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