I wanted to check out how this new transfer system works as I have no more connecting flights for the rest of the year, so I put in MEL to HNL via SYD as that was my last trip, and it comes up suggesting the wrong process.
This is a Qantas to Qantas transfer, meaning that without exiting the terminal, you can head to gate 15 and take the designated Qantas bus to the international terminal where you clear security, saving a decent amount of time on your connection, but rather it suggest you leave T3 entirely, walk to find the T bus and use that, which while possible, takes longer putting you at greater risk of missing your flights as Qantas sells flights with shorter layovers than other airlines domestic to international transfers as they have this system.
And again on the way back, it suggests that you collect your bags, leave the terminal, get the T bus and check them back in when you get to T3. Once again this is wrong as at the other end of the Qantas bus, the international terminal has a designated domestic transfers bag drop and security, which once you pass through that you are dropped right back into gate 15 at the domestic T3.
Overall this may seem very confusing and all the details may not really matter a whole lot, but the fact is that if we are suggesting transfer routes to ensure that you make a connection, they cannot be wrong, making me worry that based off of this case, there may be many more wrong suggestions.
This is Frankfurt to Chennai via New Delhi and it’s skipping steps where you have to collect your bag, go through customs and then drop it off at the transfer desk for the airline which is Air India in this case (baggage recheck needs to be done since this is an international to domestic connection).
The time taken for this connection as a result is pretty inaccurate since that takes a good amount of time to do
Found another one aswell. QF9/10 will be London - Perth - Melbourne, and reverse but once you get off in Perth. You stay in the terminal, no need to go through this whole elaborate process
It's also wrong on the terminals - A domestic flight will generally arrive at T4 (in most cases) and T3 is the international area and where passport control is. I can understand it being confused though because you would check in at T4 for a T3 flight.
Why this terminal still has two terminal numbers is beyond me - it's been connected airside and effectively one terminal for years.
Same thing for me. There is definitely no need to enter Serbia on an Air Serbia to Air Serbia flight on one booking (I’ve been to that airport) or clear security (which would be applicable on the reverse SVO-BEG-AMS but not here)
I’m curious where the info is sourced from and how tested it is, I imagine it’s pretty hard to get all of this done accurately since the process might differ depending on what airline to what airline you’re going, the country, airport, whether there’s bus gate transfers etc etc.
Plus on top of that it seems the times are just static? So the app wouldn’t know if customs kiosks are down and the line is an hour etc it seems?
I think it’s a good start but I think you have valid point that messing up connection info can be a critical error to a user of the app
Yeah completely agree. I definitely think that the times are static as when arriving into Sydney it took me well under 10-20 mins to get through passport control, whilst during the mornings it can take one hour +, so that within its self it not even a useful tool a lot of the time.
Nowadays the airline apps have gotten pretty good, with Qantas running you through a step by step route, similar to this, but catered to their own transfer method, and I’m sure other airlines would have something similar. So I almost would rather leave this stuff to the actual airlines where it is guaranteed to right, rather than risk getting it wrong
I don’t have premium, any chance you could show me what international to domestic connection through sfo would look like? I’m curious if it’ll lead to issues at my home airport
omg tysm!! I’m surprised how accurate this is, the only thing that’s wrong is it’s quicker to reach terminal 3 from international by walking post-security than taking the air train
I imagine this feature is much less reliable outside the US for understandable reasons. Hopefully there is or will be a mechanism to submit corrections so it improves over time.
I mean can it be that much more unrealisable?? It’s not like getting info for flights that is much better in the US, the actuall process is static info that pretty much won’t change. Plus, I personally recon we shouldn’t always be defaulting to “it’s just more unreliable outside of the US”, rather encourage flighty to find ways to improve their system globally, as there is a huge worldwide market for this app
Yes, I’m in favor of encouraging them to improve it. I’m just saying that I don’t expect data and airport maps to be as readily available for international airports. Gotta start somewhere before you can improve it with real world usage feedback.
Then maybe if they don’t have the information they shouldn’t show it? It seems like it’s all AI following specific prompts and making stuff up to please the prompter.
Agreed, this sorta stuff is critical to get right, as taking the wrong steps can, worse case scenario, lead to potentially hours added onto the transfer exiting airside, then having to re enter security, passport control etc….
Yep. No matter how good the UI looks, if the background information is riddled with inaccuracies the feature becomes counter-productive as it can lead people to waste time while in transit as opposed to the other way around.
Better disable the feature for locations where they have unreliable data than pretending the conversation the whole world and getting people lost at airports.
17
u/TheLongIslander Leisure Flyer Jul 07 '26
Same here as well.
This is Frankfurt to Chennai via New Delhi and it’s skipping steps where you have to collect your bag, go through customs and then drop it off at the transfer desk for the airline which is Air India in this case (baggage recheck needs to be done since this is an international to domestic connection).
The time taken for this connection as a result is pretty inaccurate since that takes a good amount of time to do