So my friend made a huge mistake: we are flying SFO thru Sydney final destination Auckland. He submitted their passports in time to receive New Zealand visa but realized now they need an Australian visa even though our transit time is only 1 hour in Australia. There is no more time to get Australian visa (I know the Aussie visa is electronic and no need to submit passports, but have not even received passports back from NZ and Australia is requiring proof of NZ visa before processing)

This is on Qantas metal, booked via Cheapoair. The change/cancellation fee is $500. Is this per person, or per party ?

Also, I'm assuming that Qantas would be checking for an Australian transit visa when checking in at SFO. Is there any way to get around that- mobile check in -? Isn't it ridiculous that we do not even go through customs but they need this visa ?

what are our options? I'm the only US citizen on the itinerary and I don't have the thousands of dollars to spend on changing tickets/forfeiting hotels and such so it looks like I'll be going alone. 7 days until departure