I'm looking to book a one way flight to SYD in January (return already booked on BA with a CV in J). However, having done BA15 last year and not having enjoyed the early arrival into SYD (and subsequent struggle to stay awake until the evening) I'm struggling to decide what OW carrier to take that gets me in at a decent time in the evening. Currently QR's service that arrives into SYD at 1850 +1 day looks ok, but it's on the A380 which I'm not thrilled about. That said, booking into the Elite fare would give me 50% of the mileage as nTPs which would be pretty useful in towards retaining Silver next year (damn you BA).

Does anyone have any experience with other OW carriers on the route that allows for a decent arrival time? I could also look outside of OW (SQ has decent looking sectors, but of course no nTPs). Thanks!

For me the perfect way to get to New Zealand (in my case) is to go on the evening services departures to Hong Kong. These get to HKG around 16:00 hrs, or so, maybe a bit later. You arrive, you're in the hotel about an hour later, maybe a bite to eat, you crash out and have a great sleep, but you may wake up a bit early. You then take a flight from HKG to CHC (in my case) the next day time, so back to the airport for something like a 09:00 hrs service to SYD (in your case) and that gets you into SYD around 20:00 hrs. You will then bounce up like the Duracell bunny the next morning, at least in theory. It's import to go eastwards, not westwards to HKG. Ideally you would have 2 nights in HKG.

Now I've not checked QR's schedules to see if going via DOH is within the same timeframe or not, but to some extent you can simply chop this around with anything similar where departing LHR afternoon/ evening gets you around 16:00 hrs local, or thereabouts to any of the following: KUL / BKK / MNL / SIN / BWN / DPS / CGK (if desperate).

Thanks C-W-S, very useful data points.

There are a couple of options on QR that allow for longer layovers in DOH meaning a +2 arrival to SYD, or that arrive +1 day (the A380 service being one of them) Unfortunately my arrival is somewhat time sensitive and I'll already be arriving a few days later than I want due to work, so ideally a +1 timeframe is better, but I think I would risk it for a better sleep pattern on arrival!

Would flying into MEL or BNE with QR and doing a domestic leg work if you want to avoid the A380? Arriving into Oz in the evenings makes such a difference.

OW airlines into SYD

• AA American Airlines
• BA British Airways
• CX Cathay Pacific
• FJ Fiji Airways
• JL Japan Airlines
• MH Malaysia Airlines
• QF Qantas
• QR Qatar
• UL SriLankin Airlines

Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sydney_Airport
Various routes. Including via South Africa, Canada and USA. But may not be price competitive.
Into BNE or MEL and then a short domestic flight next morning an option. SYD has a night curfew. BNE & MEL do not

Look at SYD web site arrivals list for a few days. Will list airlines, but in Jan 2026 may be different schedules/airlines and will be day light savings
SYD--> https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/flights

Getting all you want of price, schedule and OW airline~BAC ffp earnings, may not be possible.

Yes that�s certainly an option. Will look into it.

You might also consider getting a day room on arrival in AU if you do end up stuck on a flight that lands in the morning. I prefer an evening arrival, but landing and taking a nap for a couple of hours before an abbreviated day is a reasonable alternative.

Why not fly via JNB - you can catch the late BA flight to JNB - sleep on the plane as normal and arrive mid-morning - then either do a long layover in the lounge or go to one of the local hotels (such as Intercontinental or City Lodge) which are right outside arrivals and then back for the evening flight to Sydney which gets in around 1430 the next day. Not quite evening but maybe close enough. Elapsed flight time is around 22-23 hours so not really much longer than any other way of getting there.

This would also give you ticketing options as you could do a Round the World 4 Zone and fly back via either the US or South America (and give you some interesting stop overs on the way if you were so inclined)

The best routing I did a few times was a late morning departure from Heathrow on Cathay, immediate connection in Hong Kong, late evening arrival into Sydney. In hotel by midnight, slept perfectly and ready to face the day when I woke up.

Also did Finnair a few times with a slightly earlier morning departure and the extra transit in Helsinki, connecting on to Cathay or Qantas in Hong Kong or Singapore.

No idea how those routings work for nTPs despite the new earnings supposedly being easier to understand 😀

Though not often, when I have been to Oz or NZ I try to go for a very long walk or a hefty gym session to tire me out so I can then fit into local time and have a good sleep. Though sometimes very difficult to do, that IMHO is better than a nap which might stop you from sleeping properly during the night. YMMV.

QR have nicely timed afternoon arrivals into Sydney (MEL and BNE too), they require an ~8am departure from LHR - there's a 777 and an A380 departing from London around the same time. SYD unfortunately has the A380 unlike MEL/BNE etc.
EK and SQ do similar
BA and QF are morning arrivals only

Yes I've been looking at those QR flights into MEL. Not a huge difference in price between LHR-DOH-SYD and LHR-DOH-MEL-SYD. The other option is that well timed HKG flight that GCUK mentioned.

From a nTPs perspective, QR earns more than CX based on % of miles flown (QR=50% on Full J and CX=25%) so I'm leaning towards QR (all booked via the respective carriers). If I didn't have some flights to HKG and DXB this side of Xmas where I can earn nTPs, I would probably just go with SQ as I haven't flown their offering in a while. But retaining Silver is quite useful and with those 2 return flights and SYD I'd probably make it.

I'm doing the BA15 route with MasterBR, and our approach is to take a room at the Rydges Hotel at the airport from the preceding night so we can check in immediately, and then use the first day as a rest day. As we're on a redemption and guffed into F, the cost differential to booking QR or other easily pays for the room.

Actually on this subject, is BA15 regarded as a separate flight from the point of view of catering? What is the meal service on SIN to SYD? I'm very familiar with the BA11/15 to Singapore, but wondering whether to grab something to eat in Changi as well as grabbing a shower.

You won't need to. BA15 SIN-SYD is proper dinner, followed by breakfast before arrival in SYD. It's a tough flight, however, very like a US East Coast departure back to London.

I too prefer an evening arrival into SYD. In the past I have overnighted in KUL, SIN, and HKG, before taking the following morning departure getting into SYD in the evening.

The QR 18:45 arrival is ideal. Less immigration & customs queues. By the time you are at the hotel it�s 20:00 - with guaranteed check-in.

You can have a meal, a workout, a night stroll and go to bed at a reasonable hour and you should be on the timezone faster than the morning arrivals.

Re:A380 - the seats are still good and you have the bar area to chill and break the trip up. Normally there�s a very good cognac there too.
Dine on demand for food plus Al Mourjan/Gardens access in DOH prior. QR hands down for me - especially if direct to SYD is preferred.