AMEX Sydney Airport - Full

[VA777]

My EA is flying away to the USA this morning and just touched base with her before she and the kids boarded the flight.

She had access to the AMEX Lounge, but was told there was a 30 - 45 min wait to get in as it was already full.

I know it is school holidays, but amazing that they are already having capacity issues.

 

[Saltywings]

My EA is flying away to the USA this morning and just touched base with her before she and the kids boarded the flight.

She had access to the AMEX Lounge, but was told there was a 30 - 45 min wait to get in as it was already full.

I know it is school holidays, but amazing that they are already having capacity issues.

It was never a big lounge to begin with (and that's probably not Amex's fault...unless they were too cheap to rent more space). I once sat (rather ignominiously) outside at a nearby gate for about 20min before I was admitted. But I guess 20min < 45min.

Time of day also greatly impacts lounge capacity.

In the end, it could be argued that access is simply too lax, given most plat-grade Amexes are granted access. On the other hand, as I don't hold a plat charge I'm part of the problem, lol

 

[blackcat20]

Its a tiny lounge so Im not surprised.

 

[kpc]

On Jan 2, our party of 4 had a similar 40 min wait

 

[Dr Ralph]

I know it is school holidays, but amazing that they are already having capacity issues.

Not sure I would be 'amazed' by this. Disappointed though. Totally expected and will occur frequently because of the size of the lounge. I saw the same problem multiple times during January.

 

[andye]

The child-access policy though great from a personal viewpoint is likely to be contributing at this time of year

 

[gojun]

I flew out late March on a week day, not school holidays, and the lounge was packed. They still let people come in, have a look and decide if they wanted to come in, despite no visible seats available. Not a very enjoyable atmosphere, I ended up leaving and wandering the duty free section.

 

[Saltywings]

I flew out late March on a week day, not school holidays, and the lounge was packed. They still let people come in, have a look and decide if they wanted to come in, despite no visible seats available. Not a very enjoyable atmosphere, I ended up leaving and wandering the duty free section.

Tbh I'm surprised they let you do even that (assuming you were able to 'have a look' for an extended period of time), due to the fact that the lounge, like any other space is only certified to hold a maximum number of people for safety reasons.

But yeah, if Amex doubled the size of the lounge and/or restricted access criteria, it would be awesome.

 

[daft009]

thought they used to send people to the skyteam lounge if amex lounge was full?

 

[Zanzara]

The lounge is tiny & Amex really plug the facility as a perk of being a cardholder. Demand is clearly huge at times.

Visited the new Melbourne lounge couple of weeks ago. In contrast to SYD there was tons of space, it was really pretty empty & very good service. A perk of usung MEL!

 

[wicks21]

I used it late last year - wasn't a holiday period - and it was really full to the point of being rather uncomfortable! I think given the focus on rolling out more and more top-tier cards, AMEX needs to expand the place to accommodate eligible cardholders or there will be major dissatisfaction..

 

[Richard Ling]

Party of 3 were directed to SkyTeam lounge when the AmEx lounge was full.

 

[manc01]

I also had a long wait about a week ago. It is probably the worst lounge that I have ever seen. Small, not well designed or fitted out & the food & drink was poor.

 

[albatross710]

I tried to access it twice this year and both times got the 40-50 minute wait message.

I would think that the ACCC would be concerned that Amex have not provided sufficient resources for a benefit that they promote. It's not sufficient to say "capacity" when clearly there are 100,000s of Amex card holders.

I'm sure in defence the Amex people can so some maths and say that based upon 5am-11pm, average utilizaton was 25% therefore we were just there at the wrong times.

When the Westpac Black Amex expired in April I didn't both to apply for the Amex replacement and instead put the money to other airport purchases.

Alby

 

[strongarmAU]

I've used it a few times, been unusually quiet for me.
Great place to sit in the sun and have a drink in the afternoon sun.
That said I wouldn't bother waiting if you have another option.

 

[nickfromeastryde]

You would think with the demise of most of the Bank's companion cards, demand for this lounge would decrease over time. Doubt very much that AMEX are picking up the slack with their own issued cards