Melbourne Airport

After travelling worldwide for 3 months this year through 12 International terminals arriving home in Melbourne via Terminal 2 was the worst experience in airport arrival processes and facilities that we can recall. Not necessarily the longest delay but certainly the most disorganised and untidy. My wife and I were directed out of the manual processing queue as we had E-passports and while I passed through the image scan successfully hers failed forcing her back to the end of a now longer queue for manual processing. Being directed to keep moving through the terminal and baggage claim I couldn't wait and we were unable to know each others whereabouts. Baggage claim was an adventure in itself when the carousal numbers changed and people with trolleys probably in a similar situation doubled back. We were not able to be reunited until at least 30 mins later outside in the crowded public area. Queue management was poor given the volume of traffic at the time and the facility if you could call it that is a very tired unattractive first impression of our city. I note that Melbourne Airport announce on their website news page a growth of about 18% in international arrivals per annum nice statistics and yet nothing about redevelopment to meet the increased demand.

An early morning arrival on an A380 we were at our hotel within an hour- incredible. The customs officers were smiling and sympathetic to our jet lagged confusion. They were very patient and made a good impression at the start of our holiday.

Inadequate on all fronts. Check-in counters (bulk of them are in the main hall up to counter 88). If you are checking in from 89 onwards these are just before the Virgin domestic terminal - the illogical layout makes this a baffling ordeal for travellers. Security and immigration have recently been upgraded and it shows but then there is the hike through retail shops to get to departure gates which are old and outmoded. A collection of four or five gates serviced by toilets and a few overpriced drink and snack machines. Returning was an endurance test. On arrival one is greeted by a low-ceilinged shabby corridor and queues at immigration. My baggage was on carousel 5 which is the newer one but to get to it you have to cut through waiting throngs of passengers lining up afor the exit and waiting for baggage at carousels 3 and 4. The queue to exit begins between two baggage carousels a winding path to customs officers and then another trek with queues to quarantine to have your luggage scanned. Total time elapsed from aircraft arrival at gate to exiting this overcrowded mess: 1hr 55 minutes. Once out transport options are limited to the red bus going to the city (express running a very elastic 10 minutes) at the bargain price of AUD15 or taxis. That's it. I wouldn't have believed it had I not done it but if you are booking a flight with an AM arrival into MEL international avoid it.

After arriving from Singapore on A380 at approx 7.30am the only comment I may add is the baggage area. The mornings are very busy at Melbourne Airport as I saw with bags been stacked up on the carousel 3 bags high. I also saw bags falling off the carousel as the amount of bags could not cope with the amount of people arriving. I had a heavy bag and I think if I was an older person this would have been a difficult task. Just come back from Changi airport and even Penang airport in Malaysia and did not see this chaos. But did manage to get off the plane and out within 40 minutes which was good.

There are only two major complaints to have here but both of them are MAJOR: first of all the quarantine queue/baggage claim is a disastrous overcrowded mess -- particularly if an A380 just landed. Lines can be over an hour with very poor organization and communication. Second of all the airport is far removed from the city center. While the bus service/shuttle to the city is reliable and well-run it's still much less comfortable quick or easy to use as a rail link would be.

Arrived and departed from the domestic terminal. Facilities were adequate. Baggage was slow to come onto the belt but we were still on our way into the city within half an hour of landing. The Sky Bus service charges AU$26 for a return fare and was excellent. A large bendy coach takes you to the central bus depot and from there smaller buses take customers to their hotel. For the return you simply book by phone 24 hours in advance and they pick you up and you do the whole thing in reverse. Bendy buses leave in both directions every ten minutes. An excellent service. On departing queues at security were fairly short and very slack. A woman in front of me was asked is she had any liquids or gels. She simply pulled them out of her makeup bag dropped them into the carton and they were x-rayed and into her bag again in seconds. Rules on liquids and so forth almost totally disregarded! Very few shops and only a couple of cafes in evidence in departures.

Upon arrival I understood that customs and immigration can be tedious at times which it indeed was. But that was nothing compared to the baggage claim - What a disastrous experience. I feel sorry for those who had to claim their baggage and make connecting flights. Some of whom missed their flights purely because the quarantine queue was greater than 1.5 hours long. We were informed to go "to the end of line" however the line snaked all throughout the claim area eventually pooling in the rear of the claim. What was even more frustrating absolutely no reassurance/apologies were overhead paged to the travellers anxiously waiting. Absolutely shocked that an amazingly beautiful world class city can welcome visitors in such a manner.

Very slow processing upon arrival last week on QF from Auckland. No advantage or differentiation with express card given by Qantas to Gold Frequent Flyers as all passengers were in the same 2 lines however customs staff were quick to relieve us of our passes even after an extensive wait and no express facility. When staff were asked as to why there was such a delay in arrivals we were told that we had arrived during a shift break. Hard to believe that an International airport such as Melbourne makes passengers wait while staff have a shift break. Baggage wait also too long.

Starting to look a little old in some areas. Compared to other airports it offers very little shopping options and eating options. Need to develop a better process when going through customs as it takes a long time even when it is not busy. Overall however a reasonably good airport.

Melbourne airport has the infrastructure to rate well. A minor downside however is the queues to get through customs on departure as these can be excessive. The three major factors against Melbourne are all on arrival and are the queues to get through customs/immigration (although new technology passports can scan and go) tardy baggage service and the queue to get through the quarantine checkpoint - especially when they decide to scan most bags. International arrivals tend to be clumped together which contributes to the congestion.