Qantas Domestic to Qatar Intl Baggage?

[Grimace1]

Good afternoon all!

I hope everyone is doing well during this pandemic

I have an upcoming flight operated by Qantas Cairns to Sydney and then on to Doha/Europe with Qatar next week (Travel exemption is approved to Leave Aus!)

The flight to Sydney and out of Sydney are all on the same day.


This has been booked onto one ticket. Are Qantas still checking luggage right thru to final destination or must I collect it in Sydney and then make my way over to international terminal with it?

I have called Qantas but can't get thru even after waiting for 2 hours earlier.

Thanks for your help

 

[AIRwin]

Not sure about the baggage but my partner is also booked on QR tonight so here's some info on the QR website in case you haven't already come across it (particularly masks and face shields):
https://www.qatarairways.com/en/safety-measures.html

 

[Mattg]

I seem to recall that Qantas is not currently through-checking luggage onto international flights, so you would need to pick it up in Sydney.

Do you know, @madrooster?

 

[madrooster]

There is still no airside transfer of baggage between domestic and international at SYD. You will need to collect your baggage at SYD, and take it yourself over to international and check it in with QR.

 

[Beano]

There is still no airside transfer of baggage between domestic and international at SYD. You will need to collect your baggage at SYD, and take it yourself over to international and check it in with QR.

How does that work? International transfer is on the departure side of the terminal. Do you have to pick up your bags then re-enter with them all, or is there an international transfer desk by the carousels?

 

[Daver6]

How does that work? International transfer is on the departure side of the terminal. Do you have to pick up your bags then re-enter with them all, or is there an international transfer desk by the carousels?

There's a free bus one road over from the taxi rank.

 

[AIRwin]

There's a free bus one road over from the taxi rank.

Unfortunately the free bus service is currently unavailable:
https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/parking-and-transport/arriving/international/get-to-your-next-flight

 

[Daver6]

Unfortunately the free bus service is currently unavailable:
https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/parking-and-transport/arriving/international/get-to-your-next-flight

I guess one takes (and pays for) the train?

 

[AIRwin]

I guess one takes (and pays for) the train?

Or taxi or bus 400/420...

 

[AIRwin]

The giant lamp bear in DOH this morning - you can't miss it!

 

[madrooster]

How does that work? International transfer is on the departure side of the terminal. Do you have to pick up your bags then re-enter with them all, or is there an international transfer desk by the carousels?

Have to manually take them over, be it via taxi, train, bus ... or walk if you're keen!

 

[Pushka]

Good afternoon all!

I hope everyone is doing well during this pandemic

I have an upcoming flight operated by Qantas Cairns to Sydney and then on to Doha/Europe with Qatar next week (Travel exemption is approved to Leave Aus!)

The flight to Sydney and out of Sydney are all on the same day.


This has been booked onto one ticket. Are Qantas still checking luggage right thru to final destination or must I collect it in Sydney and then make my way over to international terminal with it?

I have called Qantas but can't get thru even after waiting for 2 hours earlier.

Thanks for your help

Can you share the information that you provided to get the exemption? just looking at applying for a family member. Also, i take it that the airport you get approval for is Sydney and not Cairns as the first leg?

 

[madrooster]

Can you share the information that you provided to get the exemption? just looking at applying for a family member. Also, i take it that the airport you get approval for is Sydney and not Cairns as the first leg?

Yes, you apply for whichever outbound gateway you will use.

 

[HSB44]

It all sounds painful.
Good luck!

 

[Grimace1]

Thanks all for your replies.

Qantas have confirmed with me that there is a "TBus" that is still in operation to help support transfers - the Sydney AP link above says it's not operating at the moment though. So that's interesting and something I'll find out on the day what is true or not.

@Mattg thanks for your reply too!

@madrooster Thank you for confirming that information too

@AIRWin I'm looking forward to seeing that bear! I assume that it's within the transit area of Doha? I've never transited via Doha. First time for everything. Just by the off chance, did your partner mention anything about if the inflight internet was working on their flight?

@Pushka I applied for an exemption under unavoidable personal business / compassionate grounds to be with my partner and new born son. I provided them with a letter from my partner, proof of birth of a child. Also mentioned in the request that I was in a position to pay for the quarantine prior to leaving Australia but that wasn't requested and I've not paid anything.

They do mention the following in the approval email, I did have my departing port down as either Brisbane or Sydney. "Your departing port has been notified that you are able to depart Australia. Your departure from Australia is subject to standard border clearance processes. You do not need to re-apply for permission to depart if your flight details or departing port change." - So the departing port doesn't seem to matter once you're approved.

@N M ; yeah it doesn't sound fun and 32 hours of travel from Cairns to Europe and with two flights wearing a face shield has me dreading the flights ahead

I'll post an update late next week with how it went! Thanks again!

 

[AIRwin]

Just by the off chance, did your partner mention anything about if the inflight internet was working on their flight?

Yes @Grimace1 , in fact the pics were sent to me using inflight WiFi... How long are you in transit for?

 

[Grimace1]

Hey all,

sorry for the late reply. Been busy with family since arriving in Amsterdam.

So the luggage wasn't checked thru as expected and had to be collected in Sydney.

Qatar opened their checkin counters 4 hours before flight departure instead of the usual 3 hours. While checking in with Qatar, they made a call to ABF to get a "FY" code so they could check me in.

It took about 10 minutes for them to obtain this code.

Once checked in, I headed to Immigration/Security where there was a massive line of people, no social distancing whatsoever in place there. Would have been an easy 150+ people in the lines. It took 58 minutes to clear both immigration and security. Security was the longer one due to people not understanding that they can't take water bottles thru intl.

It was a pretty smooth experience all up to be honest, the lovely ABF officer at immigration mentioned that not many people have printed their exemptions and then it holds the line up while they then check their systems. It saves a lot of time to print the proof!

I saw the bear at Doha too!

On the flight out of Sydney, I would guess there was only about 50 people in Y.

 

[AIRwin]

Thanks for the update, @Grimace1 ! Did the inflight WiFi work?