Holidays and Airport 'Chaos' since COVID

[SYD]

Hmmm, making me nervous, I have a flight out of Canberra on Sunday the 3rd, it’s the first flight of the morning connecting to QF23 and on to Bangkok.
I have an hour and twenty minutes to transfer, if the airside transfer bus isn’t running and I have to go through international security after the external bus trip, I doubt very much I will make it.
I need to be in Bangkok to pick up a connection early next day, sigh.

That’s going to be tight and obviously doesn’t allow for CBR frost/fog but as I’m sure you know, the first flight out usually gets out. It’s the ones reliant on inbound arriving aircraft that get mucked around.

What class of travel on QF23? J gets to Q jump immigration and security at SYD.

 

[mviy]

SYD T1 still struggling with school hols just around the corner. My partner flying out today on QF (QF WP travelling in whY). 2hrs 20mins from me dropping off at curb and entering QF 1st Lounge…

Wow. I'm flying via SYD to LHR next week and only have 2.5 hours in SYD if my flight is on time. I think I might ask if I can get an earlier flight to SYD due to my "tight" connection.

As reported, only F/J BP holders allowed into “express” lane for immigration / security lane. Person there checking and redirecting the DYKWIAs.

I am in Flex Y (I do have an upgrade request for SYD-LHR which was showing J and F as completely full last time I asked in the relevant thread) so I'll have to be prepared for the possibility of lengthy queues.

 

[Cossie]

That’s going to be tight and obviously doesn’t allow for CBR frost/fog but as I’m sure you know, the first flight out usually gets out. It’s the ones reliant on inbound arriving aircraft that get mucked around.

What class of travel on QF23? J gets to Q jump immigration and security at SYD.

I’m in Y but have put in for an upgrade, I’m also WP if that helps.

I’m actually thinking of cancelling the whole thing!

 

[SYD]

Wow. I'm flying via SYD to LHR next week and only have 2.5 hours in SYD if my flight is on time. I think I might ask if I can get an earlier flight to SYD due to my "tight" connection.

I am in Flex Y (I do have an upgrade request for SYD-LHR which was showing J and F as completely full last time I asked in the relevant thread) so I'll have to be prepared for the possibility of lengthy queues.

I’m in Y but have put in for an upgrade, I’m also WP if that helps.

I’m actually thinking of cancelling the whole thing!

Security screening apparently is the main cough show at the moment. They are calling PAX on departing flights and bringing them forward in the line. If that’s any consolation and presumably you would have checked in already so head straight to immigration / security after transferring terminals.

 

[TheRiddler]

The article and discussion focuses mainly on the outbound issues. But important to also recognise there are also similar problems inbound. I arrived back in SYD on Monday morning from SFO and it was carnage! Passport e-readers were playing up, Border Farce systems werent recognising the DPD submissions and the booths were understaffed. This led me as an Aussie passport holder to queue for over 2 hours and the non-Aussie line was even worse. No announcements, no staff on hand to advise, kids and babies going up the wall - it was horrendous and an embarrassment to our country that this was the welcome extended to OS visitors.

 

[AIRwin]

I arrived back in SYD on Monday morning from SFO and it was carnage!

Mask wearing still required?

 

[TheRiddler]

Mask wearing still required?

I didnt notice but certainly kept mine on.

 

[pks]

I flew out of T1 on Tues 24-May to LHR and had a positive experience after expecting a lot of queuing, from SQ J checkin to airside was around 20mins. Arrival into LHR T2 was another matter, probably an hour to get though border control with a UK passport to see all luggage taken off belt and having to search for you bags. I’d recently added Apple Tiles and found my bags within a few seconds

Flew to Oslo on 3-June (public holiday in UK) from LHR T2 after arriving at 0630 for a 1025 flight and was in the lounge within 30mins! Flying from Oslo to LYR took 30mins to get through passport control and nearly missed our flight.

Back into LHR T2 on 8-June and only took 20mins through passport control.

Left UK on 19-June from T2 and after being advised luggage may not make flight due to conveyor issues it took 45mins through Fasttrack. Boarded flight and could bags were nearby so likely to make the flight.

Arriving into SYD (7pm Mon 20-June) was very quick with no delays at kiosks and eGates, then had to wait over 30mins for luggage.

On the whole everything was better than expected other than arrival into LHR which was what I expected. Talking to various staff the day of your travel has a big impact on queues - mid-week tends to have shorter queues.

 

[mviy]

I'm travelling on Tuesday so hopefully the queues are a bit better then. I will see. I booked then hoping it would give me a better chance of an upgrade (J and F are now sold out), but it's a popular time of year to travel so even carefully selecting the day of the week it's still a long shot.

My recent trip via SYD was a status run in J to CHC (return was via BNE) with an evening departure on a Sunday. I was expecting it to take a long time to go through security etc. but it turned out to not be too bad.

 

[MikeG]

We departed from FRA on June 12 for BHX and we got to the checkin an hour before departure and our seats had been given away. The customer service was horrible with LuftHansa and we ended up having to wait 5 hours for the new flight on standby.

The lady was More interested in telling us what we had done wrong and what we should do than helping us out of the mess. Typical German mindset I guess…

We will be returning to FRA from LHR on Saturday so hopefully it goes ok - will try and get there even earlier to avoid losing our seats. Or maybe just checking in online is enough…

 

[MikeG]

Leaving SYD on June 10 was a nightmare. Severe staff shortages, no fast lane for security, took 3 hours to get from the domestic terminal onto my flight. Most of the time was at security. Lucky we had the extra time in the itinerary. (Or perhaps good planning). I had wanted To get some work done in the lounge…

 

[Cossie]

Thing is QF is still selling seats with ridiculous transfer times between terminals, I know my 1 hour 20 is doable if there was an aside bus as pre covid, however I’m also concerned that my bag may not make it to Bangkok on the same flight as me. I’m leaving earlyish the next morning! sigh.

 

[MikeG]

Thing is QF is still selling seats with ridiculous transfer times between terminals, I know my 1 hour 20 is doable if there was an aside bus as pre covid, however I’m also concerned that my bag may not make it to Bangkok on the same flight as me. I’m leaving earlyish the next morning! sigh.

I was transferring from Qantas domestic to Singapore airlines international so I was not able to transfer bags, but I flew with hand luggage only. I chose to check the luggage due to the flight being a dash 8 so I was waiting around the the luggage to appear on the carousel. 20:20 hindsight- avoid checking bags always.

 

[mviy]

I am checking bags so will finish packing the night before and will turn up to the airport about 3 hours before my domestic flight and will see if I can get on an earlier one. I'll also note down my seats for the international leg so that if they can get me on an earlier domestic flight I can make sure I'm still in my extra leg room seat for the international flights.

When I went to NZ recently on a HLO status run the bus between the terminals was going, but there was a 30 minute gap between buses.

 

[SYD]

I was transferring from Qantas domestic to Singapore airlines international so I was not able to transfer bags, but I flew with hand luggage only. I chose to check the luggage due to the flight being a dash 8 so I was waiting around the the luggage to appear on the carousel. 20:20 hindsight- avoid checking bags always.

Didn’t you have the option to drop your bag as “Premium” hand luggage on boarding? It’s tagged and then collected on the tarmac on arrival.

When I went to NZ recently on a HLO status run the bus between the terminals was going, but there was a 30 minute gap between buses.

If they’re running that schedule and you know you’ve *just* missed one, I’d head to the train. They’re usually at least every 10mins and then only 2 mins between terminals.

 

[CaptJCool]

I’m in Y but have put in for an upgrade, I’m also WP if that helps.

I’m actually thinking of cancelling the whole thing!

My passport is about to expire and given the brouhaha on this “first full-bottled return to international travel“, I’m happy to wait until the system improves before going O/S.

domestic trip to Perth looming ex-Adel in mid-July DURING school holidays but I did notice the last couple of times I was at the airport that the Premium Security line had no-one in it, so here’s hoping I’ll be through fairly promptly !

 

[mviy]

My passport is about to expire and given the brouhaha on this “first full-bottled return to international travel“, I’m happy to wait until the system improves before going O/S.

There are presently lengthy waits to get a passport renewed so you may still wish to renew it even if you have no present plans to travel overseas, so that when you do you have it in plenty of time without paying for it to be expedited (which some are finding is not enough to get one in time before their trips).

 

[SCM]

Yet, QF (or their industry partners) won't hire casual staff, who are very happy to work in aviation. They always need part/full time staff. I understand that it is due to the trainings, ASIC investments etc.. But I'm not able to see/understand why the nature of employment would matter. As long as I show up to the shift and do a bang-up job, it should be fine.

Ranting as someone who cleared all their interview, assessment processes only to be said that they hire part/full time staff only. No exceptions or accommodations to consider casual staff, who would love to work for an airline.

I guess for business reasons that historically been the case, but the world and labour market has changed, and it won't go back to the previous times very soon (if ever). Companies like Qantas which refuse any kind of restructure, reform and flexibility are the ones which will suffer these outcomes, as you mention.


It seems like a lot of problems everywhere are security related - could this finally be the time to end all this 911 era security theatre nonsense?

 

[Ade]

security related

In my case it cannot be security related. Before one can begin work airside in the airport they must be cleared & issued an ASIC. So even if the job offer is made, say in, April, the worker can't start working until June/July because ASIC takes that long. IF the work is & can be restricted to terminals/land side, then a temporary VIC can be issued.

My beef is the inflexibility of the organisation, at least in this case, is making it lose good workers. Not just me, a few in my batch, expressed our interests to be casuals. But the answer was a big no and they lost all of us. I know for a fact that those who wanted to be casuals (for a variety of reasons) were good hardworking, customer centric people, like the genuine types that focus on solving the problem rather than passing the ball or simply saying "computer says no"

 

[docjames]

We departed from FRA on June 12 for BHX and we got to the checkin an hour before departure and our seats had been given away. The customer service was horrible with LuftHansa and we ended up having to wait 5 hours for the new flight on standby.

The lady was More interested in telling us what we had done wrong and what we should do than helping us out of the mess. Typical German mindset I guess…

We will be returning to FRA from LHR on Saturday so hopefully it goes ok - will try and get there even earlier to avoid losing our seats. Or maybe just checking in online is enough…

Thanks - I was searching for anyone who has been through FRA recently (have an EK trip (in Y ) coming up shortly.

Which terminal and what was security like?