Melbourne Airport

We arrived back from Singapore - very frequent travelers - baggage information not on the screen, asked a so called "customer service person", where could we collect our bags - answer "look at the screens", explained to him that our Singapore Airlines flight details were not displayed on the screens, his reply: "I don't know, have a look around". A complete joke. We paid for luggage trolleys when we departed, another insult to the "money grabbing mentality" of this airport. Please, wake up to yourselves, parking, even short term requires a personal loan, a complete disgrace. No City trains, only taxi drivers with (at best), little English or a bus at prices that you could afford an extra ticket on a budget carrier. We have moved to Thailand after calling Australia home for 50 plus years. At least we are appreciated here and not "ripped off senselessly" by the greedy corporates that have ruined what was a wonderful country, Melbourne (and for that fact), Sydney Airport operators - wake up to your greed - start offering some value to the traveling public.

Melbourne airport shames the nation. Rubbish surrounding the arrival hall; usurious prices for trollies to transport luggage about 100 metres to Checkin; travellator to raise luggage from Arrivals to departures out of action; no space to fill in the immigration forms and absolute ripoff prices at post immigration cafés and restaurants. Airport arrangements are, unfortunately, reflective of the poor service stands applied in this country and the short term returns culture of Australian business. Why can't we get it right like many Asian Airports?

✅ Verified Review | I have read many of the reviews and I am glad I am not the only one who thinks this airport is so bad. I was there on July 4th this year (2016) and it was a disgrace. At other times it is not much better. Extra flights are the normal excuse yet you see that half of immigration is not staffed. Its arrivals that I speak of from my personal experience from over a dozen trips over the last 4 years to Asia. Immigration and then baggage is always the same - terrible. Cannot get Visa camera to like me - it never works for me? So back to manual visa check. Airport management need to do something, but I suppose they know tourists and locals have no options.

Live in Melbourne, not once have I ever had a problem with the airport here. Small lines to get through domestic and international security, gates are easy to get to and it is a pretty clean and modern airport. It does lack a rail link, but the government is in heated talks about making one, but they do have a bus from the airport to the city which takes approximately 20 minutes. Also a very good selection and variety of ethnic foods, such as Asian, Indian, Italian, Arabic, along with your fast food joints like Burger King and McDonalds and many different cafes and restaraunts. Maybe a better selection of shopping and the WiFi could use some work, other than that it's a very pleasant airport.

✅ Verified Review | International travel. Melbourne is a utilitarian airport. It is really not centred on its customers comfort but it is improving in efficiency thank goodness - since my last experience in January there have been changes. Departure, well very little seating provided, it is just a place to check in. Nothing stands out. No real warmth or feeling, it's quite grey and dull, but it does the job. Entering security, it's quite efficient and passport control too. I still wonder of the purpose of departure cards as they are now just dropped into a box. Returning I noticed quite a big difference. Scattered throughout the way on arrival are self serve machines where you scan your passport answering basic questions, and out pops a little ticket with your name on it. Hold onto that. You still need to scan your passport at the end but that was quite fast despite being at a very busy time, Saturday morning when all the over nighters arrive. I think about 4-5 arrive at roughly the same time. But we got through faster than we have before so it's good to see the airport addressing the previous issues. Baggage was pretty good at arrival, not long to wait and customs you hand in that little ticket and then out you go. It certainly lacks personality but it is doing the job better than before. The nature of the workers there however could do with a makeover. Barking at sleep deprived passengers is unnecessary and indicates a lack of empathy and a degree of power tripping, I would recommend simply as there are no other real choices here if you live in Melbourne. Avalon is not really an option.

T4 Melbourne Tullamarine. I arrived in Melbourne late Sept for a short break to one of my favourite cities. It's the first time I have flown Jetstar into T4 and was surprised by the long walk from the gate to baggage collection, older people were stopping on the way as there was not a moving walkway in sight. Then, having collected my bag, I went in search of a taxi. It turns out the taxi rank is inside a car park structure about 200 metres from the airport, about 60 metres of this walk was not under cover and in light rain. I have travelled quite a bit and have not encountered the taxi stand and the airport being in separate buildings before. Having enjoyed my stay in Melbourne I was back at the airport (T4) to return home. So, I went through the walk from the taxi structure to the airport building again and, after checking my bag and clearing security, went looking for a departure screen to tell me what gate my flight would be leaving from. When I found the departure screen it said "Relax,your flight will be boarding in 35 mins" but no gate number. While buying my $4.90 cup of burnt coffee I asked the staff if the lack of gate numbers was common and they said it was the practice in this terminal to ensure the passengers are waiting by the retail outlets. When the gate was announced, 25 minutes prior to the scheduled departure time, we raced the long march to the gate and stood, as there were few seats, for another 15 minutes before strolling onto the tarmac to trek out to the plane and shuffle up the stairs. Welcome to the 1970's. Who designed this terminal, Dali? Melbourne Airport and Jetstar, fail, fail, fail. You are now the butt of international jokes.

It was my misfortune to be a transit passenger in Melbourne on Emirates flights to/from Dubai and Auckland and thus be exposed to the spectacularly unpleasant security section such passengers have to pass through. The other transit passengers around me waiting to reboard the aircraft were in a state of shock at the rude hectoring behaviour of those conducting the searches in the dungeon below departures. It was a similar experience for me outbound in August when I was abused for having a water bottle purchased in the departure lounge at Auckland in my pack. Quite why it is necessary to body scan and explosives swab passengers who are only continuing on to Auckland as many of us were can only be described as harassment. A lady sitting next to me in departures who is a frequent flyer to and from Dubai said that our experience was normal, and when she recently thanked Brisbane staff for their pleasant and polite attitude compared to Melbourne was told 'yes they do have a reputation'. Presumably these staff do a 2 year course of training, 6 months on procedures and 18 on laziness - refusal to move trays into the X-ray machine, abuse - some poor guy whose belt buckle set off the walk through, harassment - being told with half a dozen others to go through a scanner which was shut down and told 'wait' when queried, removing items from someone's bag which had passed Rome and Dubai. They are awful. I have flown since 1971 and never come across anything like it, and will not again as I will not go near Melbourne again. Beware.

✅ Verified Review | What a huge disappoint this airport is. Off the plane went to the ladies loo, right away was amazed how run down and old fashioned everything is! Floors in need of new coverings. Chairs almost stuffed. (Actually, one chair had no stuffing!) Filthy cushions on some seats. When reaching International departure lounge at 7am was horrified at the shabby carpet, seats. Carpet dirty with bits of rubbish all around, did look as if it had been cleaned for awhile. Not impressed at all Melbourne.

Having chosen to fly into Melbourne on business directly from an overseas trip, we had never experienced an international arrival here before. Our experience was horrific. My husband was recovering from knee replacement surgery. We had to queue for over an hour to get to a gate. The machine failed and the ticket that had taken an hour to get was eaten up and we were told to go to the back of the queue and repeat the process. The staff were stressed, the airport dirty, restrooms filthy and queues unbearable, especially for bathrooms. Well over three hours later we cleared the airport, too late for our business meeting, which had to be cancelled. An old, inadequate and totally out of date airport with failing equipment and miserable staff, where domestic and international is combined. This airport is to be avoided. If you must use it, avoid popular travel times. I previously reviewed this airport on another site and received many comments agreeing and sharing similar experiences. Melbourne is a wonderful city and Victoria a great place to visit, so the Victorian government needs to resolve the problem of a totally dysfunctional airport.

✅ Verified Review | I arrived in Melbourne from Jakarta, the airport is okay - quite small if I compare it to others like in Kuala Lumpur or even Jakarta and Sydney. The cleanliness is fine and the signs are clear. The queues for Immigration and exit door are a bit disorganized and took a long time to get out. One thing I really love is the wifi works so well. The departure is better than the arrival. The departure were nice with good restaurants.