Qantas Mercedes-Maybach Transfer Skips the Terminal Bus

Qantas started driving invited First customers between Sydney’s international and domestic terminals in a Mercedes-Maybach. Qantas says no airline in Australia offered a chauffeured terminal-to-terminal run before.

For us mere mortals connecting off a long-haul flight into a domestic leg at Sydney, the middle part of that trip can be a trial. It’s the kerfuffle shuffle between terminals on opposite sides of an airfield. The Qantas Mercedes-Maybach transfer eliminates all those nasty old lines, for a small, very rich number of people. It runs from September to November, connecting T1 International with T3 Domestic. You can’t book it either, no matter the size of the brown envelope. Qantas picks the customers, and everyone on the list is travelling on a First Class fare. That’s the bit at the pointy end that Pam Ann prefers to service.

A Qantas Host meets the customer on arrival and walks them through the airport to the car. The Qantas Mercedes-Maybach transfer then happens airside, which means inside the airport fence rather than out on public roads. Priority check-in and the priority security lanes continue as before, as does priority boarding and First lounges.

---

---

The car is a black Mercedes-Maybach EQS SUV with a white leather rear cabin. The 484kW/950Nm Maybach EQS 680 SUV has dual motors and 4Matic all-wheel drive. Homero Becerra, who took the CEO job at Mercedes-Benz Australia/Pacific, called the cars “the ideal vehicle for this exclusive transfer service”.

What the Qantas Mercedes-Maybach Transfer Replaces

The option for everyone else is the dreaded schlep of the Qantas transfer bus between terminals. The Maybach transfer takes over that big, tiring leg for the people on the list. Nothing else about the journey changes, and the list is a very small one. An international passenger at Sydney still clears immigration and collects checked bags before going through Customs. The car picks up after all of that flim-flammery. What goes away is the dreadfully inconvenient transit between terminals, not the formalities in front of it.

Qantas research found First travellers value speed and simplicity, because the super rich are super entitled. They’d rather spend the spare minutes in a lounge than in transit, the poor pets. The Host stays with the customer from the moment they land to the moment they’re in the car, so nobody has to work out the terminal layout on their own. Besides, a crate of champagne on board makes that virtually impossible anyway. Sydney Airport is the third partner. Leanne Geraghty is its General Manager Passenger Experience, and she called faster terminal connections a win for (rich) passengers coming off a long-haul 1st-class seat onto a domestic business-class one. The shock of the change may cause ructions otherwise.

A Maybach Built Around the Back Seat

Maybach EQS 680 SUV will do 4.4 seconds to 100km/h, and on to 210km/h flat out. Its range of 698km is greatly flattered by the laboratory conditions of the NEDC cycle. Deduct 15-20% in the real world. Imagine paying for a litre of gin, but getting an 800ml flask. The white leather of this rear cabin eschews Maybach’s S-Class update, which went without leather. Yukky! Rich people don’t have time for that nonsense, and if they’re vegans, they’re free to walk.

The trial puts a Maybach in front of long-haul First passengers in Sydney airport, while Mercedes-Benz Australia’s Martin Place studio does a similar job in the middle of the city. Maybach is a hard sell, so a 15-minute drive across an airport is bound to swing a deal.

Where Qantas First Still Flies

Qantas First is an A380 product, available on services to Singapore, London, Los Angeles, Johannesburg and Dallas among others. Those are the passengers the Qantas Mercedes-Maybach transfer aims at when they land in Sydney with a domestic flight still to make. The trial covers Sydney only, but it’s almost worth booking another flight even if you live in Sydney.

The A380 First cabin went through a run of changes before this one, including a reworked dining offer, Aesop amenity kits, Bollinger champagne and redesigned pyjamas.

Sarah Udy is Qantas Executive Manager Product and Service. She said Qantas is “the only airline in Australia to offer this premium transit service”. She described the point as making the connection between international and domestic flights easier and more comfortable after a long journey. Oh dear, one can almost hear the distress from here. The Qantas Mercedes-Maybach transfer runs until November, and Qantas will use that period to seek further customer feedback.

The rest of us will look on, because we all love a bit of celeb-spotting, right?

More Mercedes-Benz Stories

• Mercedes-Maybach S-Class V8 Matches V12 for $64,528 Less
• Mercedes-Benz S-Class Update Changes 2,700 Components
• 2026 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class Adds AI Brain and No Leather

---

Above:  Ottobox Play2Video Ultra Wireless CarPlay Android UNBOXING and review

#OttocastPlay2VideoUltra, #Ottocast, #WirelessCarPlay, #CarPlayAIBox, #GayCarBoys