Sydney Airport

Compared to international airports Sydney International Airport and most airports in Australia need serious improvements. If you want to see or experience efficiency of an airport terminal then the designers and town planners of Australia need to study Dubai / Guangzhou / Zurich and no doubt a number of others in the world in order to improve the experience of paying customers. As a gateway to Australia and the first stop for tourists this terminal is well below ordinary international standards.

Arrival international terminal. If you reach Sydney early in the morning it can be a challenge with lots of flights landing apart from that very easy to get through immigration and custom/quarantine. Take your declaration on the custom/quarantine form seriously. You could be fined for a chocolate bar if not declared. Two set backs on my arrival. Lots of time lost waiting for our baggage while the carrousel was not functioning and being ripped off $50 at the change office at the front of the exit by customs.

If you arrive early in the morning expect very long immigration and customs queue as more than 20 international flights arrive very early. This is not a friendly airport. The good thing is that if you hold a British or Singaporean passport you can use the electronic gates which might speed up things a bit. I had a very rude immigration officer recently. It was my third trip into Australia at Sydney and the third time I was subjected to extra checks and questioning by both immigration and customs officials for no apparent reason. When you are departing from here you won't find a First or business signs which is what you would expect from airports around the world. You will see a small sign in black that says Service. Apparently they do not like big signs here. I had no idea what this meant so had to go up and down the check in hall searching for a business class desk before a nice Qantas employee pointed me in the right direction. Australians like to do things differently but this is just idiotic.

The overall cleanliness especially the ladies restroom need to be improved. Returning from Singapore I find our restrooms nowhere comparable to Singapore's standard. Also I really wish our Immigration and Customs Officers could be a little more friendly to all incoming passengers. Immigration and Customs Officers are the first Australians foreigners get to see and they need to set a good example as first impression really counts and will change the foreigners perception of Australia. Hoping to get some friendly and positive experiences at Sydney Airport in the near future.

Although my flight from Sydney was one of the earliest the queues for immigration were super long. Customs and security staff were rude and unhelpful and we were sneered or snapped at as we queued up. Shopping choices inside very basic. Food dreadful and overpriced. Needs more showers and quiet areas. No signage have to rely on shopkeepers for information as there is only one information desk in departures and confusing constant announcements. Domestic is not much better there is no help from staff no signage and only sporadic calls on the intercom.

Problems with this airport especially in comparison to the world's best. The departures hall is quite ugly. Passengers are forced to zig-zag their way through large duty-free stores on departing (immediately after clearing customs) and on arriving (after stepping off the plane). This is a tacky move by the airport. The passenger announcements are loud unclear and amateurish as much of the terminal echoes to the sound of whoever is on duty for each different airline making mostly unintelligible (especially for overseas visitors) and irrelevant announcements about late passengers and so on. The customs section has many problems. The signage for which lane to enter with your passport is rather confusing. The lane for local Australian passport-holders is badly sign- posted. When you step off a plane you really just want clear fast info - you don't want to have to stop and stare at a screen to decipher what it means and wait for your flag to show up. The 'Self-Service' Passport check option - intended to save time - has either not worked or left people confused and needing to go to the manned Passport Check on both occasions I have arrived recently. Also I think it makes a lot more sense on several levels to have an actual customs person stamp your passport and ask you a question or two. The line to clear customs and quarantine has been woefully long and slow on a number of occasions. The Arrival Card used English that was too complicated for my Swiss neighbours. I also feel it is overly complicated and badly set out. In general it just misses so much of the class finesse and plain good thinking that you see at the best airports. The domestic Food Hall is fairly tacky and more reminiscent of a suburban food court. On the plus side the new shopping area in the International Terminal is quite attractive and spacious.

I live in Sydney and am not impressed with the facilities security and staff. It is also in some areas of the airport very dirty and very unclean. Also very dated and needs a renovation to a more modern look. I just hope they build Sydney's 2nd Airport soon and urgently before it's too late!

Sydney International is all about timing. If you depart and arrive after mid afternoon it is a breeze. If you do so before say 11.00am it is a disgrace. With Frequent Flyer status I avoided the check-in queue only to be stuck in an amazingly long outward immigration check at 7.00am. Arriving back at 10.30am the Smart Gates were rejecting 90% of travellers so the queue for Smart Gate assistance and general immigration queues were a disgrace. After that comes the quarantine/agriculture queues and after that the taxi queue.

Domestic terminal. Worst metro domestic terminal in Australia. No newsagent in arrivals total amateurs in the cafe who took 10 mins to get the order straight and then overcharged us. Flies all over the cafe. Hand dryer in upstairs toilet sprayed foam out of basin all over the room.

Lots of positives having used this airport recently. Fast baggage claim on arrival from Hong Kong meant I was on the train to the city centre 35 minutes after landing. on Departure checking in was quick and the security and border staff was friendly and efficient (the opposite to so many airports these days). Lots of food outlets available which I did not use as I had access to the Air New Zealand lounge. The only real issue is the state of some of the buses used for transfers to hotels. The one's I went on were in a poor state and badly indeed of replacement. One would think a major airport (and the hotels) would demand better from contracted firms operating in the area.