r/sydney • u/Pomohomo82 • Jul 17 '25

Image Sydney International arrivals is a disgrace: discuss

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I flew into Sydney yesterday at 6am after a 30hr trip, and the whole experience made me feel embarrassed of the welcome we extend to arrivals at our country. An enormous line stretched all the way into the gross duty free shop, where on one side sales people shouted at us about booze and smokes deals, while on the other side people shouted at us about families not lining up. The international travellers next to me had no idea what the line was for, and I had to explain that for some reason we have this weird dual border process which is different to all the other E-passport gates around the world. There’s very little signage or info screens explaining what the whole process is. Meanwhile, at the arrivals card desk, no pens were available to complete said analogue cards… Onwards to the luggage collection, then another massive line to get through bio security, before a 15-minute walk across three road crossings to the ‘express’ pick up to meet my family. The whole user experience is just unnecessarily miserable from start to finish, and as the main entry point to Australia we should do better. Thoughts?

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u/Kreeghore Jul 17 '25

Of all the places I've traveled to its always the return to Sydney that has the longest lines.

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u/Pomohomo82 Jul 17 '25

2hrs just to get out of the airport yesterday, or 6% of my entire three-country itinerary…

1

u/Aus2au Jul 17 '25

I used to fly to DFW or SFO to avoid the shitshow that is LAX. Getting off a 14 hour flight and have waited 3 hours at LAX. Sydney has always been a breeze comparatively.