Maximise layover time on mixed Domestic/International flight

[njba]

Later this year we'll be flying on QF25.

We're based in MEL so we'll need to a domestic hop to SYD. Booking the trip as one booking is cheaper than making two seperate bookings.

The catch is: how do we change the domestic booking so as to maximise lounge time in SYD?

The 'layover' times presented via the QF website are all relatively slim (the earliest seems to be arriving on QF478 at 8:10pm). I imagine by the time we go through customs etc we'd not have a lot of time for doing the things one does in lounges. It'll be my partner's first time in a lounge, so I'd hate to not give her the full experience.

How do I book onto an earlier flight? Is there a way to make the QF website show us earlier flights?

(I have a similar situation but in reverse where we'll be flying back via Brisbane on QF62 and I'd like to maximize lounge time there, too.)

Thanks a lot!

 

[isdnman]

multi city booking or use TA

 

[JohnPhelan]

Either do it as multi-city, or book what's available on line and then - on the same day - ring the call centre and change the first sector. No charge for same day changes.

 

[njba]

Thanks so much, isdnman and JohnPhelan. I cannot believe a multi-city didn't occur to me!

 

[Hvr]

I recently had the same issue with booking a MEL-SYD-BKK trip and found that I got much better options when redeeming a gift voucher.

It also has the added benefit of not incurring credit card fees.

 

[Mattg]

As others have said, just use the multi-city booking tool. As long as there is less than 24 hours between flights, the itinerary will price as a single through-trip.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

You could always fly up the day prior as long as the layover from the time your MEL/SYD flight arrived and SYD/HND departed was less than 24 hours.

I used the multi city tool to book a Classic award BNE/xSYD/AKL on QF & EK this was and the points required were identical although taxes were about AUD10.00 more.