Transit through an airport in a city/state lockdown

[MH_fan]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere: Are domestic passengers allowed to transit through an airport in a city or state that is in lockdown?
Sometimes there are no direct flights from point A to point B and one may have to transit through an airport like SYD. For example, travelling from HBA to CNS, one would have to transit through either SYD or BNE, both of which are currently in lockdown.

 

[NSun]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere: Are domestic passengers allowed to transit through an airport in a city or state that is in lockdown?
Sometimes there are no direct flights from point A to point B and one may have to transit through an airport like SYD. For example, travelling from HBA to CNS, one would have to transit through either SYD or BNE, both of which are currently in lockdown.

Depends from state to state. I have seen a couple of YouTubers transit Victoria and then enter Queensland without quarantine during their June lockdown but others like WA don't allow it.

 

[drron]

You would be able to transit through BNE in that case you mentioned.I flew LST - BNE yesterday and didn't even have to show my QLD entry pass.though I did land 1 hour before the official start of lockdown.
I was talking to another passenger before boarding who is a Tasmanian heading for a holiday in noosa.He had found out about the lockdown and so instead booked a JQ flight from BNE and arranged accommodation.

However states vary in their treatment of transiting hotspots but both Tasmania and QLD do allow you to transit through a hotspot airport.The problem though is that flights from the hotspot are often cancelled.My flights home initially via MEL to MCY.But all MCY flights from SYD or MEL were cancelled.

 

[Spongbob]

Sorry if this has been asked before but I can't seem to find the answer anywhere: Are domestic passengers allowed to transit through an airport in a city or state that is in lockdown?
Sometimes there are no direct flights from point A to point B and one may have to transit through an airport like SYD. For example, travelling from HBA to CNS, one would have to transit through either SYD or BNE, both of which are currently in lockdown.

Very good question.

 

[eastwest101]

Very good question.

Given that we have known about Covid for 18 months now and all Australian airports are administered and run in a simiar way, surely it wouldnt be too much to expect that the answer to this question is readily available by now? Instead, travellers are directed to multiple changing contradictory, pooly written, parochial state web sites and I would bet that many people would end up calling multiple state hotlines to seek clarification?

 

[Daver6]

It all depends on the destination state. For example, WA considers transiting an airport the same as having been in the state whereas SA is much more lenient.

Eg, you could leave HBA and transit SYD and have no issues entering SA. WA would not allow you in since you're considered to have been in NSW.

 

[Seat0B]

ACT allows this type of transit. It’s pretty hard to get to ACT without connecting somewhere like SYD.

 

[MH_fan]

Thank you for all the replies. It looks like WA is really only the state that treats transiting through an airport in a city/state in lockdown as being there. Looks like there shouldn't be any issues travelling between Tasmania and Queensland with a transit through SYD.

 

[Daver6]

Looks like SA is no longer happy about pax transiting SYD Passengers transiting through Sydney Airport to SA no longer exempt from quarantine

 

[rekeno]

I have a slightly different scenario, I need to fly back to SIN end of Aug from DRW. And neither Jetstar or SQ fly direct from DRW to SIN, so I have to transit somewhere. The somewhere have 4 options, SYD, MEL, BNE and PER. But with SYD locked until end of the month, BNE and MEL also in lockdown now, I started to worry that I have to fly through a lockdown city on the way back.

I don't worry about quarantine in SIN, that is a given. Just that will the airport in the lockdown city allow me to transit in the first place, basically, fly from DRW to the airport's domestic terminal, get the luggage, transfer to international terminal, stay there until boarding SQ flight. Is it possible?

Of course next question is if QF cancel any domestic flight from DRW due to lockdown. So I did all I can do, I booked 4 domestic flights to all 4 cities and hoping one of them could survive. Booking connecting SQ flight is not an issue as plenty seats available.

So the question is which airport, even during lockdown, allows me to transit to an international flight? Luckily I fly from DRW which is not an issue for now. But if DRW also in a lockdown mode or classified as high risk area, can I still transit via those airports?

Thanks for the help in advance!

 

[Seat0B]

I have a slightly different scenario, I need to fly back to SIN end of Aug from DRW. And neither Jetstar or SQ fly direct from DRW to SIN, so I have to transit somewhere. The somewhere have 4 options, SYD, MEL, BNE and PER. But with SYD locked until end of the month, BNE and MEL also in lockdown now, I started to worry that I have to fly through a lockdown city on the way back.

I don't worry about quarantine in SIN, that is a given. Just that will the airport in the lockdown city allow me to transit in the first place, basically, fly from DRW to the airport's domestic terminal, get the luggage, transfer to international terminal, stay there until boarding SQ flight. Is it possible?

Of course next question is if QF cancel any domestic flight from DRW due to lockdown. So I did all I can do, I booked 4 domestic flights to all 4 cities and hoping one of them could survive. Booking connecting SQ flight is not an issue as plenty seats available.

So the question is which airport, even during lockdown, allows me to transit to an international flight? Luckily I fly from DRW which is not an issue for now. But if DRW also in a lockdown mode or classified as high risk area, can I still transit via those airports?

Thanks for the help in advance!

As far as I know, in your situation, you should be able to transit from Domestic to international in SYD and BNE, because you are leaving the country and also because Darwin is not in lockdown. I even think that if NT goes into lockdown you will be permitted to leave to catch an international flight. I base this on the looking I have done recently for my son's planned but now cruelly cancelled trip DXB-SIN-SYD that was happening next week. You probably need to just visit the state health web sites of every state that you might want to use as an exit gateway to see what the local rules are. For example WA and SA do not permit transits, but the rest certainly did when I checked last week. However, a week is a long time in a COVID pandemic. Also today, there was talk that MEL will be cancelling all international flights again - not sure if that also included outbound flights, and not sure that it has actually happened, but usually they "soften up" the population by raising these issues before they make the announcement. So keep a close eye on that.

You are also right about the roulette game of trying to select which flight to which city to connect to which flight back to Singapore. The Qantas flight schedule has been very significantly reduced, with sometimes only a single flight per day between capital city pairs, so you would need to keep a very close eye on that.

Also, if you are an Australian citizen or PR you will now need to apply for an exit permit if your departure is after 11 August - see this article

Overseas Residents No Longer Exempt from Outbound Travel Ban

All I can say, is good that you are keeping an eye on it and that you are being flexible. Good luck @rekeno and let us know how you make it to Singapore - we all need to share the information that can only come from first hand experiences.

 

[rekeno]

Thank you so much Seat0B, really appreciated. The usual 4 hours direct flight now turns into a whole day event with so many uncertainties and risks.... But what else can I do... Thanks and I will keep monitoring the situation and I will surely come and update the situation.

Thank you again!

 

[rekeno]

Now, it's time back to update this thread since I am now in Singapore, serving SHN (Stay Home Notice).

I finally decided to go through Melbourne, despite the fact that it has more cases. Frankly, as vaccinated, I worried more about the unexpected journey interruption than the virus itself.

Perth option looks good except WA is very restrictive, and I was worried that even last-minute Darwin had one case identified, WA will immediately block NT travelers. Furthermore, the connection is not good, I had to spend one time in Perth before can catch the next day's SQ flight.

Just days before my flights, Qantas canceled my midnight bookings to Melbourne and Brisbane,, and transferred me to day flight which was good. I had hence adjusted my SQ connecting flight from day flight to night flight which was good for me since I was flying SQ business class. As I used points redemption for both QF and SQ flights, and the points required for both options are exactly the same for both QF and SQ, the decision to go with which one was not financial but betting on the odds.

I chose to go via Melbourne because the transition time is 4 hours compared to 6 via Brisbane, but most importantly I have a friend who would provide me a roof if I have to stop in Melbourne for days or weeks. But the journey was not pleasant, given the situation that Melbourne was in lockdown and almost nothing in the airport was open in international terminal except one restaruant before security and one after security, and they don't allow dine-in, so you need to buy and eat in the waiting area. Basically, you could just get a burger or sandwich only. All lounges were closed (different from airport website claims), but this was informed by SQ upon check-in. From hindsight, if I chose Brisbane, the ground experience could be much better, but I didn't regret taking the Melbourne option since it safely brought me home uneventfully.

Once got on SQ plane, everything became familiar, and it's the same greatness as before. There were not many passengers, for business class, only 4 of us, scattered to 4 corners. Not sure how many were in economy class, but should not exceed 50 from the people gathered at the gate (and at that hour, 11 pm, the entire international departure only has this single flight)

Didn't watch a single minute of movies, didn't even use up my 100MB WiFi data, I had supper and then a good sleep, before I realized we were just 30 mins before descending into Changi.

Thanks for everyone's help. Finally back home after 19 months. Need to stay home for 7 days but it's a reduction from 14 days just weeks ago.