Hello all,

Flying with the wife and 2 toddlers on QF94 (LAX-MEL on A380) in Feb and have a few questions.

1. We will be coming in on Virgin America to LAX and have a connection time of 3hrs to QF94. Will our baggage be checked through to MEL or will we need to pick it up and check it back in LAX when switching terminals? We bought this ticket from Qantas website.

2. QF charges $25 for advance seat selection in economy. Really? Anyone from experience know if they would seat us together if I don't do advance seat selection? If I do advance seat selection, any preferred seats I should look out for?

3. As a part of the same ticket, we are doing an internal MEL-SYD leg. Will I need to pay AUD$30 per bag to do internal transfer as well?

After all these charges, the ticket is suddenly more expensive than I thought.

Thanks.

[1]

If you purchased this as a single ticketed itinerary, then the bags should be checked through to Melbourne

if you purchased the Virgin flight separately, then it depends on Virgin's policies but should be prepared that will have to collect bags and check them back in at LAX


[2]

$25 is the amount Qantas changes for seat selection in advance of check in. When checking in ( in person or online ) you will be able to select seats for free from what is available. It is possible that there will not be adjacent seats to select. If sitting adjacently is really important than would suggest it is worth paying for it , but otherwise would save the money and gamble that there will be adjacent seats available at check in

[3]

If you purchased the domestic flight separately, then it has its own allowance and if you are in excess of this , then you will be assessed the excess fees , whch is $30 per piece if purchased in advance ; if done at the airport the fee will be $40 for the 1st piece and $60 for each extra piece

If it is part of the same through ticketed itinerary , then the same allowance will apply to the domestic flight

I'd assume that since the OP stated that travel was with the wife and 2 toddlers then it would critical to be seated adjacently.

Notwithstanding, since the flight is LAX-MEL, then there's a fair chance that the flight will be load restricted and not every seat sold. Therefore a 3 seat row on the side or 4 in the middle towards the back may be a good gamble for an empty neighbouring seat. And any person that ends up next to the toddlers may suddenly see the need to move - anywhere.

Does QF, as BA does, to ensure that u12s are not unaccompanied ensure that the minor is seated next to parent/guardian?

If yes, then no need to worry too much

On a recent SYD-MEL in J, I and my 4 yo were seated in row 1 with my wife in row 3.

When asking about moving my wife to row 1 the check-in staff were very quick to point out that our daughter could not sit alone (even though this was not the case) so it would appear that they do still require the minor sat next to a major...

If it is an internal connecting flight on the same ticket there is no domestic bag charge. There isn't in other cases either unless overweight but they are ore lenient on international connections