Advice re new T4 at MEL

[disstopic]

Can anyone whose been through in the last couple of days provide some information on the walk from the departure lounge in T4 through to the gates and the actual plane? A colleague at work speculated the distance is around 2km outside but under cover. Do people still have to walk on the tarmac to get on the plane?

My partner is looking to fly out soon, and chose a Jetstar flight, but as she has an unfortunate condition that means sometimes she has to take it easy while walking, and I'd like to be able to inform her so she can decide if she would prefer to go Virgin. For comparison, the walk from the ticket counter to the Virgin departure gates has never been a problem, so if it's something like that or a bit further, great.

Any info on experiences since Jetstar started operations out of T4 a couple of days ago would be great.

 

[opusman]

I suspect 2km is a bit of an exaggeration.

 

[Milboo]

2km is a big stretch! Maybe 200 metres max!

Came in on VA the week it opened and parked at Gate 13. It is a very short walk from the gates to the big open hall area with the shops and I believe the Tiger check in etc and exit outside. Otherwise it was a short walk down the hall past the VA lounge.

I don't think it was more than a 5 min walk from the VA lounge.

 

[Melburnian1]

It is quite a long walk - I am guessing 300 metres - if you are coming from the new T4 food court, but there is an alternative entry if I'm not mistaken from the new T4 car park if you are dropped off in a taxi or car, or you park at that facility and do not use Skybus, the route 901/ Metro train combination or some other bus to get to MEL airport.

It is a longish - I'm guessing a kilometre - walk from the QF terminal to the actual departure gates at the JQ pier. At present one has to do a bit of a dogleg between the VA and new JQ terminals if you are on the outside footpath (which is where if I recall the VA dropoff and pickup for its valet car attendant service was) but one can walk through the terminals without venturing outside if so desired. There is a security scan in the passageway down to what many years ago was the 'new' Ansett wing, which in recent years has not been hugely used.

The amount of seats at the new JQ pier is very small. There are none at the actual gates.

All boarding for JQ (and, separately on another pier TT) is via stairs. JQ were using front and back stairs today but the boarding process was very slow with one girl checking boarding passes prior to passengers' walking onto the tarmac.

From what I saw, a lot of JQ planes were late (see the Jetstar cancellations and delays thread on AFF for some specifics) but the staff had no sense of 'hurry up' about them, although this may be because each aircraft had been given a particular slot time by ATC and the staff knew that it didn't really matter if the passenger complement was three minutes slower to board.

I shudder to think what this area is going to be like pre and post Christmas when the world and his wife want to travel.