Perth Airport

Not bad as far as airports go but don't get the shuttle bus into the city ($12-$15). You share with 6-10 other people and if you are near the end it will take over an hour. You might as well get a taxi it's about $25 and takes 15mins.

Arrival around 6pm resulted in a short wait to clear immigration then on to more security and customs. A brief rummage for prohibited materials an x-ray scan of our bags and welcome to WA!!Out into the carpark and away on our adventure. Reasonable parking charges. Access roads in and out fine well posted and maintained. As far as departure goes turn up on time queue in a relaxed atmosphere and once through check-in upstairs to the hospitality/shopping area. We have seen this type of area better organised and serviced but hey it's a transit area for international travel not a holiday resort. Our flight left on time with no fuss as far as we were concerned and all things considered it was a stress-free experience. The only real down side was having to leave such a wonderful country at all.

With regard to domestic terminal congestion - WAC (airport administrator) is aware of the problems and work has been continuing over the last year or so to improve things- this has included extra aircraft bays at the domestic terminal 2 (Virgin Skywest) and a new parking area to the north end which frees up taxiways etc during peak times. The problem with Perth was the 20-year plan did not anticipate the phenomenal increase in flights hence the congestion at peak times (5-8am & 3-7pm) I agree it's taken far too long to address the problems- a multi-storey car park seems the ideal solution - however it seems the airport is more interested in building commercial buildings. Have read reports of a planned spur line from Bayswater station on the Midland train line to the airport to (finally) link the airport to the rail network. If driving to the international airport during peak times avoid intersection of Leach Hwy & Roe Hwy - if coming from south on Roe better to go Abernethy Rd take a left at Grogan road- this takes you through the warehouse/back areas and eventually joins up with Horrie Miller Drive. Has saved me on more than one occasion missing a flight!

We travelled through Perth early january. Despite checking in J class 3 hours early we were unable to pass immigration and enter the airline lounges because the doors were closed. No one works until 2 hours before a flight after midnight. Defeats the purpose of early check in or the opportunity to use lounges or do duty free shopping. This is strange for an International airport. Very provincial and backward.

Very busy domestic terminal on arrival and due to the small and full car parks my brother had to repeatedly circle and stop in the road to pick me up. Checked in on-line and the dedicated on-line check in queue was reasonably quick as was security and immigration. The International terminal has a reasonable choice of shops and dinning options with plenty of seats.

Perth International Airport goes from bad to worse. For outbound passengers the airport authority has put the narrow departure entrance in the middle of a group of fast food joints and a pub ensuring travellers do not have an easy entry. Once in the departure lounge there is only one place to get a drink or eat and it nothing more than another fast-food joint. Bad coffee cold snack food 2nd-rate retail. Inbound is chaos when two or more aircraft arrive together as they inevitably do. After immigration the fight for luggage begins but regardless of the fact that yours has been scanned before it or you got on the aircraft customs will almost certainly detain you for another inspection and open your cases and then put them through another radar scan! If you are lucky you can be out in 50 minutes. The secret to Perth Airport? Don't take checked bags.

The international terminal is not too bad congestion is only limited to certain times of the day but the main problem is lack of shops lack of restarants and lack of space in departure lounge. Domestic terminal however is another story. It is too old and small to do what it is needs to do. Parking is terrible the new parking area which used to belong to staff is so far away you felt like you walked to Adelaide. Once in there is constant people around always busy except mid-morning and early evening those are the only times when it is quite. The worst is around lunchtime. Check-in line usually backs out all the way outside which used to only occur every so often but now occurs all the time once checked in the queue to pass security can be long although there are good days and bad days. The lounge and shop areas are terrible. Not enough seats not enough shops not enough space. Arrivals can be pretty bad there is one arrival belt for northwest flights and only two for everything else. I hear a third arrival belt is currently in the works so hopefully that will work out but the problem is they keep changing and adding things to the terminal when they don't realize the actual problem. Parking would be solved if they just built a multiple storey carpark. The terminal needs upper floors to help congestion with arrivals and departures clashing. Perth seems to think building outwards and inwards is the only way to do things.

Rest assured there is a cheaper way to the International Airport from the city. Catch TransPerth's route bus to theDomestic Airport then the $8 shuttle from outside the QF Domestic terminal (walk to your right if leaving that terminal) so you will get to International from the CBD for under $12. The other bonus is that TransPerth's route bus (I think route number 37A) is far faster than the $15 shuttle bus which takes an incredible hour and a half: the downside is that the domestic to international shuttle bus operates infrequently: mine was at 1700 on a Saturday. There is also a 'help' button outside the VirginBlue terminal on a wall: the bus driver will wait for you to walk down to QF to join the shuttle.

Domestic check-In was fast. Security about five minutes to clear. Departure lounge adequate for an airport of this size. The Aerodome Cafe is the only option for a meal in Terminal 2. Overall a good airport.