My husband and I will be flying from the US into Sydney on Air Tahiti Nui on April 6. We land in Sydney at 6:45 am. Our flight to Auckland on Quantas leaves Sydney at 11:40 am. Is that going to be enough time? Will we need to get our luggage in Sydney and clear customs before going on to Auckland? Or will it be transferred from Air Tahiti to the Quantas flight?

You should have enough time. We only had a 2 hour lay over and due to a few mishaps, missed our flight by 15 minutes. Then had a 5 hour layover. when you land make sure you have your watch set for the "right" time, and the traveler's aid people can help you expedite if necessary. Two things I wish I would have known, but have since learned.

Unless my math is poor today, you have 5 hours at Sydney Airport. This will be enough time to get your clear customs and immigration, get your bags, check in for your Qantas flight, and have a 5-course meal! Seriously, unless your inbound flight is very delayed, you'll have plenty of time at the airport.
If you've never been to Sydney, you might consider (cost of changing tickets and other factors aside) popping into the city for the day, and taking an evening flight to Auckland. Even 6 hours in the city center would be enough time to see some of the major sites.

Hi there

Curiosity got to me so I checked the flights from the US to Sydney on Air Tahiti Nui. All are going via Tahiti where you have an equipment chage before you fly onto Sydney. The plane that will be sitting next to yours on the tarmac at Tahiti will be the plane that flys onto Auckland. That means you will actually overfly New Zealand to get to Australia and then turn around and fly back.

You could infact arrive in New Zealand at 5:40 AM and not 11:40 AM if you cut out the Sydney leg.

In saying that, if you are going as far as Sydney I would follow Dave's advice, change to a later Qantas flight and spend a little time in Sydney. It is a great city to look around. Even if you do no more than take a ferry ride accross the harbour.

I'm in agreement with kiwi_acct... it doesn't make a lot of sense to fly into Tahiti then Sydney then Auckland. When we flew from the US to NZ, we flew SF to Auckland to Melbourne. Oh well, there must be some reason that it's turning out this way for you.

In any case, have fun!!!

Thanks to all of you who responded. Our orignal itinerary was to go through Australia first, so that's why we booked into Sydney. AFter a lot of discussions, we decided to go to NZ first and save as much time as possible for Oz. So we are spending 11 days in NZ, and 2-1/2 weeks in Oz. We're going to Uluru for 3 days, then to the GBR for 4 nights and then driving from Cairns to Sydney, seeing what we can on the way, and then spend a couple of days in Sydney before we head back to the US. We did end up spending more than we needed to on air fares by our convoluted itinerary that we made for ourselves!but the flight from the US to Sydney and back is all on free tickets on frequent flyer miles. Other than the extra time it takes for us to do the back to NZ from Sydney instead of direct into NZ, that's about the only thing we messed up - at least SO far! Thanks again for your comments - we didn't have any idea how long it would take to get our luggage, clear customs, and get to the proper gate by their required boarding time. If we have time for a 5-course meal, I'll be really happy!

I don't think you will need to collect your bags or do customs/immigration in Sydney. You will just be in transit. So the 5 hours will be more than enough time.

You may not be able to find 5 edible courses at Sydney airport - but that's another question entirely!