Minimum connection time Sydney?

[PERLHR]

To be perfectly honest, why are you worried if you end up mis-connecting? Certainly Qantas will put you on the next flight, provide hotels and meals, and provide up to 600 Euros in compensation should you arrive at your final destination of Perth more than 3 hours later than scheduled. These are all required under EU261 which applies to all trips originating from Europe irrespective of who is operating those flights, and irrespective of where the disruption occurs along the way. Just remember, the airline which causes your disruption will be the one you'll need to go after for collecting that 600 Euro EU261 entitlement. For instance, flying Frankfurt to Sydney last year (via Helsinki and Singapore), the last leg in my trip SIN > SYD operated by Qantas was delayed by 14 hours. I filed a claim with them for EU261 compensation and sure enough the next day they agree to fork out the 600 Euros plus reimburse me for the hotel and ground transfer I had to pay for in Singapore.

-RooFLyer88

I'm not convinced EU261 covers what is likely the crux of the delay: the arrivals process at SYD, customs and immigration, baggage reclaim, re checking in, and transfer to domestic airport. The flight may well land in time, the connection process is more the issue resulting in the potential missed connection.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

I'm not convinced EU261 covers what is likely the crux of the delay: the arrivals process at SYD, customs and immigration, baggage reclaim, re checking in, and transfer to domestic airport. The flight may well land in time, the connection process is more the issue resulting in the potential missed connection.

It's going to be tight, but the ticket was sold meaning it is a valid connection. Essentially, everything from the airline has to go correct. They need to arrive on-time or even early for this to work out. Remember too that EU261 states that the 600 Euro entitlement is caused when a passenger is delayed due to something within their control. So if your flight to Sydney gets delayed even by a couple of minutes, you could argue to JAL that compensation is owed under EU261 as that resulted in you missing your tight connection to Perth. Same thing goes with bags, if you have to wait an hour for your bags to arrive and that causes you to miss your connection, JAL would be on the hook here since baggage handling is a responsibility of the airline, and they failed to deliver your bag in a timely manner causing you to miss your connection.

Even if it is something totally outside of their control like security, the airline will still need to provide meals and hotel (if an overnight stay is required) under the duty of care requirement of EU261 (one major difference between European and Australian domestic consumer law), in addition to rebooking you on their next flight.

Could you find an itinerary that has a longer connection time? Possibly. But all this worrying may be for nothing. I've had tight connections that have gone smoothly and have had long connections that were blown due to incompetence by the airline. So long as it fits the minimum connection time, you'll be protected under European law.

-RooFlyer88

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

After the 8.20am, there would be 12noon or afternoon.
Not ideal.
Better than 8.20pm last flight of the day.
---
Dec is also school holidays, so while they might be able to put ypi on the next QFd flight, it might be evening dep.
Someone mentioned QF33 is stopping its domestic tag flight soon, so QFd is the only choice, or dreaded JQd.
---
QFd next one > 10.25am, 12.30pm etc...
===
SYD - PER 8.20am 07 Oct QF643 looks like its been cancelled

 

[PERLHR]

After the 8.20am, there would be 12noon or afternoon.
Not ideal.
Better than 8.20pm last flight of the day.
---
Dec is also school holidays, so while they might be able to put ypi on the next QFd flight, it might be evening dep.
Someone mentioned QF33 is stopping its domestic tag flight soon, so QFd is the only choice, or dreaded JQd.
---
QFd next one > 10.25am, 12.30pm etc...
===
SYD - PER 8.20am 07 Oct QF643 looks like its been cancelled

Yes it is canx tomorrow. Also looking at October stats...never left SYD on time yet when flying. Oh I'm sure it will be fun and games. Ironically probably getting to PER from SYD will be longer than CDG to SYD via HND!!

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Incoming Aus immi now no longer has that carboardy small card.
You now get a yellow flimsy pix printout... mugshot.
Supposedly they have got more of the shoulder height first border control smartgate machines, so it might be a faster procedure now.
No food, no iffy stuff should get you through fast.
Next time maybe do ANA direct with VFF # direct from PER to HND/NRT.

 

[kangarooflyer88]

Next time maybe do ANA direct with VFF # direct from PER to HND/NRT.

A more direct routing would certainly help here but the question then becomes what the cost is there (or whether there is award availability) and there may be other factors at play too. One such consideration would be frequent flyer accrual towards status and the ability to use frequent flyer benefits such as OneWorld Emerald lounge access, seat selection and other priority services.

For instance, I had to book last minute travel to Europe last year (specifically Sydney to Frankfurt). The most direct routing would be something like Sydney to Frankfurt via Singapore (SQ/LH) or Tokyo (NH/LH) for that matter or perhaps even Dubai (EK) or Abu Dhabi (EY). However, from what I recall that option was easily $1,000 more return. There were also some one-stop options via China or Vietnam, however there were transit concerns I had as a Canadian transiting either countries and in one instance the layover was well over 12 hours.

The cheapest option I could find that I was comfortable with involved two connections: Singapore (QF) and Helsinki (AY). With there being a roughly 2.5 hour connection at both connection points. On the return I had a 2.5 hour connection in Helsinki and a 1 hour connection in Singapore (tight, yes, but doable). Ultimately Qantas dropped the ball and delayed the final flight to Sydney by 14 hours allowing me to collect 600 Euros. Another benefit of that itinerary was that the return legs were all ticketed as Economy Flexible meaning I ultimately ended up earning 180 status credits on that trip return (the QF legs between SYD and SIN were AY marketed).

-RooFlyer88

 

[PERLHR]

A more direct routing would certainly help here but the question then becomes what the cost is there (or whether there is award availability) and there may be other factors at play too. One such consideration would be frequent flyer accrual towards status and the ability to use frequent flyer benefits such as OneWorld Emerald lounge access, seat selection and other priority services.

For instance, I had to book last minute travel to Europe last year (specifically Sydney to Frankfurt). The most direct routing would be something like Sydney to Frankfurt via Singapore (SQ/LH) or Tokyo (NH/LH) for that matter or perhaps even Dubai (EK) or Abu Dhabi (EY). However, from what I recall that option was easily $1,000 more return. There were also some one-stop options via China or Vietnam, however there were transit concerns I had as a Canadian transiting either countries and in one instance the layover was well over 12 hours.

The cheapest option I could find that I was comfortable with involved two connections: Singapore (QF) and Helsinki (AY). With there being a roughly 2.5 hour connection at both connection points. On the return I had a 2.5 hour connection in Helsinki and a 1 hour connection in Singapore (tight, yes, but doable). Ultimately Qantas dropped the ball and delayed the final flight to Sydney by 14 hours allowing me to collect 600 Euros. Another benefit of that itinerary was that the return legs were all ticketed as Economy Flexible meaning I ultimately ended up earning 180 status credits on that trip return (the QF legs between SYD and SIN were AY marketed).

-RooFlyer88

My trip purpose and routing was cost related and also being used as a One world BA tier point run back to UK to see relatives prior to Christmas. I wanted to be back in Perth earlier in the day and all was ok until JAL moved arrival time at SYD by 30 minutes later and now I doubt my connection. Annoyingly I should have just done the usual route via SIN and arrived at PER at around midnight and enjoyed the longer connection and lounges and bags straight through to PER rather than trying to be at PER earlier by routing via the awful SYD carry on on moving from International to Domestic. Lesson learnt again for future. I recently flew ANA (double points promotion with VA) with VA doing the domestic legs. Did not really rate ANA to be honest that much. The connection time at SY
D for the VA flight was 2.30 or so and it worked a dream including lounge time at SYD and excellent VA service and transfer to SYD domestic.