Are Monday morning arrivals at SYD international always this bad?

[RealtimeY]

I don’t often arrive into SYD international in the morning, and today was the first time on a Monday morning and I've never seen it so bad.

At 7am, passport control through the smart gates took about 20 minutes.
As a result, baggage claim took about 30 minutes because the belt was completely full.

Customs took 40 minutes because all the people with goods to declare had backed up past the point where the ABF officer directs you to a lane, so they were just standing there waiting, meanwhile the line was snaking around baggage claim. Then waved me through in all of 5 seconds once I did get to that point.

I won't even say that they were understaffed, but the queue management and signage at SYD arrivals appears to be atrocious and a lot of the waiting time unnecessary. Is Monday always like this or was today just a bad day?

 

[AIRwin]

It wasn't too bad for me on Monday 21 August - but it must have been a blessing in disguise that my flight was delayed 4 hours

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Yeah… I’ve heard that’s not unusual!

 

[Quickstatus]

and today was the first time on a Monday morning and I've never seen it so bad.

"never seen it so bad"?...

...No, it's normal

Welcome to SYD.

 

[Lynda2475]

Due to curfew there are heaps of arrivals between 6am and 7:30am - quite a few of which are A380s.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Sounds about right for that time of day on any morning at SYD Intl to be honest. A *lot* of flights arrive in at about that time (Thank you Curfew!)

 

[justinbrett]

It’s the same at LAX and LHR.

It’s a popular time for long haul (overnight) flights to land that can then make use of an entire day of connections. The curfew is only part of the reason.

 

[Quickstatus]

Customs took 40 minutes because all the people with goods to declare had backed up past the point where the ABF officer directs you to a lan

I can't confirm but a friend recently arrived into SYD.
Went to the Green nothing to declare line which was shorter he said "Oh sorry I have an apple in one of the bags- just remembered".
He was sent to a search your bags section, and got the apple out. Still quicker than the Red line he reckons.

You can still change your mind from green to red when you meet the green line quarantine officer.

 

[Dr Ralph]

'Are Monday morning arrivals at SYD international always this bad?' No. This is normal.

 

[Happy Trails]

And then, if you're connecting ...

 

[Himeno]

Due to curfew there are heaps of arrivals between 6am and 7:30am - quite a few of which are A380s.

Sounds about right for that time of day on any morning at SYD Intl to be honest. A *lot* of flights arrive in at about that time (Thank you Curfew!)

The following international flights are scheduled to arrive at SYD before 0730

QF2
BA15
SQ221
QF44
OD171
QF74
EK412
JL51
QF8
JQ38
CZ3071
QF82
QF24
QF42
QF76
DL41
QF20
ID6005
JD479
UA839
QF128
UA863
AA73
AI302
AC33
VJ85
OZ601

 

[SeatBackForward]

It’s the same at LAX and LHR.

It’s a popular time for long haul (overnight) flights to land that can then make use of an entire day of connections. The curfew is only part of the reason.

But arguably, not having a curfew would allow this to spread over a greater period of time.

 

[Lynda2475]

I always try to avoid SYD Dom on a Monday morning too, chaos.

FYI arriving into SYDi at 7:30am on a Friday recently, I had to wait about 2 mins for e-gate (each line was 2-3 people deep), the wait for luggage was about 20 mins (all the priority bags coming off last) and then the nothing to declare customs line took about 5 minutes.

 

[justinbrett]

But arguably, not having a curfew would allow this to spread over a greater period of time.

You might get a couple of flights earlier (noting there's already provision for a few landings in the shoulder period) but I don't think there's much commercial demand for flights to land before 6am. Look at LAX, no curfew, and immigration doesn't open until 6am. I'm sure most here have landed in LAX slightly early only to be told they have to wait for CBP to open.

 

[Himeno]

I always try to avoid SYD Dom on a Monday morning too, chaos.

FYI arriving into SYDi at 7:30am on a Friday recently, I had to wait about 2 mins for e-gate (each line was 2-3 people deep), the wait for luggage was about 20 mins (all the priority bags coming off last) and then the nothing to declare customs line took about 5 minutes.

My last arrival at SYD was a month ago of CX101. ~1030am on a Tuesday
It was busy at the egate ticket kiosks near duty free, but almost no wait at the ones closer to the gates.
I was one of the first people from the flight into the baggage hall (premium economy seat, beat most of the business class pax to baggage)
Baggage came out last, because SYD sucks at priority tags.
Last one through customs because CX baggage handlers failed to send one of my bags upstairs and only found it when I was on the transfer bus to QFd.

 

[flyingfan]

It’s even worse when fog forces aircraft to hold, bunching up even more flights.

 

[Daver6]

Good thing they have express path on arrival....oh wait. SYD is such disaster.

 

[SeatBackForward]

Good thing they have express path on arrival....oh wait. SYD is such disaster.

BUT have you checked out the duty free selections???

 

[Himeno]

BUT have you checked out the duty free selections???

Overpriced trash?

 

[SeatBackForward]

Overpriced trash?

But it might appear less trashy if we MAKE you walk through it