Melbourne international arrivals slipping to below par...

[Cyclogenesis]

I will get around to writing up a trip report from a recent trip to DC, flights were all good, with another great experience in Y on the QF a380, crews on that plane are top shelf!

However after a very smooth exit from the aircraft and lightning speed through the e-gate (awesome!) I was confronted with the absolute shocker that the baggage hall has become...

Melbourne airport quarantine/exit area used to be smooth and easy... Yesterday (~9am) it was a joke with the security company contracted for crowd control failing badly to institute an orderly system of queues. Anyone else experienced this recently? I wonder if they have a longer term fix in plan as I imagine this is a barrier to increasing incoming traffic! The queues were impeding pax access to the baggage carousel and arbitrary queues forming at random...

Took me about 1hr from clearing immigration to leaving the airport.. longer than any wait I have had in LAX.

 

[MelUser]

Yes - I flew into MEL on Sat morning 13 March and it was attrocious.

Queues were snaking everywhere and people were complaining to the security guards.

It is a real embarassment the way that AQIS/Customs holds everybody up.

Not to mention the poor lady that arrived with Iced Tea and was locked up for 5 days.

If the US treated arrivals the same way that Australia does, I would not travel there as often. I think that really the USA is courteous compared with how international arrivals into Melbourne are herded like sheep in a paddock.

 

[AussieTim]

Yes - I flew into MEL on Sat morning 13 March and it was attrocious.

Queues were snaking everywhere and people were complaining to the security guards.

Saturday morning, 20th March was just as bad - baggage started to come out after 15 minutes, just the crew bags trickling down slowly. 10 minutes without any further bags.. the belt stops. Another 10 minutes later, finally the rest of the bags came out - with a whole plane crowded around, a wonderful mess.

I can only imagine how long the customs queues for non-priority were.. luckily for me after getting my bag, only had to wait 5 minutes in line...

 

[Cyclogenesis]

Where is the priority queue Tim???
What do you need to use it? (ie J/F or will status get you in?)

 

[AussieTim]

Where is the priority queue Tim???
What do you need to use it? (ie J/F or will status get you in?)

Ah sorry - I meant that as my bag was out first... I made a run for the exit before the others got theirs.

I did notice they had signage for the Express Path at quarantine which is meant for J/F pax only, but it seems as though it was not in use anyway.

 

[dajop]

I did notice they had signage for the Express Path at quarantine which is meant for J/F pax only, but it seems as though it was not in use anyway.

The sign is there, but it is never used.

Mind you when I flew into MEL on EK a couple of weeks ago, the queue for quarantine looped around three lengths of baggage carousel, and when I saw it I sent a msg to a rather grumpy text to my partner to go home and shower and come back in hour (joking), but seriously suggesting it could be a long wait. However, I was surprised how quickly the queue progressed, and luckily got the stamp on my card to avoid the xray so I was out within perhaps 5-10mins, anticipating much worse.

 

[DJ737]

Hi there

9 mins from stepping of the aircraft at Gate D8 to getting in a Taxi, although I only had hand baggage.

I ignore the AUST/NZ & Other passports signs (British passport) and just head for the shortest queue, never had a problem, and I also declare that I have food items on the arrival card, this gets you a red Q on the card, tell the quarantine person you have confectionery, and it's straight out the door bypassing the X-Ray area.

It seems that the problems occur when people fly with checked baggage, I avoid this at all costs.

Cheers
DJ737

 

[dajop]

It seems that the problems occur when people fly with checked baggage, I avoid this at all costs.

No not always, sure there's usually some sort of delay with checked baggage (especially if QF is doing the handling for the non QF airline you're on - a QF flight happens to arrive at the same time :evil, but I've had some lengthy delays without checked baggage as well. It all depends on time day, if you arrive when multiple flights are arriving (4 or 5 is a disaster!), or at the same time as flights from China, Vietnam, Philippines etc it can take a much longer time than for example if there's a single flight there just arriving from Singapore or Auckland. Out of curiosity what airline/time did you arrive on?

 

[garyjohn951]

Yes - I flew into MEL on Sat morning 13 March and it was attrocious.

Queues were snaking everywhere and people were complaining to the security guards.

It is a real embarassment the way that AQIS/Customs holds everybody up.

Not to mention the poor lady that arrived with Iced Tea and was locked up for 5 days.

If the US treated arrivals the same way that Australia does, I would not travel there as often. I think that really the USA is courteous compared with how international arrivals into Melbourne are herded like sheep in a paddock.

All depends on time. Recently spent over an hour in passport control queue at Newak, NY.

 

[hasan27]

Hi there

9 mins from stepping of the aircraft at Gate D8 to getting in a Taxi, although I only had hand baggage.

declare that I have food items on the arrival card, this gets you a red Q on the card, tell the quarantine person you have confectionery, and it's straight out the door

Cheers
DJ737

Very good --- ill have to try that next time! Thanks for the tip

 

[straitman]

Hi there

9 mins from stepping of the aircraft at Gate D8 to getting in a Taxi, although I only had hand baggage.

I ignore the AUST/NZ & Other passports signs (British passport) and just head for the shortest queue, never had a problem, and I also declare that I have food items on the arrival card, this gets you a red Q on the card, tell the quarantine person you have confectionery, and it's straight out the door bypassing the X-Ray area.

It seems that the problems occur when people fly with checked baggage, I avoid this at all costs.

Cheers
DJ737

I normally have checked baggage but other than that I agree. I always have coffee satchels or something to declare. I then look for one of the roaming checkers who normally point me out the door.