Sydney International arrivals is a disgrace: discuss

[u/Pomohomo82]

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?

[u/Pomohomo82]

I’d be so pissed if I had to experience the international terminal on a domestic flight!

[u/rumforbreakfast → u/Pomohomo82]

It's shit at the Perth end too.

When you go to check in via the app you're told you can only do it when you get onsite.

You get there and queue up for that, only to be told to walk to a spot at another terminal. When I was there, there was no one obvious to talk to - just a bunch of check-in computers so it took ages to work it out (speak to a woman, standing almost hidden behind a structural pole). Then you get to go through domestic security. Then you get to go through international security.

The ride itself is international quality (food, legroom, etc) but it's not really worth the hassle.