From deep under Sydney airport ....

[erkpod]

Hello!

I've been reading for a while but I've just signed up.


I'm a train driver here in Sydney so I might have driven some of you out to the airport (usually in the PM). Looks like I could be wearing a JQ looking uniform soon! Maybe I should practice my star jumps while waiting for passengers to load/unload!


I've just hit Velocity silver after getting serious about this status thing October last year. Mostly I sit in discount Y but I like exit rows. I've done a bit of short haul F in the US & did my first VA J trip a couple of weeks ago which got me over the line for silver. (I've almost given up on 40 SC for a DL F flight on AS metal PDX - SFO earlier this year - not liking my chances there!)


When I go on an OS holiday, my time there can be measured in weeks & months, not days. I've visited the US twice (2009 & 2013), Mexico once (2013) & Europe via Asia in 2011 (Tokyo layover on the way there, Hong Kong layover on the way back). I've got a Circle Pacific fare with VA/SQ booked for the end of 2013/early 2014 (that was an interesting process to book that one!) & I've just discovered the joy of lounges!

 

[Hvr]

Welcome aboard erkpod, looks like you've already got tunnel vision and can see the value of points which determines where you travel. :mrgreen: You also know that splitting points isn't the best strategy for smooth travel.

Interesting transformation moving to JQ from being a train driver. Hope it all works out for you and you hang around a bit.

 

[erkpod]

The JQ thing is a bit of a running joke amongst myself & some of my fellow employees. I'll be remaining where I am but the new uniform with the new structure looks somewhat like JQ uniforms. Indeed I've heard that they are the same supplier. Up until last night, I had no idea what I'd be wearing from July 1 but the latest news is that I'll be wearing exactly the same uniform as those on the stations. Time will tell.


Lucky for me I don't have to walk around the airport in my uniform!

I'm looking forward to being able to chat on a forum where I don't have to add the usual work disclaimer here!

 

[Fifa]

Welcome erkpod.

So, I suppose you have read why some AFFers catch a train from the city, jump out at Mascot station and catch a bus to SYD. Or hop off at Mascot, buy a ticket to SYD and hop back on .

 

[Hvr]

Welcome erkpod.

So, I suppose you have read why some AFFers catch a train from the city, jump out at Mascot station and catch a bus to SYD. Or hop off at Mascot, buy a ticket to SYD and hop back on .

And if you haven't here's why:

A car space at Sydney Airport doesn't serve coffees, make small talk, smile or offer directions.
But it still earns about as much as Amanda Hong Ning does, which is why the student catches the bus to her cafe job at Kingsford Smith's terminal three.

If I park [at the airport], I have to give up my whole shift pay, basically.
​

''If I park here, I have to give up my whole shift pay, basically,'' she says.
Route 400 Bondi Junction to Burwood is the only public bus to the airport and a half-hourly reminder that not every airport monopoly attracts a surcharge.

Read more: It's life in the slow lane as airport worker's long bus trip avoids hefty fares
​

 

[erkpod]

Welcome erkpod.

So, I suppose you have read why some AFFers catch a train from the city, jump out at Mascot station and catch a bus to SYD. Or hop off at Mascot, buy a ticket to SYD and hop back on .

I have read some of the discussion about airport trains in Sydney, Brisbane and the lack of them in Melbourne. I'm guessing that has to do with the $$$ to get off at Domestic compared to Mascot. I'm lucky that my travel entitlements allow me to get off at the airport stations at no charge.

I've also seen what happens when tourists get off at Mascot thinking that they are at Domestic. In my role as a guard (over 8 years ago), I always used to announce that Mascot was not the airport station.

 

[erkpod]

Personally I think that if you are going to the airport to work there, it should be at the normal fare & not the added airport station charges. If that means having a weekly ticket at the normal rate for the distance, so be it. Of course, it could be argued that the access fee should not be charged at all.


If the cost was less expensive, more people would use the train. There's many times where I have caught the train to the airport to travel, usually solo. Even if I did have to pay to get the airport, I'd still catch the train from outer western Sydney.


Having said that, I have seen all sorts of loadings at the airport stations from zero to many depending on the hour of the day. I usually work afternoons so I can't comment about anything before lunchtime.

 

[JohnK]

Welcome to AFF erkpod!

 

[erkpod]

Thanks everyone for the welcome. I look forward to many interesting discussions!

Related to the earlier uniform discussion above, my train driving colleagues in Sweden have had a shorts ban imposed on them. So some of them are wearing skirts instead which has had the thumbs up from management!

BBC News - Sweden male train drivers wear skirts after shorts row