Only 2 hours transit in SYD for international connection

[Rich]

I am hoping someone can give some advice on what to do here. Our family has a FF booking with QF next year, MEL->SYD->SFO. The problem is that when we booked, the only MEL->SYD flight the call centre would book us on arrived only 2 1/4 hours before the international connection. We have called several times since and they say there are no other award flights. This is despite the fact there must be 10 flights that day that we could otherwise book with a separate award booking. It seems there is some rule about which domestic flights can be linked to an international booking. (This seems to be why we needed call centre assistance to book in the first place, because ever other combination we tried fell over at the last step of booking.)
To make matters worse, Qantas recently cancelled our domestic flight and put us on a later flight, reducing the time to exactly 2 hours and they still won't change our flight to an earlier one.
That's 2 hours (actually 1 hour given check in closes 1 hour before the flight) to account for delays, get off the plane, get our luggage, change terminals, check in and clear immigration. Certainly no time for dinner in the Amex or Qantas lounge as I hoped, but more importantly a big risk of missing the flight.
Does anyone have any tips on what we should do? I know we could just book a separate flight to SYD, but that is another 8000 points each so I don't feel we should have to.
Thanks

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Qantas recently updated their minimum connecting time at SYD from 60 minutes to 90 minutes. While this is more comfortable, it’s a bit on the tight side.

With two hours I’d be more comfortable.

You should not need to collect your bags in SYD. You will already have the bags checked through and your boarding passes. All you need to is go to the airside transit/bus gate, and travel between the two terminals, then clear security.

Two hours is more than enough for this, even if you have a 15-20 minute wait for the bus.

If QF have changed their schedule you should be able to ask for an earlier flight, but unfortunately overseas call centres don’t have the authority to do this. And getting through to Auckland or Hobart is hard.

You can try going to MEL airport super early on the day of travel, it’s common for checkin agents to just out you on the next flight up to SYD. This is however dependent on seats being available… some peak flights could be sold out.

 

[Princess Fiona]

I am hoping someone can give some advice on what to do here. Our family has a FF booking with QF next year, MEL->SYD->SFO. The problem is that when we booked, the only MEL->SYD flight the call centre would book us on arrived only 2 1/4 hours before the international connection. We have called several times since and they say there are no other award flights. This is despite the fact there must be 10 flights that day that we could otherwise book with a separate award booking. It seems there is some rule about which domestic flights can be linked to an international booking. (This seems to be why we needed call centre assistance to book in the first place, because ever other combination we tried fell over at the last step of booking.)
To make matters worse, Qantas recently cancelled our domestic flight and put us on a later flight, reducing the time to exactly 2 hours and they still won't change our flight to an earlier one.
That's 2 hours (actually 1 hour given check in closes 1 hour before the flight) to account for delays, get off the plane, get our luggage, change terminals, check in and clear immigration. Certainly no time for dinner in the Amex or Qantas lounge as I hoped, but more importantly a big risk of missing the flight.
Does anyone have any tips on what we should do? I know we could just book a separate flight to SYD, but that is another 8000 points each so I don't feel we should have to.
Thanks

The minimum connection time at SYD from Domestic to International is 90 minutes.
What they have booked meets that.

You will be checked into both flights at MEL and your luggage sent through to final destination. You don’t recheck at SYD.

If everything goes well then there should be no problems but having said that you can definitely keep trying the call Centre until you get Hobart or Auckland as these agents should be able to change you to an earlier flight if there is availability.

 

[Hvr]

I know we could just book a separate flight to SYD

First up, do not book another flight. If you miss the first flight on your original booking the remiander of the booking will be cancelled.


I see you're due to travel next year. There will be changes to the ticket before then.and closer to the date there are other options that will be help to remedy the issue.

 

[Rich]

Thanks @Hvr @Princess Fiona @MEL_Traveller for the quick replies.
I guess I will keep trying for the local call centres. We tend to call after work and get South Africa - who overall have been excellent, things have improved.
The person I spoke to yesterday (Philippines?) last night told me that our bags wouldn't be checked through but I will take Fiona's word for it that they will - that is a bit of a relief. However we still will push for an earlier flight - less stress and like I said, I would like to visit a lounge in Sydney to eat prior to a 9:55 pm flight. The only question is, Centurion or Qantas? I am thinking Centurion!

 

[Pushka]

Thanks @Hvr @Princess Fiona @MEL_Traveller for the quick replies.
I guess I will keep trying for the local call centres. We tend to call after work and get South Africa - who overall have been excellent, things have improved.
The person I spoke to yesterday (Philippines?) last night told me that our bags wouldn't be checked through but I will take Fiona's word for it that they will - that is a bit of a relief. However we still will push for an earlier flight - less stress and like I said, I would like to visit a lounge in Sydney to eat prior to a 9:55 pm flight. The only question is, Centurion or Qantas? I am thinking Centurion!

Your bags will be checked through to SFO. Try getting seats close to the exit and onto the bus asap. Try to avoid using the bathrooms until in International to speed things up.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks @Hvr @Princess Fiona @MEL_Traveller for the quick replies.
I guess I will keep trying for the local call centres. We tend to call after work and get South Africa - who overall have been excellent, things have improved.
The person I spoke to yesterday (Philippines?) last night told me that our bags wouldn't be checked through but I will take Fiona's word for it that they will - that is a bit of a relief. However we still will push for an earlier flight - less stress and like I said, I would like to visit a lounge in Sydney to eat prior to a 9:55 pm flight. The only question is, Centurion or Qantas? I am thinking Centurion!

I can also confirm your bags will be checked through.

If you are platinum status or above you should have a chance of getting through to the australian or new zealand call centre. If you are gold or below your chances of getting those centres are zero.

Apparently the Qantas lounge at sydney is better than the Amex lounge according to my friend who goes through there semi-regularly.

If you are in business class the food is better on board by a long shot.

 

[Rich]

I can also confirm your bags will be checked through.

If you are platinum status or above you should have a chance of getting through to the australian or new zealand call centre. If you are gold or below your chances of getting those centres are zero.

Apparently the Qantas lounge at sydney is better than the Amex lounge according to my friend who goes through there semi-regularly.

If you are in business class the food is better on board by a long shot.

I don't know if you are just rubbing it in! No way we could get 5 business class seats (as lowly Bronze), though we had the points. I am happy enough to take the kids economy and save the points on a trip for 2. The lounge choice may just come down whether we have QF passes that are close to expiring. Our Amex passes otherwise go unused.

 

[vetrade]

I would like to visit a lounge in Sydney to eat prior to a 9:55 pm flight. The only question is, Centurion or Qantas? I am thinking Centurion!

We had high expectations when we visited the SYD AMEX lounge a few months ago but it was a big disappointment - poor range of food options etc. We soon headed to the QF lounge which was definitely better (although even it could be improved)
QF have been blocking most reward availability on domestic routes for pax with connecting international reward bookings for at least 6 months IME. It's a deliberate decision by QF to show their customers how much they are appreciated!

 

[Rich]

QF have been blocking most reward availability on domestic routes for pax with connecting international reward bookings for at least 6 months IME. It's a deliberate decision by QF to show their customers how much they are appreciated!

It is a bit strange. What is their motivation? If it is to reduce the chance of people using points, then unfair enough. The only other reasons I can think of are to make it more efficient handling baggage to get it to the second flight, but I would have thought the negatives might outweigh that (i.e. risk of passengers missing a flight).
Anyone else done the sprint at LAX to get the connecting JFK QF flight? That was fun, but at least there was no bus involved.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

It is a bit strange. What is their motivation? If it is to reduce the chance of people using points, then unfair enough. The only other reasons I can think of are to make it more efficient handling baggage to get it to the second flight, but I would have thought the negatives might outweigh that (i.e. risk of passengers missing a flight).
Anyone else done the sprint at LAX to get the connecting JFK QF flight? That was fun, but at least there was no bus involved.

It’s the same motivation as other revenue control… commercial.

It you can’t get SYD-SIN return, but can find a flight back into BNE or MEL, instead of including the last leg back to SYD as part of the points band they will charge you an extra 8000 points in economy, or 18000 points in business. Bumps up the one way redemption from 68k to 86k.

 

[OATEK]

As discussed on another thread, it is possible to have a domestic leg if offered in the search. I have LHR-PER-MEL-SYD involving QF1, QF10 and QF498. This came up in a SYD-LHR-SYD search, and presumably yield management were looking to up the bookings on QF10 at the time (for May 2023). On my last trip I had QF2/52/509 as the return legs of SYD-LHR-SYD. At the time they must have wanted to increase bookings on QF52, because we saved $1500 over booking QF2 straight through. But doing a multi-city to get the same LHR-BNE-SYD (because I was looking for a later flight home out of BNE) did not work.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

As discussed on another thread, it is possible to have a domestic leg if offered in the search. I have LHR-PER-MEL-SYD involving QF1, QF10 and QF498. This came up in a SYD-LHR-SYD search, and presumably yield management were looking to up the bookings on QF10 at the time (for May 2023). On my last trip I had QF2/52/509 as the return legs of SYD-LHR-SYD. At the time they must have wanted to increase bookings on QF52, because we saved $1500 over booking QF2 straight through. But doing a multi-city to get the same LHR-BNE-SYD (because I was looking for a later flight home out of BNE) did not work.

If offered in the ‘standard’ search yes, which is good. But if using multi-city it will offer the domestic connections, but error out when you try to book

 

[Rich]

It’s the same motivation as other revenue control… commercial.

It you can’t get SYD-SIN return, but can find a flight back into BNE or MEL, instead of including the last leg back to SYD as part of the points band they will charge you an extra 8000 points in economy, or 18000 points in business. Bumps up the one way redemption from 68k to 86k.

In my case, points and taxes are the same. They could still limit the number of domestic tickets linking to the international connect, just not be so restrictive about which domestic flight.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

In my case, points and taxes are the same. They could still limit the number of domestic tickets linking to the international connect, just not be so restrictive about which domestic flight.

Yes, points are the same in your case because it was an offered connection. QF is willing to sell that to you. Attempt to go outside the ‘pre-authorised’ connections and you run into trouble. And there’s really no reason for it except commercial gain.

 

[Princess Fiona]

My recent experience is different with adding on a domestic sector. No trouble whatsoever.

Had QF yield management/VIP team open up a J seat Award on LAX-MEL and when calling to ticket it was offered pretty much any connecting MEL-SYD that I wanted on arrival.
This was the HBA call centre.

 

[serfty]

My recent experience is different with adding on a domestic sector. No trouble whatsoever.

The problem is when you try to book online without calling.

Last month I flew from SYD to BKK with a MEL-SYD connection the evening before. Travelling up the day before was a better option with the BKK flight boarding at 9am and the earliest same day flight from MEL arriving 8:35am. I was able to book this as a single award online using multi city.

Currently the same cannot readily be done online. As per @MEL_Traveller you select the flights but it errors out at the PNR creation stage (after confirming traveller details). You need to call and pray you get HBA.

 

[djkelly69]

My recent experience is different with adding on a domestic sector. No trouble whatsoever.

Given your status, the associated benefits, and the call centre you have access to, it is little wonder your experience is quite different to others.

 

[Princess Fiona]

Given your status, the associated benefits, and the call centre you have access to, it is little wonder your experience is quite different to others.

Oh I completely concur.
But I don’t think QF is shouting me a free domestic connection that goes outside what they would normally offer and expect to make extra money or points redemptions on.

I think the lack of connections online coupled with QF off shore call agents competence is the issue.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Oh I completely concur.
But I don’t think QF is shouting me a free domestic connection that goes outside what they would normally offer and expect to make extra money or points redemptions on.

I think the lack of connections online coupled with QF off shore call agents competence is the issue.

I think it’s a case of ‘above and beyond’ for platinums and P1s.

The connecting flights can be booked by themselves.

The kicker is that when I asked the agent to start by booking the domestic sector the system then errored out the international sectors… the agent suddenly couldn’t see te international flights they had seen 30 seconds before.

So it’s a deliberate tweak to the system that won’t allow the two to be booked together, unless offered from the outset.

HBA/AKL may have an override to get around it, but they ain’t sharing it with anywhere else!