Melbourne Airport

Jetstar's Terminal 4 is probably the most appalling departure experience I've ever had. After a gruelling walk you arrive at the gate to find a handful of seats, with the majority of passengers standing or even sitting on the floor. You then hike across open ground to board the plane itself. I've flown Jetstar internationally many times, but this was my first domestic experience. On principle alone I will never fly with them again. There are limits to budget travel and Terminal 4 exceeds them. What I would normally spend with them in a 12 month period would go a long way towards paying for some seating. Wake up Jetstar.

Melbourne is probably one of the worst airports in my opinion. I have lived in Melbourne for the last 20 years and the airport has barely improved in this time. There has been some renovation in certain areas, with new cafes and shops, but basically no new space created in the main international departure and arrival areas. I use the airport a few times a year to go long haul overseas - always leaving / arriving early morning or late night. The last time I arrived back in mid Jan from from Hong Kong (1030pm) it took more than 1 hour to get luggage. The carousel for our flight would deliver a few piece of luggage, then stop for 10 minutes. After getting bags I joined the end of the line of waiting for custom declaration. There are 5 lines snaking around and no one really knows which lines leads to where. No queue control or guides around. I think if you can get flights in or out during the day, the situation might be better but as the majority of flights going to/from Asia will be overnight flight after 8-10 hours flight, it is extremely disappointing to get back every time. Customs seems the permanently under staffed and staff can be rude.

What an embarrassment as an Australian to arrive at one of our largest airports on the morning of 9 February 2016 on QF94 from LAX at 0930. The customs queue was so long that it snaked all the back through the queues to the duty free and beyond. There were around 7 international arrivals in close proximity, clearly many more than the Australian Border Force or the facilities here can handle comfortably. As my partner was not able to use the Smart Gate I went through to get the bags on my own to save time as we had a 2 hour domestic transit. The quarantine queues were just as bad, snaking around the entire baggage hall. We missed our domestic flight and waited 2 hours for the next one. I felt sorry for overseas visitors experiencing Australia for the first time.

One word to describe Melbourne International Airport - Immigration, customs and airport staff are absolutely horrendous. For starters we had just got of QF94 and after a 15 hour flight we were tired and pretty impatient. Two and a half hours transit time should be enough to connect to your domestic flight wouldn't you think - well it wasn't. For starters passport screenings would have taken two hours if we weren't Australian. Border security staff were just standing around doing absolutely nothing. Baggage claim was a whole different story. They had somehow stupidly put and A380 for LA with a 777 from Indonesia. It was absolutely crazy. There were two spare baggage claims with no baggage whatsoever on them. From ending up arriving home in Tasmania at midday we missed our connection and didn't get home until 4 o'clock. To top that all off, as we were going up the travelator, someone at the top lost all their luggage and the staff member stopped the traveltor. We thought that after the person had collected the bags the staff member would start it again but they didn't. He just walked down the other side and said "Push it up yourself!" After 15 hours on a plane and after 4 hours in customs and pushing four bags the Melbourne Airport worker couldn't of been any ruder. Fix this Melbourne Airport.

Again timing is everything with Melbourne. Leaving was a breeze, always is. No issues whatsoever. Arriving this time was easy, I think ours was the only international flight arriving at that time (late afternoon). However I can see how it could be a massive problem should there be a few of the bigger planes, the E(?) passport line was backed into Duty Free and that was just our flight. Fortunately my other half doesn't have that sort of passport yet and we had no delays. Far cry from just a few months ago. So something that was designed to make the process more efficient has significant flaws and they need to change the design of the immigration section ASAP. Bags were super fast to arrive (although bonus for being the only International flight in). So for us yes it was easy this time as the timing was right. Ultimately when Melbourne is good it is very very good but when it is busy it is horrid.

Awful new Terminal 4. Jetstar what were you thinking agreeing to the poor customer service that this terminal represents. All departing passengers are corralled into a food court and called to gates when the plane is ready. This forces people to spend money at overpriced retail stoes. No warning of the kilometre walk to Jetstar gates. On arrival at the gate or should I say shed, there are only a few plastic seats that are so cheap and nasty both feet need to be on the ground to stop the seating falling over. On top of this the flight has been delayed for an hour as the door wont close. Why then were we all called to the departure gate with very little seating when the flight is delayed. There are so many people sitting on the concrete floor and squashed into the unstable seating. I could have flown Qantas for not much more.

First time I have flown international from Melbourne. Normally use Brisbane. Was flying F on Singapore Airlines. Checked in around 8.45 and airport was very busy that time of morning. Had express card and was through security quickly. Next line was customs and could not see any signs to use my express card and waited in line about 15 minutes. Was told later that there is a line you could use if you had an express card. Then a long walk through duty free to the Singapore lounge compared to Brisbane.

I question the airport authority about their traffic management. There was such a long queue at passport control, yet there was no staff to regulate the queue. Some passengers had a habit of queue jumping. There was only two passport control booths opened. Airline cabin crew and some other passengers had priority, so they kept walking to the front of the line, while the rest of the landed passengers waited at a queue that hardly moved. Of the two booths that were opened, one of the officers worked very diligently to clear the passenger volume while the other seemed to take as long as possible. I waited for a long time, probably more than an hour. I remember messaging my cousin telling him not to come and pick me up so soon as I had not been "released" yet and we kept having to revise our meeting time. Does the airport authority have any intention to regulate the passenger traffic soon? Because it's quite uncomfortable to stand in queue for so long after a long haul flight. Can't the authority make it a little more humane for the passengers?

What a dismal airport. It starts with the car park and goes downhill from there. Car park is expensive, badly signposted, you have to drive around to find a park, no light system to guide you to a park like some of the shopping centre carparks. Long walks to the terminal. The actual airport is old and tatty, low ceilings, queues everywhere, no thought has gone into how to make the experience for the traveller enjoyable. Customs a shambles, no wonder passengers look so unhappy and grumpy. After a long flight who wants to sit on a bus to the city, there is no train, bus or taxi your only choices. A truly miserable airport. You only need to travel overseas to see how backward Tullamarine is, cannot believe it is the gateway to the world's most liveable city, which is a great city, shame about airport.

Used the smart gate to process my entrance to Australia. It was a breeze. Signs are clearly marked. Customs are always the worst point among all Australian ports. Melbourne is no exception. Long queue during early hours as all flights from Asia and the states arriving around similar hours. Overall, staff are friendly at the airport, just the corridor to the car park area is too narrow.