Apologies for the potentially very basic questions. I'm a bit rusty with FF bookings, and have never actually flown QANTAS internationally with my QFF points before (I've had a few very nice Emirates first, and one very disappointing Emirates business class flights with QFF points though, as well as quite a few Star Alliance flights with other points).
I've managed to snap up the following QFF reward airfares to and from Hawaii as part of one business class ticket:
I'm only going for about a week, to celebrate friends' wedding. Hopefully someone here can help me out with the following information, as I'm now at the logistics stage of the planning:
Q1) Will my luggage be automatically transferred from my domestic QF flight to the international FJ flights, given is one ticket?
Q2) IYO (in your opinion) is it worthwhile trying to make it to any of the lounges?
I've managed to snap up the following QFF reward airfares to and from Hawaii as part of one business class ticket:
- MEL-SYD on QF economy (boo), leaving Melbourne at 9am and arriving in Sydney at 10:25pm on a Saturday,
- SYD-NAJ and NAJ-HNL on FJ business (semi-yay, it is on their 737 MAX 8, so no lay flat), leaving Sydney at 6am on Sunday.
- HNL-MEL on QF business (A330, happy as that is the flight I need to be most rest on), leaving Honolulu at 8:35am on a Saturday.
I'm only going for about a week, to celebrate friends' wedding. Hopefully someone here can help me out with the following information, as I'm now at the logistics stage of the planning:
Q1) Will my luggage be automatically transferred from my domestic QF flight to the international FJ flights, given is one ticket?
I'm fairly sure I've had luggage transferred on such changes before, though that was overseas. I've also at least once had to grab bags and move them between terminals, though that was for paid economy fares long ago. I believe I also had to grab my own bags once when transferring between Thai international first and domestic economy on a single points-booked ticket, though that was an odd booking.
Q2) IYO (in your opinion) is it worthwhile trying to make it to any of the lounges?
From memory of when I used to travel - I believe there will be no lounge access in Melbourne, given the flight is economy despite the status for that leg being 'Business Classic'. I'll be using the long in NAJ given I have a few hours to kill, but probably not enough time to leave the airport.
I will have access to the Sydney QF business lounge, which from memory is OK (not great, but I enjoyed it enough last time I was there). I had thought I'd read in reviews that the airport is closed 11pm to 2:30am, and that the international QF lounge opened at 6am. The QANTAS website indicates that it actually opens at 5am. Has anyone been that early? Is there actually food and (importantly) coffee that early, or will they likely still be setting up for the first half hour?
Does anyone have experience with the Hawaii QF business lounge at breakfast time? I've read mixed reviews, ranging from mostly positive to extremely negative.
Q3) IYO (in your opinion) is it worthwhile getting an airport hotel for the limited time I'll be in Sydney and not traveling from/to the airport?Whilst Emirates puts you up in hotels for overnight Dubai stopovers when flying first, I'm assuming QANTAS doesn't do the same for business (or likely first). I've read that Sydney airport kicks everyone out and closes the airport between 11pm and 3am. I was going to get an airport hotel, but I believe that the ones near the international terminal are closed? As such, I'm not if it makes sense, as I'm sure how much sleep I'd get, how long it takes to get from the hotel back to the international check-in etc. Has anyone had experience with the airport hotels?
