Minimum connection time Sydney?

[kangarooflyer88]

I have never seen QF not accommodate misconnects for QF-QF even on separate bookings.

I've had them accommodate JQ-QF domestic misconnects on separate bookings.

Fair point but in fairness you do have status with the airline. I would be curious whether they would do a similar thing to a lifetime Bronze or worse no status traveller in a similar situation?

 

[Quickstatus]

The connecting flight SYD/CNS will be with Qantas either the QF544 (6:05pm) or QF546 (6:35pm) - the 6:35pm flight gives an hour changeover in Brisbane

As you are QF for every sector from AKL to CNS, I would comfortably book any one of these flights:
QF540/542/544. Of the 3, I would book the 540.

If the 144 from AKL arrives on time you will make the 540. If the AKL flight is late QF will put you on the 542/544/546.

I would not book the 546 at the outset, because it would be hard without high FF status to request an earlier flight if the 144 arrives on time and also it causes a 1 hr connection time at BNE. If the 546 departs late you may be put on the night JQ flight or worse overnight in BNE.

No FF status is necessary in this case to "grease the wheels" even if separate tickets may be involved.

 

[elanshin]

I've never had any luck with that as WP at Melbourne in similar situations (I live in Sydney), so that might be a WP vs P1 difference? One case was on UL ticket stock and they simply said the fare class wouldn't allow changes - maybe would have been better on a QF ticket? You'd think, regardless of fare class, it would be to Qantas' advantage to fill up a flight departing in 45 minutes to give more chance of selling more seats on the later flight, but I guess things aren't quite that simple.

I've moved 2 QFd Int'l connecting flights last year at MEL to SYD when I didn't have status. First time I had the option on the app, second I just asked nicely to see if they could do it when I checked in for bag drop.They were all ticketed as separate domestic QF tickets though so full integrated access on the app.

I find I frequently can move to earlier flights between SYD <> MEL (both ways) on the app as long as seats are available.

 

[VPS]

I landed in Sydney from QF2 Singapore a couple of weeks ago. Immigration was quick but the queue to recheck for another domestic flight at the Qantas International Terminal was a clusterf#$@ . The queues were enormous where you had to show your boarding pass to get into the check in area and they didn't have anyone prioritising people who had short connections and there was only one person. Then you got into the check in an still long queues. They then only had one incompetent person on security so there was another hold up. I got to my domestic flight with about a minute to spare. I'd allow at least 4 hours

 

[AIRwin]

I find I frequently can move to earlier flights between SYD <> MEL (both ways) on the app as long as seats are available.

Red e-deal?

 

[justinbrett]

Fair point but in fairness you do have status with the airline. I would be curious whether they would do a similar thing to a lifetime Bronze or worse no status traveller in a similar situation?

The difference being they've already interlined (intralined?) the bags between the bookings. I would say once they do that they accept liability.

Isn't that one of the main reasons oneworld stopped interlining separate bookings?

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Also hopefully not a silly question but why connect in BNE for CNS? Why not fly direct from SYD? I get that you will earn a bit extra status credits for the trouble, but there is also the risk of an additional point of misconnection, namely at BNE. Why risk it?

 

[justinbrett]

Also hopefully not a silly question but why connect in BNE for CNS? Why not fly direct from SYD? I get that you will earn a bit extra status credits for the trouble, but there is also the risk of an additional point of misconnection, namely at BNE. Why risk it?

Because SYD-CNS only operates once a day, before OP lands

 

[elanshin]

Red e-deal?

All sorts, red e-deal, redemption, saver etc.

It just commonly shows up in app on the day asking if you would like to move to an earlier flight. More than once I paid red e-deal pricing for a late night flight then ended up on a peak hour 19:30 flight.

Last time I took JQi to MEL, I allowed a 4 hr transit time for MEL > SYD. Landed at 11 and was all out and done by 11:45. Opted to move my 15:00 QF flight to 13:00. Technically I could've even made the 12:00 flight but I wanted to take a shower and eat in the lounge.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Because SYD-CNS only operates once a day, before OP lands

There is a 7/8 PM flight operated by Qantas' luxury arm, JétStár though:

 

[justinbrett]

There is a 7/8 PM flight operated by Qantas' luxury arm, JétStár though:

View attachment 319170

QF won't interline to JQ domestic.

Much safer with current plan.

 

[justin23]

I guess the way I look at these things is how will it affect me if i miss the flight. Do I have enough money to pay for another ticket if i had to or pay for a hotel and do I want to take that risk. Outbound i'm more likely to have a 4+ hour transit, inbound i'm less risk averse as for me i'm usually headed to CBR so worst case i can get a bus if i had to and have relatives in Sydney.
If i've got to be there or i don't want to ruin my holiday i'll happily sit in a lounge and wait rather than be stressing and sweating as i run across the airport. Or stay a night there in the place i'm transitting iuf its not on the same ticket. Qantas though are usually pretty good if its seperate tickets and its not a ridiculous connection time.

 

[Andyc]

Data point - Customs was a mess yesterday. Landed at 6:40am and arrived at dom via QF bus at 8:30am. That’s the slowest I’ve ever had. Reticketing missed connection was painless with QF.

I was in that same mess. 1 hour to get through and I got lucky with my queue. Can see that it would have easily taken others a further 20-30mins to clear customs/quarantine.

Thats said, the morning rush seems to usually be much worse than afternoon arrivals. I'd feel reasonably comfortable with your 3hrs.

 

[Quickstatus]

Why not fly direct from SYD?

That in my opinion is a potentially problematic because while there is time between 144 and 956, you are relying on that one flight to not be cancelled. Note that JQ has a higher cancellation rate than QF. If that flight is cancelled, you may be stuck in SYD overnight unless JQ is kind enough to find a same day solution.

Additionally JQ won't let you check in for 956 until 2 hrs prior. You might be sitting in T2 with bags for a few hrs before being allowed to check in

 

[Anna]

I landed in Sydney from QF2 Singapore a couple of weeks ago. Immigration was quick but the queue to recheck for another domestic flight at the Qantas International Terminal was a clusterf#$@ . The queues were enormous where you had to show your boarding pass to get into the check in area and they didn't have anyone prioritising people who had short connections and there was only one person. Then you got into the check in an still long queues. They then only had one incompetent person on security so there was another hold up. I got to my domestic flight with about a minute to spare. I'd allow at least 4 hours

Someone I know landed on QF2 on Monday, an hour or so late, and ended up having to sit in the QP for 8 hours after missing her connection to ADL due to all the queues at SYD. She even got told she was lucky to get a flight at all that day due to the public holiday! QF must be used to QF2 delays and consequent missed connections because they were (so I'm told) handing out vouchers so people could buy clean clothes to wait in even though their bags were not lost.

This is why the last few times I've landed at SYD int, I haven't bothered with the QF transfer desk and bus, I've just taken myself and my bag round to domestic on the train (or once in a cab). Yes it isn't free to do that, but I haven't missed my connections and I've even been allowed to fly earlier. My friend unfortunately didn't realise she wasn't obliged to use the QF transfer system if she didn't want to. She might have made her original connection if she'd jumped on the train to domestic instead of waiting in the horrendous QF queues at int.

 

[VPS]

Someone I know landed on QF2 on Monday, an hour or so late, and ended up having to sit in the QP for 8 hours after missing her connection to ADL due to all the queues at SYD. She even got told she was lucky to get a flight at all that day due to the public holiday! QF must be used to QF2 delays and consequent missed connections because they were (so I'm told) handing out vouchers so people could buy clean clothes to wait in even though their bags were not lost.

This is why the last few times I've landed at SYD int, I haven't bothered with the QF transfer desk and bus, I've just taken myself and my bag round to domestic on the train (or once in a cab). Yes it isn't free to do that, but I haven't missed my connections and I've even been allowed to fly earlier. My friend unfortunately didn't realise she wasn't obliged to use the QF transfer system if she didn't want to. She might have made her original connection if she'd jumped on the train to domestic instead of waiting in the horrendous QF queues at int.

I didn't even think about that but I was pretty brain dead by that stage. I try to avoid flights that aren’t direct into Adelaide.

 

[justinbrett]

Someone I know landed on QF2 on Monday, an hour or so late, and ended up having to sit in the QP for 8 hours after missing her connection to ADL due to all the queues at SYD. She even got told she was lucky to get a flight at all that day due to the public holiday! QF must be used to QF2 delays and consequent missed connections because they were (so I'm told) handing out vouchers so people could buy clean clothes to wait in even though their bags were not lost.

This is why the last few times I've landed at SYD int, I haven't bothered with the QF transfer desk and bus, I've just taken myself and my bag round to domestic on the train (or once in a cab). Yes it isn't free to do that, but I haven't missed my connections and I've even been allowed to fly earlier. My friend unfortunately didn't realise she wasn't obliged to use the QF transfer system if she didn't want to. She might have made her original connection if she'd jumped on the train to domestic instead of waiting in the horrendous QF queues at int.

Yes the train is faster. I’m not sure why SYD doesn’t do a deal with the airport line operator (which is not the NSW government) to make these tickets free. There’s still value in the QF airside bus but do away with the airport run bus.

 

[jpp42]

I’m not sure why SYD doesn’t do a deal with the airport line operator (which is not the NSW government) to make these tickets free.

It's not quite that simple, as of a number of years ago the contract was restructured so that 85% of the airport station gate fees go to the NSW Government, with the remaining 15% being the fee to operate the stations. Complicating this, the NSW government then pays some of that *back* to AirportLink as a "shadow gate fee" to cover the operating costs of Green Square and Mascot stations, which charge no fee to passengers anymore. So if the airport were to somehow get involved in a special ticket arrangement from DOM to INT*, it would be a three-way negotiation and would need to be a political priority for NSW. However because Airport matters are traditionally Commonwealth territory, it seems NSW just sees this as a cash cow worth milking and doesn't care about airport stakeholders. This is up for change in 2030 when AirportLink will cease to exist and the stations go to full NSW control. So the next few years is the right time for stakeholders to start talking about how a better system could work.

I'd like to see the solution be a "ground transportation fee" on airline tickets that applies to all travellers and covers the costs of the airport stations as well as any other related fees (like those charged to Taxi/Uber riders). This would help ensure the costs are being allocated correctly to travellers, and airport employees or other non-traveller visitors are not unduly charged (thus properly incentivising them to use public transport). A totally free train ride (not just free gate fee) would also need the agreement of Sydney Trains/NSW Government however - certainly not impossible like has been done with Transport for London in regards to free inter-terminal transfer at Heathrow on the tube. However, the latter is at the end of the line so doesn't impact capacity, like might be a concern with in Sydney.

 

[BettyB]

3 hours is definitely the minmum I'd allow.

Post automatically merged: Mar 16, 2023

I’m not sure why SYD doesn’t do a deal with the airport line operator (which is not the NSW government) to make these tickets free.

Because that would make sense!

 

[QF_Flyer]

Just throwing in my 2c, I'm MEL based so a lot of my internationals involve SYD-MEL I-D transfer, I have always been happy to go by MCT flying J (1h30), but if you're off the plane last it could be crowded.

I have had times where late arrival inbound has meant QF have already moved my connecting flight by the time I've landed, annoyingly once as I walked past the gate of my original flight as it was boarding, but they insisted I couldn't make it (fair enough, I was going to the QF bus terminal of doom past the check in cut off, despite OLCI-ing - VA have put me back on a retimed flight before in similar circumstances, as I always travel HBO).

The good news is that QF-QF on a single ticket is seamless, I've never done it, nor would I risk it, on split tickets, or different carriers, without a significant buffer.

On a related note, my inbound to SYD in a month or so was retimed so the connection was 1:20 (from 1:35), I had to call them because it wouldn't let me do anything online, but I suspected (and agent confirmed) it was down to MCT, was resolved in minutes, I'll just be arriving in MEL an hour later than planned.