Qantas domestic passengers face delays as strike goes ahead

Qantas has said it expects more than 6000 domestic passengers to be affected by the strikes. International flights will not be affected.

It has cancelled 28 flights and delayed another 28 by up to 35 minutes.

A Qantas spokesman said the airline was putting on additional aircraft and bigger planes. All passengers affected by the action would be informed of alternative arrangements by text message, he said.

"All passengers who have had flights cancelled, they will all get on an aircraft," he told Fairfax Radio Network.

"We're asking passengers to be patient where they can.

"We ask them to turn up to the airport as planned but to obviously understand that it's not going to be a normal day of travel tomorrow."

Meanwhile, the organisation representing international pilots says that 22,000 people have supported their campaign against Qantas outsourcing pilots.

The concerns were sparked when the airline announced a planned restructure in August.

Captain Barry Jackson, president of the Australian and International Pilots Association (AIPA), said the public had shown pilots their support by signing an online petition launched by AIPA two months ago.

"Pilots are enormously grateful to the 50,000 who have visited our site in just the past two months, and were even more grateful to the 22,000 who have signed the petition," he said in a statement.

Captain Jackson said Qantas pilots would continue to apply pressure to management until a clause was included in their new agreement guaranteeing Qantas flights would be piloted by Qantas pilots.

Qantas passengers endured further drama on Monday when two people walked through an exit door into a sterile area of the T3 domestic terminal at Sydney airport.

It forced the evacuation of the terminal and rescreening of around 2000 passengers who had already been checked and, in some cases, boarded their aircraft.

AAP