Which countries deemed low risk with Aus quarantine letting you through without XRAY?

Status
Not open for further replies.

one9

Active Member
Joined
Sep 14, 2005
Posts
653
Qantas
Silver Club
Virgin
Red
When the queue is long for arrivals, quarantine will often let some people skip the xray and save 5 or so minutes. I have previously been let through, but the last two times I have not.

This morning when I went through, I had my Apec card and passport out, and when the guy took the declaration card, it seemed like he was going to let me skip the queue, then he said "Indonesia" and motioned me towards the queue to have my baggage x-rayed.

During the time that I was watching people, there were two seperate groups of the same airline flight crew seperated by a few people. It seems that they had come off different flights. The quarantine guy let the first aircrew group skip x-ray and he made the second aircrew group get x-rayed.

It seems that the criteria (well at least part of the criteria) is the country that you write on your incoming passenger card.

I would like to ask people who have been let skip the queue: Which country did you write as the country you spent the most time in?
 
The one time it has happened to me, I had been coming from Singapore.
 
one9 said:
It seems that the criteria (well at least part of the criteria) is the country that you write on your incoming passenger card.

I would like to ask people who have been let skip the queue: Which country did you write as the country you spent the most time in?

I have been xrayed on my last three trips, from NZ, HKG and USA, but in relation to your question concerning pax who have been allowed to by-pass the x-ray what country they state on the card in which country they have spent most time in, I think only a fool would write a different country on the card and if a pax does consider doing so they should ponder Federal Police, Commonwealth charges, possibilty of prison etc etc..
 
Maca44 said:
I have been xrayed on my last three trips, from NZ, HKG and USA, but in relation to your question concerning pax who have been allowed to by-pass the x-ray what country they state on the card in which country they have spent most time in, I think only a fool would write a different country on the card and if a pax does consider doing so they should ponder Federal Police, Commonwealth charges, possibilty of prison etc etc..

If you read my original post, you will see that nowhere does it refer to writing a different country on the card.

But, if you had been in two countries (or more) for very similar amounts of time, then I am sure it would be tempting to write the country that was of lesser risk.
 
The Frequent Flyer Concierge team takes the hard work out of finding reward seat availability. Using their expert knowledge and specialised tools, they'll help you book a great trip that maximises the value for your points.

AFF Supporters can remove this and all advertisements

one9 said:
If you read my original post, you will see that nowhere does it refer to writing a different country on the card.

But, if you had been in two countries (or more) for very similar amounts of time, then I am sure it would be tempting to write the country that was of lesser risk.

Sorry, I should have read the post.
 
I've avoided the x-ray twice this year. Once arriving into BNE from CHC. The line was getting long and someone came up to me and the person I was travelling with, openned up the rope and let the two of us through (funnily enough only us two though).

Second time was arriving into SYD from BKK. I declared something that they quickly looked over and then waived me through without x-ray.
 
I think if Australian wants to be taken seriously as a place for multinationals to have their asian headquarters, Australian quarantine really has to fix up its operations. Sydney quarantine is completely in shambles.

It really is a joke how they operate in Sydney airport during the peak morning period. If they want to x-ray the majority of passengers, they need to have AT LEAST double the amount of x-ray machine and staff. They also need to fix up the lines so that people enter the queue in an efficient manner.
 
Re: Which countries deemed low risk with Aus quarantine letting you through without X

one9 said:
It really is a joke how they operate in Sydney airport during the peak morning period. If they want to x-ray the majority of passengers, they need to have AT LEAST double the amount of x-ray machine and staff. They also need to fix up the lines so that people enter the queue in an efficient manner.

It is slack, but at least it's harder for people to sneak things in than in the Asian countries where quarantine is virtually non-existent.
 
At MEL, when coming from NZ whenever that flight has been the only flight in the arrivals hall I've skipped xrays. When the hall is full flights from places other than NZ they haven't been so generous. Is this just a co-incidence?
 
dajop said:
At MEL, when coming from NZ whenever that flight has been the only flight in the arrivals hall I've skipped xrays. When the hall is full flights from places other than NZ they haven't been so generous. Is this just a co-incidence?
Yep, probably a co-incidence. In 10 flights from NZ in the last 18 months I have rarely skipped xray. The halls have rarely been busy. Once I even copped secondary.:-|
 
My experience into SYD coming from AKL almost always bypass xray. All other countries x-rayed.
 
Flew AKL to MEL a few months ago. Didn't get any x-rays, but copped a full search, including a narcotics swab, but no body search, just told to empty the pockets. It was the only flight there. :mad:
 
For me bypassing agriculture xray at SYD/MEL/BNE/PER from NZ is definitely in the minority. The only times I get to bypass is when queues are horrendous (ie early am peak period) and even then only some times.
 
Re: Which countries deemed low risk with Aus quarantine letting you through without X

I have had the "walk through express, no x-ray" treatment quite a few times.

Without trying to comprimise national security (cough), this has mainly been from a certain island to the East/South-East of Australia, and a couple of Asian countries.

Quite suprising sometimes, but appreciated to help me get out of the airport quicker. Maybe I just have a trustable face :D
 
I think there may be another factor involved. I always arrive and depart using my APEC BTC. The only time I have ever been x-rayed on arrival (Sydney) is when I flew in from Bangkok. I did ask and the (friendly) reply was "we always x-ray from Thailand". I usually fly in from NZ or the US. In Melbourne however it seems everyone gets x-rayed, no matter the flight origin. The same is true in Auckland
 
RTWFF said:
I think there may be another factor involved. I always arrive and depart using my APEC BTC. The only time I have ever been x-rayed on arrival (Sydney) is when I flew in from Bangkok. I did ask and the (friendly) reply was "we always x-ray from Thailand". I usually fly in from NZ or the US. In Melbourne however it seems everyone gets x-rayed, no matter the flight origin. The same is true in Auckland

Your experience seems to indicate that it is based on country. The US and NZ are safe countries in comparison with Thailand. Thailand risks are things such as drugs (Yaba etc from Burma/Golden Triangle), Guns/Weapons, Fake money/credit cards/ID, bird flu etc.)
 
RTWFF said:
I think there may be another factor involved. I always arrive and depart using my APEC BTC. The only time I have ever been x-rayed on arrival (Sydney) is when I flew in from Bangkok. I did ask and the (friendly) reply was "we always x-ray from Thailand". I usually fly in from NZ or the US. In Melbourne however it seems everyone gets x-rayed, no matter the flight origin. The same is true in Auckland

I arrived in SYD this morning from BKK to a very busy hall, joined the very long green que at customs, made sure I stood near the officer, he saw I had only one carry on bag, asked if I travelling for business, which I was, green stamp came out and I was through :D no x-ray straight out!! My guess is they saw me as a small threat due to small luggage, and dressed appropriately, also they probably needed to reduce the que, it was crowding around the carousels.
 
RE: Melbourne Airport.
On my last dozen or so flights from HK, I have had to declare goods, mostly for work, so go down one of the red lines, passing heeps of people in no-declare lines. Normally wait no longer than 1 minute, take my bags up, show them my commercial goods, normally leather samples. Given ok, sent on my way and not yet been xrayed.
 
one9 said:
Your experience seems to indicate that it is based on country. The US and NZ are safe countries in comparison with Thailand. Thailand risks are things such as drugs (Yaba etc from Burma/Golden Triangle), Guns/Weapons, Fake money/credit cards/ID, bird flu etc.)
Not sure if the XRay would detect bird flu.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Enhance your AFF viewing experience!!

From just $6 we'll remove all advertisements so that you can enjoy a cleaner and uninterupted viewing experience.

And you'll be supporting us so that we can continue to provide this valuable resource :)


Sample AFF with no advertisements? More..

Recent Posts

Back
Top