Transferring between Qantas international and domestic flights at Sydney Airport has just got a lot easier, with Qantas bringing back its seamless bus transfer service in both directions.

Over recent months, Qantas had been offering a “Seamless Lite” transfer service from Terminal 1 (international) to Terminal 3 (domestic) at Sydney Airport. Unfortunately, these bus services were relatively infrequent, took much longer than the public train service and were not really seamless at all.

When connecting from an international to a domestic flight prior to this recent change, the Qantas bus would drive using public roads to terminal 3 and drop off passengers before the domestic security checkpoint in Terminal 3. For passengers, the only real benefit of this over using the free airport T-Bus service was the ability to drop off their bags at Terminal 1.

Seamless international to domestic transfers are back

The good news is that Qantas has now reopened its security checkpoint at the domestic transfer area in Terminal 1.

This means passengers connecting from an international Qantas, Oneworld or Emirates flight to a Qantas domestic flight can now drop their luggage and clear security at Terminal 1. They can then board the complimentary Qantas transfer bus, which is now using internal airport roads again and dropping passengers airside near gate 15 in Terminal 3.

This is the same as how it worked in pre-COVID times.

AFF member Spieck used the improved Qantas “seamless transfer” service in Sydney last week and had a good experience.

Very easy International to domestic qantas transfer today after 6am arrival on QF2. Bags delivered quickly, Rechecked bags at international, also cleared security here and then dedicated qantas bus to domestic terminal. 20 mins from deplaning to sitting in domestic business lounge. Seems like you need to fly in on QF metal as chap in front of us who flew in in on Emirates with a qf flight number was told rather rudely that this service wasn’t available to him. He told them he booked on qf website and was transferring to domestic QF and still was turned away.
– Spieck, 23 June 2022

Unfortunately, based on this member’s experience, it seems some Qantas staff members haven’t received the memo that Oneworld and Emirates passengers are also entitled to use this service. (Either that, or Qantas’ own website is wrong.)

Qantas says it expects up to 1,600 customers and their bags to use the seamless terminal transfer service at Sydney Airport each day. The reopening of this service will also help to relieve congestion at the security checkpoints in Terminal 3.

Qantas customers connecting from a domestic to an international flight in Sydney can continue to use the Qantas transfer bus which departs from Gate 15 in Terminal 3.

Join the discussion on the Australian Frequent Flyer forum: “Seamless Light” – Experiences with QF’s new terminal transfer at SYD

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.