Sydney International Transfer & Missed Connection Insurance

[ronone69]

Have transfered many times between domestic an international in Sydney from Melbourne flights

I would NEVER allow less than 1.5 hours

I would highly recomend you change your flight from Brisbane to an earlier flight

Although QF and other airlines will book 1 hour transfers in my view this is unrealistic anywhere - even in SIN which is the best airport in the world. I should say we did have a 50 miniute transafer recently in LA - QF - JFK->LAX - this first flight was 10 mins late (astually left 1 hour late but was a very quick flight) - but we were up the front of the plane which made it easier. We made the Melb connection but onlyjust (and so did our luggage surprisingly !!!) although the flight from LAX ->MEL left 20 mins late

 

[Ev1dent]

One of the risks with transfering via SYD is the bus across to the int'l terminal. They are supposed to be more frequent, but I waited 40mins back in June and I've had several other long delays waiting to get to T1.
In June, the 40 min wait for the bus, together with a CBR-SYD flight that ran 30 mins late cut my time in the lounge for lunch down to just 5 mins, but I still made my flight. If possible I now transfer via Melbourne so I can just walk between terminals and it is usually less bust than Sydney. I realise that this advice doesn't help the OP, but perhaps others may find it useful.

 

[markis10]

Have transfered many times between domestic an international in Sydney from Melbourne flights

I would NEVER allow less than 1.5 hours

I would highly recomend you change your flight from Brisbane to an earlier flight

Although QF and other airlines will book 1 hour transfers in my view this is unrealistic anywhere - even in SIN which is the best airport in the world. I should say we did have a 50 miniute transafer recently in LA - QF - JFK->LAX - this first flight was 10 mins late (astually left 1 hour late but was a very quick flight) - but we were up the front of the plane which made it easier. We made the Melb connection but onlyjust (and so did our luggage surprisingly !!!) although the flight from LAX ->MEL left 20 mins late

As already posted, in the OPs case there is no earlier flight, at the moment there are quite a few international flights where the only transfer option is the first flight of the day at 5AM, which has a 7.30 arrival.

 

[NM]

As already posted, in the OPs case there is no earlier flight, at the moment there are quite a few international flights where the only transfer option is the first flight of the day at 5AM, which has a 7.30 arrival.

For such morning international departures from SYD, I prefer to fly from BNE the night before and overnight at one of the SYD airport hotels. That also ensure enough time in the morning for the Eggs Benedict at the FLounge

 

[markis10]

For such morning international departures from SYD, I prefer to fly from BNE the night before and overnight at one of the SYD airport hotels. That also ensure enough time in the morning for the Eggs Benedict at the FLounge

I do the same, far more civilised than those 5AM flights, mind you on Tuesdays you do have the option of QF20 if you want to take the transfer out of the equation.

 

[Buck]

For such morning international departures from SYD, I prefer to fly from BNE the night before and overnight at one of the SYD airport hotels. That also ensure enough time in the morning for the Eggs Benedict at the FLounge

I looked into this option as well - as I was nervous about the flight. But the last flight out of Brisbane I could find was pretty early. Without going back to my notes I think it was 8:00 or 8:30 pm.

Work commitments prohibit me from making this flight.

With the hand I have been dealt I'm going to have to stick with the first flight out of Brisbane and hope that there are no delays at any point in the journey. Gotta just relax and put faith in QANTAS.

I am now tossing up whether to self-insure and buy the fully flexible ViginBlue SYD>QXN seats (circa $1300 for 2). This flight leaves 1hr after the QANTAS flight. I could then look to cancel these in the morning if the QANTAS flight appears to be an ontime departure from Brisbane and the connection likely - the flight credits would then be available for use at some other point within 12 months.

 

[kiwitripper64]

Good luck with the trip. You should be ok.
Tell the check-in staff that you have a tight transferand check if any others on plane are in same situation.
Tell the cabin crew that you are on tight transfer. They may be able to get you all off the plane quicker and might be able to alert connecting bus.

If all this fails, assess how important it is to get to Queenstown. Options include DJ or Air New Zealand direct to ZQN (ANZ dept SYD 10am). Or fly to NZ and try to get to ZQN. If all this fails fly to NZ then Christchurch and rent a car. About 5 hrs

 

[markis10]

I looked into this option as well - as I was nervous about the flight. But the last flight out of Brisbane I could find was pretty early. Without going back to my notes I think it was 8:00 or 8:30 pm.

Work commitments prohibit me from making this flight.

With the hand I have been dealt I'm going to have to stick with the first flight out of Brisbane and hope that there are no delays at any point in the journey. Gotta just relax and put faith in QANTAS.

I am now tossing up whether to self-insure and buy the fully flexible ViginBlue SYD>QXN seats (circa $1300 for 2). This flight leaves 1hr after the QANTAS flight. I could then look to cancel these in the morning if the QANTAS flight appears to be an ontime departure from Brisbane and the connection likely - the flight credits would then be available for use at some other point within 12 months.

You are going way over the top with this, Qantas will more than likely hold the flight for you if you are late & will do a better job at getting you there than you possibly can should it go pear shaped.

Your Virgin Blue flight option is probably not as good insurance as you think unless the weather is good, as Virgin Blue cannot approach ZQN in weather anywhere near as bad as Air NZ and QF/JQ can, because they are not yet approved for the specific approach (its a long process and no fault of DJ).

I really do think you are overreacting, in my experience in such situations, an attempt to do something will often make the situation worse. You are flying on a full service carrier, let them provide that service.

 

[Buck]

You are going way over the top with this, Qantas will more than likely hold the flight for you if you are late & will do a better job at getting you there than you possibly can should it go pear shaped.

Your Virgin Blue flight option is probably not as good insurance as you think unless the weather is good, as Virgin Blue cannot approach ZQN in weather anywhere near as bad as Air NZ and QF/JQ can, because they are not yet approved for the specific approach (its a long process and no fault of DJ).

I really do think you are overreacting, in my experience in such situations, an attempt to do something will often make the situation worse. You are flying on a full service carrier, let them provide that service.

Thanks - that's great advice! Thanks to this and recent posts I'm much happier to let nature take its course, and put faith in QANTAS. As an earlier post suggested - its probably in their interest to hold the flight if it looks like there is only a few minutes difference. If due to bad karma there is going to be greater than a 1hr delay the virgin flight wont help us anyway - and will need to work towards a plan B.

Thanks to another post I've copied down all other flight options - so should be well armed with facts if the worse comes to worse.

First time I've ever contributed a question to this site - thumbs up to all those who have had a view to share. This is a great site! Sincere thanks.

 

[NM]

I looked into this option as well - as I was nervous about the flight. But the last flight out of Brisbane I could find was pretty early. Without going back to my notes I think it was 8:00 or 8:30 pm.

Well you have Qld's lack of daylight savings and SYD's curfew to thank for that situation.

 

[jb747]

A few thoughts.

QF may hold an aircraft if sufficient people are on a delayed service. But, if only a couple, then I wouldn't hold my breath.

Queentown's operating limits have little to do with airport lighting, but lots to do with the fact that it is in a valley surrounded by rather large rocks. Approaches are all GPS based, and quite complex. All approaches and departures also have to make allowance for engine failures, and incorporate 'escape' procedures. It's really the sort of place I'd rather not be in the dark.....

I have need to cross between international and domestic on a very regular basis. I never check luggage, and so don't have to wait for that, but anything less than 90 minutes always has a question mark against it. If I'm going to work, and I need to be there before noon, I always go up the night before. Delays, especially weather ones, tend to ripple through the system, and it can take quite a while to get rid of the effects.

 

[econgdon]

I think the main problem you have to worry about is that the whole thing is in the southern hemisphere, where it is all so slow. I recently travelled to Istanbul and changed airlines with only 45 minutes connection to Kiev Ukraine, without too much fuss. Actually I checked in online for the Kiev connection with Turkish whilst in the transit lounge in Singapore with Singapore airlines . Make sure you check in online for all legs if you can, and only have carry on and you should be right.

 

[Buck]

I've just booked a flight through Qantas website Brisbane to Queenstown via Sydney for next year.

The connection time between the two flights is only 60 minutes. I've been in contact with Qantas and they have confirmed that this is a legal connection time - but I have read on other posts on this forum that this is likely to be cutting this fine. Everything would have to go right in order to make the next flight.

I happend to be in Sydney today - so thought I would get some advice direct from the international transfer desk. QANTAS staff were excellent - but they did confide that the BNE > Queenstown connection is one of their weekly nightmares. Why do QANTAS do this to themselves? They confimred that the 60 minute window is very tight - but legal - and that the best advice they could give me was 'don't muck around'.

They did say that they usually hold the inter-terminal bus for the BNE passengers, but they also said that its rare that the Queenstown flight is held up for transfering passengers.

The trick they said was to get to the transfer desk ASAP - and ask for the 'get through immigtaion quickly' card. Also have the imigration cards filled out before you get there. 9 times out of 10 people make the connection (just).

With the first flight out of Brisbane - so unless there is a weather event things should be ok. Fingers crossed.

 

[eastwest101]

Good info there Buck. By late Nov-early Dec I will be able to give my opinions about the OP question.

I will be holidaying in SYD for a few days before getting the 10am Air NZ flight to Queenstown, and although the Air NZ flights were competative - I had to book a return Air NZ flight from Queenstown via Auckland to BNE because of problems getting any flights from BNE back home to TSV. BTW - has anyone else noticed some big discrepencies between QF and Air NZ prices to Queenstown?

Looked into flying back to Sydney but it seems physically impossible to originate in Queenstown and end up in Townsville on the same day with time zone differences and lask of DST in Qld.

This means my immigration/customs pain is transferred from SYD to BNE for return flights but at least I get home to TSV on the same day that we leave Queenstown.

 

[samh004]

so unless there is a weather event things should be ok. Fingers crossed.

There’s quite often fog in the winter…

BTW - has anyone else noticed some big discrepencies between QF and Air NZ prices to Queenstown?

If you want to see a bigger gap, have a look at Pacific Blue… you may as well look around. And come next year, JQ will be flying direct from a number of cities, sale fares around $129.

 

[Buck]

The connection time between the two flights is only 60 minutes. I've been in contact with Qantas and they have confirmed that this is a legal connection time - but I have read on other posts on this forum that this is likely to be cutting this fine. Everything would have to go right in order to make the next flight.

To complete the circle - just thought I would share the reality of the day. Flight out of Brisbane left about 2 minutes late. We were also a few minutes late getting into Sydney as there was a hold up at the gate ... we were also a fair way back in the plane, so by the time we actually got into the terminal we were nearly 9 minutes behind the expected 'arrival time'.

I was feeling pretty stressed - but we made our way quickly to the International Transfer Desk - and I asked for one of the 'Priority Passes' for Immigration. Had to wait another 7-8 minutes for the Bus.

When we got to the International Terminal, the que was pretty big - but the Priority Pass helped us get through quick. Having pre-filled out the departure card saved heaps of time.

We then had to walk (nee run) quickly to get to the gate ... as we arrived it opened. Collapsed into our seats.

Long story short -- we made the flight, stressful but do-able. Shows though that we were probably only 10-15 minutes off missing the flight. One or 2 other small hiccups like missing the bus, or delays at a gate or immigration would have meant a bad outcome. Not an experience I would recommend if you have no tollerance for stress and no plan B. Queenstown though was great! Worth all the effort!

The irony of the story -- is that on the return flight our Queenstown departure was delayed due to some tool driving his baggage ramp into the side of the plane -- and we missed our Sydney connection on the way home. Not that it matters as there is a SYD-BNE flight usually every 30 minutes or so during peak. And top think all along I was most concerned about the flights to get there.