MEL Best, HBA worst airport in Australia!

[markis10]

MELBOURNE Airport has been voted the nation's favourite airport in a survey of 32,000 Australians. It scored 29.5 per cent of the votes in the survey conducted by travel website Wotif.com. Sydney Airport scored second place with 27 per cent, followed by Brisbane Airport at 16.5 per cent and Gold Coast Airport at 6 per cent.

Read more: Australia's best - and worst - airports revealed | News.com.au
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[simongr]

Interesting. I would find it hard to rate an airport overall given the differences in terminals. I personally don't like MEL that much but it is hard to compare - SYD I generally fly very early AM so it is always not that crowded but it is hard to assess the J lounge as it is not in full food and beverage swing. MEL is always a scrum at security and I generally am there at busy times - (4 - 5 PM) but the lounge is in full swing so nice to try food and drink.

I really don't like the VA/DJ terminal at MEL - really don't like it but don't mind the SYD equivalent.

I really don't know why SYD gets such a bad rap here.

 

[serfty]

Meh ... I take these ratings with a grain of salt (lightweight and easily dissolved).

Maybe the people interviewed haven't had to take the marathon duty free snake from emigration to the gates ...

 

[anat0l]

Quite a fallacious article.

Interestingly - and copied by the OP - the article title implies we are going to find out the best and worst airports in Australia. However, the article seems to imply that by most voting MEL as their favourite airport, it is the best. What isn't so strong and never even mentioned with the word "worst" is that HBA, polling at just 2% being their favourite airport, is the worst in Australia.

The premise is flawed from the start - voting on your favourite airport is not the same as voting for what you think is the best or worst airport in Australia. Moreover to that, such a survey constrains only one decision - your "favourite". A more equitable survey would force all respondents to rank/rate all of the airports in the sample, and statistical analysis taken on the results. Also, one has to keep in mind where these respondents are coming from (i.e. not locational bias).

And where is CBR in the list? Or CNS for that matter? More bias...... or simply left off the list due to being too low. Are they the worst airports in Australia instead? It's just that the favouritism rating is so low, it doesn't rate a mention. But it just might be the case that way.

How lovely of course that No News has given no direct source for the survey. I also can't find the media release or survey report from the wotif website. Heck, I can't even find any mention of the survey or rankings at all! Google only gives references to news outlets with the same story and this very thread. You know, No News and Ms K Schneider, it's not good form to misrepresent or make up info just to get a story - I believe it's called FRAUD.

 

[oz_mark]

How lovely of course that No News has given no direct source for the survey. I also can't find the media release or survey report from the wotif website. Heck, I can't even find any mention of the survey or rankings at all! Google only gives references to news outlets with the same story and this very thread. You know, No News and Ms K Schneider, it's not good form to misrepresent or make up info just to get a story - I believe it's called FRAUD.

Big call, and I would suggest that just because you can't find a web reference to it doesn't mean that Wotif didn't produce such a report.

I do however do agree with your assertion that just because it was voted favourite, does not mean its the best.

 

[dajop]

Maybe the people interviewed haven't had to take the marathon duty free snake from emigration to the gates ...

But maybe they have, and they've also taken the walk from J checkin at SYD international (SQ, NZ ...) to the boarding gates/lounges there ....

Really though, MEL and SYD are becoming the same stuff and really both are beginning to resemble Westfield Shopping Centres. I think what sets MEL apart is ease of dom->int transfer and onsite hotel which is a very short walk.

 

[drron]

I agree with simongr-i dont like MEL.
But what about DPO-you can park for an hour or a month and it still costs just $1.

 

[The Rok]

If it is based on "like" votes then the problem will more likely be that far more people will of travelled through MEL than HBA. For all we know less than 25% of the people surveyed have ever travelled through HBA and could not therefore vote it as their favourite.

Survey seems a little flawed.

 

[anat0l]

If it is based on "like" votes then the problem will more likely be that far more people will of travelled through MEL than HBA. For all we know less than 25% of the people surveyed have ever travelled through HBA and could not therefore vote it as their favourite.

Survey seems a little flawed.

I'd say that the survey was based on a question that goes "Which of these is your favourite airport?", where the respondents could only select one answer.

If it were based on "likes" given, then a single respondent could "like" more than one airport. In this case, the % feedback would be flawed unless you also kept track of how many respondents in total there were.


I'm not surprised in any way. The statistical misreporting and/or mishandling perpetrated in the mass media is appalling. And that's being very, very, very kind.

 

[The Rok]

I'd say that the survey was based on a question that goes "Which of these is your favourite airport?", where the respondents could only select one answer.

If it were based on "likes" given, then a single respondent could "like" more than one airport. In this case, the % feedback would be flawed unless you also kept track of how many respondents in total there were.


I'm not surprised in any way. The statistical misreporting and/or mishandling perpetrated in the mass media is appalling. And that's being very, very, very kind.

That is what I meant, perhaps I worded it incorrectly. I.e.

I like MEL best
I like HBA best

Etc. but only able to select one answer. Either way I think for it to be a fair survey the intended recipients would ideally have to of used all the airports in the survey a number of times to make it a fair representation and again the same number of voters from each city.

No point surveying 30,000 people in MEL & SYD only if they have never visited HBA airport.

I call cough on this one.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Yet CBR would be, but not a mention.

How could BNE jump CBR......it's an absolute dump.

 

[djfuzz]

What's the scale of satisfaction being measured? No point being the best of a bad bunch.

There are some great things about MEL - having three terminals under one roof is definitely one of them. The Ring+Ride and changes to the pickup areas is a step in the right direction, but not yet far enough given the volume of pickup traffic going through it. International T2 and Qantas' T1 are in relatively good shape, but Virgin's T3 (other than the Lounge) is in desperate need of refurbishment, and T4 is not even worth mentioning. And as serfty mentioned, there are few kind words (other than 'café' and 'vue') that one could offer about the forced walk (no shortcuts, no travelators, no people movers) through the duty free area that sits in between security and immigration and the gates. The renovations to the international arrivals area have turned what was a perfectly acceptable entrance point for a major city into a cramped mess. Traffic is not great during peak, but it's relatively not bad and the new works being done should improve access to the freeway considerably. Domestic security is usually acceptable, but it is woefully understaffed at international security - despite all the infrastructure that's been added in the renovations, I have frequently been through at relatively busy times with only one lane in operation (rendering the express lane useless, unless you're prepared to be a DYKWIA, which sadly I have had to resort to on occasion for various reasons).

Having said all that, I'd still rate it above SYD which suffers from the terminal separation and the good-but-less-than-ideal methods for getting between them, a relatively worse position relative to the freeway, and the dreaded curfew. On the other hand, the proximity of gates and greater flight options make SYD more attractive for flying in and out. ADL and the new CBR are the only other Australian airports I rate, but I'd have to say they lack a bit of scale to compete against the others.

Just my 2c, seeing as I missed out on selection for the survey population.