQi flight so make sure you get there when pax will be checking in for flights.

I would just say to them politely that you have paid extra for a changeable fare & you just need to change your JQd flight to JQ30 MEL/SYD so your bags can be thru checked & you clear customs in MEL & make it sound like it's a nice & simple request.

The last thing they would want to hear from you is "I've got a bit of a problem......" that's the quickest way to be handballed to res.

Also tell them that you have checked the availability MEL/SYD & there are seats available in that exact same class.

I would avoid mentioning you have already called reservations (& the unsatisfactory response you got) unless they tell you they cant help & ask you to make your changes via the call centre.