- I like flying... don't look at me like that, I know I'm weird :shock:
Your and ewing's replies have reminded me of two extra questions I wanted to ask as well - seeing how many OT questions I can cram into one thread here!
1) Am I right in thinking that travelling in international J entitles me to Express Cards for customs in / out of Australia?
2) Normally if you miss a connection due to a flight being delayed and the flights are on the same booking, it's the airline's "problem" (i.e. they will rebook you free of charge on a later flight). Am I right in assuming that where the flights are on different bookings (e.g. my potential MEL-LAX QF award booking + LAX-LAS AA $$ booking in non-flexible Y), if MEL-LAX is late and I miss LAX-LAS then it's my problem - e.g. I have to pay to rebook on a later flight?
1) Yes, but you should get them as a Platinum in any class anyway. I always do, and because of that I've built a small stockpile "just in case"
2) I believe it's your problem. I've never been in that situation (although I did get a bit worried with the ORD flight I referred to earlier) so I'm not sure just how accommodating the airlines really are.
With 2) QF have accepted the responsibility of getting your bags all the way to LAS & you have already got your AA boarding pass (hopefully) who can tell you're on an inbound connecting flight. IMHO you would be reaccommodated on another AA flight because on face value your checkin record in altea shows both your QF & AA flight together as it's been merged for checkin purposes far as QF are concerned it's the same thing as both flights being in the same pnr.
The reason for not interlining bags to non OW airlines booked in separate pnrs is that QF had to foot the bill for accommodation pax around the world during the Icelandic volcano for all pax who's bags they tagged to a final destination but who were stranded midway through their journey eg in SIN.
Back then if someone held a QF tkt BNE/SIN in one pnr & a separate pnr for LH SIN/FRA, as QF & LH had an interline ageement for baggage it would have been checked in no problems BNE/FRA even though pax would still have had to get their LH boarding pass in SIN. Now QF will only through check bags to non OW airlines if all flights in the same pnr.
It would make being a member of OW pointless if member airlines did not look after other pax in this way.
Should the inevitable happen & you find your first flight delayed:
a) check first with AA in LAX on arrival as QF may have already moved you to another flight as QF can see all pax that have connecting flights including you as your AA flight shows in the QF checkin record the same way it would if it had been booked in the same pnr.
b) if you are not already booked on the next AA flight, ask if they can rebook you to the first available flight.
c) if they can't (which IMHO won't happen) call QF premium desk to see if they can rebook you onto AA or if not, another carrier who flies LAX/LAS as it wasn't your fault the QF flight was late into LAX.
