I have booked a flight from Auckland to Delhi with 1 PNR via Sydney in Air India.
So the flight from Auckland to Sydney is from Qantas and then Air India from Sydney to Delhi.
When I checked with Airlines they are saying you need to recheckin at Sydney as you will get next boarding pass in Sydney.
I have 2 hours transit time, is it enough to take the second flight or if yes then how?
Standard procedure for this type of connection (single PNR, international to international) is that your luggage is checked trough from AKL to DEL and that you don't need to clear immigration and/or customs in Sydney.
Normally you would get both boarding passes when checking in in AKL. However , its possible that Qantas can't issue an Air India boarding pass. In this case you need to go an Air India transfer desk when you arrive in Sydney. That's probably the case here and 2 hours should be fine for that.
they are saying you need to recheckin at Sydney as you will get next boarding pass in Sydney.
You should clarify what exactly they mean by "recheckin" as the term is ambiguous. It could mean that
2 hours would definitely NOT be enough for #2 or #3.
The situation is a bit confusing, because Qantas apparently do not acknowledge the fact they have an interline agreement with Air India.
Qantas tell us:
When can my Customers Bags be Through Checked?
If the customers flights are all held in the same booking and are ticketed on Qantas or Qantas/Emirates and/or a oneworld airline, the baggage will be transferred between the flights and the customer will receive a boarding pass at check-in for their onward flights.
If the customers flights are all held in the same booking and the first flight is Qantas and the other flights are not Qantas, Emirates or a oneworld airline, baggage transfer onto the next flight depends on whether a specific agreement exists between Qantas and that airline. The customer will be advised by Qantas staff at check-in.
To assist you to determine if customers baggage will be interlined and boarding passes issued by Airport staff, please refer to the table below:
One PNR One PNR Separate PNR Separate PNR Scenario Boarding Pass Baggage Boarding Pass Baggage QF to/from QF Yes Yes Yes Yes QF to/from EK Yes Yes Yes Yes QF to/from oneworld Yes Yes No^ No^ QF to/from non - oneworld Yes* Yes* No No
You're in the bolded scenario (One PNR, QF to/form non-one world). So what does the * mean?
*Provided Qantas Interline and Inter-Airline Through Check-in (IATCI) agreements exist.
Now, you can scour the Qantas site as much as you want, I haven't found a single reference to Air India, including in any of the partner airline pages.
But Expertflyer (subscription required, but there's a free trial available) tells us for QF:
Interline AgreementsShare Results
E-Ticket Interline Agreements
AA AB AC AE AF AI AM AP AS AT AV AY AZ A3 BA BD BE BG BI BL BP BR BW CA CC CI CM CO CX CZ DL EI EK ET EY FI FJ FM FQ FZ GA GF GK G3 HA HG HU HX HY IB IE IG JC JJ JK JL JP JQ KC KE KL KM KQ KU LA LG LH LO LP LR LX LY MA MF MH MI MK MR MS MU MX NC NF NH NU NZ OA OK OM OS OT OU OZ O6 PC PG PR PX PZ QR QV RA RJ RO SA SB SK SN SQ SU SV SW S2 S7 TA TG TK TL TN TP UA UK UL US UU VF VN VS VT VX WS WY XL XR YV 3K 4M 4Z 6E 8M 9B 9WPaper Ticket and Baggage Interline Agreements
MAY ISSUE TICKETS INCLUDING AA AC AE AF AH AI AM AS AT AV AX AY AZ A3 BA BE BG BI BL BP BR BW CA CI CJ CL CM CX CZ DL EI EK ET EW EY FI FJ FM FZ GA GF GK G3 HA HG HM HU HX HY IB IC IE IG JC JJ JL JO JP JQ KA KC KE KL KM KQ KU K6 LA LG LH LO LP LR LX LY MF MH MI MK MR MS MU NF NH NU NX NZ OA OK OM OS OT OU OZ O6 PG PR PX PZ QR QV RA RJ RO SA SB SK SN SQ SU SV SW S2 S7 TA TG TK TL TN TP UA UK UL UU VN VS VT VX WS WY XL YM 2A 3K 4M 4Q 4Z 6E 8M 9B 9W MAY CHECK BAGGAGE TO AA AC AE AF AH AI AS AT AV AX AY AZ A3 BA BE BG BI BL BP BR BW CA CI CJ CL CM CX CZ DL EI EK ET EW EY FI FJ FM FZ GA GF GK G3 HA HG HM HU HX HY IB IC IE IG JC JJ JL JO JP JQ KA KC KE KL KM KQ KU K6 LA LH LO LP LR LX LY ME MF MH MI MK MR MS MU NF NH NU NX NZ OA OK OM OS OT OU OZ O6 PG PR PX PZ QR QV RA RO SA SB SK SN SQ SU SV SW S2 S7 TA TG TK TL TN TP UA UK UL UU VN VS VX WS WY XL YM 2A 3K 4M 4Q 4Z 8M 9W
And AI is clearly listed. Qantas is also listed as an interline partner on the Air India website though contrary to other airlines, they don't give details.
Unless they publish incorrect data on the GDSes, they have an interline agreement, and they should check you through.
Note however, and that may be the source of the confusion, that while you should be able to stay airside (not going through immigration, not claiming bags, not going to check-in), Indian citizens need a visa to transit through Australia. Maybe someone mixed up the two (in many places you only need a visa if you can't stay airside). This does not apply to New Zealand citizens or any others listed here.
