Quantas and money exchange

[Fabian52]

Going on the Sun Princess R/T in November from Los Angeles to Sydney and have two questions:
1) We are flying American Airlines for the first leg from WPB to Los Angeles, then we have a 7 hr layover. Plan to collect our bags and then go to International Terminal and about 4 hrs. before flight (which leaves at 10:30 PM) to Sydney to check in for our Quantas Flight to Sydney. American Airlines gives you an allowance of I think like 30 lbs. limit for (1) carry on bag and a personal item. Size of bag no problem and the 30 lb. is very generous.
But when you check in for your Quantas flight they limit you to (1) 15 lb. bag for your carry on bag and one personal item. How strict is Quantas, would they actually weigh the bag at check in or upon boarding the plane?
I have no problem with the 45 in linear measurement but want to pack at least a few days of clothes in case our luggage doesn't arrive in time so that we can survive. 15 lbs. is not alot since the actual luggage seems to weigh in around 6 pounds. Anyone flown from the U.S. from Los Angeles to Australia lately and had any problems getting carry on luggage aboard Quantas. Did they weigh anyones luggage. I would not push the issue and put 30 lbs. but would like to push it to around 20 lbs. Any help would be appreciated.
2) Going in early to Sydney for two days. Plan on converting US dollars to Australian dollars and to use before our cruise. How much should I convert. Plan on doing it in Sydney at the airport. Would just need it for taxi's (4), meals for 2 days, and attractions. Any thoughts on that.
I was planning on $400 US dollars converted to Australian and $100 US dollars to New Zealand dollars.

[Globaliser]

Originally Posted by Fabian52

1) We are flying American Airlines for the first leg from WPB to Los Angeles, then we have a 7 hr layover. Plan to collect our bags and then go to International Terminal and about 4 hrs. before flight (which leaves at 10:30 PM) to Sydney to check in for our Qantas Flight to Sydney. American Airlines gives you an allowance of I think like 30 lbs. limit for (1) carry on bag and a personal item. Size of bag no problem and the 30 lb. is very generous.
But when you check in for your Qantas flight they limit you to (1) 15 lb. bag for your carry on bag and one personal item. How strict is Qantas, would they actually weigh the bag at check in or upon boarding the plane?
I have no problem with the 45 in linear measurement but want to pack at least a few days of clothes in case our luggage doesn't arrive in time so that we can survive. 15 lbs. is not alot since the actual luggage seems to weigh in around 6 pounds. Anyone flown from the U.S. from Los Angeles to Australia lately and had any problems getting carry on luggage aboard Qantas. Did they weigh anyones luggage. I would not push the issue and put 30 lbs. but would like to push it to around 20 lbs. Any help would be appreciated.

First of all, there is no "u" in Qantas. Now that we've got that out of the way ...

Why don't you through-check your bags from WPB to Sydney? That way you don't have to bother with the hassle of collecting the bag at LAX, hanging around with it for 3 hours or so before check-in opens, and then queueing up with all the other twirlies just to give your bags back? If all the travel is on one ticket, then when you check-in at WPB, AA should be able to check you in for the QF flight and issue your boarding passes then, so you may not have to go to a QF check-in desk at all at LAX.

Qantas does sometimes weigh cabin baggage, so if you are over the limit you are at risk of having to check that bag. Others who regularly fly QF from LAX may know what the strike rate is there, but personally I have seen relatively little evidence this year of this being done at other QF stations.

Originally Posted by Fabian52

I was planning on $400 US dollars converted to Australian and $100 US dollars to New Zealand dollars.

How much money you need depends on how much you're going to use credit cards while you're there. Personally, I stick to my usual routine of using credit cards for as much as I possibly can, only paying cash when it's the only practicable option. If you do that, then USD 400's worth of AUD is far more than you need for two days. But if you're going to pay cash for everything, then you could conceivably burn a lot more than that, depending (for example) on how much you want to pay for meals.

[margord]

Originally Posted by Fabian52

Going on the Sun Princess R/T in November from Los Angeles to Sydney and have two questions:
1) We are flying American Airlines for the first leg from WPB to Los Angeles, then we have a 7 hr layover. Plan to collect our bags and then go to International Terminal and about 4 hrs. before flight (which leaves at 10:30 PM) to Sydney to check in for our Quantas Flight to Sydney. American Airlines gives you an allowance of I think like 30 lbs. limit for (1) carry on bag and a personal item. Size of bag no problem and the 30 lb. is very generous.
But when you check in for your Quantas flight they limit you to (1) 15 lb. bag for your carry on bag and one personal item. How strict is Quantas, would they actually weigh the bag at check in or upon boarding the plane?
I have no problem with the 45 in linear measurement but want to pack at least a few days of clothes in case our luggage doesn't arrive in time so that we can survive. 15 lbs. is not alot since the actual luggage seems to weigh in around 6 pounds. Anyone flown from the U.S. from Los Angeles to Australia lately and had any problems getting carry on luggage aboard Quantas. Did they weigh anyones luggage. I would not push the issue and put 30 lbs. but would like to push it to around 20 lbs. Any help would be appreciated.
2) Going in early to Sydney for two days. Plan on converting US dollars to Australian dollars and to use before our cruise. How much should I convert. Plan on doing it in Sydney at the airport. Would just need it for taxi's (4), meals for 2 days, and attractions. Any thoughts on that.
I was planning on $400 US dollars converted to Australian and $100 US dollars to New Zealand dollars.

Not sure on how much money you would need but I can talk about the 15 lb limit on the carry on. When I checked in to Qantas in LA they actually made me weigh my carry on's. I was below the limit because I had heard that they do this. I was so surprised. Coming back no one checked even though I was still below the limit. I got some very light weight bags (not the kind on wheels) so that the weight was taken up with my things rather than the actual bag. I put in my necessities (spare underware, medicines, documents, etc.). Good luck!

[rdowney]

We flew to SYD in January on AA and QF so things mights have changed, but this is how it worked then. We checked luggage through to SYD at MSP. We were on a single itinerary for both airlines. But if you have separate tickets, it won't hurt ask AA to check the luggage through. There was a shuttle bus connecting the AA domestic terminal at LAX to the international terminal on the inside of security. We did not have to go outside security and then back in. QF had a desk at the international terminal where the bus arrived. They replaced the boarding passes that AA had issued at MSP with their own and checked IDs. They did not weigh carry-on luggage.

At the time, the international terminal was in the middle of an extensive remodeling project. Almost nothing was open late at night. Fortunately, we had been advised to eat in the domestic terminal before taking the shuttle over to international.

[Nancy53]

First of all this time I spelled Qantas correct. Good for me.
We have two separate tickets and I booked them separately so I don't know if they will let us check them through to Sydney. I guess I will try that when we get to PBI.
I don't mind checking and reclaiming our bags at least that way I will know that our bags made it to LAX.
I guess if worse comes to worse than I will just check the carry on bag if it is too heavy when I am boarding the plane.
Would there be a charge for this if I originally only had one checked bag.
I will check with Qantas on that one.
Our hotel and our excursions will be paid for and only think we will need money for taxi's, food and maybe to get into the Pylon Bridge which I think it is only about $9.00 per person.
If we go to Sydney Wildlife World and the Aquarium then I will charge them on my credit card.
Thanks for everyone's input.

[moyaroo]

Originally Posted by Fabian52

Going on the Sun Princess R/T in November from Los Angeles to Sydney and have two questions:


2) Going in early to Sydney for two days. Plan on converting US dollars to Australian dollars and to use before our cruise. How much should I convert. Plan on doing it in Sydney at the airport. Would just need it for taxi's (4), meals for 2 days, and attractions. Any thoughts on that.
I was planning on $400 US dollars converted to Australian and $100 US dollars to New Zealand dollars.

Do NOT convert dollars. Use an ATM. Money exchange is the same as money burning. ATMs will charge a small percent but will be better and more convenient. Leave your greenbacks at home.

[fifa]

Originally Posted by moyaroo

Do NOT convert dollars. Use an ATM. Money exchange is the same as money burning. ATMs will charge a small percent but will be better and more convenient. Leave your greenbacks at home.

I agree.
The money exchange at Sydney airport gives an abysmal rate!
Check what the exchange rate would be before you leave home and maybe get some AUD there.

[kenish]

Not only SYD airport, but the Bureau du Change booths at airports and touristy venues worldwide "skim" 4-5% off the exchange rate. They do it on the buy and sell side, so they are making a tidy profit.

Chase / WaMu Bank does not charge for use of other ATMs and some other banks have the same policy. For some reason we were never charged ATM fees at any ATMs in Oz. So the only fee was a 1% foreign transaction fee and the ATM gives the official exchange rate. That is very reasonable, of course that's with a ATM/Debit card and *not* a cash advance on a CC! Some CC's are zero fees for foreign transactions so we use that card traveling. Our usual CC charges 4% which is more typical.

Using ATMs and CCs lets you adjust your cash more closely. Keep in mind you don't want to be stuck with cash when you leave a country. You will have a fee to convert back to US$, and coins are almost never accepted.

A trivia tip for the OP; "Qantas" is an acronym for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Services. That's why the "u" is missing.

At LAX you will arrive at T4 on AA. Your Qantas flight leaves from TBIT (Tom Bradley Int'l Terminal). If you don't want to go outside security there is an airside shuttle bus that leaves from the vicinity of Gate 44. However I believe it only runs 4pm-midnight. Assuming you need or want to leave security, the terminals are adjacent and a 5 minute walk. Go out the doors of the terminal and turn left (so you're circling the terminal loop clockwise). You can't miss TBIT. Departures are on the upper level, check the signs inside the entrance to see which check-in area to use.

[kenexx]

Originally Posted by kenish

A trivia tip for the OP; "Qantas" is an acronym for Queensland And Northern Territories Aerial Services. That's why the "u" is missing.

Almost kenish but not quite!

Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services

[kenish]

Oops, I stand corrected ! Only one single NT in Australia!

[Australian family]

We are travelling from Australia to New Zealand this December with Holland America. Onboard we need US Dollars and obviously in New Zealand, NZ Dollars.

Where is the better place to exchange to get US Dollars here in Australia, I realise that a cash passport is no good as there is no ATMs on board. Do we get travellers cheques or cash.

And for New Zealand are we better to use a ATM there or get cash passport, or cash or travellers cheques beforehand?

[kenexx]

In my experience I wouldn't rely on using ATMs for cash in NZ. Its the only county in 2 trans Pacific cruises where I could not get any money out of any ATMs I tried.

Still haven't been able to figure out why.

[Globaliser]

That's probably because you were using an Aussie card.

You know what the Kiwis are like about Aussies.

[The_Big_M]

Originally Posted by Australian family

We are travelling from Australia to New Zealand this December with Holland America. Onboard we need US Dollars and obviously in New Zealand, NZ Dollars.

Are you happy to use a credit card? There is no need for cash onboard then, except for the casino. Though it does mean that you play the exchange rate game, but since you referred to ATMs onboard, that didn't seem to be a concern.

If happy with a credit card, you could get by with one in NZ too since you're only there during the day, don't have to worry much about food and all the cities accept credit cards. If you want a small amount of cash, I'd suggest getting that before you leave, though you'll need to order in advance either through Australia Post (probably cheapest) or your preferred bank.

[Ontario Cruiser]

We are flying NWA to LAX Dec 1/09 then on to SYD on Dec 2 (Qantas) all on the same ticket. As we are staying in LA for one night can we have our baggage checked all the way through?
Volendam Dec 6th Anyone one else on the Dec 2 flight at 10:30pm Q12
Ontario Cruiser

[kenish]

Since you're making a stopover (vs a connection) in LAX, I don't think you can check your bags through. No matter what, you will have to clear US Customs at LAX and claim your bags anyway. Unfortunately there are no lockers at LAX though there is a service that will take your bags curbside, store them, and bring them back to the terminal and time you specify.

If you want to confirm check-through of your bags, call both NW and QF (Qantas). Both have toll-free numbers which I believe will work from Canada.

[pcur]

Capital One credit card does not charge an international transaction fee for it's credit card.

Schwab Bank reimburses up to $25 in ATM fees per statement cycle, so you can use any ATM anywhere. You can open an account online and have the funds electronically transferred to the Schwab account. They mail you the ATM card.

I also vote for ATMs. I get my first infusion of foreign currency in the airport at the first ATM I can find using the Schwab ATM card. I use my BofA card anywhere I can find Barclays ATMs, and in Australia this October I'll be looking for Westpac.