QF108 to QF94, worth the risk?

[Evan]

though connecting through Sydney also raises the issue of the less generous domestic baggage allowances.

If its part of the same ticket, no problems you can check your international allowances.

What you do have to watch out for is if you have another airline on the ticket, eg a ticket with BA, QF, CX and you will have to live with the lesser amount if they are different.

E

 

[djfuzz]

Thanks for the welcome and introduction to the DONE4 - suddenly I have the unbearable urge to hop on a plane again.

I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this, but for what it's worth - my experience with the whole LAX stopover on the MEL/SYD/BNE/AUK-JFK has been that as long as the LAX-JFK/JFK-LAX leg is connecting from/with a QF flight into or out of the country subsequently on the same ticket, there's no problem stopping in LA. Don't know what the situation is with other allied airlines, but QF all the way seems to be fine, even when you're flying the quasi-domestic transcontinental leg.

And given the frequent delays on QF107 ex LAX (leading to the inevitable 10late), making a direct in LAX connection from QF93 at least was far less stressful than I thought it would have been, with plenty of time to spare.

 

[Reggie]

New member here.

Welcome

Thankfully on the day the flight was perfectly on time (and the CSM echoed what littl_flier mentions above, they'll hold QF94 if QF108 is delayed by less than 2 hours). Surely enough, we were all herded onto the bus at gate 44, then had a huge walk to the gate 101 at TBIT, with about 10 minutes to spare before QF94 boarded - and this was on a night that everything was on time!

I am so glad I decided to give 10late a miss

 

[JohnK]

Also QF would probably send me SYD-PER, which again isn't a probelm in itself, othr than clearing SYD imm and customs is a pain I am trying to avoid.

What is the problem with SYD customs and quarantine? I have yet to experience any issues.

Landed 6:36am on 24/12/07 on BA9 and after purchasing duty free cleared immigration a few minutes later, another 5 minutes or so for luggage to appear and after been selected for secondary screening, 2 bags to unpack and pack again with a whole lot of friendly questions and I was home around 7:40am arriving by taxi.

 

[Evan]

What is the problem with SYD customs and quarantine? I have yet to experience any issues.

John, Exactly what i used to say, but sometimes it chaos ! i have taken 1.5hrs to clear immigration before ! customs usually not so bad.
I have no idea why sometimes its just really busy. Most of the time its been ok for me also.
E

 

[Reggie]

What is the problem with SYD customs and quarantine? I have yet to experience any issues.

Landed 6:36am on 24/12/07 on BA9 and after purchasing duty free cleared immigration a few minutes later, another 5 minutes or so for luggage to appear and after been selected for secondary screening, 2 bags to unpack and pack again with a whole lot of friendly questions and I was home around 7:40am arriving by taxi.

I suppose it depends on the day, time of day, and flight you are on to how it is. Once I was checked at the carousel and allowed to exit via the Domestic queue, which was very quick. However I find Mel easier to arrive through, and then to connect to my Perth flight.

 

[djfuzz]

John, Exactly what i used to say, but sometimes it chaos ! i have taken 1.5hrs to clear immigration before ! customs usually not so bad.
I have no idea why sometimes its just really busy. Most of the time its been ok for me also.
E

Ironically, this is exactly the experience I had returning to Melbourne recently, whereas Sydney was much quicker. The renovations to the MEL last minute duty free shop, combined with the morning arrival of several 747's made the local passport immigration queue stretch right past the duty free store - a situation where an express card or one of those new ePassports would have been a huge help.

 

[dajop]

What is the problem with SYD customs and quarantine? I have yet to experience any issues.

Often, customs and quarantine aren't really the problem at SYD. It's that b*s to get to the domestic terminal. The queue to recheck for domestic connexions can, on occasions, be horrendous and then if you miss a b*s, it can be nearly a 20 minute wait to the next if you're not lucky. I guess there's always the s*ittyrail service as an alternative.

 

[serfty]

Ironically, this is exactly the experience I had returning to Melbourne recently, whereas Sydney was much quicker. The renovations to the MEL last minute duty free shop, combined with the morning arrival of several 747's made the local passport immigration queue stretch right past the duty free store - a situation where an express card or one of those new ePassports would have been a huge help.

The express card only helps with clearing customs.

It's the epassports or SmartGate that help with immigration and not always. Sometime there are special lanes for them sometimes not.

My Smargate trial is still in operation and has literally saved me hours since I registered. Sadly, I'll need a new PP in March as my current one expires in September and I'll have to join the e-chipped Hoi-Polloi