Qantas Air Canada interline booking I have a flight Brisbane to Montreal booked on a Qantas ticket.

Qantas Air Canada interline booking

I have a flight Brisbane to Montreal booked on a Qantas ticket. My last leg is Toronto to Montreal with Air Canada, I'm familiar with QF/AA partnership but how does Qantas and Air Canada interline work?Obviously I will have to connect my bags as I'm arriving from LAX but will they be tagged to Montreal or only to Tornoto? Will I have to recheck in Toronto and will I have to pay for baggage if my last leg is economy or not if I'm on a Qantas ticket? The baggage part is the one I'm confused about. Also does Air Canada have a transfers desk in Arrivals at Toronto?

Here ya go - direct from the Qantas website. Choose 'Air Canada' and you will find it all there. Note: the agreement with Air Canada is 'variable' depending on where your interline point begins. Some options are free, some (like intra-Canada and USA-Canada services on AC may be chargeable). However, I would suggest that since there is a QF/AC interline agreement in place, Qantas (BNE Airport) *should* be able to check your luggage all the way through to Montreal. If that is the case, you will probably avoid any additional charge, since you are on an international itinerary.

http://www.qantas.com/travel/airlines/interline-baggage-allowances/global/en

Yes, you will need to collect your luggage in LAX, pass Customs/Immigration (in transit). After this, place your luggage back on the appropriate belt to Montreal (given that it is tagged to there).

I'm sorta surprised you are being routed via Toronto (YYZ), since AC has nonstop flights out of LAX direct to Montreal (YUL). Further, of the 1-stops from LAX, many of AC's flights use LAX-ORD (O'Hare, Chicago)-YUL.

If I understand your routing, you're flying BNE-LAX with QF, LAX-YYZ on AA (but on a QF ticket and flight code), and then connecting to AC for the YYZ-YUL leg. If that is accurate, I'm afraid it's not good news for avoiding baggage hassle. 

Both the US and Canada require that you clear customs with your baggage at your first point of entry, even if you're on a connecting flight, and your final destination is not within the country. That means on landing in LAX, you will have to collect your baggage and clear customs before re-checking your bags for the AA flight. Again, on arriving in Toronto, you will have to collect your bags and clear customs before re-checking them to Montreal. If you're on a single QF ticket booked all the way to Montreal, then QF *should* interline your bags. As long as they are pre-tagged to YUL, there should be no checked baggage charge. Even if they won't interline your bags for some reason, make sure that they give you your AC boarding pass in BNE (and do not use a mobile boarding pass unless you can get the AC one), as you will then be able to simply check your luggage at the transfer desk, immediately after you exit through customs. There is very good signage, but make sure you don't walk past the transfer desk, as once you exit the area you can't get back. Unfortunately you will have to change terminals in Toronto, as AA flights arrive at T3 and AC flights depart from T1. That means taking the train between terminals, and going through security again. The YYZ website has a very good connecting guide, which you can find here: http://www.torontopearson.com/Connecting.aspx##.

It is interesting that QF put you on the LAX-YYZ-YUL route, instead of LAX-ORD-YUL. Those flights would both have been on AA, and you would not have had to collect your luggage in ORD.

The good news is that if you have the same routing on your return flight, the process should be much easier. You will clear US Customs and Immigration in YUL, so your bags *can* be checked straight through to BNE. However, AC is notorious for refusing to check interline bags, so there is no guarantee. They may also have to be convinced that you're on an international flight, and don't have to pay the luggage fee.

Thanks for the help. Basically Qantas had me on the Chicago routing, It was my only choice when booking, but I changed it to the Toronto routing basically because it got me home (Montreal) about 4 hours eariler than going via Chicago so it was a no brainer to do this, despite the possible Air Canada interlining problems haha.