Save time: change flights in Brisbane from Qantas' new Dallas-Fort Worth service

Booking flights on Qantas from Sydney to Dallas-Fort Worth? Remember that the return flight stops in Brisbane to refuel, and that you can change there for flights to other Australian cities instead of having to continue on to Sydney for your connection.

By default, Qantas' booking engine for paid fares and for Qantas Frequent Flyer points redemptions will route you through Sydney both ways -- and it doesn't always make it clear that there's a stop in Brisbane, since the plane continues on to Sydney.

So if you're going on to Melbourne, Adelaide, Canberra, Perth, Darwin, Cairns, destinations in Queensland or any other city with flights from Brisbane, you can save time (and another connection) by changing planes in Brisbane instead of Sydney

This advice is particularly good for business travellers jetting to and from mining and resources industry bases in Queensland and Western Australia.

It's likely to be difficult -- if not impossible -- to make the connecting flights in Brisbane show up on the web booking system, so you're probably best trying online and then ringing up Qantas. The airline should waive the telephone booking fee for you if its website won't let you get the flights you want.

Qantas' new flights to Dallas-Fort Worth are designed to connect to its oneworld partner American Airlines' main hub at DFW. That will give business travellers more single-connection options to cities in the US, Canada and Latin America. 

Twenty-eight new codeshare flights on American Airlines with QF flight numbers were added to Qantas' list last month as part of the deal. 

Of course, if you're heading for the US west coast, northwest or almost anywhere west of the Mississippi, it makes a lot more geographical sense to connect in Los Angeles' LAX for your onward flight. We've put together a full list of flights where that's the case. 

And if Dallas is your business destination, you can get free access and VIP perks at the excellent Dallas Contemporary art museum if you're staying at Le Meridien hotel.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.