Transit in Perth International Airport!!

[JohnK]

After the slight setback in Sydney this morning got into PER airport on time at 11:35am. Transfer bus was waiting so got to the international terminal just after 12:00noon.

You wouldn't believe it! The next flight does not leave until 15:30 so customs is closed until 2 hours before departure. What!

Sit at a bar and have a couple of beers to kill the time and I am the first waiting in line when customs finally opens. Fly through customs and get to the QP.

You wouldn't believe it! It does not open until 1 1/2 hours before departure. Considering that boarding opens 1 hour prior to departure then that leaves a grand total of 1/2 an hour in QP for a 4 hour transit. The staff seeing that there was a lot of people waiting to get inside, opened the QP about 15 minutes early.

While I am having a nice old whinge today there are only 2 PCs in the QP. In future I think I will have to reassess transits through PER International airport and see if I can get extra SCs another way.

 

[serfty]

Mirrors mine and SWMBO's experience last January. Check-in opened 2.5 hours before the flight, customs 2 hours before and QP had the 1.5 hour sign (but did open ~1:50 before the flight).

 

[chrisb]

Grr. We're heading out of PER tomorrow too.

I called the PER QP - They close during the day 'for cleaning' and as you said only open 90 minutes before departure.

In this regard, the info on the QF website is COMPLETELY misleading - it states "90 minutes before first departure to last departure" for the Perth International QP. Since there's an 11.25am departure, you'd expect it to be open from about 10am until the 8.40pm departure.

Time to revise our plans for tomorrow... I guess we won't be at the airport early after all.

Chrisb.

 

[Anna]

Me too for all of the above whinges, plus this extra one - having to queue up at the service counter for a ticket for the bus to the other terminal instead of just being able to swipe a boarding pass like at SYD. Particularly annoying when the service counter is under-staffed and is dealing with complicated itinerary changes for other passengers.

I avoid going through Perth wherever possible.

 

[JohnK]

....plus this extra one - having to queue up at the service counter for a ticket for the bus to the other terminal instead of just being able to swipe a boarding pass like at SYD.

Yes I forgot about that one. Waited well over 5 minutes to collect the bus ticket and then no one to ask for handover.

I did another 2 PCs scattered around the place somewhere, so in total 4 PCs.

 

[Reggie]

While I am having a nice old whinge today there are only 2 PCs in the QP. In future I think I will have to reassess transits through PER International airport and see if I can get extra SCs another way.

JohnK, I think you will find there are 4 PC's, 2 on the rhs of the lounge past the food area, 1 immediately to the left of the fridges, and 1 in the far left hand corner.

 

[Reggie]

Yes I forgot about that one. Waited well over 5 minutes to collect the bus ticket and then no one to ask for handover.

I did another 2 PCs scattered around the place somewhere, so in total 4 PCs.

Oh I see you found them.

I have to say, I live in Perth, thus luckily never have to transfer between terminals. But the whole shutting down the customs and the lounge for "cleaning" is ridiculous.

 

[serfty]

Guess it save $$$.

Today PER Int has 3 departures:

QF77    Singapore      11:25

QF71    Singapore      15:30

QF139   Jakarta        20:40

So barring delays, contracted flights with other carriers using the lounge, etc., the QP should be open from ~09:55am-10:55am, ~2:00pm-3:00pm & ~7:10pm-8:10pm.

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

Last year flying NZ out of PER our flight was significantly delayed - instead of evening departure it became early am departure. Pax put up in hotels in PER (since delay known to be significant) and bussed back to airport. You guessed it - immigration was closed when we arrived back at terminal (along with most everything else). Immigration staff were there, just refused to open up for departures :evil:

 

[clifford]

Last year flying NZ out of PER our flight was significantly delayed - instead of evening departure it became early am departure. Pax put up in hotels in PER (since delay known to be significant) and bussed back to airport. You guessed it - immigration was closed when we arrived back at terminal (along with most everything else). Immigration staff were there, just refused to open up for departures :evil:

I think you mean Customs (in Oz), Kiwi.

 

[JohnK]

So barring delays, contracted flights with other carriers using the lounge, etc., the QP should be open from ~09:55am-10:55am, ~2:00pm-3:00pm & ~7:10pm-8:10pm.

Don't get me wrong the lounge is nice but do not turn up early for a flight especially for QF139!

I think the way customs/immigration/QP is controled in PER it is a shame that you can only have around 1 hour in the lounge especially if you have a very early connecting flight. There are so many shops you can visit!

 

[oz_mark]

I think the way customs/immigration/QP is controled in PER it is a shame that you can only have around 1 hour in the lounge !

Everything about PER airport is a shame. For the capital city of a state enjoying boom times, it is a joke. (and yes I just got back from there, and I still wish they would just bite the bullet and fix the damn place)

 

[Kiwi Flyer]

I think you mean Customs (in Oz), Kiwi.

No I mean immigration. We were stuck landside until they deigned to open up. This for flight PER-AKL.

 

[Flashback]

As an interesting side note - in my local newspaper it has an article about the guy who has just overtaken the CEO position at Perth Airport, and has noted a constant 54% growth over the past few years and has said plans may be brought forward for both public transport availability, the expansion, and joining of the terminals.

 

[oz_mark]

As an interesting side note - in my local newspaper it has an article about the guy who has just overtaken the CEO position at Perth Airport, and has noted a constant 54% growth over the past few years and has said plans may be brought forward for both public transport availability, the expansion, and joining of the terminals.

There was a quote in the paper last week (which talked about a parking issue at the airport), which states the supremely obvious to everyone but those in charge of the facility

"Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Tim Shanahan said airport facilities had not kept pace with the huge increase in passenger numbers."

 

[Flashback]

If I find time tomorrow, I'll scan in the article and post it here. Interesting read..

 

[Reggie]

There was a quote in the paper last week (which talked about a parking issue at the airport), which states the supremely obvious to everyone but those in charge of the facility

"Chamber of Minerals and Energy chief executive Tim Shanahan said airport facilities had not kept pace with the huge increase in passenger numbers."

Parking issue at Perth airport? They have pleanty of room to park the planes.

Seriously though, why provide parking for the punters. If there is no parking, no cost for infrastructure, but with all the unters needing cabs, you make money from the airport fee. Also dont provide cabbies with anything other than a couple of corregated sheets of iron on a few uprights. Meantime keep raking in the cash from all the development on the land around at the international side.

 

[Flashback]

Article can be found at http://www.flashware.net/files/per-apt.pdf

 

[oz_mark]

Thanks for the article, quite interesting. Let's hope he can get something done with this, and not fall asleep at the wheel like his predecessor obviously was.

 

[Reggie]

JohnK,

You must have been unlucky the day you transitted through Perth. My wife dropped me off 3 hours before my flight on her way to work. I knew there was a 2 hour gap bewteen flights so expected the lounge to be shut. However the the HKG flight had already boarded and I walked into the lounge 2.5 hours before the SIN flight and was the only one in there. I asked if they were about to shut, and she said no, there was only a couple of days they shut during the day, but gerneally they have the QF flights and then other there are other airlines who lease the lounge for their premium pax.I did specifically ask about the closing prior to the afternoon SIN flight.