Sydney to Auckland on Quantas

We will be arriving in Sydney at 8:30 a.m. from the U.S. We then need to get a separate ticket to Auckland to meet the cruise ship. There is a flight on Quantas that leaves SYD at 10:55 a.m. Is 2 1/2 hours long enough to clear customs, get to the Quantas desk and check luggage, etc.

Thanks for any of your thoughts but I got nervous and found a flight that leaves Sydney at noon which now gives us 3 1/2 hours. Hope that is o'k. If not please let me know.

There is a flight on Quantas ...

Who? I've never heard of this airline. ;)

We will be arriving in Sydney at 8:30 a.m. from the U.S. We then need to get a separate ticket to Auckland to meet the cruise ship. There is a flight on Quantas that leaves SYD at 10:55 a.m. Is 2 1/2 hours long enough to clear customs, get to the Quantas desk and check luggage, etc.

In all seriousness, which airline are you flying from the US to Sydney? Would it through-check your bags to Qantas even if that flight is on a separate booking?

 

If not, then 3½ hours is better than 2½ hours for this. It could take you an hour to get out of customs, and if you only had 2½ hours between flights, then there would not be much margin left before the (probable) check-in deadline of 60 minutes before your next flight. And that's before allowing for possible delays.

Yes, 3.5 hours is OK in Sydney. When you are checking in in the US, ask if Qantas can check your bags through to Auckland (have your SYD-AKL booking reference handy). If they can do that for you you won't actually need to go through customs as you are not entering Australia - you would just get off your US flight and go straight to the boarding gate for your NZ flight. If it was booked all on the 1 ticket this would be the process, so hopefully they can do this for you. It would actually be worth a call to Qantas beforehand to enquire about this. Perhaps they can do something to "link" your reservations so the US checkin staff can see the Auckland flight? (I'm only guessing about that!)

 

If this can't be done and you do have to clear customs and collect your bag, there will still be adequate time for you.

 

Cheers

Ando

When you are checking in in the US, ask if Qantas can check your bags through to Auckland ...

If the US-Sydney airline is also Qantas, then Qantas will through-check onto another Qantas flight even if it's on a separate booking.

 

As you say, the process would then be easy: clear security through the transfer channel without clearing immigration, then go upstairs into the airside departures area.

Oops - I assumed the OP was arriving on Qantas too, but they haven't stated this :eek:

We also have a flight on Qantas from DFW to SYD then AKL we have a 3 1/2hour layover in SYD before connect to Jet Connect a Qantas flight.

We also have a flight on Qantas from DFW to SYD then AKL we have a 3 1/2hour layover in SYD before connect to Jet Connect a Qantas flight.

 

Jet Connect is wholly owned subsiduary of Qantas and flies the budget Trans Tasman routes.

 

Seems odd to me that anyone flying from the States to catch a cruise ship in Auk is actually going to Sydney first.

 

There are plenty of flights that call at Auk on the way (eg Air Canada Air NZ).

These would have to be cheaper and a whole lot less hassles.

 

Perhaps the OP has Frequent Flyer points he is using

 

 

cheers

Why on earth are you flying Qantas to Sydney and then going backwards to Auckland ?

 

You can fly Air New Zealand DAILY from Los Angeles or San Francisco DIRECT to Auckland.

 

Q A N T A S (no U) stands for Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services) one of the oldest airlines in the World, originally established at Winton in outback Queensland .

Edited July 25, 2014 by kuldalai

Maybe they are on a cruise that starts in Auckand and ends in Sydney, so a Sydney return plus Sydney - Auckland one way makes sense. Some airlines don't fly direct to both Sydney and Auckland so an open jaw ticket may not have been possible.

 

Or maybe it was considerably cheaper to fly US - Sydney return.

Edited July 25, 2014 by OzKiwiJJ

Jet Connect is wholly owned subsiduary of Qantas and flies the budget Trans Tasman routes.

For those who aren't familiar with it, Jetconnect = Qantas short-haul, only better.

 

Not to be confused with Jetstar, the Qantas Group's low-fare airline.

Maybe they are on a cruise that starts in Auckand and ends in Sydney, so a Sydney return plus Sydney - Auckland one way makes sense. Some airlines don't fly direct to both Sydney and Auckland so an open jaw ticket may not have been possible.

I'm not sure that any airlines now fly between mainland North America and both Auckland and Sydney. Even though one could buy an open jaw ticket from a single marketing carrier, at least one direction would have to be on a codeshare, and that might not be an attractive proposition to some.

I am sorry if I did not make things clear. We are flying on United with our FF miles into Sydney. Arrive at 8:30 a.m. We now have a ticket on Virgin Australia at noon arrive at Auckland at 5 p.m. This is a separate ticket. That now gives us 3 1/2 hours. I realize we will have to go through customs, get our luggage and go back up to get our ticket. I don't think United will check our luggage all the way to Auckland and I would be nervous that somewhere in Sydney it would be lost.

 

Thanks for any tips on getting this done efficiently. Next i have to find a way to get to our hotel in Auckland. Thanks again.

What hotel are you staying at? There are shuttles outside the airport that will take you to any hotel you want. Around $17 each.

I realize we will have to go through customs, get our luggage and go back up to get our ticket. I don't think United will check our luggage all the way to Auckland and I would be nervous that somewhere in Sydney it would be lost.

My advice would still be to ask UA on the day if they will through-check. The worst that can happen is that they say no.

 

If they do through-check, then you only need to follow the transfer stream when you get to Sydney. This is much faster, much less hassle and much less stressful. You would probably have to pick up a boarding pass from the VA transfer desk in the transfer area, but this is not an issue. (When you do this, make sure that you show them your bag tag receipts so that they can get the number. You can also ask at the gate, just before you board, whether your bags have come across from UA and been loaded.)

 

If UA won't through-check, then they won't. But personally I would not willingly choose not to take an offered through-check just because there's a possibility of the bags being mishandled in Sydney. I've through-checked international-to-international bags through Sydney to New Zealand countless times. Never would I have positively opted not to through-check; often my connection would not have left me enough time to collect my bags and check in again.