How much time for connection in MEL is needed?

[SelectSys]

In order to get a cheap award ticket home I need to fly from SYD to MEL and then make the connection to my international flight home on Qantas.  I have many options for arriving into MEL based on the plethora of flights on QF between the 2 cities. 

 

The earliest flight shown on the web page leaves at 6:00AM with 3:25 of connection time and the latest is at 7:30AM with only 1:35 available to connect.  Several more options are available in between.  My normal gut is to have more connecting time in case of flight issues, but 6:00AM  is pretty early given the need to arrive at the airport and pass security.

 

What do the experts here suggest is sufficient time to connect?  I guess a follow on question would be how much time to allocate at the Sydney airport.  I expect to have some sort of "fast track" access to security.

[Globaliser]

Your biggest constraint here is that you're on two separate tickets. However, I think that there may still be a QF concession that they will through-check bags on two separate bookings if one is a cash ticket and the other is an award ticket. It's worth checking this on the QF website or FlyerTalk.

 

If you can through-check your bag, and if everything is running normally on SYD-MEL, you shouldn't really need more than a couple of hours to connect at MEL. For your purposes, it's basically a single-terminal airport, although it's divided into three "terminals" for descriptive reasons. You'd be transferring from T1 to T2, which are adjacent to each other, so it's a short walk inside the building. I don't know it well enough to know whether you need to clear completely to landside in T1 before entering T2 security, but from first principles my guess is that you will do (because of the different security screening requirements for international flights).

 

FWIW, I think that the 0730 flight should actually give you 1:55 to connect at MEL, because I'm guessing that your onward flight is at 1100.

 

However, I think that I would personally fly to MEL the previous evening: I've had too many experiences of good weather at MEL but bad weather at SYD, or vice versa, in the early mornings.

[SelectSys]

47 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

Your biggest constraint here is that you're on two separate tickets. However, I think that there may still be a QF concession that they will through-check bags on two separate bookings if one is a cash ticket and the other is an award ticket. It's worth checking this on the QF website or FlyerTalk.

 

If you can through-check your bag, and if everything is running normally on SYD-MEL, you shouldn't really need more than a couple of hours to connect at MEL. For your purposes, it's basically a single-terminal airport, although it's divided into three "terminals" for descriptive reasons. You'd be transferring from T1 to T2, which are adjacent to each other, so it's a short walk inside the building. I don't know it well enough to know whether you need to clear completely to landside in T1 before entering T2 security, but from first principles my guess is that you will do (because of the different security screening requirements for international flights).

 

FWIW, I think that the 0730 flight should actually give you 1:55 to connect at MEL, because I'm guessing that your onward flight is at 1100.

 

However, I think that I would personally fly to MEL the previous evening: I've had too many experiences of good weather at MEL but bad weather at SYD, or vice versa, in the early mornings.

It would be a single award ticket with flight 2 segments and we would be checking bags in at Sydney.  Your point about early morning weather is a good one.  Were I live early morning fog can be an issue at our local airport at certain times of year.  My trip is in November which would be in mid Spring I guess.

 

Your are correct that the flight to the US is QF 93 which leaves at 11:00.  I wish I could simply fly home directly from SYD, but the award ticket prices are rediculous for anything more that basic economy...

Edited May 9, 2023 by SelectSys

[Zach1213]

I also like the idea of spending the night in Melbourne. Hell, if you have the ability, try to spend as much of the previous day in Melbourne as possible. It truly is my favorite city in the world to visit, and I have been to 125ish countries in the world. There are countless things to do, see, eat, and drink. But otherwise, Globaliser's post seems good to me as someone who is a pretty frequent traveler to/from/through both Sydney and Melbourne. 

[GeezerCouple]

50 minutes ago, SelectSys said:

It would be a single award ticket with flight 2 segments and we would be checking bags in at Sydney.  Your point about early morning weather is a good one.  Were I live early morning fog can be an issue at our local airport at certain times of year.  My trip is in November which would be in mid Spring I guess.

 

Your are correct that the flight to the US is QF 93 which leaves at 11:00.  I wish I could simply fly home directly from SYD, but the award ticket prices are rediculous for anything more that basic economy...

 

Here is how we think about connections, timing, etc.:

We think about what happens 'downstream' from any snafu.

So for an awards ticket from Australia to the USA... how easy would it be to get on another flight?

This may depend upon your class of service.  For example, with F (or even business), there may not be a lot of open seats on that next flight.  There often aren't a lot of those premium seats to begin with, of course, never mind needing availability at the last moment.    For economy, there may be more availability, but these days... is that still true with the apparent travel surge?

 

So in a case like this (and we've been in this situation several times, with awards tickets) we spend the night at/near the connecting airport.  That allows a lot of time for a delay on that first flight.  Once thus far, we were able to stay at an air-side hotel, which made it a lot easier... no need for customs and immigrations and then security again.  Nice!

And we will *not* take a "late flight" to the connecting long-haul.  We'll try to allow at least 2 additional flights in case of delay, and always at least one... unless there is no way at all to do that.

 

And it depends upon whether it is one ticket, two, or perhaps a family traveling together, etc.

 

Most of our decision making about this depends upon "how difficult it is likely to be to get the next flight" should things go south (heh, instead of north! 😉 ) at the connection.

 

GC

[SelectSys]

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

I also like the idea of spending the night in Melbourne. Hell, if you have the ability, try to spend as much of the previous day in Melbourne as possible. It truly is my favorite city in the world to visit, and I have been to 125ish countries in the world. There are countless things to do, see, eat, and drink. But otherwise, Globaliser's post seems good to me as someone who is a pretty frequent traveler to/from/through both Sydney and Melbourne. 

 

I agree that Melbourne is a fine place to visit with much to see and do.  Since I haven't been there since well before the pandamic,  maybe I will extend the trip a bit more to keep things simpler.  

 

54 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

Here is how we think about connections, timing, etc.:

We think about what happens 'downstream' from any snafu... Most of our decision making about this depends upon "how difficult it is likely to be to get the next flight" should things go south (heh, instead of north! 😉 ) at the connection...

 

I very much agree with this perspective.  From the passenger perspective, flying is about managing downside risk and any connection introduces another "failure point" in a journey.  I just took a trip where I combined 2 tickets - one award and one paid.  In this case I flew in more that 5 hours early and I also had 2 backups that I could use to get to my long haul flight on time which was on a separate ticket.  I noticed in your post that you have done similar things as well.

 

54 minutes ago, GeezerCouple said:

 

So for an awards ticket from Australia to the USA... how easy would it be to get on another flight?

 

 

Coach seats are reasonably plentiful.  It's hard to get anything else at a reasonable point level - at least using AAdvantage miles. 

 

One other option I found was a Fijian Airways flight that sells one way tickets without a markup.

 

Thanks to all for their feedback!

 

 

[Globaliser]

2 hours ago, SelectSys said:

It would be a single award ticket with flight 2 segments ...

 

In that case, you're protected against a misconnect (as you know). So the question which comes to the fore is what would be the consequences of missing the long-haul flight. If you don't have any pressing need to get back to the US on time, then you have the luxury of being able to risk the misconnect - especially if you don't have to accept a downgrade in order to take the next flight because you can actually wait for longer.

 

There are two other potential considerations: In November, it looks like the A380 is scheduled for MEL-LAX on only three days of the week; and there are 1100 departures on only four days of the week. The other aircraft type is the 787-9, and the other flights depart at 2255. So if you're thinking through the consequences of a misconnect, these may be relevant factors to you.

[SelectSys]

8 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

In that case, you're protected against a misconnect (as you know). So the question which comes to the fore is what would be the consequences of missing the long-haul flight. If you don't have any pressing need to get back to the US on time, then you have the luxury of being able to risk the misconnect - especially if you don't have to accept a downgrade in order to take the next flight because you can actually wait for longer.

The subject of involuntary downgrades is an interesting one.  This one link suggests the airlines downgrade those on point before those paying cash.  The rules regarding downgrade compensation also vary by jurisdiction. 

 

https://www.smh.com.au/traveller/reviews-and-advice/getting-downgraded-on-a-flight-why-it-happens-and-what-you-can-do-about-it-20220911-h26cgo.html

 

8 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

There are two other potential considerations: In November, it looks like the A380 is scheduled for MEL-LAX on only three days of the week; and there are 1100 departures on only four days of the week. The other aircraft type is the 787-9, and the other flights depart at 2255. So if you're thinking through the consequences of a misconnect, these may be relevant factors to you.

yes, I saw that as well.in terms of the alternating aircraft types.  Space for award travel outside of coach was more limited on the 787 vs the A380 which makes sense to me given the size difference of the aircraft.

 

My final solution was to actually call AA and get them to help adjust my reservation.  I decided to fly to MEL the day before as you perviously suggested and avoid early trips to the airport altogether. This approach also gives me an afternoon and evening to spend in Melbourne prior to heading home without worrying about a connection.  I first thought about extending my vacation and spending more time in Melbourne, but the award availability just didn't work out well for me given my scheduled commitments at home.

 

Thanks again to all for their ideas.  I am happy with my plan.

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by SelectSys

[Zach1213]

8 hours ago, SelectSys said:

This approach also gives me an afternoon and evening to spend in Melbourne prior to heading home without worrying about a connection. 

 

Now you have an even bigger problem - figuring out where to eat in Melbourne for only two meals when there are two million great restaurants and cafes. 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Zach1213

[SelectSys]

1 hour ago, Zach1213 said:

Now you have an even bigger problem - figuring out where to eat in Melbourne for only two meals when there are two million great restaurants and cafes. 

That's the kind of problem that I like to have!