Need your help - what is going on with Qantas?

[Casso]

Hello, my first post and am in desperate need of sound advice. We are booked for Cairns-Sydney-Santiago (Chile) in April. It is a Qantas booking but flying out of Cairns on Jetstar. On Friday, Jetstar changed the departure time which meant we would arrive in Sydney at 10.10am for an 11.35am international departure. We have not been able to get much sense out of anyone - we were told the Jetstar flight was an international flight so we were happy to go through immigration etc in Cairns rather than busy Sydney. Not so, we were informed when we tried to change our booking because of the delayed Jetstar departure time. It was a domestic flight leaving from the Cairns domestic terminal. The online chat person hung up after repeatedly saying just one hour is needed to get from Sydney domestic to international terminal, check in and get through immigration and security. I then spent an hour and 26 minutes on the phone, most of it on hold, to be told we only needed an hour in Sydney before the flight and was LIED to - "yes, our support desk will send you an email within 24 hours with assurance that you will be 'protected' should you miss the flight". As long as it was not our fault we should be fine. No email arrived in 24, 48 or 72 + hours. Last night we tried the phone again - 10pm until 11.46pm. The guy was helpful, agreed we would not make it on the Jetstar flight and changed our booking to a Qantas Link Cairns to Brisbane and then on to Sydney. We are scheduled to arrive at 10.10am (the same time!) but he assured me we would be better off as we and our luggage would be booked through to Santiago and we had an hour and 25 minutes to get to the international terminal and through security and immigration and to the departure gate. And 'you only need an hour'! Oh dear - out of the frying pan and into the fire! Have we compromised ourselves by changing the booking? Will this be our fault if we miss the flight? The QUESTION is - should we swallow our bile, abandon these tickets and fly to Sydney a day earlier and pay for a hotel overnight? OR will this jeopardise the rest of our booking if we do not turn up for the first leg? We have been loyal Qantas followers and what causes us the most stress is that apart from the guy on the phone last night, no one at Qantas (who we can access anyway) seems to care whether our itinerary works out or not! What do you think?

 

[drron]

I wouldn't feel happy with that timing as it depends on everything going to schedule.The BNE-SYD plane 30 minutes late and you miss the International flight.
So I would ring Qantas and ask for a change to one of the direct QF flights the day before.you will have to pay a change fee if on the lowest fare bucket but a small price to pay for peace of mind.It will be interesting to see what the change fee is-for the JQ flight it would be $85 but for QF $99.
You would be up for any increase in price but I checked a week in mid April and at least 1 of the QF direct flights was cheaper than QF link flight to BNE and on to SYD.Only on 1 day was the JQ flight cheaper than the directs but only by $7.

 

[Casso]

I wouldn't feel happy with that timing as it depends on everything going to schedule.The BNE-SYD plane 30 minutes late and you miss the International flight.
So I would ring Qantas and ask for a change to one of the direct QF flights the day before.you will have to pay a change fee if on the lowest fare bucket but a small price to pay for peace of mind.It will be interesting to see what the change fee is-for the JQ flight it would be $85 but for QF $99.
You would be up for any increase in price but I checked a week in mid April and at least 1 of the QF direct flights was cheaper than QF link flight to BNE and on to SYD.Only on 1 day was the JQ flight cheaper than the directs but only by $7.

Thank you drron - any advice on how to get to speak to someone in 'reasonable' time?

 

[drron]

Thank you drron - any advice on how to get to speak to someone in 'reasonable' time?

Well I only have QP(Qantas club)membership so I am of no use on that question.
But I would suggest you do it online with the Manage my booking feature then no need to phone.Just check which is the cheapest direct flight that day so limiting the fees charged.

 

[Casso]

Well I only have QP(Qantas club)membership so I am of no use on that question.
But I would suggest you do it online with the Manage my booking feature then no need to phone.Just check which is the cheapest direct flight that day so limiting the fees charged.

When I click on change it says to call the Qantas office. This whole process has been so frustrating and it really is irksome that the people on the end of the phone obviously don't give a rat's a. I asked the guy last night about booking us on the previous day and he said he couldn't. It is all so stressful!

 

[Denali]

I too would prefer to fly in the day before and if you do, directly across the road from International is Rydges but if thats too pricey, closer to domestic is Ibis and Stanford but factor in train, taxi or shuttle, Rydges might be a equal price choice. Join their member program to get a discount.

If you arrive the day before, be sure to ask and look at the bag tags if you are booked all the way though/check date for SYD-SCL or if you pick up at Sydney domestic. Im a worrier about these things.

Good luck!

 

[mannej]

If you are on one ticket, I am fairly sure 1 hour is the MCT at SYD for QFd ->QFi. If you meet MCT, the airlines wont tend to move you unless they really have to.

You will be protected if you miss the SYD-SCL leg, however it may be advisable to come in the night before due to the limited frequency of the flight in question.

 

[Hvr]

But, don't just take another flight to Sydney and abandon the first flight on your journey.

Once you miss the first flight the rest of the flights on the booking will be cancelled.

Oh and welcome aboard.

 

[Casso]

I too would prefer to fly in the day before and if you do, directly across the road from International is Rydges but if thats too pricey, closer to domestic is Ibis and Stanford but factor in train, taxi or shuttle, Rydges might be a equal price choice. Join their member program to get a discount.

If you arrive the day before, be sure to ask and look at the bag tags if you are booked all the way though/check date for SYD-SCL or if you pick up at Sydney domestic. Im a worrier about these things.

Good luck!

Thank you Denali, am trying to change to previous day. It seems Qantas is booked out already a month out after cancelling a flight.

 

[Casso]

But, don't just take another flight to Sydney and abandon the first flight on your journey.

Once you miss the first flight the rest of the flights on the booking will be cancelled.

Oh and welcome aboard.

Oh-oh - am on hold while person is getting supervisor to ok change to the previous day! Thank you so much. Think I am over it!

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF Casso.

I would not consider 1h 35m sufficient for a domestic->international connection. You will be protected if you don't make the connection but do you want to risk being delayed 24 hours?

Call and ask them to move you onto a flight the previous evening and doend the night in SYD.

 

[Casso]

If you are on one ticket, I am fairly sure 1 hour is the MCT at SYD for QFd ->QFi. If you meet MCT, the airlines wont tend to move you unless they really have to.

You will be protected if you miss the SYD-SCL leg, however it may be advisable to come in the night before due to the limited frequency of the flight in question.

Thank you, Mannej. Trying to change right now.

 

[Casso]

Welcome to AFF Casso.

I would not consider 1h 35m sufficient for a domestic->international connection. You will be protected if you don't make the connection but do you want to risk being delayed 24 hours?

Call and ask them to move you onto a flight the previous evening and doend the night in SYD.

Thank you JohnK, we are now flying into Sydney the previous day. Yay! Hopefully all will go well now. I am just amazed at some of the wrong information we were given earlier on by the Qantas phone and online chat people. The one who promised she would have the support staff send an email verifying we would have plenty of time at Sydney airport had also told me we would go through immigration etc at Cairns and simply had to walk from the arrival gate to the departure gate. Confusingly, that flight lands in Cairns from Japan at the international terminal and must pick up passengers at the domestic terminal and then lands at the international terminal in Sydney.

 

[Casso]

I too would prefer to fly in the day before and if you do, directly across the road from International is Rydges but if thats too pricey, closer to domestic is Ibis and Stanford but factor in train, taxi or shuttle, Rydges might be a equal price choice. Join their member program to get a discount.

If you arrive the day before, be sure to ask and look at the bag tags if you are booked all the way though/check date for SYD-SCL or if you pick up at Sydney domestic. Im a worrier about these things.

Good luck!

Hello again, Denali. We are Rydges members so thanks for the tip. Cheers.

 

[Denali]

.... we are now flying into Sydney the previous day......

Great news!

 

[Casso]

Thank you everyone for your time and your advice. The whole experience has been quite harrowing - originally trying to book was a nightmare as the online link dropped out a number of times just as we got close to booking, proving all too much in the end for my partner who could not cope with it and left it to me! I felt like I'd accomplished something when the booking was finally made, leaving us to finalise the South American etc components of the trip. I think I must have been on the phone/online chat to Qantas and thankfully talking to you good people for a total of a good five hours or so! Thanks again!

 

[Denali]

I dont know if youve been there before or how much info you have but dont forget you have to pay for your reciprocal visa when you arrive in Santiago

 

[Casso]

I wouldn't feel happy with that timing as it depends on everything going to schedule.The BNE-SYD plane 30 minutes late and you miss the International flight.
So I would ring Qantas and ask for a change to one of the direct QF flights the day before.you will have to pay a change fee if on the lowest fare bucket but a small price to pay for peace of mind.It will be interesting to see what the change fee is-for the JQ flight it would be $85 but for QF $99.
You would be up for any increase in price but I checked a week in mid April and at least 1 of the QF direct flights was cheaper than QF link flight to BNE and on to SYD.Only on 1 day was the JQ flight cheaper than the directs but only by $7.

Hello again, FYI I didn't have to pay anything to change and presume that is because I paid the extra for a flexible fare. It all seems so long ago now that it is hard to remember. But what a business - I have now spoken to three Qantas people on the phone and held on at length, and also to online chat staff. We were beginning to regret our decision to go abroad! Cheers, and thanks again.

 

[eric2011]

I dont know if youve been there before or how much info you have but dont forget you have to pay for your reciprocal visa when you arrive in Santiago

Unless you are lucky enough to have a NZ passport

 

[Casso]

I dont know if youve been there before or how much info you have but dont forget you have to pay for your reciprocal visa when you arrive in Santiago

I think someone did mention it but my head has been so full of negotiating Sydney airport to catch our flight that I have thought of not much else in terms of the trip over the past week. Thank you - just had a quick look at SmartTraveller - apparently US $117.