SYDNEY AIRPORT review : 27 June 2008 : by Neil Ramsay

Customer Rating : 3/5

Departure early morning was problem free. Short queues at check in, emigration and security. Arrived back mid morning with only a few other flights and breezed thru immigration and baggage pickup then came the long backup at quarantine. When long lines form why only open one xray machine? Why are there lots of customs and AQIS officials standing around talking to one another or plainly doing nothing? We pay a lot of tax in our tickets to use Sydney airport. Management should look at utilising their resources more efficiently so these bottlenecks do not occur. And yes the lack of a pick up zone which means enforced parking is a ripoff! At least the taxi rank is now working with a minimum of delay.

SYDNEY AIRPORT review : 24 June 2008 : by I Chakrabarty

Customer Rating : 3/5

Slow but steady improvement. Not up to scratch with Tullamarine. Significant improvements after Olympics 2000. Still some way to go. Clean and efficient but selection of duty free shops and eateries limited. Customs and AQIS staff can browbeat and be rude. Also parking is pricey. Travel through the Domestic terminal is world class though. However Sydney Airport has a cosy feel unlike some Airports in Asia and the US.

SYDNEY AIRPORT review : 11 May 2008 : by S Tam

Customer Rating : 1/5

We use SYD airport rather regularly. We used to have someone to pick us up upon arrival. Since the airport was privatised, many measures had been included to increase income for the Macquarie Bank. There is no longer "pick up" at the airport. Everyone car must go through the parking and that is a $7 per first 30 minutes charge. The price rockets after that. So we have to go to the carpark to be "picked up" even when we are there before the car. It is a rip-off and it also causes delay and inconvenience.

Sydney Airport review by H Albertse

28 April 2008   Customer Rating :

During a visit to Australia and New Zealand, I had to overnight at a Sydney Airport hotel, in order to catch an early morning flight the next day to Christchurch. In all the years that I have been visiting OZ and NZ, Sydney Airport customs-and immigration staff could not have been friendlier and I was in my hotel room in no time. I left Australia the next morning and arrived in Sydney a week later, after touring through NZ. This time around, my arrival was the exact opposite. The customs official was extremely rude and it was clear that she intended to make this arrival as unpleasant as possible. All my personal belongings were thrown out of my suitcases, which were then send off for scanning. In the meantime, my hairbrush of all things, apparently tested positive for marijuana! Having never used illicit drugs before, I was incensed by their accusations. In the end I was allowed to enter the country, as customs could not find any illicit drugs on my person or my belongings. Some custom officials, at Sydney Airport, need to get their act together. Being polite does not take that much of an effort. Being rude and unpleasant to visitors, is a disservice to Australia's image. Treat visitors with some respect.

Sydney Airport review by Frank Pitmen

28 April 2008   Customer Rating :

Arrived in SYD from PVG via MEL soon after 10am, Duty Free was nice , immigration queues were quite long, especially if you don't hold an Australian passport, baggage reclaim was ok. The worst part was customs - whole area is packed, like sardines, passengers with their baggage waiting for 30mins+.

Sydney Airport review by D Tulloh

23 April 2008   Customer Rating :

rrived from SGN on April 21 2008 at 8.00am - and by the looks of it every other Asia flight. Longest queues for passport control I've seen. Took 35 minutes. Then another 30 minutes for luggage to arrive on carousel, then a gigantic queue for Customs. Luckily had a green stamp on incoming card and was directed through a makeshift exit - no checking of bags. Overall a very poor experience. Our Customs and Immigration need more staff so that all counters are manned. You get really tired of seeing empty workstations and up to 5 staff standing around - it has happened before. The Airport/Airline needs more baggage handlers. Why oh Why can't all airports be as quick as Singapore. For the money Sydney airports charge for parking, food and services it should be excellent but it is far from it.

Sydney Airport review by Kurniawan Santoso

15 April 2008   Customer Rating :

Reasonable time in the immigration lane, lot of information available for first time visitor like me. Taxi queuing is fast, whilst I noted that most Australian Taxi Drivers drive their car sooo fast! Lovely city, good airport!

Sydney Airport review by R Hill

1 April 2008   Customer Rating :

I'm a regular user of Sydney Airport and generally find it a pleasant gateway to my home town. However, as I often use the long-term carpark I'm always amazed at the inconsistency of the carpark shuttle service. My last trip it took 40 minutes from collecting my bag to being dropped off at my car. Yes, it's a big city and yes it's a busy airport but the promise of a shuttle every 15 minutes (with a travel time rarely longer than 6 minutes) is VERY often broken. Thankfully I was one of the lucky one's that fit on the bus at T2. I truly felt for those left behind and particularly those looking bewildered as the jammed shuttle sped past the stop at T3. How hard can it be?

Sydney Airport review by Kamal Hasnan

27 March 2008   Customer Rating :

Arrived at Sydney Airport on 12th February from KL, transferring to Adelaide. The white color scheme of the airport is relaxing but personally, it is too small for the traffic it's handling. Transferring from T1 to T2 was difficult and the short bus ride was too expensive IMO although the friendly bus driver was worth the dollars. Range of restaurants/eateries is excellent. I am disappointed that there are no ANZ ATM machines though.More seats around the airport would be welcomed and I was really annoyed when I was instructed to move from my seat without giving me any explanation by an airport staff when they took the seat somewhere else. Toilets at T2 are too small. The construction activities around T1 was not a welcoming sight.

Sydney Airport review by K Chen

15 March 2008   Customer Rating :

When I was on my departure to Guangzhou, I saw the lines were huge and it took around 45 minutes to get through check-in, then Customs and Immigration took another 15 minutes, which wasn't too bad. However, when I got to security, the staff were rude to others. I finally passed security, and the shops were great, with prices lower than downtown, then when I get to Gate 25, I see that it had been around 30 metres long, quite long that it took 45 minutes to get everyone in. This was during peak season, so then the airport can get crowded at times. The good things on arrival, is the SYD shop, which has prices cheaper than downtown. Sydney on arrivals has been good, with lines organised and not overcrowded. To avoid long queues, you should go to the airport 3 hours prior to departure and you'll have a better time going through check-in, immigration and security.

Sydney Airport review by O Thach

12 February 2008   Customer Rating :

TPE-SYD. We arrived at Sydney airport at around 11am and somehow (luckily), there were no crowds to battle upon our arrival. The terminal was very open. Possibly too open and empty that it almost felt lonely. Customs was nice and quick though the service could have been better with smiles and more cheerful attitudes. New TV monitors labelling each baggage carousel to it's corresponding flight made collection quick and painless. Unfortunately, the horrific part of the arrival had arrived. Queuing for Quarantine was absolute chaos as there was no organisation with the lines and entrance points. The officers at the front were shouting out orders in a frightening manner. This is basically the only area of the airport that needs improvement. Overall, not a bad airport. But world class it certainly isn't.

Sydney Airport review by Peter Harrison

12 November 2007   Customer Rating :

Arriving at Sydney on a domestic flight from Perth I found that the queue for taxis was immense. If like me you are arriving in a strange city for the first time and not too sure about using public transport my strong recommendation would be to pre book transfers and have someone meet you in arrivals. On leaving Sydney to fly on to Honolulu my Jet Star flight was delayed over 4 hours. The company dealt with the delay in an exemplary manner keeping all passengers informed and arranging for meal vouchers. Unfortunately the choice of eating options was very limited and I think the quiche and fries I had was possibly the worst thing I have ever tasted! A few free internet access terminals are available. But these tend to be hogged - I think one man was conducting his global business from one PC! I think it would be fairer if each user was limited to say 20 minutes maximum - so that others like me who just want to quickly check their emails have the chance to do so.

Sydney Airport review by Teresa Tyler

1 November 2007   Customer Rating :

Used both International and Domestic terminals. Both are clean and modern in feel. The screening on entry can be onerous but it was done with humour and politeness. Direction signing was generally good in both terminals with one glaring exception. On departure from the domestic terminal there is no indication where to go to pick up the airport hotels' courtesy buses, and the pick up point is not at all easy to reach. Are they sending a message that they don't want passengers to use courtesy coaches?

Sydney Airport review by Edmund Carew

1 November 2007   Customer Rating :

The best way to transfer between international and domestic terminals (if one does not have a freebie transfer) is to take AirportLink's rail service from 'down below.' However, passengers beware: a special airport transfer fare of I think $5 is offered on the train, but only if you have airline tickets showing that you are transferring, at least in theory. I was charged $13.20 for a transfer despite arguing with the female booking clerk at International railway station: I have now been promised a refund. Do not get overcharged! I agree with comments about customs and quarantine being able to raise a smile at 0600: the delays exiting International airport tend to be most severe when there is a particular disease being targeted.

Sydney Airport review by D Fay

23 October 2007   Customer Rating :

I have passed through 4 times in the past 3 weeks on different flights. The experience for domestic flights was fine : T3 was efficient though I wouldn't like to get stranded on a delayed lights as it's pretty small. T1 outbound was disappointing - airside feels like a large and over-priced shop through which passengers have to pick their way to their gate. The catering options were limited and canteen- like - very poor for a city where food is taken seriously. CityRail service into Sydney is vastly overpriced - over $13 to travel on a graffiti-strewn commuter train. Even worse is having to pay $5 for a bumpy and chaotically crowded bus to get from T1 to T3.

Sydney Airport review by Kerry Epstein

18 October 2007   Customer Rating :

The transfer facilities at this airport rank as the most expensive in the world, $A20 for us (family of 4) to simply go from the terminal on one side of the runway to the one on the other side is a crime then add $4 for one trolley. The real problem is all these costs do not pay for an "amazing" airport facility, just an overcrowded, poorly signposted mess. Three stars would be a compliment how does this rate any better?

Sydney Airport review by John Cobcroft

23 August 2007   Customer Rating :

Sydney is a tale of two levels of service and amenities. Departures was good, efficient and almost friendly. Shopping was good and prices what you would expect at any airport, which is why we only look and not buy. Arrivals was dirty with filthy toilets and too few staff working although there were plenty of spare staff just hanging around without not much to do apparently.

Sydney Airport review by Peter Hutchinson

7 August 2007   Customer Rating :

Hate having to use SYD (both Int'l & Domestic) but since TG rescheduled their BNE-BKK flights I don't have much option. Travelled on TG995 which touched down (not parked at the gate) at 1235hrs on 1st Aug and by 1320hrs I was at Gate 11 in the domestic terminal. Yes I used QF's transfer bus and yes I did have to collect baggage. However even with this "rapid" transit I would not rate SYD greater than 3 star.

Sydney Airport review by Neil Prideaux

29 July 2007   Customer Rating :

Picked up my wife who was arriving, but told her to go upstairs to the departure terminal. It took us less than 2 minutes to pull up, load her luggage and drive off. I have done this at least a dozen times in the past. However the Sydney Airports Corporation / Macquarie Bank are becoming too greedy and have found another easy revenue stream. Fine people for doing this. And the officer saw her standing there for at least 15 minutes, and he could have at least warned her the rules had changed; but he pounced on us taking down the car details just as we were about to drive off.

Sydney Airport review by Ian Guy

27 July 2007   Customer Rating :

Sydney Kingsford Smith leaves a lot to be desired, especially the International Terminal. Arrivals is less of a biggie; we arrived recently as a group of 22 and actually went through immigration and customs with minimal problems; there were lots of FREE luggage trolleys. However, going out is a different story; is there any other international terminal that actually charges for the use of a trolley - we had 16 young soccer players plus about 6 adults - and they sting you $4 for each trolley. One person had to park - $7 for 30 mins or $44 for an hour. Add to that the ludicrous levy charged for using the rail stations. To the CBD from the local stations it is $2 one way per adult - so why is it $14 from the terminal. In this day and age when people are being encouraged to use public transport this is pathetic. Finally, the food area, very poor, worse than a shopping mall, and the duty free, some what limited, and the claim it is cheaper than elsewhere, it isn't!

Sydney Airport review by T Neuhaus

12 July 2007   Customer Rating :

Arrived around 7am on flight from Hong Kong - immigration went very quickly. The line for customs/ quarantine was snaking around the entire terminal building several times! Thankfully, they finally managed to open another few screening points and things began to progress more quickly. Had to transfer to a domestic flight - enormous queues to re- check you bags. A very large number of people missed their onward flights that morning - luckily I had plenty of time, but it still took me almost 3 hours (!) just from getting off my international flight to arriving at T3. Domestic terminal was pleasant with nice cafes. Go visit the "Qantas Heritage Collection" if you have half an hour spare.

Sydney Airport review by Steven Parish

11 July 2007   Customer Rating :

My biggest beef is getting between the domestic and international terminals. I can't believe that after years of complaints they still can't provide an efficient service. Unless you travel with Qantas, which has a good free transfer service, Do not take the buses. They run infrequently outside peak times, are unreliable and charge $5. Take the train, which runs every few minutes and provides a much better service, but the stations are not properly signposted in the terminals.

Sydney Airport review by D Jowett

24 May 2007   Customer Rating :

Have to defend Sydney Airport after a few negative comments as a Brit who uses it regularly when flying to Australia. No doubt it is better if you can arrive on an evening flight instead of the rat run early morning International flights as I have found to my cost in the past. If like me your regular airport is Heathrow then you are glad for anything better, and don't get me started on US airports. I have always found Customs and Immigration quick, pleasant but officious and baggage is normally starting to arrive as you get to the carousels. Prices are normal for airport food and drink and have never had to queue for more than 20-30 mins at check in. With regards to Cityrail I find it an excellent service but agree with the state of the trains but for the price you pay to Sydney city (approx $15 one way) compare it on the equivelent Heathrow Express (approx $33) and for a 15 minute journey I know which I would rather pay. All in all I normally fly Qantas and arrive Sydney at 1925 and stay in the Ultimo Road area of Sydney and can be in my Hotel room by 2100 including a walk from the Central Station so cannot complain

Sydney Airport review by Nick Fortuna

20 May 2007   Customer Rating :

Having arrived during the 6am rush hour, I expected mayhem. However, I was pleasantly surprised that there was no queue at passport control, luggage made it out quickly, Customs and Quarantine managed a 6am smile and were helpful and courteous. Could it be that local TV was filming a documentary? In all, it took less than 30 minutes to clear all procedures from moment of touchdown. Excellent Service. However, the 'seamless' domestic transfer was a bit cumbersome. The business class queue for transfer check-in took way longer than economy class. Why? Bus service to domestic terminal along the apron made for good aircraft spotting, but surely, there must be a more efficient way to get pax transferred?

Sydney Airport review by Paul Harvey

9 May 2007   Customer Rating :

Arrived in the very early morning rush of European flights prepared for long queues and a difficult time. Exactly the opposite, immigration were on the ball and working hard to keep queues down and Customs were quick and easy. The only downside would be some fellow passengers who had difficulty with complex instructions like "have your passport opened". Departure was just as easy. Because I was transferring from a BA flight to a Qantas flight, I used their "seamless transfer system" between T1 and T3 - this worked well. A nice airport, well maintained and easy.

Sydney Airport review by P McDougall

27 April 2007   Customer Rating :

I am sure the jobs in customs and quarantine can be tedious, but a simple smile and being polite will result in a much more pleasant experience. I think that multi lingual immigration officers need to be employed. I have been to quite a few airports in Asia recently and all have wireless free internet. Sydney airport appear to charge for everything. They charge taxis for pulling up to pick the airport customers up. The food and beverage are well overpriced. Paying for trolleys is appalling! The way the bags come out on to the belt results in damage. I had a fragile record box that had fragile stickers all over it and they put it through the baggage system. They just don't care! Cityrail need to look at putting on their millenium trains on the airport line. To pay close to $15 to travel on tatty old trains isn't a good look.

Sydney Airport review by Kevin Tunnicliffe

20 April 2007   Customer Rating :

I like Sydney airport although it does need to rethink the arrivals hall as this is shabby. The staff at immigration were a trifle surly but in that respect no worse than many others in the world. The baggage came through fast and efficiently, far better than Heathrow or Manchester for example. We used the Emirates Business Class Lounge at the airport and this is a model of how such lounges should operate. It was clean, with comfotable seating, excellent food and drink options and pleasant staff who were helpful and not too in your face.

Sydney Airport review by Alasdair Brooks

10 April 2007   Customer Rating :

With direct international flights from Melbourne to the rest of the world becoming increasingly rare (with Austrian and BA dropping flights to Melbourne, no European airline now flies to Victoria), passengers flying to and from Melbourne frequently have to transit through Sydney. Sometimes they have to transit through Sydney even when travelling on an airline that does fly to Melbourne (some Thai flights to Melbourne, and all United Flights to and from the US). The following comments are also valid if transferring from flights to and from any Australian city via Sydney. In my experience, the experience of the transit through Sydney depends on several factors. If transferring from a domestic Qantas flight to an international flight in Sydney on the way out of the country, the shuttle bus takes you between terminals quickly and efficiently. If transferring from an international flight to another international flight on the way out (for example, if transferring from the United flight from Melbourne to LAX - which stops in Sydney - to the United flight from SYD to SFO), then you never leave the international terminal (though you do have to go through security again). In both of these cases the system is simple and straightforward, though sometimes - as I posted in March 2005 - passing through security when transferring between international flights can be somewhat slow and frustrating due to understaffing and the use of only one x-ray machine. It can be far more frustrating to transfer in the other direction, when returning to the country. If staying on the same flight, but forced to disembark, you will probably find yourself going through that previously mentioned single X-ray machine again. Passengers should be careful to check their flight number if transferring to a Qantas flight on the way back in to Australia. Flights above a certain number actually leave from the international terminal, and customs and immigrations will only be cleared at your final destination - many's the unsuspecting passenger whose travel agent has forgotten to tell them this and has nearly (or entirely) missed their flight by trying to go through customs in Sydney. Far worse is the system used to get between the international and domestic terminals if that change is necessary. The most convenient and best sign-posted shuttle bus is only open to Qantas and other Oneworld passengers; signposting for all other shuttle buses is unclear, and staff not entirely helpful - last time I ended up on a free charter bus taking a school group between terminals, though no one thought to ask me to leave (you can also take the train between terminals, though I'd only recommend that to people with little luggage). Domestic check-in staff on my last transfer also seemed to think it strange that my bags hadn't been checked through all the way to my destination, and that I wasn't travelling on an e-ticket (I was transferring from Korean to Qantas) - though they were friendly and helpful once they overcome their surprise. Unlike most other passengers commenting here, I've never had a problem with immigration queues (I'm not an Australian citizen), which are certainly processed more efficiently than their US counterparts. There can be a scrum at customs, where signposting is unclear, and the placement of one luggage carousel near the entrance to the red queue occasionally causes problematic blockages of foot traffic. In sum, I've seen better (in Asia), but I've also seen considerably worse (in the USA), and the main problem is the need to improve signage and instructions for those transferring to the domestic terminal on the way back in to Australia. Those of us who are forced to use Sydney a lot know what to expect, but I can see where it would be tremendously confusing for someone transferring for the first time.

Sydney Airport review by Miles Gordon

7 March 2007   Customer Rating :

My partner and I are very frequent flyers, and SYD is our home port, and while other airports have renovated and extended over the years, it seems that SYD is left to deteriorate. For sure, the departures side of the airport is all new-looking and shiny, with clearly defined queues and lots of signage. But the arrivals hall at SYD is an international embarrassment, and needs urgent renovation. Immigration formalities are similar the world over, and SYD has no real problems there. However, once one steps down from immigration into the baggage-claim area, everything changes. For a start, the sprayed-concrete textured ceiling is so dirty it's grey, and the areas around the aircon vents are black. Not enticing. It just looks drab and ordinary, and in desperate need of some TLC. The true horror is waiting to clear customs/quarantine. I applaud AQUIS and customs, they do a very important job, and considering the facilities they have they do it well. But I can't help thinking that there has got to be a better way of organising things at SYD. No real direction is given to pax, signs are only in English (!!), and there are no clearly defined queues for people to wait in. This results in the 'nothing to declare' queue crossing (and mixing with) the 'items to declare' line, and it's a total mess. To make matters worse, the X- ray examination of luggage by AQUIS seems to be almost routine now, but the whole process has been set up without any thought for the inpact on the flow of passengers through the arrivals hall. In short, it's a disaster. In fact, it's such a disaster that for our last couple of Asia trips, we have flown back into Brisbane to clear customs and immigration, and connected with a domestic flight to Sydney.

Sydney Airport review by Armin Gotttwald

26 February 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

We arrived in Sydney on an MH flight from Kuala Lumpur on a Sunday evening and immigration/quarantine/baggage collection/getting a taxi were a breeze. Touchdown was at 7:52, and we arrived in our hotel room in Darling Harbour at 8:45 (and that included check-in at the hotel!). The airport itself seemed OK, without being anything special. I know there are times when the airport is overcrowded or almost comes to a standstill, but we were lucky to have chosen the day flight to arrive in the evening. Coming all the way from Austria, I can recommend an evening arrival in Australia to all travellers. You can have a good sleep and wake up the next morning ready to explore Sydney, wihout suffering from jetlag.

Sydney Airport review by Alfred Kobylanski

13 February 2007   Customer Rating : n/a

Arrived 9:05am from Buenos Aires. The arrivals process was particularly disappointing it took approximately 50 minutes mins for priority baggage to make it to the luggage carousel. The customs and quarantine inspection required another 50 minutes. In all it took over 1 hour and 45 minutes to complete formalities due to the Airports in ability to process passengers politely and efficiently. Please note Sydney airport has charges for all activities that is disguised in the price of airline tickets. The fee is clearly in access of any of the services that are being provided. In addition, due to the inefficiencies of the Airport further insult is added when car parking is included in the experience as it is priced at an extortionist rate that exponentially rises from a very low time increments. You end up paying substantially more because of delays incurred at the airport.

Sydney Airport review by Les Brock

5 February 2007

Arrived by BA on Feb 2nd at 06:50. Small queue at Passport Control then down to baggage reclaim. Bags arrived within 5 minutes. Collected bags and was out through Customs and in the city by 07:45. Maybe I was lucky but could not fault the airport systems at all.

IMPORTANT NOTE

Comments and opinions contained in these pages do not represent the views of Skytrax. All features contain unsolicited input from site visitors, and we seek to exercise the minimum level of editorial control and censorship to ensure the widest debate and platform for customer opinions. We will not publish submissions that contain abusive language. We cannot guarantee to publish all opinions submitted.

ADD YOUR COMMENTS HERE

  These Review pages are designed to offer guidance and assistance to other travellers, and we ask respondents to use an "informative" style of comment and share any travel tips for the airport in question.

  Your First Name (or initial) and Family Name, and E-mail address MUST be supplied.

  When submitting comments, please DO NOT insert paragraphs.

  Please check you use Upper and Lower case only - submissions made all in CAPITALS will NOT be accepted.

  Comment submissions that require extensive text editing CANNOT be published.