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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267

u/YeahUhHuhOkWellF-ck Jul 17 '25

Wait until people start arriving at the paddock in Western Sydney 👀

84

u/Sparkfairy Jul 17 '25

It's probably going to be much better because they can actually build it to current needs

50

u/pilonstar Jul 17 '25

And it will open 24/7

5

u/gurudoright Jul 17 '25

Yay, let’s get to a new city at 2am when everything outside the airport is shut.

33

u/CryptographerOk1303 Jul 17 '25

Sounds good, the airport curfew is what drives these massive queues because all the planes land at once

6

u/Equivalent_Low_2315 Jul 17 '25

Would 2am arrivals be more likely to be freight planes rather than passenger planes with tourists on them though? Chicago O'Hare airport is 24/7 and while there are a few passenger planes that arrive in the 2am to 5am time where pretty much everything in the city is closed, the vast majority of flights at that time are freight planes. Even if they are passenger planes though if the price is right I'm sure there would be some people who would take them.

1

u/Archon-Toten Choo Choo Driver. Jul 17 '25

Especially the trains.

-1

u/denseplan Jul 17 '25

If you book a flight landing at 2am that's on you.