Transiting in Melbourne
 

Hi.

I will be flying from BKK to MEL via MNL with Philippine Airlines and then from MEL to CPT via SYD and JNB with Qantas. These are booked separately. I have applied for an Australian tourist visa and hoping to be there for 10 days. I am slightly worried about the visas being denied and losing the money of the tickets (there was a sale so I booked the flights already but can change the dates for a slight fee).

Q1. What are the chances of the visas being denied.

Q2. If they are denied and I change my flight to Melbourne to a +-10 days later so that I can catch my next Qantas flights can I transit in Australia without a visa. I.e will Philippine Airlines allow me to fly to Melbourne without a visa (I can/will show them the onward tickets to Cape Town)

Thanks.

No. MEL-SYD is a domestic flight so you need to be able to enter Australia. Without a visa Philippine Airlines will not allow you to board your flight (because they will be fined if you arrive in Australia).

You cannot fly the MEL-SYD flight without entering Australia (on a valid visa).

You don't mention your nationality, but most likely you can transit in Australia without a visa- but you can't leave the transit section of the airport.

There are three options I see:

- Skip AU and fly from BKK to Africa (safest option)
- Change your QF flight to BKK-CPT, transiting in SYD or PER (flying through Australia on one ticket shouldn't pose an issue)
- Change your BKK flight to land in SYD, and QF flight to depart from SYD (may have some trouble departing without an Australian visa, but should be possible)

Even if you have a PH flight BKK-MNL-SYD and a separate QF ticket SYD-CPT there is no guarantee PH will accept the QF flight in lieu of a valid Au visa. A flight delay gives you problems.
You are not "transiting" in normal airline use of that term. Transit is where all flights on the same ticket. You have 1 flight ending and another separate flight starting at the same airport.

I note from your profile ZA South Africa.
TIMATIC is used by airline to determine eligibility
https://www.iatatravelcentre.com/travelinformation.php

• Airport info SYDNEY (SYD) - amenities, transfers, transport Click to open the wiki
  
• Airport info MELBOURNE (MEL) - amenities, transfers, transport Click to open the wiki
  
• Australia immigration (incl ETA visa) & customs
  
• Smartgate at Australia & NZ immigration Click to open the wiki
  
• Au Government web site link --> Australian Electronic Travel Authority AUD$20. For passports holders from Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Hong Kong (SAR PRC), Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and United States. Beware of non government 3rd party look-a-like web sites that charge more, often found with a browser web search. Only the Au government web site/department issues visas. The other scam web sites just send your data to the Au Gov web site.

OP other thread:-- https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thai...ansit-bkk.html

Edit
SYD has an overnight curfew 23:00 05:00. You cannot stay airside in the terminal be those hours
PH flight MNL-SYD lands a 21:30 (from a very quick check)

Edit 2
From https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...aspx?i=TIMATIC for Phillipines-Australia-South Africa. South African passport
But check your self. Do not rely on a random web site or this web site

That's not true. There's no definition as such with regards to the topic of this post (visa, customs, & immigration). Same ticket or different tickets are treated the same.

However your other points are valid and it does carry more risk (being allowed to board, misconnects, etc).