Canberra to Doha via Sydney - can we board in Sydney? [duplicate]

This January my family and I are returning to the UK from a holiday in Australia. The ticket is booked from Canberra to LHR via Sydney and Doha with Qatar, flight 907 I believe.

Because we're finishing our holiday in Sydney (we start in Canberra), we were hoping to simply join the flight in Sydney, and avoid a 3 hour drive to Canberra, followed by an extra leg back to Sydney.

We contacted the travel agent (Expedia) to confirm if this was possible, and they said the Sydney stop is refuelling only, and we can't board there. Is that really the case? Would it be worth contacting the airline directly to confirm one way or the other?

Best Answer

Answering the question of Why Canberra?

According to Qatar Airways announces Canberra to Doha flight to start next year

Qatar Airways currently only has direct rights for one Sydney flight a day, but this move is seen as a backdoor method to double that.

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Do I have to go through customs for a connecting flight in Sydney?

For those arriving internationally and connecting to a domestic flight: You will need to clear customs and immigration, which can take upwards of an hour if busy. You will need to transfer on the airside bus, which can take ten minutes when it arrives.

Do you have to recheck baggage on connecting flights Qatar Airways?

No need to check in again. Also, according to Qatar's baggage page, they explain that when connecting to a UA or AC flight in the US or Canada, your checked baggage allowance is the Qatar allowance and not the lower UA/AC allowance. That points to their checking bags through to the final destination.

What terminal is Qatar in Sydney Airport?

Departures Terminal: Qatar Airways uses Terminal 1 at Sydney Airport.

How many hours does it take from Australia to Doha?

Non-stop flight time from Australia (SYD) to Qatar (DOH) by different airlinesJourneyDurationAirlineSYD \u279d DOH15 hours 5 minutesQatar Airways

Sydney to Canberra in One Breath

More answers regarding canberra to Doha via Sydney - can we board in Sydney? [duplicate]

Answer 2

So we checked with Qatar airlines directly.

Do people board that Canberra to Doha flight in Sydney? Yes.
Can we do that with our existing Canberra to Doha tickets? Not at this point without cancelling and re-booking, at considerable extra cost (it would nearly double the original cost of the flights!)

So the mystery of why they would route via Sydney airport is solved - they can and do sell tickets from Sydney to Doha, even though they are not allowed to sell domestic tickets from Canberra to Sydney.

We have been advised that at 96 hours before the flight it is worth phoning the airline again, and asking again. But not until then.

Answer 3

EDIT: The original question had been edited when I responded with this. The question I was answering was "Why would Qatar route a flight via Syndey, which is a slightly greater distance from Doha?". It has since been reverted.

Sydney Airport is the busiest airport in Australia, with over 44 million passenger movements, over a third of which were for international flights.

Canberra, on the other hand, sits in 8th with a hair over 3 million passenger movements last year. Only about 3% of these were for international flights.

There are about 300,000 people living in Canberra, compared to over 4 million in Sydney.

Based on these statistics, it is unlikely that a significant number of people are flying from Canberra to Doha, and far more likely that more people will be flying from Sydney to Doha. While it's a tiny bit closer (~1%) to go from Canberra, the cost of transporting the majority of passengers from Sydney to Canberra is extremely prohibitive. It is significantly cheaper to transport the minority of the passengers from Canberra to Sydney. It is unlikely that no-one will be boarding in Sydney, and may be incorrect information from the third party ticket seller.

Source: https://bitre.gov.au/publications/ongoing/airport_traffic_data.aspx

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