Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific - AUS e-visa, is it necessary?

A friend and I will be traveling to NZ in couple of months. This question only pertains to my friend as I will be staying in Australia after NZ and she will be flying home.

Outbound - We arrive in SYD ~8:15a from LAX. I leave for AKL at 4:20p and she leaves for CHC ~7p.

Inbound - we both arrive on the same flight from AKL in SYD ~10:30a. I continue with my vacation in AUS and she waits for her connection to LAX, leaving ~1:30p (I don't think she will need a visa here),

BUT I do remember reading somewhere that the visa is needed if the connection is longer than few hours,

SO, will she need a visa just because of the long connection time during the outbound? assuming that she stays airside.

andrzej-

If you are planning on leaving the airport on your inbound leg than yes, your friend will need a visa. If you are not leaving the airport I would assume9 and we all know what happens than) that she will not need to go to the trouble

Happy Travels
trvlngfool

Boarding will be denied at LAX unless proof is produced of the onward connection SYD-CHC (this may be trivial, for example on the same PNR, or difficult, for example e-ticket on different carrier with incompatible computer system). The airline has a huge fine (something like USD 10,000) if they do take a pax to SYD without proper visa and not in transit, so the carriers on this route will err on the side of caution if you don't have appropriate proof. Much simpler to get the ETA for Australia. Even doing it on the same PNR has some risk, for example if the flight SYD-CHC is cancelled the day before for some reason it would result in denied boarding for LAX-SYD -- must have confirmed space on a scheduled flight in order to be exempt the visa requirement. And in the event of denied boarding the pax has zero recourse as they failed to present the required travel documents per the conditions of carriage (worst case the airline can force you to buy full fare tickets if you want to fly at a later date). This really is a high risk game that isn't worth playing.

Stupid question- how do you ensure that the visa is applied to the PNR? What are the fees?

Stupid question- how do you ensure that the visa is applied to the PNR? What are the fees?

The ETA isn't attachedd to the PNR. The airline computers talk to the DIMA (govt) computers, using your passport numbe, and get a message back stating whether or not you have a valid ETA.

Dave

I went through my airline (American) to get visas for our trip. They did it electronically and the fee was $25/person.

You didn't mention what airline you are using for the transpac flight, but if it is UA, they will do the ETA for free. Just call international reservations and ask.

You didn't mention what airline you are using for the transpac flight, but if it is UA, they will do the ETA for free. Just call international reservations and ask.

And Cathay did it for free for me in October.

If your friend is connecting to CHC from SYD and back from AKL, I would persume that you are flying QF or NZ for at least the Oz/NZ portion. I think QF and NZ would both do the electronic visa for free. I believe UA does as well if you fly them to SYD.

You should request it since she had a 10-11 hour layover in SYD and having a visa would give you more choices even to go out for a walk, try different eating establishments in the terminal or maybe even go into the city for a few hours or get a day room at a hotel...