Sydney Airport

Not Verified | What a shame that a beautiful world-class city like Sydney has such an awful airport. The toilets are absolutely filthy, as are the food court tables. The floors in the food court are a disgrace and the upholstered chairs at my departure gate appear to be pretty tatty and poorly maintained. Unfortunately I have many hours to spend here due to a less-than-ideal connection. There isn’t even anywhere comfortable to sit. The choice of foods is poor. And the shopping is extremely limited - only luxury brands. None of the nice Australian high street stores like there are in other Australian airport terminals. I am a regular visitor to Australia but I will not transit here again.

✅ Trip Verified | This airport has really deteriorated. I fly frequently for business and I experience severe delays in baggage pick up. The overall state of the airport is also a bit run down versus other international airports. Flight delays are almost guaranteed in my experience to the point where I no longer bother showing up early for international flights. Be warned and bring lots of patience when struggling through this fallen airport. It ain’t what it used to be.

✅ Trip Verified | While I wouldn't normally bother reviewing an airport, in this instance when SYD has repeatedly had such a negative impact on my family's travels, I have no qualms providing this feedback. I know full well it won't change anything, but may prove cathartic as I'm still properly mad at our experience/s through this poorly run operation. Where to start? 26th Oct 2023 - Our flight from CHC arrives and those transiting through are met by a closed international transit area. No airport staff around to provide any information or guidance to an A380 load of passengers. We all ended up waiting until the flight crew & captain disembarked to ask them (lets just acknowledge right here that this has nothing to do with the airline.) What followed next was just ridiculous - my fellow passengers and I walked what seemed like five kilometers through the airport to what we assumed was another transit and security area. This was actually the one we were meant to be processed through, but for whatever reason, they hadn't opened the 'front' doors to allow everyone to transit through straight off the gate. While our inbound flight arrived on time, we were delayed departing because of several 'lost' passengers or those or simply couldn't physically make it back to the gate on time. We couldn't understand a) why the transit processing area wasn't open for our arrival/why there was no airport staff on hand to usher those transiting or b) why on Earth we needed to walk all that distance around the airport. The only answer I keep arriving at is so everyone is forced to go through Duty Free. That's it. No other reason comes to mind. In any case, once finally back at the same gate, several transiting passengers, who took exception to that ordeal, are letting their experience be heard to gate staff (all of whom are frazzled just trying to do their job and get boarding underway while a loud alarm is going off incessantly besides the gate.) In situations like this, I tend to study the faces/body language of those in uniform. Their faces painted enough of a picture to suggest that no-one feels like they're in control; that there simply isn't adequate resources to competently run the operation. Whether this lack of resourcing is due to high churn/culture, incompetent executive decision-making or simply 'reputation' - that no-one wants a frontline job at SYD - remains a mystery I don't care to unravel. At this point, it dawned on me that I may have to relive this nightmare all over again in a month's time. 1st Dec 2023 we disembark after the 15 hour DXB-SYD leg and I breathe a sigh of relief at the sight of an open international transit area (the same one that was closed on the 26th Oct.) There's just one small problem - several flights have arrived at the same time and there's only one security line open. One of the four available lines is operating at a crawling pace. Once it's evident there's a very real chance we're going to delay departure, panic sets in. All around, passengers begin chatting and it becomes clear over the tannoy that another flight to Singapore at Gate 59 is already boarding ahead of our flight to Christchurch at Gate 61. Just as queued passengers to Singapore begin pleading their way to the front of the line, a second unit of security officers arrive and open another line. By this time, another flight had emptied and the line had stretched around the corner, beyond all sight. A severely mismanaged airport that needs a total overhaul.

Not Verified | Our disabled daughter joined us at the end of our Australian holiday and had a dreadful time exiting her aircraft as they expected her (and other disabled passengers) to walk down a set of stairs then board a bus to the terminal. She (and they) couldn’t so they sat on the plane for an hour and forty minutes until Sydney Airport staff could be bothered to re-attach the air-bridge. Utterly appalling. Then the woman pushing her chair moaned and swore uncalled the time until they got to the taxi rank. Which, I’m sure you’ll agree, was unnecessary and upsetting. On our departure (we were all on the same flight) she had booked assistance again but the lady at the info desk told her she wouldn’t call them and my daughter would have to stand and queue like everyone else. She can’t. So we did and she hobbled over to the desk when we reached it. But what if we hadn’t been there? Civilised airports have a special assistance desk in the concourse where disabled people can rock up and be sorted but not Sydney. Why not? Disabled people don’t choose to be disabled. They have a rubbish life and people that they meet can choose to make it a little less rubbish or a bit more rubbish. Sydney International Airport have decided to make disabled people’s lives a bit more rubbish.

✅ Trip Verified | SYD has deteriorated over the years. General domestic is congested and lacks seating for the larger domestic aircraft that use those old dilapidated piers ... signage is quite poor and a pair of big TVs to indicate which belt your bags are coming off is essential in this day and age. International is even more congested, and very limited seating in the food court. Halve the size of the duty free mall with its insane prices and provide more seats for people to eat. The only good thing that's happened in years is the transfer bus for non QF pax...but its not easy to find for non English speaking / reading passengers / disabled Back to BNE for me once the airfares stabilise I am afraid.

Not Verified | This airport is a disgrace. Insufficient gates to service arriving flights leading to long delays sitting on the tarmac after landing. The nightmare continues after disembarking with a dozen e-gate machines for hundred of travellers finishing off with tremendous lines for customs and border declaration.

✅ Trip Verified | The worst airport I travel through by far. Always delays. Arrivals nothing short of a joke with insufficient capacity to handle passenger numbers. Typically long baggage delays. Ground transport a mess. It's an embarrassment to have Sydney airport as the main gateway into Australia. Needs significant investment to bring it up to an international standard.

✅ Trip Verified | Poor airport. Very poor with their direction & signage. Long wait times. No check-in machines. If you can avoid flying through Sydney I would recommend flying elsewhere.

Not Verified | Absolute chaos. India is easier to enter than Sydney Australia (not exaggerating as I often travel to India). The building is not equipped to handle the morning arrivals and there appeared to be no one in charge. There was no one available to help overseas passengers (I'm Australian but live overseas and had to help explain to some arriving foreigners where to go line up in the chaos). Australian infrastructure has fallen dramatically behind yet the country continues with record immigration. No problem to load the country up with people, just build the infrastructure to keep pace. There’s no relief in sight for Sydney airport which is a disaster. The company that holds the management of the airport should be pressured to improve services via financial penalties until Sydney’s second airport is compete. Even then that won’t solve things as there doesn’t appear to be any foresight as to how people will get to Badgerys Creek which is way out the back of Sydney. Absolutely mess arriving into Sydney.

Not Verified | The volume of kiosk available at to obtain arrival cards is ridiculous. I’ve travelled many time arriving in the morning and evening same problem. Then you have to debacle of queuing for custom. Embarrassing Sydney. Take a leaf out of countries like Hong Kong / Singapore / Dubai