SYD T1 chaos

[LionKing]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

It appears on Instagram that on the first few days of school holidays this term, there were out of control queues at SYD T1 and you need 45 minutes to clear security and immigration.

I wonder if they will fix this by November? There are going to be millions of students flying back home this semester end, and in addition to millions of Australians to go home, I am very concerned that I need to wait a few hours for security, and I am missing my drink and udon in the lounge.

 

[elanshin]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

It appears on Instagram that on the first few days of school holidays this term, there were out of control queues at SYD T1 and you need 45 minutes to clear security and immigration.

I wonder if they will fix this by November? There are going to be millions of students flying back home this semester end, and in addition to millions of Australians to go home, I am very concerned that I need to wait a few hours for security, and I am missing my drink and udon in the lounge.

Assuming no systems have gone down, I've seen this happen a few times at peak travel periods and specifically around 8am -10am on certain days. Once you get past 10/11am it pretty much dies down as thats the massive bulk of the departures.

So if you're travelling at other times there basically is a 5-10mins (or 0 min) waltz through security. November should be off peak. Uni students are a very very small select group compared to the general school holiday which also covers parents and anyone else that works in relation to schools.

 

[SYD]

They were also still in the process of installing more security screening machines before passport control and I assume, more smart gates when I flew out ~3 wks ago. When that’s complete, there ought to be more capacity.

In general, the new security screening before PP control generally works better. Even in the morning peak time.

 

[Princess Fiona]

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

It appears on Instagram that on the first few days of school holidays this term, there were out of control queues at SYD T1 and you need 45 minutes to clear security and immigration.

I wonder if they will fix this by November? There are going to be millions of students flying back home this semester end, and in addition to millions of Australians to go home, I am very concerned that I need to wait a few hours for security, and I am missing my drink and udon in the lounge.

That’s nothing unusual for SYD at peak times since they are updating the scanners etc. Perhaps the guy on Insta isn’t quite as frequent a traveller as his bio states.

 

[moa999]

And the new scanners at least in my experience have a pretty high rate of bags going to secondary which slows everything down.

 

[LionKing]

That’s nothing unusual for SYD at peak times since they are updating the scanners etc. Perhaps the guy on Insta isn’t quite as frequent a traveller as his bio states.

Would fly business cut queue time?

 

[elanshin]

Would fly business cut queue time?

Yes, there's a separate crew/J/F entrance on the other side. Used to be express path as well but i don't think that ever came back post covid.

 

[SYD]

Would fly business cut queue time?

Yes

Yes, there's a separate crew/J/F entrance on the other side. Used to be express path as well but i don't think that ever came back post covid.

No, not yet. Just F/J PAX.

 

[stm1sydney]

That’s nothing unusual for SYD at peak times since they are updating the scanners etc. Perhaps the guy on Insta isn’t quite as frequent a traveller as his bio states.

To be fair, that queue in the insta video is insane.

 

[SYD]

To be fair, that queue in the insta video is insane.

It’s just the line to get a Insta worthy selfie in front of the “SYD” sign….

 

[Princess Fiona]

To be fair, that queue in the insta video is insane.

It’s insane but nothing I haven’t seen before.

 

[elanshin]

To be fair, that queue in the insta video is insane.

I wouldn't even call this insane yet. 30-45mins is sizable, but its more the visibility of it as SYD isn't setup for queues so you just have one giant line once you get oast the initial area. This isn't even out the doors yet onto the outside area.

Other airports can have much bigger wait times but you don't see it snaking out the way it does in SYD because it's all in a snaking line up area.

 

[LionKing]

Assuming no systems have gone down, I've seen this happen a few times at peak travel periods and specifically around 8am -10am on certain days. Once you get past 10/11am it pretty much dies down as thats the massive bulk of the departures.

So if you're travelling at other times there basically is a 5-10mins (or 0 min) waltz through security. November should be off peak. Uni students are a very very small select group compared to the general school holiday which also covers parents and anyone else that works in relation to schools.

I think it is because most Asian departures are around 11am - 12pm?
Wouldn't that be worse come November since many international students need to go home for break?

Just kinda worried that the queues at SYD will persists into December which then delay my flight and miss my connection.

I would say I don't use SYD T1 often as I usually travel from T3 then change for MEL T2 to rack up additional 80 SCs with Qantas...

Thanks for the advice.

 

[SeatBackForward]

It’s just the line to get a Insta worthy selfie in front of the “SYD” sign….

When everyone is an influencer - who's left to influence? Bit like "you can all be leaders!"