00flyer00

Hey Folks,

I am travelling for my honeymoon late June 06 to SYD and have lots of questions... my first flight on Qantas. Here are the facts below.. please help.

Facts:
AA Platinum
Delta Gold Elite

Outbound -
Delta flight: EWR to ATL to SFO (class R)
Qantas flights: SFO to SYD (class Z)

Inbound -
Qantas flights: SYD to SFO (class R)
Delta flights: SFO to EWR (class Z)

Questions
1. Since I am using 270,000 CO miles to book this (first class all the way) do you think its a good deal for 2 people?
2. My lay over in SFO is for about 3 hours, I know there is no Qantas lounge in SFO, will I be able to use other lounges? Is there an AA lounge or other oneworld partner lounge that I will be entitle to use?
3. Will I be entitled to use the Qantas lounge in SYD even though its a first class award ticket? How about the Qantas lounge in EWR? Is th
4. What is class Z? shouldn't it be class R or class F? Just want to make sure I'll be flight first on Qantas.
5. I am thinking of purchasing individual one way tickets to see Ayers Rock and Cairnes during my 2 weeks stay in OZ, whats the best and cheapest way to do this? Through Qantas.com?
6. I will be flying in on Delta to SFO to connect to my Qantas flight to SYD, are they in the same terminal? Will my bags be transferred over to my connecting Qantas flights smoothly even though DL and Qantas are not partner airlines?
7. Do I check in for my Qantas flight at SFO or at DL terminal in EWR?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

Dave Noble

(1) Only you can decide whether you got good value.
(2) There is no QF lounge at SFO , nor a 3rd party one, since QF do not fly there yet. When flights start there, I expect that they will have sorted out some lounges
(3) Yes at SYD; there is no QF lounge at EWR; whether DL provides lounge access, best ask Delta
(4) Z is 1st class award on QF
(5) I would suggest calling AA in the US since you will avoid the GST that way; I would also consider looking at the prices of OZpasses ( fare basis LOZPASSn )
(6) Don't know
(7) With DL

Dave

GibSpmuh

Questions
1. Since I am using 270,000 CO miles to book this (first class all the way) do you think its a good deal for 2 people?To compare - if you were using the Qantas program, for two people it would cost 768,000 MILES for the same routing - so yes, it's a VERY good deal

2. My lay over in SFO is for about 3 hours, I know there is no Qantas lounge in SFO, will I be able to use other lounges? Is there an AA lounge or other oneworld partner lounge that I will be entitle to use?My understanding is the BA lounge will be used in SFO - the service hasn't started yet, so it won't be certain till then, but that's the indication given previously

3. Will I be entitled to use the Qantas lounge in SYD even though its a first class award ticket? How about the Qantas lounge in EWR? You will be entitled to use the First class lounge in SYD. Qantas has no lounge at EWR though, so you might be out of luck there unfortunately.

4. What is class Z? shouldn't it be class R or class F? Just want to make sure I'll be flight first on Qantas. Z Class is the award class for First Class flights - so don't worry, you're in First (for Business Class it's U, and Economy is X or T).

5. I am thinking of purchasing individual one way tickets to see Ayers Rock and Cairnes during my 2 weeks stay in OZ, whats the best and cheapest way to do this? Through Qantas.com? Booking Red-E-Deals on qantas.com will generally be the cheapest option. For higher level fare classes there can be some benefits booking through sites such as aa.com to avoid GST - but in general qantas.com will give you the best rates

6. I will be flying in on Delta to SFO to connect to my Qantas flight to SYD, are they in the same terminal? Will my bags be transferred over to my connecting Qantas flights smoothly even though DL and Qantas are not partner airlines? Your bags *should* be able to be interlined through to SYD - but others will be better placed to confirm this

7. Do I check in for my Qantas flight at SFO or at DL terminal in EWR? Not sure on this one - hopefully others have better experience, though I suspect DL may not be able to give you boarding passes for the QF flight.

JerseySlime

1. If you go to the QF website, you'll see that one R/T ticket LAX-SYD in F is aprroximately $16,000 US. You're getting $32K worth of tickets for 270K CO miles, and that doesn't include the domestic legs. Now, if that isn't judged as good value, you're probably so rich (or your fiancees family is) that $32,000 isn't a lot of money.

2. I'm sure you'll have lounge access in SFO. What lounge? Until those flights start, you'll have to wait and see.

3. As stated earlier, you have SYD F lounge access. Unless you are a CO PC or DL CRC member or hold an AMEX Platinum card already, you won't have lounge access in EWR or ATL.

4. Asked and answered.

5. Asked and answered.

6. Part 1 - Never have flown into SFO. Go to their website and check it out. Part 2 - Since you are on a CO award and CO can use any Skyteam airline domestically, DL will check you through to SYD in EWR. I'm on an F award in Feb-Mar 06 and for my flight from LAX-EWR, CO put me on NW LAX-MSP-EWR. I don't know if luggage is given priority tags in EWR. Does anybody know if DL can issue priority tags for QF? Or can they only be issued by QF in SFO/LAX?

7. You can check-in in and get boarding passes in EWR, but you will probably want to re-check at QF in SFO for QF boarding passes and lounge info. The boarding passes issued in EWR will be on DL stock.

prspad

The Lounge question is an interesting one and I'm eager to see how QF works it out. There is an adequate AA Admiral's Club at SFO and CX and BA pax use the BA Terraces Lounge... Alaska Airlines has a Board Room at SFO and Skyteam Alliance members like Delta has a Crown Room; CO a President's Club and NW a World Clubs Lounge. I tend to think that QF will associate with the Terraces Lounge.

tinkybelle

When I read this I wondered why you were not in first syd sfo then realised you have the classes around the wrong way!!

Dave Noble

Are there multiple terminals at SFO and if so which is QF going to be using? That'll narrow it down

QF do use a Delta lounge at FRA

Dave

00flyer00

Everyone,

Thank you for answering my concerns. I really appreciate everyone who replied and provided some feedback. Right now my only concern left (and a major one) is the check-in and luggage situation.

Since I'll be checking my luggage at EWR, I hope DL will transfer it to my QF flight correctly!

I called Quantas and asked, they said they have a "relationship" with DL so they will transfer my bags from the Delta flight. BUT then I called DL and they said QF is oneworld and Delta is skyteam, and they have NO relationship and I would have to go pick up my luggage from baggage claim and then find a way to get to the Qantas terminal. (good thing I have a 3 hour layover!)

So now I'm getting conflicting answers from both carriers.

As far as checking in, Qantas said I would have to check in at SFO, but DL will transfer my bags.

To tell you the truth, it seems like no one knows what they are talking about. And I hope when I get to the airport, the agent who checks me in will know a definite answer.

As far as using the BA or AA lounges at SFO, I do hope they will let me since I'll be flying on QF. And I hope it'll be at the same terminal I'm flying out.

Oh yeah, one more quick question... what is the difference b/t Qantas Club Lounge and Qantas First Lounge? And why would Sydney Airport have both? Kinda redundant no? And which is better?

thanks

yellow77

I think, given that SYD is not in the United States, it is almost certain that QF will be using the International terminal at SFO...

That said, the international terminal at SFO is divided into two piers that are beyond separate security barriers. QF will presumably be on the A side: G seems to be basically reserved for UA and other *A airlines. BA and CX use the Terraces lounge in 'terminal A'; there are also AF, CI, JL, NW and PR lounges in this pier. VS have a lounge pre-security (as do CO in the domestic terminal if you have PC access and don't mind a 2 minute walk).

Aus_Mal

Qantas in Sydney International has a "Business" class lounge and a "First" class lounge. No different to a lot of major airports. The "F" lounge is much better. It's a bit smaller but there are less people. Quieter too. Bottled be er (vs dodgy tap be er in the other lounge). Better range of other drinks both alco holic and non-alco holic. Slightly better food. Great staff on the door too.

So use the F lounge

thadocta

Being AA Platinum, you will automatically be entitled to use any oneworld J loounge when your next onward flight is on a oneworld carrier the same day.

Given that, it will come down to the practicalities, which lounges will be accessible (same terminal, airside/landside, operating hours, that sort of thing) when you wish to fly.

Dave

Dave Noble

Well, SYD is not in the US, yet QF uses the AA terminal in LAX rather than TBIT and I wasn't aware that all international flights at SFO departed from the same terminal.

Dave

RichardMEL

DL is confused. most airlines (legacy, anyway) interline with eachother. There is no reason why DL can not check your bag right through to SYD and you will *NOT* have to pick it up at SFO and manually transfer it. It is true they are differenct alliances, but in this case that's irrelevant - they should interline without a question.

The only situation I know of currently where this doesn't happen is BA @ LHR where they refuse to interline to non-oneworld carriers for some obscure/silly reason. Has that been sorted out yet?

Dave Noble

There is no obscure silly reason. There is a good reason

They will interline to any OW carrier assuming MCT is met

They will interline baggage to other carriers if the booking is on a single ticket

When travelling on separate tickets and so not actually connecting they will not check baggage through. This, I believe came about thanks to people abusing the system and booking separate tickets which didnt meet connecting time requirements. As the initial airline, they became liable for handling bags if the bags failed to connect. Since they have no income from the other ticket, they now reasonably do not check bags through on separate tickets

Dave

Globaliser

It isn't a question of "sorting out". It's deliberate policy for the good reasons that Dave Noble gives. And it's not just at LHR - it's a network-wide policy.

This approach is being adopted by more airlines. BD, for example, will no longer even online BD-BD baggage unless it's on a through ticket, let alone interline. I expect to see this type of policy become more widespread, not less.