Flying to Melbourne via Sydney

[phoenix]

Hi Everybody.

We're flying to Melbourne via Sydney in August with our (then) 8 month old daughter. We are booked on Qantas all the way.

Do we collect our baggage and go through customs in Sydney? And then re-check our stuff for the rest of the way to Melbourne? I only realised now that the flight from Sydney to Melbourne is a domestic flight and thus I'm not sure where we go through customs and how it works.

Regards

Chris

[GerhardinOz]

Hi Everybody.

We're flying to Melbourne via Sydney in August with our (then) 8 month old daughter. We are booked on Qantas all the way.

Do we collect our baggage and go through customs in Sydney? And then re-check our stuff for the rest of the way to Melbourne? I only realised now that the flight from Sydney to Melbourne is a domestic flight and thus I'm not sure where we go through customs and how it works.

Regards

Chris

Chris

When you transfer from International to Domestic you have to go through customs and that means rechecking. The Domestic terminal in Sydney is not at the same place as the International either and you catch a transfer bus/shuttle (for free) to get there.

Gerhard

[phoenix]

Do we takeour stuff on the bus, or is there a check in counter for domestic flights at the international terminal?

[GerhardinOz]

Do we takeour stuff on the bus, or is there a check in counter for domestic flights at the international terminal?

You have to collect your luggage at the International terminal then take it on the bus with you to the Domestic terminal and then check in for that flight.

[nickys]

I remember when we went over, and flew from Sydney to Brisbane, you do take your luggage with you to the domestic check in. You take a bus, as mentioned above. YOu can't believe how far it is from international to domestic. Almost get a bit of a sight seeing in on the way.

[nickys]

I remember when we went over, and flew from Sydney to Brisbane, you do take your luggage with you to the domestic check in. You take a bus, as mentioned above. YOu can't believe how far it is from international to domestic. Almost get a bit of a sight seeing in on the way.

Okay, sorry, I need to correct myself. It was almost two years ago. We flew Virgin from Sydney to Brisbane. If you do that, there is a check in just as you go through customs, off to the left, I think. So if you fly Virgin, you can check your bags in before you get on the bus. Makes it alot more pleasant, coz trust me you are tired after the long flight.

[phoenix]

Thanks guys.

The Qantas website says that there's a check in counter for the conecting domestic flight in the international terminal. You then take the bus without your baggage. Like Nicky said above.

[matman]

Hi Phoenix

This is common in pretty much every country. The first city that you land in that country - you are required to collect your baggage and clear customs before proceeding to domestic and checking in your bags.

In Sydney you will get off the plan - go through immigration, then collect your bags on the other side, clear through customs where your bags are normally x-rayed.

When you exit out of International arrival into the hall - exit to your right and look for the signs that say domestic checkin - it is less than 5mins away - follow the signs. You will arrive at domestic checkin where you checkin your bags and collect boarding pass if ou dont already have them. What you can also try do - depending on your ticket is try catch an earlier flight

Most booking agents allow for a minimum of 90mins between connecting flights. I have found I can often make the earlier flight.

You then go through security and wait for the bus which takes you across to domestic terminal for your flight. In Melbourne you will arrive at the domestic terminal where you exit plane and proceed to baggage collection to collect your bags.

Rgds

Matman

[phoenix]

Thanks everybody! I feel better now.

[Happy2Bhere]

We will also be flying via Sydney to Melbourne hopefully in August.... still awaiting 457....

Thanks for all the info everybody.

[Oubossies]

When we flew through Sydney to Melbourne in August 2006, there was a check-in counter for domestic flights as you come out of customs. You collect your luggage then check-in as you come out to fly domestic. Then you catch a bus to the domestic terminal.

[Alibaba]

Chris, everyone is right. We flew into Melbourne via Sydney a month ago, so it is still fresh in my memory.

You always have to clear customs where you first enter a country.

There is only one thing I have to mention that I did not know. As you have a baby I guess you will be taking your pram/stroller with. When you board the plane in Jhb (or where ever you are flying from) you just leave the pram outside of the door when you get in. When you get out on Sydney, the pram will be with your luggage, so you will have to carry the little one through to customs (where they check your passport with visas). As you pass that there you will find the carousels with the luggage on them, but the prams go to the oversize baggage part which is normally situated somewhere on the sides. Just ask if you can't see them, in our case they were to the far right hand corner in front (had a yellow sign).

Then you collect the pram and the baggage and go through customs. We had it easy as we were late catching our next flight (I disagree, we had 90 min between flights and it was too little, that said the plane landed an hour late), so they asked what we had with us, we said medicines and food which we had declared on the card and they just let us go without checking/scanning anything. You then follow the signs to the domestic check-in, check in (the pram goes onto a conveyer belt just besides the check-in counter, they will show you), you go through the checking point and then you wait for the bus to take you to the domestic terminal. There you find your gate and ready you are. Don't worry, it is quite straight-forward and at least your little one won't be running around like ours did, refusing to sit in her pram!!

This time round when we landed in Melbourne the pram came with the other luggage onto the carousel.

So, the pram is unfortunately not everywhere where you really need it, you will have to carry the little one for stretches (it's not too far at any time). I suggest trying to minimize handluggage or getting backpacks, so to have your hands free. We had one small bag for the baby and 2 bigger ones for us and we were still fine, we fitted the baby's smaller bag into one of our other bags, so had only pieces of handluggage in the end.

We missed our flight to Melbourne at Sydney, but they just booked us on the next flight. There are loads of flights traveling from Sydney to Melbourne (perhaps as much as one every hour), so don't worry if you miss your flight. We missed one bag which stayed behind in Jhb, got it about 3 days later. Jhb had load shedding when we were there and it was chaos, so do NOT bargain on buying anything at the airport, get it beforehand, also we had to take all the luggage up 2 flights of stairs as the lifts didn't work. It was amazing how much people helped us with all the luggage and baby. The upside of this is that they couldn't weigh our bags and I was very afraid of it being over the limit.

In Jhb they let us book in at business class, so no cues which helped a lot as the little one was running around all over the place.

You'll be fine, but we are used to traveling international, but if ever in doubt just ask, people are very helpful, we had to do it to find our pram!

If you want to know more, especially with the baby feel free to PM me. Ours was 18 months at the time, which is a bit older, but still I'll give you advice if I can.

Edited June 5, 2008 by Alibaba

[phoenix]

Thanks alot Alibaba. I find your post extremely helpfull. I hop we can meet someday in Melbourne.

TrudieD, good luck. I hope you get your 457 soon.

[GerhardinOz]

Looks like I was wrong about the check in point a t the International Airport. Must have missed it or the queue was so long I just got on the bus.

[Ungerers (Tanja U)]

Hi Chris,

You go through customs at your port of entry whether it is Sydney or Perth (both go to Melbourne)

We just did the Sydney Melbourne thing but ended up going Perth/Sydney/Melbourne (due to alot of delays from Qantas)

Just a tip, book the basinet seat for yourself. It is a skycot for the baby to sleep in. My 4 month old sat on my lap and we used the skycot when he slept. It also has extra leg room and does not cost extra. the skycot/basinet can hold a baby up to 1.5kg on the qantas planes.

Cheers

T