Holidays and Airport 'Chaos' since COVID

[kpc]

What are the Qs like at Sydney international? Have a flight on Good Friday at 11am and wondering what time to get to airport!

 

[Captain Halliday]

What are the Qs like at Sydney international? Have a flight on Good Friday at 11am and wondering what time to get to airport!

Wednesday afternoon

 

[Anna]

Have a flight on Good Friday at 11am and wondering what time to get to airport!

Flying ex ADL at a similar time and wondering the same thing. Had been hoping for a sleep in! Anyone departed ADL this week?

 

[Big John]

Wednesday afternoon

Too optimistic !

 

[Pushka]

Flying ex ADL at a similar time and wondering the same thing. Had been hoping for a sleep in! Anyone departed ADL this week?

MrP. Busy as normal pre Covid. This was at 5pm. The priority security gate was back in as of last Friday. Random body scans and Pat downs now. Qantas club back to normal.

 

[Saab34]

Some recent photos appears to be a bit quiet so this is a 5-10am issue it seems. Perhaps opt for a arvo flight. Is the Virgin premium security kerbside open?

 

[kookaburra75]

I got the impression from Mr P they were patting down everyone not just randoms. In Adelaide, and only Adelaide, it's umbrellas. Melb security laugh each time I ask them if I need to take one out.

They have the full body scanners at Canberra, so they pick up odd things sometimes on the stick figure displays. Usually my left shin gets a warning - don't ask me why.

 

[Pushka]

They have the full body scanners at Canberra, so they pick up odd things sometimes on the stick figure displays. Usually my left shin gets a warning - don't ask me why.

My hip also gets attention.

 

[Lynda2475]

Body scanner at cbr has a problem with bra underwire for anyone with a sizeable bust. Have been subjected to a pat down both times I've been through it.

 

[mviy]

If it weren't for the bad publicity spending a heap on technology whilst laying off staff and limited cash they should have used the downtime to replace the x-ray machines with modern ones where you have to take nothing out of the bags to speed things up. That would have helped move people through quicker enormously especially if such upgrades were rolled out nationwide at all major airports so that everyone quickly came to expect it everywhere.

 

[New to this]

I've only ever flown out of terminal 2 a handful of times since Ansett collapsed, but it always seems way more chaotic than terminal 3. I think in part because of JetStar passengers trying to avoid paying for check luggage so have much more cough in their carry-ons which requires more checking.

That said during peak travel periods all security screening lanes should be open and dragons should be policing priority lines.

Sounds more like the airport staff aren't match fit then passengers. Plus I imagine this awful rain isn't helping.

What concerns me in the article is the quote from passenger saying they were worried about their London flight as neither terminal 2 or 3 is international, he was either very lost or there are similar issues at Terminal 1. With the airport not opening 24*7 I am wondering whether I'm going to need to be be queued up before Terminal 1 even opens for my next international which departs ahead of Anzac Day weekend, usually I just arrive 3 hours before for international and 1 hour for domestic.

I’ve been through T1 a few times recently. It was fine. Quiet, even.
They haven’t opened the priority lane because there wasn’t any need to.

 

[antycbr]

If it weren't for the bad publicity spending a heap on technology whilst laying off staff and limited cash they should have used the downtime to replace the x-ray machines with modern ones where you have to take nothing out of the bags to speed things up. That would have helped move people through quicker enormously especially if such upgrades were rolled out nationwide at all major airports so that everyone quickly came to expect it everywhere.

The airports run screening not the airlines.

I wish we had the NZ model where the government ran screening. Or dare I say it the TSA.

 

[jb747]

That would have helped move people through quicker enormously especially if such upgrades were rolled out nationwide at all major airports so that everyone quickly came to expect it everywhere.

Why? They don't mind wasting your time.

 

[OATEK]

Just to echo comments upthread, the airport queuing at security does seem to be occurring in various cities around the world. LHR on 31/3 was very slow(about 45 mins from joining the queue to getting through. At DUB on 5/6 it was crazy. An hour, but packed out by a whole bunch of Atletico Madrid fans, who were flying indirect to MAN, and found they had to exit T2 and re-enter T1. The shouting and carry on when they feared they would miss their flight was quite something. The security staff saw what was happening so subjected a number of them to extra searches - which then saw tears start amongst "grown" men.

The various news channels in UK and Ireland were reporting days of issues at DUB, LHR, MAN - but not LGW (where fewer flights seem to start), which basically comes down to one key issue. The UK mid-term holidays seem to have triggered a mass exodus. And all those lowly paid security check staff who had been stood down and found a bunch of other work didn't want to come back to the airport and face abuse from passengers - go figure!

I am sure SYD and other AU airports are facing similar issues.

Added to the woes with security at LHR has been the melt-down at BA's T5. Hundreds of fights cancelled, bags disappearing yet again, apparently caused by technology and rostering failings. Oh the joys of air travel.

 

[FishFood]

I have been getting used to 1 minute through security at PER, one of the only advantages of the lack of flights

 

[TheRealTMA]

I have been getting used to 1 minute through security at PER, one of the only advantages of the lack of flights

suPER exasPERatingly!

 

[Hvr]

Or dare I say it the TSA.

Please don't dare say it. They make up rules on a whim.

 

[TheRealTMA]

Please don't dare say it. They make up rules on a whim.

“Rules”?

 

[NSun]

I went on a quick trip to BNE for a match on Friday night. Hearing about the queues I got to the airport at 1pm for a 4pm flight but queues weren't that bad - got through in 15 minutes. But then I had a quick glance outside before boarding my flight, queues were snaking outside and in again.

Flew out of BNE about 7am and there was virtually no queue and I noticed neither was there in SYD when I landed about 11am. However we had to wait on the tarmac for half an hour to find a gate.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I don't think I'm an inexperienced traveller by any means, but every single airport seems to have different requirements about whether you need to take your laptop out, aerosols out, whether liquids need to go in a plastic bag, belt off, etc. It can get confusing if you're regularly flying from different airports, even if you are "match fit".

Either way, the long security lines in SYD were clearly caused by a huge number of passengers and inadequate staff. Several security lanes were closed that could have been opened to help clear the backlog.

Unfortunately, as we know, Qantas management has serious form in blaming customers for things.

Agree. And it could be so easily solved with a couple of signs saying ‘take out xyz, leave in xyz’…. but NONE of the security checkpoints in the USA this last week had such signs. I had to ask the TSA each time just before i joined the x-ray line what the procedures were at this airport.

Most of the officers were polite, but a few scoffed at the question… as if I should have known.

As for QF saying their passengers are not ‘match fit’… Qantas is not match fit: cancelling routes because they got demand wrong; cancelling flights because they got demand wrong, or don’t have staff to operate them; can’t service calls or meet call demand; don’t have a phone company that can deliver calls without them dropping out; can’t provide functionality on the website; are handing out menus on board that crew have to explain ‘are wrong’ and only part of the menu is available.

Qantas expects its passengers to be understanding of their struggles, but doesn’t return the favour?