Jump to content

Sydney Airport - transferring from International to Domestic terminal


Camelia-
 Share

Recommended Posts

Hello everyone,

 

We are flying into Sydney next spring (from Toronto on an Air Canada flight via Vancouver). Our travel plans had to be modified so we will not be staying in Sydney but flying on to Auckland that very day. Because we expect to be exhausted after the long flight we were considering spending the night in Sydney and taking the morning flight to Auckland the next day but then we decided we'd just like to get the travel part over with all at once.

 

Our flight arrives at 10:30 a.m. and I see that there is a Qantas flight to Auckland which departs at 1:15 p.m. and numerous flights which depart at 3:50 p.m. on Virgin Australia or Air New Zealand. Do you think that the 1:15 flight gives us enough time to connect or should we aim for the 3:50 flight to make sure that we have enough time and peace of mind? I have no idea how long it will take between international and domestic terminals as well as the how much time to allow for security/immigration/check in.

 

Of course the best option would have been to fly to Auckland directly but we wanted too use our FF points to fly business class and this was the only way..we decided we'd rather fly business class for all those hours and connect via Sydney than flying economy though it would have been less of a hassle since it would have been a more direct flight.

 

Choices..choices....we've never flown so far and for such a long time and the prospect is a little daunting. We'd really appreciate any advice you can give us..

 

Many thanks...

 

Camelia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A couple of points to consider (and information needed):

 

1) Are you talking about being on one ticket or two? It seems that you already have YYZ-YVR-SYD booked and are looking for the final leg? Are you wanting to tack on another leg to your award ticket?

 

2) If this is on two separate tickets, especially with Virgin Australia and Qantas, you will almost certainly have to collect your baggage, go outside security and re-checkin with your new carrier. In addition, you will have no protection if your AC flight is delayed and you miss your SYD-AKL flight. You might get lucky and have through baggage with NZ, since they are also in Star Alliance with AC. But I can't say for sure.

 

3) Finally, SYD-AKL is not a domestic flight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you FlyerTalker for that info.

 

Yes we are already booked (with our points) and looking to add that final leg to Auckland. And..oops....of course it's not domestic at all..I don't know where my head was when I said that..lol..thank you for that correction. That means that, after collecting our bags and going through customs we would just stay where we are and wait to check in for the next leg. But - as you say - there's no way to predict that everything will be on time so perhaps we should choose the 3:50 flight to provide the cushion - if needed.

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Camelia

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for that suggestion Twickenham. I will check to see if we have enough aeroplan miles - otherwise we can just purchase tickets directly from Air New Zealand. At least we will earn more miles for future travelling!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That means that, after collecting our bags and going through customs we would just stay where we are and wait to check in for the next leg. But - as you say - there's no way to predict that everything will be on time so perhaps we should choose the 3:50 flight to provide the cushion - if needed.
If you have to clear immigration, collect your bags, clear customs (which is not a mere formality in Sydney), go upstairs, check-in, clear immigration, and clear security, my advice would be that a 2:45 connection is not safe enough. I would definitely be going for the longer connection.

 

Unless you can get a firm answer that your bags will be through-checked to Auckland, then I would plan on the basis that they will not. They should be through-checked if you can get the SYD-AKL flight onto the same ticket as the existing flight, but beyond that one is in the realm of airline policy.

 

In any event, you may want to check all your flight times. I can't see a YVR-SYD flight that arrives at 10.30 am. I can see one that arrives at 10.25 am, and that timing holds good up to and including the 10 March 2018 departure. But at that time of the year, I can't immediately see a Qantas SYD-AKL flight at 1.15 pm on any day of the week.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for that suggestion Twickenham. I will check to see if we have enough aeroplan miles - otherwise we can just purchase tickets directly from Air New Zealand. At least we will earn more miles for future travelling!

 

YYZ-SYD and YYZ-AKL are the same number of miles - you would need to pay a change fee, but the miles would remain the same. And as Aeroplan allows up to 2 stopovers in addition to your destination, you could even have a couple of nights in Sydney if you wanted.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Aeroplan does allow stopovers and they also allow open jaw ticket. Last winter we traveled Calgary-Santiago, and then Santiago-Panama with a one month stopover, then home from Panama pn our Aeroplan tickent. Our cruise left from BA so we purchased a very inexpensive ticket on a discount airline.

 

Keep in mind that if you select AIrCanada flights you will end up paying a very high surcharge. Our flights to SA would have cost us $880 per person in extra fees had we selected AC flights. We selected United (and more convenient for us since were routed through Houston instead of Toronto). The fees for our Aeroplan tickets on the United flights totalled just under $250. each.

 

So, if you are considering paying a change fee, also take a look at the ticket costs of the so called 'free' ticket.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll also add that the Aeroplan change fee is very reasonable. I just had to change the timing of the last segment on a USA>Europe itinerary, and the charge was approximately $70 USD per ticket. No additional mileage charge, even though from what I could see they were no longer making the flight I changed to available at the low mileage level I booked.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other thing to keep in mind with Aeroplan is that the partner Star Alliance airlines often open up additional reward seats 30 days prior to the flight. An Aeroplan agent told us this.

 

On one trip, coming back from Europe, we changed our return flight from an AC flight to another member airline. The change fee was $60 or $70 pp but we each saved $250. in Air Canada surcharges that were not applied to the partner airline. We ended up with a better flight and saved some money.

 

We are dumping Aeroplan and the fee based credit card that goes with it. Just need to get another 10K points and it's adios. The program, for us, have become unattractive.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share

  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...