BNE-SYD-LHR time questions

[MonteCristo]

Hi all.

In the next 3-4 weeks I'm hoping to score myself and my +1 some QFF reward seats from Brisbane to London in April 2024.

Unless routing changes in the meantime, things would likely look like this:

• Brisbane 11:10 - Sydney 13:45
• Sydney 17:00 - London (Heathrow) 06:15

A 3-hour connection should be more than enough in an ideal world, with time for a lounge visit to start the holiday on the right foot. But I have a few questions. (Prepare for my neuroticism about time to come to the fore.)

- To save baggage carousel time, can we send our checked baggage directly on to the QF1 flight from BNE? Or do we have to collect it at SYD domestic, and then re-check-in for the international flight?
- Worst case scenario - our BNE-SYD flight is badly delayed. As connecting Qantas passengers, will things be held up for us to make the QF1 flight?
- No earlier departure flights from BNE appear in the Qantas system for a BNE-LHR booking (though there are naturally earlier BNE-SYD flights). Is it possible to contact Qantas directly to request a change to catch a flight an hour earlier?

Haven't done long-haul international travel for a long, long (long) time. So hoping it all goes smoothly and it quickly becomes old hat .

Thanks for your help. (And hopefully reassurance!)

 

[Quickstatus]

Bags will check through assuming same day transfer.

Very rarely will flights wait for delayed passengers. You should assume your onward flights will not wait if you are delayed

You can book separate tickets BNE-SYD and SYD-LHR and the bags will still be checked through assuming same day connection.

Yes you can ring up after booking your BNE-LHR via SYD to request an earlier flight. They may or may not give it to you. Usually they are Ok with it

 

[openseat]

Hi all.

In the next 3-4 weeks I'm hoping to score myself and my +1 some QFF reward seats from Brisbane to London in April 2024.

Unless routing changes in the meantime, things would likely look like this:

• Brisbane 11:10 - Sydney 13:45
• Sydney 17:00 - London (Heathrow) 06:15

A 3-hour connection should be more than enough in an ideal world, with time for a lounge visit to start the holiday on the right foot. But I have a few questions. (Prepare for my neuroticism about time to come to the fore.)

- To save baggage carousel time, can we send our checked baggage directly on to the QF1 flight from BNE? Or do we have to collect it at SYD domestic, and then re-check-in for the international flight?
- Worst case scenario - our BNE-SYD flight is badly delayed. As connecting Qantas passengers, will things be held up for us to make the QF1 flight?
- No earlier departure flights from BNE appear in the Qantas system for a BNE-LHR booking (though there are naturally earlier BNE-SYD flights). Is it possible to contact Qantas directly to request a change to catch a flight an hour earlier?

Haven't done long-haul international travel for a long, long (long) time. So hoping it all goes smoothly and it quickly becomes old hat .

Thanks for your help. (And hopefully reassurance!)

Last year I flew BNE-SYD-FCO and was concerned about the connection in Sydney. I just turned up early enough to check in for the flight before the one booked and the agent at the international transfer desk in BNE was happy to put me on the earlier flight.

 

[MonteCristo]

Bags will check through assuming same day transfer.

Very rarely will flights wait for delayed passengers. You should assume your onward flights will not wait if you are delayed

You can book separate tickets BNE-SYD and SYD-LHR and the bags will still be checked through assuming same day connection.

Yes you can ring up after booking your BNE-LHR via SYD to request an earlier flight. They may or may not give it to you. Usually they are Ok with it

Thanks very much.

Yeah, I figured that would be the case re: delays (unless there was a large number of people delayed on the same earlier flight).

Good to know. I think I'll try that and call when the time comes. There's an earlier 10:15am flight that you wouldn't think would be crazy full (especially 11 months in advance) for the business day travellers. That way if there was a delay/cancellation, hopefully they'd then be able to get us on one of the two following flights that should get us there in time.

 

[justinbrett]

Yes you can ring up after booking your BNE-LHR via SYD to request an earlier flight. They may or may not give it to you. Usually they are Ok with it

That is bad advice. Qantas will rarely (if ever) change a legal connection to facilitate a longer one.

- No earlier departure flights from BNE appear in the Qantas system for a BNE-LHR booking (though there are naturally earlier BNE-SYD flights). Is it possible to contact Qantas directly to request a change to catch a flight an hour earlier?

Do a multi city booking for BNE-SYD then SYD-LHR, same date is fine, you will get the full choice of flights from Brisbane for the day. As long as there is a less than 24 hour connection in SYD it will price the same.

If you get errors call up and do it over the phone and get them to waive the service fees because of the errors. Don’t book flights you don’t want and expect them to change it for free, they won’t (unless the fare conditions allow).

 

[Quickstatus]

That is bad advice. Qantas will rarely (if ever) change a legal connection to facilitate a longer one.

Whatever....
Ive changed a shorter initial sector several times so the chances of missing a longer sector is less after booking as a Classic Rewards or $
Never had issues, but I would not assume they will always come to the party - they are obviously not obligated to do so

I have asked for an eariier flight without issue in the past for the SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LAX ( I think 2-3 times), and one time a SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LHR (QF9 A380 service)

 

[MonteCristo]

Do a multi city booking for BNE-SYD then SYD-LHR, same date is fine, you will get the full choice of flights from Brisbane for the day. As long as there is a less than 24 hour connection in SYD it will price the same.

Thank you sir - that certainly seems to do the trick.

Have a lovely Saturday.

 

[justinbrett]

Whatever....
Ive changed a shorter initial sector several times so the chances of missing a longer sector is less after booking as a Classic Rewards or $
Never had issues, but I would not assume they will always come to the party - they are obviously not obligated to do so

I have asked for an eariier flight without issue in the past for the SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LAX ( I think 2-3 times), and one time a SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LHR (QF9 A380 service)

How long ago?

In any case why take the risk. Just book it right from the get-go.

Thank you sir - that certainly seems to do the trick.

Have a lovely Saturday.

Happy to help!

 

[Quickstatus]

How long ago?

In any case why take the risk. Just book it right from the get-go.

Last one was just a few months prior to initial NSW Covid lockdown
Sure, but sometimes you want/need to change. For me it was a matter of grabbing whatever flights I could find and sort out the MEL ground time later. There is not a lot of time at 11am during a workday. The revenue one was acceptable ground time initially but I thought why not take an earlier flight out to increase MEL FLounge time.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Whatever....
Ive changed a shorter initial sector several times so the chances of missing a longer sector is less after booking as a Classic Rewards or $
Never had issues, but I would not assume they will always come to the party - they are obviously not obligated to do so

I have asked for an eariier flight without issue in the past for the SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LAX ( I think 2-3 times), and one time a SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LHR (QF9 A380 service)

Status?

i have at least half a dozen data points for non-status pax, or those on the lower levels, where the call centre refuses to even consider an earlier flight, despite short connection times. In every case the pax turning up early at MEL got the desired results!

 

[Quickstatus]

Status?

One was SG and the rest WP.

I have not tried turning up requesting an earlier flight at SYD.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

One was SG and the rest WP.

I have not tried turning up requesting an earlier flight at SYD.

I think the platinum works in your favour here. Bronze and silver likely to have zero chance in getting a ‘free’ transfer to an earlier flight (the o/s call centres would see this as a flight change worth $$… not to be given away!)

 

[justinbrett]

I think you might have some luck turning up to the airport, but my recent experience changing over the phone (since CPT taking over most of the call centre) is it’s an automatic change fee calculated by the system, and if you say you need it changed because it’s not long enough, they just quote the MCT and say you have enough time.

Yes the agents in HBA might help a WP but even that is a gamble being able to speak to a HBA agent.

There’s a clear way to avoid this situation which I explained, and happy to hear it worked for the OP.

Status?

i have at least half a dozen data points for non-status pax, or those on the lower levels, where the call centre refuses to even consider an earlier flight, despite short connection times. In every case the pax turning up early at MEL got the desired results!

Yes there’s countless threads here on AFF of people saying they weren’t allowed to change in this situation.

 

[Andy72]

Whatever....
Ive changed a shorter initial sector several times so the chances of missing a longer sector is less after booking as a Classic Rewards or $
Never had issues, but I would not assume they will always come to the party - they are obviously not obligated to do so

I have asked for an eariier flight without issue in the past for the SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LAX ( I think 2-3 times), and one time a SYD-MEL sector of a SYD-MEL-LHR (QF9 A380 service)

I have done this but with the last chat to a Hobart agent they said it would be much harder for them to do once the fly flexible policy ended. She did move it forward but had to force the ticketing, not sure another call center would have managed