Question regarding transiting Australia
 

So my friend made a huge mistake: we are flying SFO thru Sydney final destination Auckland. He submitted their passports in time to receive New Zealand visa but realized now they need an Australian visa even though our transit time is only 1 hour in Australia. There is no more time to get Australian visa (I know the Aussie visa is electronic and no need to submit passports, but have not even received passports back from NZ and Australia is requiring proof of NZ visa before processing)

This is on Qantas metal, booked via Cheapoair. The change/cancellation fee is $500. Is this per person, or per party ?

Also, I'm assuming that Qantas would be checking for an Australian transit visa when checking in at SFO. Is there any way to get around that- mobile check in -? Isn't it ridiculous that we do not even go through customs but they need this visa ?

what are our options? I'm the only US citizen on the itinerary and I don't have the thousands of dollars to spend on changing tickets/forfeiting hotels and such so it looks like I'll be going alone. 7 days until departure

I don't know why the Australian embassy did not tell us on the phone one very important detail:

Certain travellers may transit through Australia without applying for a visa. If your transit is longer than 8 hours or your citizenship is not covered by the above arrangement, you will need to apply for a Transit Visa.

Our layovers in Australia are: 1 hour and 5 hours ! I think they can go without a visa then. They're Peruvian citizens

It is always the passengers responsibility to check the visa requirements for transit & destination countries.
Is SFO-SYD-AKL on 1 ticket/PNR? All on QF?
Some people transiting Australia do not need a visa. You stay landside.
Look here https://www.united.com/web/en-US/app...aspx?i=TIMATIC
But its 100% your responsibility.
When you phoned did you ask about Peruvian citizens? If in USA they would/may have assumed you were all US citizens.

Phone QF if in doubt. You will not be able to skip/hide/get around the requirements.

Of course it is his fault, I'm not saying otherwise.

Yes SFO-SYD-AKL-SYD-SFO one PNR, all Qantas metal. So at least they won't need to recheck bags

They are Peruvian and need transit visas if staying over 8 hours. But per what I found online on the .gov.au website, since the layovers are 1 hour / 5 hours on the return they might actually be fine without transit visas

It looks like the person does need a vsa. Checking visa requirements at http://www.qatarairways.com/au/en/vi...uirements.page based on Peru nationality, departing USA, travelling to Auckland whilst transitting Australia


it shows

There is no way to get around Qantas checking for valid visas. Airlines have quite high penalties imposed on them if they allow passengers to travel without the required visas and other documents.

If he needs a visa and cannot get one, then will need to take the hit on a cancellation/change penalty and rebook on a flight directly from USA to Auckland.

If the penalty to cancel is the same as to change, then I would look at price of Air New Zealand which has a non stop service from San Francisco, otherwise, if limited to travelling on Qantas flight numbers, look at changing to QF3192 SFO-LAX and connect to QF3226 . This will avoid Australia and reduce travel time



At https://www.border.gov.au/Lega/Lega/...ough-australia , indicates that citizens of Peru are not exempt the requirements for a transit visa.

Reading that site, it indicates that a transit visa is required and the transit must be scheduled to be no more than 8 hours - if more than 8 hours a different visa would be needed

Thank you Dave, I do appreciate your response. I saw online on one of the government websites it said for under 8 hours in transit you don't need a transit visa. Would this apply to any nationality?

I'm number 75 in the queue on hold. Crazy.

I did just update with info from the border.gov.au after you posted this - it looks like it confirms that a visa is needed