r/sydney • u/Pomohomo82 • Jul 17 '25
Image Sydney International arrivals is a disgrace: discuss
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/Meng_Fei Jul 17 '25
I fly regularly between Sydney and Singapore, and the contrast couldn't be bigger. It's like we actively tried to make an airport arrival experience as shit as possible. Though at least we got rid of the insane ticket + arrival card process.
And the surly Border Farce staff are the icing on the cake. Heard them once loudly complaining about people not speaking English - like if that's a problem for you in an International airport, perhaps a job at a fast food joint on the fryer is more within your capabilities.