Melbourne Airport

No interline agreement between the 2 carriers so I had to clear immigration and recheck. Coming in, immigration was speedy as I was able to use the automated gate. Once through finding check in zone E for Jetstar was confusion as it is behind the other zones. Fortunately, Melbourne is not the biggest airport in the world so the confusion is somewhat minimal. After clearing immigration again the departure area is just a big building site and the numbering of the departure gates is somewhat illogical with As and Bs all over the place. Mine was a late night flight so I followed the crowd. I guess when the new retail outlets are built it will be a grand airport. In the meantime it's a bit of a shambles.

✅ Verified Review | Shocking organization on arrival. Passengers were asking each other where to go, where to line up. Lines hardly moved at all. When I presented my ticket to get through customs the guy taking it made a rude comment about the older man that went just before me. It took over an hour to get through customs and was incredibly confusing. I overheard passengers saying they had never experienced such poor organization. Then finally get out and it took an agonizing long time to just get out of the airport terminal. Traffic was jammed horrendously. My flight landed at 5.15 pm and I got out of the airport at 7.25pm. Worst airport experience.

✅ Verified Review | This is for domestic. Left via the new Terminal 4, arrived back Terminal 3. My first time through Terminal 4. What were the architects thinking? They really embraced the budget experience here and ran with it. We had to use the self serve kiosk for our boarding pass and luggage sticker, then send the bag on its way. That's ok, it saves lining up. The concrete flooring gives a cheap feel. After security there are some stores and eateries. Our gate was at the very end of a boring long concrete passage, no travelator. I saw families struggling with their little ones and an elderly lady hobbling the distance. Shame on the airport for this. We had no airbridge but boarded using the steps. I was just disappointed they could have done so much better and decided not to. Arriving back we came through the older but nicer Terminal 3. Luggage was a little slow but apart from that it was good. Signage should be better as to where to wait for the shuttle buses. Overall it was okay but it sure could be so much better.

✅ Verified Review | Virgin Domestic Terminal at Melbourne Airport. Check in was fine. The staff were efficient. Security was fine as well. The airport's facilities were maintained well also. I was disappointed by the lack of shops. It's a shame there are not more restaurants available for such a big airport. This is particularly difficult when leaving in the evening or if a passenger is transiting after a long overseas flight.

✅ Verified Review | Worst experience I can remember. I felt embarrassed to be from Melbourne. It took an hour to exit the airport after touching down thanks to the inefficient e-passport process, the luggage connection and the ridiculous lines to hand over your ticket and card along with the others in the hundred metre winding queue-one of two. Even with the clunky immigration process I had to wait 20 minutes for my bag as the queues to exit wound all around me. Any reason why the photo matching can't happen when you scan your passport? All that technology just to hand your ticket and card to a person who just waves you on. Bangkok airport is 3 times as efficient. Congratulations Melbourne airport. Over priced and under delivering and a fine tourism ad for Melbourne. How proud I feel.

✅ Verified Review | Was flying from Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur. Arrrived at the airport early to ensure we weren't late, and that paid off heavily. Finding a drop off spot was terribly difficult and we went round and round several times. However once inside T2, we were greeted by modern interiors and pleasant Christmas decor strung up around the check-in counters. As we came early (8pm ish, our flight departed at midnight), our Check In counter was still in the process of checking in the previous flight to Shanghai with China Eastern, which was expected with our earliness. However, once all China Eastern passengers had been checked in, there was a tremendously unnecessary wait for the airport staff to move all the China Eastern boards away and replace them with Malaysia Airlines boards. Even the announcement of the Check In counter opening was horrendously long. Was a full flight, so check in queues were full as well, but the quick check in process made up for that. After check in, we were directed to the International Departures gate, where we were lead to these blank walls? It was then known that the majority of Melbourne Airport was undergoing renovations. So on the way to security, immigration etc, we were accompanied by wooden walls with advertisements. There was a small interlude of shops featuring several expensive items before it dispersed into walls once more. Upon reaching the immigrations area, it was apparent there was a new system for it, featuring machine with cameras to snap a pic of your face. Though many passed through without incident, several others (including myself), had our passports rejected by the system. When airport staff came to assist ages later, we finally did get through, but lo behold, our faces couldn't be scanned. Once past the immigrations, we proceeded to security screening. As expected, there were long queues, and no one seemed to head to the direction of the scanners near the far end of the area? When we last visited Melbourne, there weren't separate body scanners for adults and children, so now there is an improvement, as well as the fact that adults were politely asked to raise the hands while the scanner did its job. Good job, Melbourne, amping up the security! After security, we proceeded to another small area of shops, mostly attracting tourists and those who require a quick snack. I made for the bathroom, which wasn't luxurious, but cleaned and sanitised. Reaching the gate though, however, required for many passengers to sit on the floor. One part of the gate's seating had been sectioned off. I don't know if that was the airport's doing, restricting seats for passengers at the gate, of if it was the airline's (though I don't think they have control over gate seating) but many were left disappointed at the lack of proper seating at the gate. WiFi service was limited and very laggy but the airport staff were nice and friendly, ready to assist your inquiries. All in all, we were satisfied by the accomadation Melbourne airport provides, though we do wish the renovations would complete soon, and that the immigration system would be 'modified' to be less buggy.

This place must count as one of the worst organized airports in the civilised world. We queued for everything, it took 90 minutes from getting off the plane (8.15am, 27th Jan) to getting out of the airport. It was long unorganised conga lines, there were no barriers keeping people in line, queue jumping was rampant, in "control" was one young lady who wasn't up to the event she could have done with a dozen or so helpers, 2 guys at the end picked up the arrival cards and threw them onto a heap with only a cursory glance. There must have been more than 600 people in the line. Unless I'm forced to I will not use this place again.

✅ Verified Review | Very small check in area, overcrowded. Business and first class passengers are treated just like economy. Express lane cards for security and passport control do not actually give you any priority, no one cares, and you have to stand in lines with everyone else for 30-60 min. Most of automatic passport readers do not work, there were just 4 border control officers working. Disorganized. Overall - choose Sydney for international departures.

International departures are a mess this second week of December. Immigration queues are huge with no respite for first, business or anyone else. The tax return queue was more like a traffic jam, a nasty shock for travelers already late from immigration queues. The airport was exceptionally poor this Sat night (11 Dec) which was a big disappointment after so many years of improvements. Drop off by car upstairs remains grossly underdimmensioned too. All in all - it dropped the ball today.

✅ Verified Review | Very inefficient immigration and customs. (I have experience of many airports). Long queues for the automatic e-Passport machines. Not enough machines! Then an incredibly long queue for customs. Hundreds of people in a long queue and then spilling out through the baggage collection area. All just to hand our "nothing to declare form" to the one person who was allocated to collect it. Only one person collecting! Many other customs stafff sitting around waiting to do inspections when required. I complained to Customs staff and they said it was a Melbourne Airport issue (assume because only narrow exit area for them to work in). Then a 25 minute queue for taxis. Even though there were hundres of taxis waiting at the airport, none were coming through to the rank. Very slow and inefficient taxi rank system.