Having to pay for Sydney transfer as flying Jetstar and not Qantas

[casanovawa]

Maybe i'm not seeing something but a bit peeved that today i flew into the international terminal at Sydney and as my next flight was a jetstar flight i couldn't access the complimentary Qantas shuttle to the domestic terminal... Again are they one company/group or do they only cooperate when it suits them (aka offering jetstar flights on QF's website) but not for other srevices and how are you supposed to tell which is which ahead of time??? I have not transferred terminals very often at Sydney and the domestic to international seems free (not sure if this applies to people arriving on jetstar?) so why not vice versa?

Also the flight from Johannesburg, really have to say the QF 747 was a bit superannuated, a ripped seat pocket, rubber on top of arm rest coming off (had to do some running repairs) and seemed like half the movies on the ife wouldn't play... I hear people complain about BA but the flight from Chicago to LHR on one of their 777s was a dream compared...

Also talking about superannuated, there was a guy hostie (whatever they are called) and he must have been in his 50s with a touch of crotchety to go along with it... I mean i am for older people getting out there and staying out there and doing things and i know its hard for them in the job market, but this was the oldest male, or probably gender, hostie that i think i have seen and fairs fair that we sometimes talk about the females...

 

[markis10]

Frankly its not a big deal IMHO re the transfer, the train is just as easy and sometimes less of a hassle for $5. As for the plane and faulty IFE, make a complaint, and as for the male crew member, I often find them well placed to deal with issues, more so than younger people, I am glad they are onboard to be frank.

 

[travelislife]

Casanovawa I have to agree with you regarding the transfer. It is ridiculous and it is a result of the whole privatising of Australia's airports, it is bad enough being a local, imagine a tourist flies in and goes to transfer and has to dig around for change in a foreign currency, when they may be getting picked up at their destination airport, it is just the start of bad service in Australia.

Also agree on your points regarding Jetstar and Qantas, they purely use the link between the two when it is convenient and then try and distance themselves in all other ways.

markis10, I wouldn't care if the bus/train was only $1 I still think it is the principle of it.

 

[mannej]

Did the FA do anything wrong or are you just complaining about his age?

 

[casanovawa]

Well it was just more annoying as i had just got back from 2.5 months overseas and had no cash, and as my wallet got lost/knicked in Buenos Aries and the friggin bank stuffed up sending me replacement cards i had to go and get money out as a cash advance on a credit card at $2.50 to get the $5.50 fare... smalls bickies i know in terms of money, but more annoying on the principle thing... Seems a reasonably simple straight forward process to transfer from the domestic to the international terminals, why the hassle and stuff vice versa?? I could understand if i was flying a completely different airline...

I think i heard the bus driver say DJ offers a transfer with some sort of wrist band so is Jetstar the only one who doesn't???

 

[casanovawa]

Well i tried to talk to him about the ife entertainment not working properly, as i said i did get a bit of the crotchety routine from him, took the control off me and proceeded to tell me how to suck eggs to get a movie up and that it would all be working fine soon, which it never did but i just couldn't be bothered going back and rehashing it all...

But i wasn't actually complaining about him, i was just saying for all the quips you get about older Qantas female bingo hall hosties, this guy was right up there with them, or older...

 

[thewinchester]

I can see the OP's point on the shuttle service. There would be nothing stopping them from at least going halfway, allowing QF to pocket some extra revenue by allowing transferring JQ pax to prepay for the service.

For no more than a gold coin, they could offer the service, and even 50pax paying a day brings in AUD700 a week. Would at least offset a substantial portion their fuel costs on the service, plus achieve better utilization. The number of buses crossing the apron next to empty a times is a little disturbing.

But not allowing use full stop is silly. Creates a bad pax experience all round, for JQ and the QF Group at large.

 

[medhead]

The train costs $5, paid the transfer fee myself today. (much better than the usual $13.40 to get to the city ) Also more bad news cityrail/ airport link take visa and MasterCard.

 

[kpc]

The train costs $5, paid the transfer fee myself today. (much better than the usual $13.40 to get to the city ) Also more bad news cityrail/ airport link take visa and MasterCard.

I'm pretty sure they take AMEX as well....well, they did when I last bought a train ticket at the airport terminal.

 

[JohnK]

Interesting how often Qantas embraces Jetstar as a parent does a child and how often they treat them as a total stranger.

I know a couple of AFF want to be able to purchase QF and JQ tickets together but the majoirty it is a huge burden. Personally i wish QF would not show JQ flights as it takes up so many of the available QF options that could have been offered.

 

[Simo]

The transfer buses are never full.

You would think the Bus driver/gate attendants would let you just go through...

 

[serfty]

Until recently (several months ago?) all you needed was to be inbound on, or transferring to, a oneworld/Qantas flight. This has indeed change to "transferring to" only; irrespective of the inbound.

I do note the Domestic to International has not changed; still just need to be outbound on, or transferring from, a oneworld/Qantas flight.

 

[Austman]

The transfer is only between T1 (international) and T3 (Qantas domestic, air-side).

I've never seen checked-in luggage on the bus. Is it even designed to handle checked-in luggage? So the limitation might have a bit to do with the passenger's eligibility to through check luggage.

For T3 -> T1 all passengers at the bus would not have any checked-in luggage with them as they are not allowed air-side with it. JQ passengers with collected checked-in luggage arriving at T2 could not even get to the bus gate.

For T1 -> T3 they could not realistically allow passengers with collected checked-in luggage onto the bus for the same reason - they would arrive air-side with it at T3.

For for passengers with hand luggage only I suppose they could allow it. Or change the bus route so it leaves and arrives land-side at T3.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Well it was just more annoying as i had just got back from 2.5 months overseas and had no cash, and as my wallet got lost/knicked in Buenos Aries and the friggin bank stuffed up sending me replacement cards i had to go and get money out as a cash advance on a credit card at $2.50 to get the $5.50 fare... smalls bickies i know in terms of money, but more annoying on the principle thing... Seems a reasonably simple straight forward process to transfer from the domestic to the international terminals, why the hassle and stuff vice versa?? I could understand if i was flying a completely different airline.

But you were; Qantas and Jetstar will be the same when they want to and different when they don't want to, confusing yes.

Why did you get a cash advance when you can buy the ticket with credit card.

The train costs $5, paid the transfer fee myself today. (much better than the usual $13.40 to get to the city ) Also more bad news cityrail/ airport link take visa and MasterCard.

10 days ago the price of the ticket from Domestic to any of the City Stations, or Kings Cross is $15.00 and from International terminal the price is $15.80. Transport Prices For Airport Link :: Airport Link service is about every 15 minutes and its a 19 minute run to Circular Quay.

 

[markis10]

10 days ago the price of the ticket from Domestic to any of the City Stations, or Kings Cross is $15.00 and from International terminal the price is $15.80. Transport Prices For Airport Link :: Airport Link service is about every 15 minutes and its a 19 minute run to Circular Quay.

We are talking about the domestic transfer to international, which costs $5 on the train. I found buying a Multi 1 and a domestic gate pass very attractive when needing to spend a few days in town week before last that involved three trips to the airport, one of which was an F lounge run and the other to upset the DJ lounge staff by asking for more than one beer on a Friday night!

 

[medhead]

For T3 -> T1 all passengers at the bus would not have any checked-in luggage with them as they are not allowed air-side with it. JQ passengers with collected checked-in luggage arriving at T2 could not even get to the bus gate.

Provided luggage to be checked in can pass domestic screening there is no reason that a passenger arriving at T2 can't use the bus, in theory ignoring rating of the bus to carry the luggage.

10 days ago the price of the ticket from Domestic to any of the City Stations, or Kings Cross is $15.00 and from International terminal the price is $15.80. Transport Prices For Airport Link :: Airport Link service is about every 15 minutes and its a 19 minute run to Circular Quay.

I advance purchase my tickets from airport link @$13.40 each way.

We are talking about the domestic transfer to international, which costs $5 on the train. I found buying a Multi 1 and a domestic gate pass very attractive when needing to spend a few days in town week before last that involved three trips to the airport, one of which was an F lounge run and the other to upset the DJ lounge staff by asking for more than one beer on a Friday night!

You can also avoid having 2 tickets; if the airport is your origin or destination on a weekly ticket then the access fee is included according to the cityrail website. Of course this all depends on other travel needs and need to use buses or ferries

 

[TiredOldFlyer]

Should QANTAS and/or JETSTAR be blamed or is it a problem of Sydney Airport. Cannot remember paying anywhere else in the world
for an inter-terminal transfer. Take Singapore , SFO, etc as an examples...............!!!!!!

 

[whughes3]

The transfer buses are never full.

You would think the Bus driver/gate attendants would let you just go through...

I beg to differ...the international-domestic buses are very frequently full, especially in the mornings...

 

[medhead]

Should QANTAS and/or JETSTAR be blamed or is it a problem of Sydney Airport. Cannot remember paying anywhere else in the world
for an inter-terminal transfer. Take Singapore , SFO, etc as an examples...............!!!!!!

Well the bus transfers are run by the airlines. So qantas (jetstar is part of qantas) should be blamed for not allowing transfers for customers arriving on qantas and transferring to a qantas group airline. What if they said no transfers to jetconnect flights?

As for the train. I'm not sure of the exact ownership, but it is basically a totally separate company from Sydney airports. So beyond their control.

 

[Austman]

Provided luggage to be checked in can pass domestic screening there is no reason that a passenger arriving at T2 can't use the bus, in theory ignoring rating of the bus to carry the luggage.

Domestic air-side sceening is for hand luggage. So if you can get it past the sceening point, security at least has classified it as hand luggage. The airline might disagree at the gate.