Originally Posted by
politico_pk
I have zero experience in Australian airports but this thread has made me nervous regarding connection times! My family is flying MEL-BNE-YVR-YOW in a few weeks; we have 2h25 to connect in BNE for AC 36. We move a bit slowly because of having two kids under 3
I had been operating under the assumption that bags would be checked through to Canada right from MEL (that’s what happened on our outbound) and that this was more than adequate time to connect…but am I incorrect?
Thanks, all, in advance!
You bags should be checked through. But be aware that transfers from the domestic to the international terminal in BNE involve either a bus or a one-station train transfer (much like SYD, if you know that). And security at the BNE international terminal isn't always the fastest. So 2:25 is doable if everything goes fine, but it's a bit iffy.
FWIW, I always fly to BNE the night before and stay in the glorious Ibis hotel at the airport; the hotel then has a paid (pre-book!!) shuttle to the international terminal in the morning. OTOH, finding your way to the hotel from the domestic terminal (right through the airport car park) with two little kids in tow might be its own problem.
Originally Posted by
politico_pk
I have a number of segments on VA this month (on 014) and had to call VA directly to reserve seats. Interestingly, they had a separate “international” department I had to use because it was AC ticket stock, and they gave me a unique VA booking reference when I called.
Your VA PNR will always be different from the AC PNR, and, yes, you have to call VA directly and get transferred to the "international" department just to get your seat assigned. And whether they can do that is (like the SQM issue discussed above) kinda random. On an upcoming trip (YYZ-YVR-BNE-MEL-BNE-YVR-VYZ), VA was able to assign my seat for the MEL-BNE segment, but told me that they couldn't do so for the BNE-MEL segment "as it was booked by AC" — as if the other segment wasn't. On previous trips, in the exact same situation, they've been able to assign all VA seats without fuss.