Baggage question
 

Hello! I am going to be traveling from the U.S. to Sydney on United. I want to connect to a Qantas flight on to Cairns. A few questions:
1. Can I check my bags directly through to Cairns?
2. How much time should I allow in Sydney?
3. If there are delays will Qantas work with me to get me on a later flight?
4. Are carry-on policies much different from the US carriers? I see they limit you to 15lbs for a carry-on. Do they weigh these or is this more of a suggestion.

Thanks for the info!

Depends on whether your flight operates between domestic terminals or international terminals.

There are some QF flights which operate a domestic sector as part of an international flight, and consequently operate between international terminals, even on the domestic leg. These will be numbered between QF 1 and QF 399.

If your SYD-CNS flight is between international terminals, then you should be able to check your bags through to CNS, and undergo customs and immigration at CNS.

If your flight is numbered QF 400 and above, it will be between domestic terminals, and you will need to retrieve your baggage on arrival at SYD in order to undergo customs and quarantine screening. You will then need to proceed to the domestic transfer counter in order to check-in for the flight and drop off your bags, there will be a free transfer bus to take you to T3 at SYD (with a nice airside tarmac tour as well, if you are into that sort of thing).

They don't weigh them, but you won't be able to take everything (including the kitchen sink) on board like you seem to be able to do on various US carriers. This is one of the reasons why elites normally prefer to stay in the lounge rather than be the first to board, because you rarely have issues finding space in the overhead lockers.

Enjoy your flights.

Dave

1) Yes. Need to show onward ticket when checking in for your UA flight. As thadocta mentions, if the Qantas flight is a domestic one you will need to claim bags after immigration and take them through customs. So in that case little to be gained by through checking.

2) With United's track record on Oz flights (check out the thread in UA forum), you will want several hours. If their on-time performance improves to that of other airlines then 90 minutes for international to international (QF flight numbered 1-399, and yes there are some SYD-CNS) or 150 minutes for international to domestic are comfortable.

3) Qantas are not obliged to unless you are on a fully flexible fare. In practice they probably do whatever they can to get you to CNS in the event of a misconnect. But if the flights are full you might be waiting a while (and/or routing through BNE).

4) As with most other airlines not based in USA, carry on limits are stricter. They may be enforced at check in, at the gate or by staff operating security checkpoints. In practice as long as your carry ons do not look excessive (by Australian standards not US ones) they will not measure or weigh them.

Thanks for the info!
 

Is a 22" rollaboard okay? Is it also permissible to have a standard computer bag (just large enough for a 15" laptop and padding)?

Sorry for the questions; I have never been to Australia and want to be sure I know what I am getting in to. Thanks again!

On the Qantas web site the General rules say NO, but the section for travel to/from the USA, says YES (laptop bag = briefcase).

In practice I have not been prevented from travelling trans pacific with a 22" rollaboard and a laptop bag both as carry-on.

YMMV on this.

It's a big place at the bottom of the Pacific. :D

BD

OP is flying QF domestic - a clear no in the rules.

Oops :o

However, I'm guessing the OP is flying 'domestically' in which case the answer is a clear yes.

There should be no worries at all as 2 x bags up to 7kg each are permitted.

A 22" wheely exceeds the allowed dimensions (add up height width and length to 41") and likely exceeds the weight also (most wheelies that big are around 3-5kg empty).

If the bag can be placed in the OHSB wheels first and the hatch closed, then the bag is small enough.

I've always avoided using terms like 22" - I think of 2 x 105cm for domestic and 1 x 115 cm for international as this is what Qantas define.

A 22" bag would still be ok if the sum of it's linear dimensions (L+W+H) does not exceed 105cm (41").

In any case I don't believe the OP will have any issues with size ...

Good one!

Thanks for the info. It does fit wheels in in the OHSB without difficulty. (In a full size jet anyway)

Thank you all for your input!

I've noticed US-based airlines have overhead bins that are considerably bigger/deeper than airlines elsewhere (including Qantas). My small rollaboard will not fit wheels first on QF/NZ/etc, but has plenty of room to spare wheels first on UA/AA/US.

The QF 767 bins are small and fit the regulation carry ons (the ones that actually do fit in that metal frame at check-in and the gate lounges). The QF738 bins seem to be bigger.

Yes, but US-based bins are bigger. If Sam Fisher is extrapolating from experience flying US-based airlines not a problem therefore no problem on QF, while it might be okay the logic is a syllogism.

No rollaboard will fit "wheels in" on a QF 763.

Most will fit fine on 744's (in WHY) & 734's. All rollaboards seem to fit ok on 738's & 332/333's and J/F on 744's.