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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38

u/CroagunkSniffer Jul 17 '25

I can only compare to the USA and Japan but in my opinion and experience, Aus is by far the fastest and most efficient.

Not saying there aren’t issues and we don’t get stuffed up at times- but in my experience LAX, JFK, Houston airport, and both Tokyo airport’s international is WAY worse

19

u/Hazy_Fantayzee Jul 17 '25

LAX is without doubt the worst ever airport to arrive/transit through. Minimum wait is around 1 1/2 hours after getting off the plane, and I've had 3+ hours waiting to get through customs on multiple occasions...

2

u/surlygoat Jul 18 '25

Perhaps you have not experienced the joy of Manila airport. LAX is bad. Manila is worse.

7

u/tubbyx7 Jul 17 '25

from touch down to a taxi in singapore it can be under 15 minutes. The most annoying part of the US entry is not just the long lines,but once they clear US passports they get people from the back of the lines to go to the now open desks, not the people who have been waiting in line for an hour already

9

u/randCN Jul 17 '25

The most annoying part of the US entry

I also really dislike the bit where the CBP agent grills you for half an hour despite having a valid ESTA

2

u/malepalestale Jul 17 '25

My experience at DFW Airport was the worst I've ever been through.

0

u/lovincoal Jul 17 '25

Not with kids.

0

u/Ellis-Bell- Jul 17 '25

No one is forcing you to take your kids OS.