Sydney airport and transfer from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2

[4774Papa]

Karen,

Have good flights. I don't look forward to four flights in a row, with the big one from LAX to Sydney at 14 hours.

We did a China trip in September and our flight from Hong Kong to Ohare was 14 hours. I wanted to do pushups to get the blood flowing, but the floor was nasty.

Someone recommended buying some socks to wear on the flight that enhance circulation. We will see how those work out.

[Globaliser]

I called Air New Zealand because I couldn't access our tickets on line (we got them with FF miles so, for some reason, don't have on line access :confused: ) and the rep there told me Delta always arrives in Terminal 5.

Then i looked up our tickets and confirmed.

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 36 days from departure

LAX

►

SYD : DL 17

FLIGHT STATUS: STATUS NOT AVAILABLE

Depart:

10:50 PM

Arrive:

8:40 AM

This flight arrives - Fri, 25 Jan 2013.

Terminal 5

 

I like your info MUCH better. We were NOT looking forward to dragging our bags between terminals!!!

That's got garbled: the reference to "Terminal 5" is because your "flight" operates from ATL to LAX Terminal 5, and then departs from there to SYD (although there's a flight number fraud in operation here because ATL-LAX is actually a different flight from LAX-SYD and they have just been made to bear the same flight number):-

Flight Details Search:
Departing on 23/01/13 0:00
Flying DL flight 17

Depart             Arrive             Airline  Equipment  Number  Meal   Time    Miles  Reliability
ATL                LAX                
Terminal: SOUTH    Terminal:  5       DL       763        17      D D D  5h 08m  1943   78% / 18m
23/01/13 17:45     23/01/13 19:53
LAX                SYD                
Terminal:  5       Terminal:  1       DL       77L        17      D D D  14h 50m 7495   82% / 17m
23/01/13 22:50     25/01/13 8:40

[Flipper133]

Another question -since you seem to be familiar with the Sydney airport.

Does Delta have a lounge there? (The one for first class passengers and those with Amex cards)

 

Delta is an Air Partner with Virgin so you can access their lounge if you have appropriate status with the Delta loyalty program.

This is from the Virgin Web Site:

 

SkyMiles Medallion Diamond, Platinum and Gold members receive complimentary entry into the Virgin Australia lounge network*.

* On the same day of travel only.

 

Cheers

[Flipper133]

I have just been looking through the International Arrivals for Sydney Airport.

Yes, Delta D17 arrived just about on time, but QF 8 from Dallas is about 8 hours late.

 

Big news however was that SC1 from the North Pole was shown as being on time ! Arriving at 12.45pm... Yeah :)

 

Cheers, and compliments of the season to all :D

[chamima]

I have just been looking through the International Arrivals for Sydney Airport.

Yes, Delta D17 arrived just about on time, but QF 8 from Dallas is about 8 hours late.

 

Big news however was that SC1 from the North Pole was shown as being on time ! Arriving at 12.45pm... Yeah :)

 

Cheers, and compliments of the season to all :D

 

 

:D Like :D

[Kiwi Kruzer]

Big news however was that SC1 from the North Pole was shown as being on time ! Arriving at 12.45pm... Yeah :)

Cheers, and compliments of the season to all :D

 

:D Like :D

 

 

I heard that at Sydney International Airport , Customs ,Immigration and Quarrantine , have special teams on standby tonight for his visit, and that Santa and his Reindeer are assured of instant approval while they are "In Transit" .:D:D

[anaco_angler]

Would someone who's familiar with Sydney airport and its transit procedures please answer my question in post #22 above? Departure time is getting close and I'm getting a bit nervous. Thanks.

[Globaliser]

We have a similar situation: arrive Sydney at 0810 on a United flight from San Francisco and then depart for Auckland at 1150 on Qantas. It doesn't seem as if United will tag our bags all the way through to Auckland so I'm assuming we claim our bags after immigration and prior to going through customs. Does that sound right?

If United won't through-check your bags to Auckland, so that they're only tagged as far as Sydney, then yes: you will have to claim your bags after immigration before you clear Customs.

Will there be a Qantas desk there for transfers where we can check our bags to Auckland and get boarding passes, or will we have to exit the transfer area and check in for our flight at the Qantas desk in the arrivals area?

When you exit from Customs, you go straight into the public (landside) meet and greet area. There is no transfer area here, whether for domestic or international connections. You will have to take your bags upstairs to the departure level and go to a Qantas check-in counter.

We think we have plenty of time, especially since we can use SmartGate for immigration clearance ...

You should have plenty of time, which will give you some margin in case your inbound flight is late.

 

However, are you sure that you can use SmartGate? Not only do you need to have an Australian or New Zealand passport (and be an Aus/NZ citizen), but it has to be a (biometric) ePassport.

[anaco_angler]

If United won't through-check your bags to Auckland, so that they're only tagged as far as Sydney, then yes: you will have to claim your bags after immigration before you clear Customs.When you exit from Customs, you go straight into the public (landside) meet and greet area. There is no transfer area here, whether for domestic or international connections. You will have to take your bags upstairs to the departure level and go to a Qantas check-in counter.You should have plenty of time, which will give you some margin in case your inbound flight is late.

 

However, are you sure that you can use SmartGate? Not only do you need to have an Australian or New Zealand passport (and be an Aus/NZ citizen), but it has to be a (biometric) ePassport.

 

Thank you so much for the detailed info. At least we know what to expect. As for SmartGate, I received the following information on 09 Nov via email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

U.S. citizens who are members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler programs are eligible to use SmartGate upon arrival in Australia if they:

 

are a member of CBP's Global Entry, NEXUS, or SENTRI Program;

travel on a valid U.S. ePassport¹ and

are 16 years of age or older.

Travelers who meet all three criteria will be eligible to try SmartGate.

 

There is no additional enrollment process to participate in SmartGate. CBP has partnered with the Australian Government on this initiative to facilitate the entry of U.S. citizens into Australia. By using SmartGate, eligible travelers are able to bypass Australia's manual passport control processing queues and self-process using their ePassport¹.

So we're going to give it a go with our Nexus cards, and if it works, we will have saved some time and shortened the regular queues by two.

[Globaliser]

So we're going to give it a go with our Nexus cards, and if it works, we will have saved some time and shortened the regular queues by two.

I hope that works for you as advertised - it will certainly be a bit of a boon if it does!

[Aussie Gal]

Thank you so much for the detailed info. At least we know what to expect. As for SmartGate, I received the following information on 09 Nov via email from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security:

U.S. citizens who are members of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Trusted Traveler programs are eligible to use SmartGate upon arrival in Australia if they:

 

are a member of CBP's Global Entry, NEXUS, or SENTRI Program;

travel on a valid U.S. ePassport¹ and

are 16 years of age or older.

Travelers who meet all three criteria will be eligible to try SmartGate.

 

There is no additional enrollment process to participate in SmartGate. CBP has partnered with the Australian Government on this initiative to facilitate the entry of U.S. citizens into Australia. By using SmartGate, eligible travelers are able to bypass Australia's manual passport control processing queues and self-process using their ePassport¹.

So we're going to give it a go with our Nexus cards, and if it works, we will have saved some time and shortened the regular queues by two.

 

It certainly didn't work in reverse when we were in the States in late October.

 

Also, there are quite a few Australians who now use Smart Gate and the queues are nearly as long as the normal queues!!

 

Jennie

[anaco_angler]

Just a quick follow-up to my earlier queries/postings about transferring from a United SFO-SYD flight to a Qantas SYD-AKL flight with luggage tagged only as far as Sydney. With the advice of ground staff in Sydney, we used the transfer desk and did not process through Immigration and Customs. The staff at the transfer desk provided boarding passes for our Qantas flight and arranged via phone call to United's baggage service to have our bags re-tagged for the Qantas flight to Auckland. That was a bit of a leap of faith so I understand those who want to process through Immigration, claim their bags, go through Customs, and then proceed to the Departures area and queue up for check-in for their onward flight. In our case the easy way--transfer desk--worked but we did have our doubts until we saw our bags on the carousel in Auckland.

[Globaliser]

With the advice of ground staff in Sydney, we used the transfer desk and did not process through Immigration and Customs. The staff at the transfer desk provided boarding passes for our Qantas flight and arranged via phone call to United's baggage service to have our bags re-tagged for the Qantas flight to Auckland.

That was very kind of them! I'm glad you got looked after - that saved a lot of hassle.

[chamima]

Just a quick follow-up to my earlier queries/postings about transferring from a United SFO-SYD flight to a Qantas SYD-AKL flight with luggage tagged only as far as Sydney. With the advice of ground staff in Sydney, we used the transfer desk and did not process through Immigration and Customs. The staff at the transfer desk provided boarding passes for our Qantas flight and arranged via phone call to United's baggage service to have our bags re-tagged for the Qantas flight to Auckland. That was a bit of a leap of faith so I understand those who want to process through Immigration, claim their bags, go through Customs, and then proceed to the Departures area and queue up for check-in for their onward flight. In our case the easy way--transfer desk--worked but we did have our doubts until we saw our bags on the carousel in Auckland.

 

We also let them transfer our bags but did NOT have your good luck.

Sitting here in Auckland with NO luggage !!! We've been here about 28 hours.:( :( :(

[Aussie Gal]

You poor things, do hope your luggage arrives soon. When do you board the ship?

 

Hopefully it will arrive in the next few hours.

 

Jennie

[Flipper133]

According to their Roll Call, Karen's luggage arrived ok on Sunday (27th) so they were good to board Solstice on Monday for their 35 day cruise( Auk-Perth + Perth-Syd B2B)

Must have been worrying for a while

cheers