As title, I’m on my way to get to Sydney from LAX soon on AA 73 but the inbound flight may come in late causing some delay. I have a separate itinerary to transit from Sydney to Melbourne on Qantas on a 2 hour connection time. (There was no way for me to book myself from a small local airport to Melbourne due to too many stopover.)

On the one hand, it is likely I will be able to make it to the Qantas flight but I want to check if anyone who is frequent Qantas flyer would know if they do handle the case for OneWorld partner flight on separate itinerary.

Also, I’m an OneWorld Emerald elite. Does that help? I’m considering talk to the agent in Qantas First lounge at LAX to see what they can potentially do if my inbound flight come in really late.

Been to SYD before?
No way I would have booked a 2:00 hr transfer SYD T1 to SYD T3 on separate tickets. SYD T1 has a lot of arrivals when AA73 arrives
Scheduled to arrive in SYD Sunday 01 Sept? The AA73 flight that arrives today in ~2:00hrs is on time,
Airport info SYDNEY (SYD) - amenities, transfers, transport

Have you booked the cheapest or a flexible ticket? The QF domestic checkin agents at T1 are know to offer some flexibility, but not guaranteed.
Anyway many SYD MEL flights on QF, VA & JQ if you need to buy a walkup ticket. If you no show your SYD-MEL ticket any other flights on that ticket are likely to auto cancel

I booked the cheapest ticket. It’s my first time in Australia but I did know that it can take some time to clear the custom and go from T1 to T3 by some online search previously. According to some feedback originally, I saw people were saying 2 hours is fine especially I have no checked bags. Anyway, thanks for letting me know. In the future, I will try to give even more time to connect, like 3 hours? Would that be sufficient in your opinion?

I just looked up the change fee, what I’ll probably do is pay 90 AUD per person to change it to a later flight. The only question remain is that how much time should I leave for the connection since I have to change it before my flight to Sydney at LAX

From another DPS-SYD-LAX, will Garuda check through the luggage onto a Delta flight?
Can be slow or quick processing immigration and customs/biosecuity. Just luck on the day
The time 06:00 to 09:00 is the busiest for international arrivals SYD arrivals (non official link) https://www.sydney-airport.net/syd-arrivals-terminal-1

At least 3:00hrs (some risk) If you book 4:00hrs a chance QF domestic checkin staff at T1 will offer you earlier flight, no matter what the ticket t&c's are. But not guaranteed
See from another of your posts are a group of 4.
Hope you enjoy your trip to Australia.

Being positive - as you have booked what you did. But assuming you miss the flight or are close.
When you arrive, you collect your bags, customs etc, and then head to the right to the Qantas international transfer desk.
There are a series of checkin desks, I would simply go up to the business one, or which ever is free, it does not really matter, and say that you were on AA73 which landed late and believe that you have missed QF04xx to MEL.
Show your AA BP and the itin or BP for the QF flight.
They are more used to missed connections and have a degree of flexibility that you will not get in the domestic terminal or over the phone. They know that people mess up the bus time from one terminal to the other etc
I expect that they will change you for free, or at least waive the fare difference and then just the change fee of AUD 90-99?
Just be polite and smile - self importance does not work well down here
Smile and say thank you :-)

Let us know how you go.

KF

I'm afraid that I don't understand this. If you booked through AA, you should have been able to book LAX-SYD-MEL on one cash ticket, and AAA-BBB-LAX on another cash ticket, and have AA place both tickets in a single PNR. You would have then been protected in the event of IROPS anywhere along the journey -- including at SYD, assuming that you met the minimum connecting time at SYD.

The longest it's ever taken me from aircraft to exiting arrivals is 15 minutes at SYD, and that was when half the SmartGates were removed for upgrading. I arrived last week in the busy time and from stepping off the plane to exiting arrivals was ~5 minutes.

The biggest delay is inbound holding and then ground holds waiting for a gate if something is late leaving. A bus bay would also ruin ones day.

I agree 3 hours is the safest INT>DOM transfer time at SYD.

I booked the award flight from MSN-DFW-LAX-SYD in F award ticket. I wasn’t able to add an extra stopover at MEL. The only one I found would be in Y.

Thanks for the tip! I’m at Qantas First LAX right now. The agent somehow told me that two hours is perfectly fine… anyway, I’ll just play by ears and hope for the best! The worst scenario is to pay up walk-in tickets for two.

Enjoy the lounge and good luck in Sydney, its risky but there is a good chance it works.

Enjoy the flight. You know SYD/MEL in Y is perfectly reasonable. And I would have taken that for a through ticket. Especially after those long flights. Good luck I am sure you will be fine.

AA73 due 01 Sept 2024 07:05 (~90 minutes from now) looks to be early 06:28 vs 07:05
https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/fli...&showAll=false
https://www.sydney-airport.net/syd-a...erminal-1?tp=6
Some long (red) delays with other flights this morning

So they should make it with the 2:00hr transfer on separate tickets. May even have time a QF T3 lounge visit. All about risk vs the consequences

• Being in F will be amongst the first off the aircraft,
• If have checked bags (not stated above) could add another 10-15-20-xx minutes
• As the first time to SYD will not be familiar with the AU immigration & custom's biosecurity arrangements and the T1 to T3 transfer shuffle
• The DEL flight due 5 minutes after AA73, is late, which is good. Some of those pax can have enormous amounts of luggage, that can be sent to secondary, and have slow custom's biosecurity

Thank you all! I made it through under an hour!

6:44 landed (ended up arrive earlier than United!)

7:05 cleared the custom (I have no check bag and there are multiple passport control machines which I spent most of my time but still less than 10 mins)

7:15 hopped onto the Qantas transfer bus (no checked bag but have to weigh the bag)

7:35 checked in at the Qantas biz lounge with an hour to enjoy (got in through the entrance of Qantas Club)

8:40 boarding time (ETA)

Welcome to Australia
It does not always go that well.