Sydney BA check in
 

Hi all, we are flying on BA16 on Saturday at 15:30 but flying down from Gold Coast at 07:05 in the morning.

We are in Business and would prefer to get checked in for our afternoon flight first thing and access the lounges etc. Can anyone confirm if BA constantly have a desk open as I know that's not the case in the likes of Las Vegas.

Also, we have a tight 50 minute turnaround at SIN onto the BA12. I presume this is quite common and that we will be able to make it ok.

I'm afraid the check in counters only open 3 hours before departure (the desks have also moved to Zone A).

You probably will make the connection ok, T1 is easy to get around ... but you might have a longish walk depending on gate assignments.

I'm sure somebody will be along shortly with more detail, but the BA desks at SYD are definitely not staffed constantly - I've walked past many times when there's been nobody there at all.

The short SIN turnaround is normal - don't expect much lounge time, especially with the need to re-clear security at the gate.

Yes the 3 hours was my recollection too and the desks are indeed in Zone A.
The 50 min gap may or may not be a problem - often BA16 arrives early at Singapore but I have noticed that the BA12 now uses a D gate rather than the C gate prior.

On the BA16/BA12 it is a tight switch – I did manage a very quick Duty Free stop and shower last time, then straight back to the gate.

If on Qantas from the Gold Coast you should be able to through check the bags even if on separate tickets.

The SIN arrangement is done in such a way that unless there are highly exceptional irrops you will make your flight, a lot of people interchange services there and the staff will be on hand to ensure it all works out for you. The timing isn't a coincidence (though from June they are increasing the gap somewhat), it's designed to allow people to swap services. Sometimes the CSM on SYD-SIN will broadcast the gate arrangements some 30 minutes before landing.

I flew down from BNE-SYD with QF last year and on to HKG with CX on separate tickets and the QF staff through checked me so had hours in the QF F lounge. If your flying QF down to SYD they should be able to through check you and issue you with your BA boarding passes.

As luck would have it, we are on Qantas on a separate ticket but thats great news and will give that a go at gold Coast then.

As usual, thanks for the advice.

The BA check in desks don't open until about 1pm (that was before they moved the flights earlier). I have seen them open just after midday occasionally.

As CWS said, if you're flying in on QF code, you should be able to interline your bags, and I highly recommend doing this so (with your ownward BP) you can get the QF bus from the domestic to the international terminal airside without having to go landside and pay $6 on the train with all the schlepping to the bowls of the airport or about $4-something on the bus (ridicolous prices but that's another story).

Don't worry about the SIN connection, extremely common and it's one of the easiest places to do a transist. You will have to reclear security which is right at the gate anyway.

At almost all BA outstations unless there are other BA flights checkin desks open 3 hours before, and even then many won't accept bags early.

There is no QF flight at 7:05am. Are you sure you're not on a JQ flight? If so you won't be able to through check luggage.

This ^
There is a Jetstar flight at 6.05 and a Qantas flight at 7.20.
Sounds like you need to get your flight times in order.

Sorry guys. Its the QF861 at 7:20

They seem to do bag belt and onward gate info every time at Singapore in my recent experience.

Additional dimension question. There are 4 of us and we are checking in 6 bags all the way to London. 3 of us are wanting to go direct to lounge so will use the flight transfer and 1 passenger is exiting to meet someone in Sydney.

Will this be ok as they will have their boarding passes and can just go direct to departures when they return to the airport later.?

Also, will the 23kg Qantas weight still be used for each case or will the later flights BA allowance be utilized?

Yes that should be fine. I am almost certain they will need to obtain a transit visa online though. They are free and easy to sign up for. When heading back to airport later they may want to pop by the BA desk to pick up a 'Express path' card for immigration and security. At certain times of the day can be a decent help.

With regards to baggage the 'Most significant carrier' rule should apply here.

http://www.businesstraveller.com/asi...ggage-policies

Not sure if that BA16-12 connection is as relaxed as some think, as the timings have been adjusted for later in the year so that the 16 leaves Sydney a bit earlier (1455-2110) and the 12 leaves Singapore a bit later (2320-0550) making it a bit more comfortable for connections between these, presumably quite popular, flights.

We have been in Australia for last 16 days though so surely a transit visa wouldn't be needed ??

Correct.

Apologies. Yes,no need for a visa. I did a similar thing recently from Auckland and went into city to meet someone, so had that on my mind.

We had no issue checking in our full 6 bag (for the two of us) Club allowance at ADL on Qantas for an onward connection at SYD on BA on separate tickets in November so you should be fine.

All looks good then. Thanks everyone.

I am a bit surprised by this, since it would have been possible for you to buy the XXX-SYD-LHR as a through ticket (where the longest leg rules apply). But when they are separate tickets, Qantas is under no obligation to provide you more baggage allowance than ticketed (which I think is 1 x 23kg for most economy domestics). Perhaps you had status that showed on the booking? Either way, it is good to know.

On separate tickets the QF allowance will apply for the QF segment, and if you try to check in more you may be charged.

The OP is on separate tickets so this does not apply.

QF will check the baggage through to another OneWorld flight, even when you're on separate tickets. JQ will not (even when you're flying under QF code).

But not always. I once checked in at Wellington in the morning to connect through to the afternoon BA flight on separate tickets. The ground staff could not find the connecting flight at the first pass, and so refused to check me through. I had to retrieve my bags, pass through immigration and check in again. That left me waiting for >3 hours landslide in for check in to open rather than in the lounge. I was BA Gold at the time, flying in WTP

Frustrating, but as they flat out refused to help there was nothing I could do. This was about 3 years ago.

No status, but I've just checked and we were in business on the ADL leg. Both flights were award tickets booked through BA. Maybe we were lucky....

Worst case scenario the QF charge for an extra case on a domestic flight is only something like AU$40 so it won't exactly break the bank

We are Gold so no issues with the number of bags, it's more the weight I'm worried about as we are taking more home than we came with and I reckon a few of the cases will be close to or just over 25kg.

My understanding is that Qantas are strict with the 23kg rule.

If your bags exceed 23 Kg, then you will need to pay the excess weight fee of $30 per bag

Qantas's check in systems are pretty well set up to ensure that payment is collected

Would agree with the above - over the last month we did 8 internal QF flights and QF were on the ball with weighing the cases. Luckily, neither of our single checked in cases were near 23kg but I did see quite a few people get charged the extra excess weight.

I'm on the SYD-LHR in J as well this Sat (BA16 all the way).

I regularly do both the 16 and occasionally do the switch to the 12. As has been said above, you won't have long at SIN; especially as the BA12 usually parks at gate 25 which is the end of the terminal, and a good 10m walk from the lounge.

However - you will get time to have a brief drink/bite to eat if you're quick.

Just a quick update that all bags were fine and checked all the way through to LHR which was great so thanks for the comfort.

We walked fast from 16 to 12 and as we got there it was just loading so all good there.

We had a nightmare at carousel in LHR which had nothing to do with the above.

Painless otherwise.

Wouldn't expect anything else. ^

Shame about the luggage collection at LHR.

I'm hoping I can gather some clarification on a situation I have...

I am due to travel from Melbourne to Sydney on a QF operated flight to catch the BA16 flight to London.

The QF & BA flights have been booked separately, and have have different ticket numbers. I have called Qantas and they have informed me that I cannot check in for my BA flight in Melbourne - and I must collect my luggage in Sydney Domestic, transfer to International, and wait to check in at the BA Check in Desk. However, several people in this thread seem to have had a different experience?

The policy of Qantas does state that if it is on a seperate ticket, they would not interline the baggage you have or provide any missed connection protection...

Welcome to FT, Oneworldwheelsup!I understand QF's policy in the same way as cysyuen.

Reports in this thread of different experiences may possibly be because this thread was started some time ago, and the through-checking policies of some oneworld airlines have changed over that period.

Yes this thread is outdated in several ways. The connection between BA16 and BA12 is now two hours by my understanding (and I just double checked as I'm flying it tomorrow) and yes, QF have changed their official policy but it's always worth asking. Otherwise you will need to leave and re-clear but SYD is also now a much more efficient airport, it normally takes me less than 15 mins from kerbside to lounge. If you're happy to swallow the cost ($19 ish) then the easiest way is to jump on the train, they do have a free transfer bus if you are connecting onto a One World airline though I only know this through in flight announcements and have never tried it.

I think that the following are the options.

If bags are through-checked from MEL to LHR, then it is possible to take the free QF airside transfer bus, which QF describes as follows:-If bags are not through-checked (as is likely for Oneworldwheelsup), then they must be collected at T3 and taken to T1 airside. For this, there are:-

• [*]
• [*]

I did not know that the $17 surcharge did not apply if your just doing a Domestic / International transfer. In that case I would definitely take the train as they come about every 5 minutes. Or if you're relaxed about time then the T-Bus sounds like the best option. I would not bother with a taxi.