QF41 Cancelled - options to get to CGK on time

[SCM]

Hi

Very unlucky, my SYD -> CGK flight for Friday 23rd was cancelled. I need to get to CGK by 10pm maybe at the latest to clear customs/immigration for an onwards separate booked flights with EY.

I called up Qantas asking them to book me on Garuda direct, but the only option they had was to fly through Singapore - arriving in Singapore at 5:50pm local and leaving Singapore for CGK at 7:30pm and arriving Jakarta time 8:30pm which would be fine, only 1h later than original flight.

I asked if I need to do self-transfer clearing customs and immigration in Singapore also, and after checking the Qantas agent said yes I would. Not great - less than 2h to clear customs and immigration and then do check in - is that realistic?


Alternatively I could just book the Garuda direct flight myself, it's only $600 or so, not the biggest amount of money honestly - just unclear what happens to my Qantas ticket (and return flight), and whether I can get that one leg refunded.


Any advice? Would have to give it quickly

 

[am0985]

I'd book the Garuda flight direct and worry about the rest later. 2 hours is not a lot of time. QF should refund that trip they cancelled. Hopefully travel insurance should help out if any issues?

 

[Mattg]

I would also just book the Garuda flight, it's not worth missing your onward connection.

Did you ask Qantas when you called what would happen to your return flight on the same ticket if you don't take the flight they cancelled?

 

[SCM]

Did you ask Qantas when you called what would happen to your return flight on the same ticket if you don't take the flight they cancelled?

Yes, they said I need to talk to my travel agent (booked through amex, since using their credit).

I got an email form amex already asking if the new trip details are fine, not sure what the approach here should be to get a partial refund for one leg (also, qantas seemed to have changed the flight back to go through singapore as well - why ???).

Already booked the direct flight for now.

 

[Mattg]

You might want to call Amex and make sure the outbound segments via SIN they you may have been automatically re-booked onto are properly cancelled before check-in cutoff for the new flight, so that you aren't considered a no-show and then have your return CGK-SYD flight cancelled.

 

[JohnK]

I asked if I need to do self-transfer clearing customs and immigration in Singapore also, and after checking the Qantas agent said yes I would. Not great - less than 2h to clear customs and immigration and then do check in - is that realistic?

This is plenty of time in SIN but you should be able to use transfer desk. I'm not sure if transfer desk manually transfers luggage since Covid.

 

[elanshin]

Having just literally gone through my backup options and booking plans for a delayed/cancelled QF41 for a trip in may, Garuda direct is the best alternative. (Also possible through MEL if SYD is full/unavailable). Only possible however if you have been informed ahead of time for QF41 like your current situation,

Following that, flight to SIN connecting onto JQ is the next best option. 2h is more than enough for a connection at SIN. The only trouble is a delay for the connecting 3K flight. This flight is scheduled to arrive

I believe there is an option to fly MH or Air Asia as well and make it in late as well via KL. (8pm - 10pm depending on airline /connection).

My connection I'm personally looking at is at 8:30am which I can't make in the morning from the region thus I went through all the back-up for arriving the night before if QF41 failed me.

Normally on Fridays there should also be QF39 from MEL but that doesn't seem to be running today for some reason. (Probably to do with 330 issues).

 

[elanshin]

This is plenty of time in SIN but you should be able to use transfer desk. I'm not sure if transfer desk manually transfers luggage since Covid.

I don't think you would be able to as it's a connection onto 3K (Jetstar Asia) and they tend not to do so for LCC.

 

[jrfsp]

If you are on one ticket then you would be checked through to CGK. No need for any formalities in SIN.

However as mentioned above 3K reliability is pretty terrible, particularly for the evening flights, the CGK flight often delayed 2-3 hours

 

[JohnK]

I don't think you would be able to as it's a connection onto 3K (Jetstar Asia) and they tend not to do so for LCC.

We've done transfer desk for Jetstar Asia many times including luggage transfer but that was before Covid and move to T4.

 

[elanshin]

We've done transfer desk for Jetstar Asia many times including luggage transfer but that was before Covid and move to T4.

Ah perhaps its Scoot that refuses to transfer luggage.

 

[AIRwin]

Ah perhaps its Scoot that refuses to transfer luggage.

Yes, they didn't even issue a boarding pass to me when I was transferring without any checked baggage

 

[yachty]

Ah perhaps its Scoot that refuses to transfer luggage.

Jetstar will connect international-to-international bags for their flights and a bunch of other airlines (if its on the same booking). Jetstar Japan will connect domestic bags onto some international connections too.

 

[Mattg]

@SCM did you make it to Jakarta?

 

[SYD]

@SCM did you make it to Jakarta?

and the onward connection? ! !

I‘m doing that run in a few months but o/n stay at CGK!

 

[jrfsp]

and the onward connection? ! !

I‘m doing that run in a few months but o/n stay at CGK!

Me too, hopefully no QF antics

 

[sudoer]

Im doing that run in a few months but o/n stay at CGK!

I did it over Christmas, and I'm glad I booked an overnight stay as QF39 was 5 hours delayed..

 

[SYD]

I did it over Christmas, and I'm glad I booked an overnight stay as QF39 was 5 hours delayed..

We were about an hour early last year but had a two night layover anyway. We could have easily made our onward CX flight at 1am otherwise.

 

[SCM]

Bit of an update, all good - I took the advise to bite the bullet and book the direct Garuda flight, very good decision because in the morning I got another email from qantas (so this is after the cancellation) that they cancelled the SIN -> CGK flight of my ticket (no explanation, but I'm guessing someone more senior looked at it and decided it was not likely to make that connection).

The thing is I specifically asked when I first called if I needed to do self-transfer, the call centre person said they'd ask their manager, and then she said yes I would. It makes sense, since Qantas and Garuda (unrelated to the direct flight I booked, but that was the SIN -> CGK part of the journey) are not any kind of partners.

So that QF flight on the Friday which was my rebooking was late - only slightly, but essentially I would still have to exit the plane, go through baggage, immigration, customs, and then get to the check-in and do that within 30 minutes (based on when check in closes), which to me seems completely unrealistic.

I also took the advice to contact amex - good call, they called qantas and advised me to cancel the whole ticket because qantas wont honour the return journey, and amex said they will be giving me a full refund (including the annual qantas voucher) as card credit (so cash) - which is actually a fantastic outcome. Since then, I just booked the classic business reward on the way back CGK -> SYD and I will end up paying a couple of hundred less dollars overall for the combination of that reward flight and garuda direct economy to Jakarta. The main reason I did this was to utilise that qantas voucher, and now I will essentially get it as cash and get a better set of flights as well in the end.

----

So I'm very happy to have taken that direct Garuda flight, it was delayed by an hour, but doesn't really matter - still arrived in CGK with tonnes of time to spare. The transfer process at CGK was also very quick, no queue at immigration nor customs.

Then the EY part of the journey went fine no issues (just the wamos air switch on CGK -> AUH). I should write a trip report about this whole experience, it's been quite funny.

However, I do not mind it - I think despite this adversity, everything actually worked out really well. I think it would have been much worse if I had already checked in my bags with QF and they delayed the flight a lot or something like that.


----

One last thing - I had booked extra 5kg baggage on the outgoing QF flight, Amex said they can't refund this as it's not through them - what's the best way to get in touch with Qantas about getting this refunded?

 

[dajop]

Good outcome for you.

Side note QF would have though checked you to GA on the same ticket (and I assume it would be the same -QF issued - ticket if they rebooked you). They might not be a FF partner but they are certainly an interline partner of QF.