Oceania (Australia, New Zealand & the South Pacific) - Long queues entering security / immigration at SYD T1

Hi Guys,

Was anyone at SYD T1 today (23-06-2012) and seen the very long queue's heading into the the security / immigration area?

It was around 8am (I was there saying good bye to the better half) when the queue's extended to Krisp Kreme (yum :rolleyes:).

I said to the other half, this would have been the ideal situation that the express pathway would have been ideal for! the line was moving slowly.

/AE

[mod hat]

Most probably more suited for the AUS/NZ/SP forum as not really QF related.

[/mod hat]

Hi Guys,

Was anyone at SYD T1 today (23-06-2012) and seen the very long queue's heading into the the security / immigration area?

Long queue on Saturday in SYD = school holidays

I've learned to avoid SYD during school holidays, it gets beastly.

It's not school holidays in SYD for another week though.

Or did you mean US school holidays?

Some private schools in Sydney started their holidays last Saturday.

Hi Guys,

Was anyone at SYD T1 today (23-06-2012) and seen the very long queue's heading into the the security / immigration area?
/AE

My wife experienced the same thing on the 7th June at around 10am. Just made her flight in time, despite being there with plenty of time.

School Holidays wil always be a killer in Sydney. Busiest airport in the country.

It's not school holidays in SYD for another week though.

Or did you mean US school holidays? Since school holidays in Australia are staggered between the states, it might be school holidays elsewhere in Australia, which might also account for the delays.

Dave

Another theory is that it could have to do with the amount of arriving flights.
There are multiple A380 (among other) flights due into SYD around the 7-9am mark, which may dictate where the processing staff are positioned.
ie. extra staff required to handle arriving passengers taken away from the departures area leaving less staff available to process departing passengers.

Queues for departing passengers are often lengthy at Sydney (though not, in my experience, as long or as slow as in Auckland). I suppose I've got used to it and factor it in when travelling from those airports.

Fast-track (or whatever it is called) is available for at least some business- and first-class passengers but it is not always much quicker - and on at least one occasion it was actually slower for me, which was irritating!

Thanks guys for all the replies... Was just baffled that day :)

/AE

How early should we arrive for a flight from Aukland to Sydnye out of Auckland? What about Sydney to Hong Kong out of Sydney, 5 days later? We have JetConnect/Qantas business class tickets for all flights and husband is OW Emerald.

How early should we arrive for a flight from Aukland to Sydnye out of Auckland? What about Sydney to Hong Kong out of Sydney, 5 days later? We have JetConnect/Qantas business class tickets for all flights and husband is OW Emerald.

Depends on what time you are leaving AKL? what flight are you on?

QF OPERATED BY /JETCONNECT FOR QANTAS Flight 44
Depart: AKL - Auckland on Sat 14 Jul 2012 at 06:30PM

Thanks!

QF OPERATED BY /JETCONNECT FOR QANTAS Flight 44
Depart: AKL - Auckland on Sat 14 Jul 2012 at 06:30PM

Thanks!

2hours should be plenty of time for QF44, since you are traveling Business you will get per-cleared by customs at Qantas Premium Check-in, this will get you an NZCS Pre-cleared sticker.

While there is about 8 Flights going out to Aussie between 5-6.30pm shouldn't been to bad.

The private schools started their vacation.

Oddly enough there is a much higher percentage of private school kids jetting off than a week later when the public or government schools go on vacation.

Not all private schools in Sydney started that early; quite a few only started a couple of days earlier on the Wednesday or Thursday.

My SIL flew out of Sydney last Monday evening and had no issues with queues and we flew out last Thursday evening and had no issues (with queues - flight delays were an entirely different story!) either. No queues coming back in on the return last night either.

Perhaps we were just extremely lucky?

Not all private schools in Sydney started that early; quite a few only started a couple of days earlier on the Wednesday or Thursday.

My SIL flew out of Sydney last Monday evening and had no issues with queues and we flew out last Thursday evening and had no issues (with queues - flight delays were an entirely different story!) either. No queues coming back in on the return last night either.

Perhaps we were just extremely lucky?
No, it does seem to be erratic (by which I mean unpredictable) at Sydney Airport.