The Qantas Newbie Questions Thread

[robert kennelly]

This thread is specifically for new members to ask questions relating to Qantas and the Qantas Frequent Flyer program. Our more experienced members will be then be able to answer your questions.

Please note that this thread is specifically for new and/or inexperienced members, so please keep this in mind when replying to posts in this thread. In particular, please minimise the use of acronyms and explain the concepts in a way that a novice can easily understand. And please be gentle

P.S. If you're a newbie to frequent flyer programs in Australia, check out our guide

I am not that new. Have just flown Melbourne 9.15pm tuesday night 22nd April to Madrid qantas business (paid fare) actually it was emirates A 380 both legs. It was a trip with my wife and two daughters, so pretty special.
Great service and French champage in melb emirates bus lounge not in Q bus lounge. It seems a bit of poor marketing by qantas that there partner is so much better on the ground and in the air.
Robert kennelly

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Thanks, interesting the way they do it then.

Yeah at least there's no shortage of PEK-TPE J on almost any day it looks like even if it's such a short flight and the fare calculation ends up being almost like a free upgrade.
But what is up with the cash fee portion though, why does it add up to a higher $305 instead of simply $240 if booked individually ?

Dunno why the difference!

It’s not a short flight at 3 or so hours. If you can fly business on that sector i’d wholly recommend it. It’s a 10x better experience from check in to passage through the airport to on board.

Edited to add: i get the taxes fees and charges to AUD275. Which is not far off the $305 QF is asking for the through fare.

 

[serfty]

Hello all. I have triumphantly returned to QF Gold status after dwelling in Qantas Club Silver land for a while. I have a query re classic award upgrade priority process for which I cannot seem to find answers anywhere (and apologies if they have already been covered and I have overlooked them).

I have some upcoming international travel booked with QF for which I previously placed a classic award upgrade request from Y to J on the QF website. This was requested when I was QC Silver. I understand the upgrades are handed out based on status (among other things). Will QF's system automatically recognise my new status (which would theoretically place me higher up the priority queue), or do I need to cancel the request and put it in again?

Congrats on returning to Gold.

As a rule of thumb, it is likely better to refresh your request by cancelling and reapplying to ensure it is of Gold status rather than Silver. It may or may not make any difference but is would not hurt. (I don't believe time of request has any significant bearing on the pecking order.)

 

[Flyfrequently]

Flying Sydney to Port Vila via Brisbane in June
Just went in to my bookings and notice that the Brisbane to Port Vila flight operated by Alliance Airlines, has had a time change. Now departing 1 hour earlier. I don't know when this changed but I received no notification of the flight change.

My concern is that it now leaves me 1hour 45 mins to transfer from the domestic terminal to the international terminal for security and passport control. Hopefully bags are checked through from Sydney.
Is this enough time? Do I catch the airport transfer bus or get a taxi?

Update for @ellen10 our timeline for QF353 this morning.

We stayed overnight at Pullman Brisbane.

Left there by taxi 7.10am
Arrived International 7.20am. Traffic congestion heading up the ramp to departures, driver said it's normal that time of day
No business counter checkin - grumpy desk lady directed us to kiosk
Lovely lady helped us - for some reason an issue , did bag drop then over to oversize baggage
Through Passport and security - quite busy maybe Anzac Day/a Friday ?
No priority/express lane as in Sydney/Melbourne but went pretty quickly and it was busy!
A brief stop in Lotte DF
In Lounge by 8.20am
If you are on the first flight out and no delays, you should be fine.
Taxi driver said buses are about every 10 minutes and free.
Your luggage will get checked through, ours didn't as we had 18 hour transit.

Checking today's MEL-BNE flight on time arrival 8.15am , we would have made it but there would have been no Lotte or Lounge

Update: if you do get Lounge time, plane usually departs from almost the furtherest gate away, today 73a, a 10 minute walk.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Flying Sydney to Port Vila via Brisbane in June
Just went in to my bookings and notice that the Brisbane to Port Vila flight operated by Alliance Airlines, has had a time change. Now departing 1 hour earlier. I don't know when this changed but I received no notification of the flight change.

My concern is that it now leaves me 1hour 45 mins to transfer from the domestic terminal to the international terminal for security and passport control. Hopefully bags are checked through from Sydney.
Is this enough time? Do I catch the airport transfer bus or get a taxi?

If its on a linked PNR, ie, the 6 alphnumerical code, then you only have to show passport to staff at SYD QFd T3 check in, bypassing having to do to do in BNE.
At BNE, jump onto the orange bus, as soon as your flight lands, your bags will go automatically.
As you will have shown passport to QFd at SYD, you dont have to go to the QFi counter at BNE, just go straight through outgoing immi and int sec screening in the basement.
Coming back, you might get your 2 BP as well from the VLI staff, or you might have to do it in BNE, to get the QFd flight to SYD.
1hr15mins, while very tight, is doable.
If you are worried, try to get to SYD T3 at 6am, even tho you might have succeeded in doing OLCI, in the hope that SYD QFd staff would be able to put you onto an earlier flight.
Best of wishes and luck.
Going out, your bags will not be scanned, at BNE, but coming back, hope you will have more time, as incoming immi and customs and DAFF will be in BNE.
===
If you can get the QFd staff to put you onto the first flight from SYD to BNE, 6am, get to BNE at 7.45am, that will give more time as QF353 goes out at 10.20am.
Todays dep was very late, at 11.17am today.
---
Coming back, as its not everyday service QF353 that is, you might have to do an extra night at VLI, or an overnight in BNE on the return.
---
Came back (AKL) via MEL on 20/04, it was full chockers, as there was a very long queue for the <redacted> people who didnt fill in their IPC, on the plane, so there was a bottle neck at the form filling point, and so, there was a stuck line at that first point, where the forms were.
The flight from VLI comes in about 17.05pm, and the last flight from BNE to SYD, is about 7.45pm/8.45pm or so, you have to do immi and incoming customs and DAFF at BNE, if you are lucky, you might get the last flight out from BNE to SYD, if no thunderstorms, or might have to do an overnight in BNE, the Ibis is just a short walk from the dom terminal, or can get the moody "taxi"/uber drive to do that short distance.

 

[ellen10]

Update for @ellen10 our timeline for QF353 this morning.

We stayed overnight at Pullman Brisbane.

Left there by taxi 7.10am
Arrived International 7.20am. Traffic congestion heading up the ramp to departures, driver said it's normal that time of day
No business counter checkin - grumpy desk lady directed us to kiosk
Lovely lady helped us - for some reason an issue , did bag drop then over to oversize baggage
Through Passport and security - quite busy maybe Anzac Day/a Friday ?
No priority/express lane as in Sydney/Melbourne but went pretty quickly and it was busy!
A brief stop in Lotte DF
In Lounge by 8.20am
If you are on the first flight out and no delays, you should be fine.
Taxi driver said buses are about every 10 minutes and free.
Your luggage will get checked through, ours didn't as we had 18 hour transit.

Checking today's MEL-BNE flight on time arrival 8.15am , we would have made it but there would have been no Lotte or Lounge

Update: if you do get Lounge time, plane usually departs from almost the furtherest gate away, today 73a, a 10 minute walk.

Many thanks @Flyfrequently , for you update, experience and timings.
Our flight departs Sydney at 7.05am arrival time in BNE 8.35am. So not the earliest flight.
Hopefully bags checked through, so we won't have to do that part in BNE. Probably no time for lounge especially if the gate is a long way away. I didn't even think about duty free.

I might try my luck ringing Qantas and asking about earlier SYD flight, but I have no status, so don't like my luck.
Not sure whether to try the bus or a taxi.

I hope your flight to Vanuatu went well and you are all settled in.

Any Vanuatu updates is most appreciated.

 

[ellen10]

If its on a linked PNR, ie, the 6 alphnumerical code, then you only have to show passport to staff at SYD QFd T3 check in, bypassing having to do to do in BNE.
At BNE, jump onto the orange bus, as soon as your flight lands, your bags will go automatically.
As you will have shown passport to QFd at SYD, you dont have to go to the QFi counter at BNE, just go straight through outgoing immi and int sec screening in the basement.
Coming back, you might get your 2 BP as well from the VLI staff, or you might have to do it in BNE, to get the QFd flight to SYD.
1hr15mins, while very tight, is doable.
If you are worried, try to get to SYD T3 at 6am, even tho you might have succeeded in doing OLCI, in the hope that SYD QFd staff would be able to put you onto an earlier flight.
Best of wishes and luck.
Going out, your bags will not be scanned, at BNE, but coming back, hope you will have more time, as incoming immi and customs and DAFF will be in BNE.
===
If you can get the QFd staff to put you onto the first flight from SYD to BNE, 6am, get to BNE at 7.45am, that will give more time as QF353 goes out at 10.20am.
Todays dep was very late, at 11.17am today.
---
Coming back, as its not everyday service QF353 that is, you might have to do an extra night at VLI, or an overnight in BNE on the return.
---
Came back (AKL) via MEL on 20/04, it was full chockers, as there was a very long queue for the Asian people who didnt fill in their IPC, on the plane, so there was a bottle neck at the form filling point, and so, there was a stuck line at that first point, where the forms were.
The flight from VLI comes in about 17.05pm, and the last flight from BNE to SYD, is about 7.45pm/8.45pm or so, you have to do immi and incoming customs and DAFF at BNE, if you are lucky, you might get the last flight out from BNE to SYD, if no thunderstorms, or might have to do an overnight in BNE, the Ibis is just a short walk from the dom terminal, or can get the moody "taxi"/uber drive to do that short distance.

Thanks @AustraliaPoochie for your valuable information.

Our flights are on the same PNR, so thanks for the reminder that we can go straight to immigration and security screening. So its best to catch the orange bus?
I will try and ring Qantas to see if they can put us on the earlier flight. I did not receive any notification that the flight times had changed. I only noticed when I checked my booking last week. But I don't like my chances

I will update if I am successful in moving to the earlier flight.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Many thanks @Flyfrequently , for you update, experience and timings.
Our flight departs Sydney at 7.05am arrival time in BNE 8.35am. So not the earliest flight.
Hopefully bags checked through, so we won't have to do that part in BNE. Probably no time for lounge especially if the gate is a long way away. I didn't even think about duty free.

I might try my luck ringing Qantas and asking about earlier SYD flight, but I have no status, so don't like my luck.
Not sure whether to try the bus or a taxi.

I hope your flight to Vanuatu went well and you are all settled in.

Any Vanuatu updates is most appreciated.

Previous reports here on AFF suggest little to no luck ringing the call centre for an earlier flight (for free that is!) They are unlikely to budge.

What has been successful, and indeed my friend did this only this morning, is to turn up at the airport well in advance o the previous flight and ask to be moved, stating you’re uneasy with such a short connection in BNE.

As long as there are seats available it seems to be a pretty much 100% success rate. Airport staff have the ability to do that, the call centre doesn’t.

Bear in mind the cut off for baggage. My friend this morning arrived about 50 mins prior to the earlier flight and was just accepted.

 

[Flyfrequently]

Many thanks @Flyfrequently , for you update, experience and timings.
Our flight departs Sydney at 7.05am arrival time in BNE 8.35am. So not the earliest flight.
Hopefully bags checked through, so we won't have to do that part in BNE. Probably no time for lounge especially if the gate is a long way away. I didn't even think about duty free.

I might try my luck ringing Qantas and asking about earlier SYD flight, but I have no status, so don't like my luck.

Probably would incur change fee and fare difference - guess you weigh up what it is worth?

Had been monitoring QF353 and the flight usually leaves on time.
Today was an exception @AustraliaPoochie

Pilot was proactive in explaining the delay. Turbulence was expected en route and decision was made to load more fuel.
Fuelling complete, then it was determined, weight was too heavy to land at VLI......official person came on board and two pax on staff travel were offloaded

Not sure whether to try the bus or a taxi.

I hope your flight to Vanuatu went well and you are all settled in.

Yes thanks, well looked after onboard. We have settled at Iririki.

Any Vanuatu updates is most appreciated.

Think the bus is better than taxi @ellen10

Pullman have an "arrangement" for flat taxi rate of $20 rather than meter and our driver said that after he dropped us off, he would be in the queue of 90+ for a ride out from international- so taxi drivers might not be happy to do the short fare!

 

[Flyfrequently]

Our flights are on the same PNR, so thanks for the reminder that we can go straight to immigration and security screening.

Security at 8am was busy but quick as was immigration. You won't have bagdrop or check in which took up 20 minutes for us.

So its best to catch the orange bus?
I will try and ring Qantas to see if they can put us on the earlier flight. I did not receive any notification that the flight times had changed. I only noticed when I checked my booking last week. But I don't like my chances

I will update if I am successful in moving to the earlier flight.

Think @MEL_Traveller has given good advice re getting to the airport earlier.