Reduced layover time at YVR - should I change my flight?

[lisa31jane]

We are booked (using Qantas) next January flying from Kelowna to Vancouver (Westjet, but booked with Qantas) onto Sydney (Qantas).
Westjet have changed their flight time, now giving us only 85 minutes layover before the 8pm flight home.

As it is mid-winter I am concerned that small airline delays may result in us missing the QF home. I appreciate that if we miss it will be "taken care of" by Qantas but as there is no direct flight from Vancouver the next day we would be re-routed via LAX.

What are everyone's thoughts - should I request changing the flight to an earlier arrival into Vancouver giving us a 3 hour grace period?

 

[RooFlyer]

I definitely would change. When flying from Calgary to Vancouver in winter, I always allowed 4 hours or more in YVR before my international connection. A small airport like Kelowna, presumably with a small-ish aircraft would be more susceptible to delays, not only taking off due to local conditions, but being denied a landing spot in YVR.

 

[Mattg]

The standard Minimum Connection Time at YVR for a domestic>international transit is actually 90 minutes. So yes, you should request an earlier flight into Vancouver and Qantas ought to entertain your request.

 

[ozbeachbabe]

If 90 mins is the MCT and you now only have 85 mins then they shouldn't fob you off saying "85 minutes is fine."

Maybe do the online chat thing- if you hover anywhere over the QF website a chat box should appear.

Always save the chat transcript as a pdf doc which you can refer back to at a later date if required.

 

[lisa31jane]

Thanks for your input. I agree with your thoughts - and Qantas were fantastic, rang customer service and they changed it over so we now have 3.5 hour layover. Without that I would have spent the entire trip stressing we'd miss our flight home.

 

[RooFlyer]

YVR isn't a bad place to spend a few hours in; will you have any lounge access? There's a big fishtank in the general waiting area which is quite mesmerising!

There's also the 'airtrain' from the terminal into the city. You probably won't have time to use it, but have a look. I wouldn't go right downtown; there's a bunch of restaurants and coffee shops at Yaletown-Roundhouse if you wanted to zip out and in.