Gold Coast Airport

I'm a regular at Gold Coast airport and travel thru about twice a month. The airport is grossly under size for the volume of traffic and overcrowded throughout the terminal even at off-peak times. There are long wait queues at check-in and also frequent long waits through security. Today, it was difficult to find a table to enjoy a snack while we farewelled our family to NZ. Usually, after complaints there is a short lived period that things improve, followed by even longer waits. At security there are often only 2 or 3 lines open when there should be 5. Although upgraded only a few years ago it is a sad place. There's the usual array of tacky souvenir shops and overpriced boutiques. Parking is a nightmare particularly at the long stay section when it is common to see a dozen vehicles cruising around waiting for a spot. Badly managed, understaffed, overcrowded and inefficient the Gold Coast deserves better. Even the wifi is still at dial up speeds. At best 2/10.

In 2018, Gold Coast Airport will be inundated with visitors from all over the globe but today, I had the misfortune to encounter a poorly trained and somewhat defensive airport employee at the arrivals kerb. The sign states "No Parking" but it is not physically possible to open the boot of my car unless I park. How was the individual arriving supposed to put his suitcase into my vehicle? There was ample room for me to park for a short period. Gold Coast Airport should plan for a short stay parking area for arrivals.

Extremely slow security and domestic and international departures in one location. Virgin lounge very basic, small and overcrowded. For such a busy airport one would expect international departures to be seperate from domestic with dedicated options for business class.

Gold Coast Airport is small but very functional. Plenty of seating, bright and very welcoming. My arrival and baggage delivery were fast and smooth, I was out the door less than 20 min after landing. Perfect little airport, especially when you arrive for holidays.

I am from Singapore, travelling SIN to Gold Coast. I hold the new biometric passport and read on the website that Singapore citizens no longer need to use the standard immigration queue to clear. When queuing there is no sign indicating standard and express clearance - one staff member walked around inviting all NZ and Aus passport holders to use e-smart clearance when there are actually many other nationalities that can also use this. I had no choice but to queue, once at the front I went straight to do the e-smart clearance and it worked fine. Wasted my time queuing - all Singapore passport holders, do not queue, just go to the front and use e-smart.

Fantastic Little Airport. Arrived from MEL for a weeks holiday and the airport was a breeze bags came out quickly and easy walk to the hire car place. On the return check in was easy in fact our queue was shorter than the online check-in one. Walked straight through security no line at all. Being as interested as I am in planes I was delighted to see a row of tables along the window as the charging station which was free to use. I did see a baggage driver loose a surfboard off the cart by making a sharp turn! Boarding was via the stairs as there are no aerobridges even for the wide bodies, which could be troublesome in wet weather or people with wheelchairs etc. Took off on time though.

Wearing a knee brace I went through about half a dozen international airport security and always got a bit more attention for this, but it never was a big issue. Normally this is solved with an individual scan and tapping. Not so in Gold Coast airport. The whole line was closed, I was brought to a separate room and had to let my pants down - down the door was opened repeatedly and people could see me standing there. They didnt even close it for long moments. The 4 people searching and questioning me behaved well and polite, even though appearing quite incompetent, the responsible officer did not know how to spell the word "brace" in his report and there seemed to be a lot of confusion about how to proceed. When I tried to get my possessions back from the security, where it stayed save while I got special attention, a woman yelled at me to stay away from my stuff, even tho I asked politely for it and did not make any approach to grab it. I was treated like a criminal in front of everybody by this very aggressive person, which was ridiculous, unnecessary and embarrassing. In the future I will go via Brisbane and take the bus.

I'm a 70 year old American senior citizen and arrived at Gold Coast Airport from Kuala Lumper for my first trip to Australia. On entering the customs area I noticed it was very crowded with just a few customs agents working like mad and a bunch of customs agents just standing around. I was one of the few westerners in line with most people from Asia. After going through customs I retrieved my bags and was accosted by a customs agent and directed to a long table where they took everything out of my bags, unpacked everything and forced me to open my computer. I felt very threatened and intimidated. I was the only one they did this to. Some way to be welcomed to Australia for the first time.

25 years past its use-by date, I used to fly in and out of OOL (Gold Coast Airport) regularly in the late 1990’s and even back then it was well past its use-by date. There has been an upgrade since then, but you wouldn’t notice. Arriving on Jetstar from Sydney we had to negotiate the stairs (no airbridges) then literally battle our way between two 30m lines of passengers, with hand baggage, waiting to board flights. The gap between the lines was about half a metre and my small wheeled back-pack was hitting the bags of the waiting passengers. What a totally ludicrous situation! Surely the designers of the upgrade could foresee such a situation and keep arriving passengers separated from those queued to board. Departure 5 days later at 0700 was much more comfortable experience through gate 3 at the other end of the airport. With an increasing number of international flights arriving at OOL, well-travelled passengers must wonder about the backwardness of Australia when they step into this terminal. It is a national embarrassment. Ideally, a totally new terminal is required, and required yesterday!

Have flown in and out of the Gold Coast 4 times in the last 6 months and have had no problems. Jetstar services have been good and immigration has been thorough but quick.