Holidays and Airport 'Chaos' since COVID

[Mattg]

As for QF saying their passengers are not ‘match fit’… Qantas is not match fit: cancelling routes because they got demand wrong; cancelling flights because they got demand wrong, or don’t have staff to operate them; can’t service calls or meet call demand; don’t have a phone company that can deliver calls without them dropping out; can’t provide functionality on the website; are handing out menus on board that crew have to explain ‘are wrong’ and only part of the menu is available.

Qantas expects its passengers to be understanding of their struggles, but doesn’t return the favour?

Absolutely agree. Qantas is simply not up to the job of running an airline right now.

 

[Must...Fly!]

NSW government has finally done something about it, hopefully this has a positive impact

Sydney Airport workers exempted from COVID rule after passenger chaos

NSW health authorities have intervened to exempt aviation workers from close contact rules in a bid to relieve massive pressure on Sydney Airport.

www.theage.com.au

 

[SYD]

What are the Qs like at Sydney international? Have a flight on Good Friday at 11am and wondering what time to get to airport!

I made the mistake of flying out of SYD T1 on Good Friday pre-Covid. A bit of a zoo and the QF 1st Lounge was literally standing room and queues for dining tables…

When I flew out of T1 a couple weeks ago, the airport was still relatively quiet but they had the 2nd Eleven at security… Still no priority lanes either - hopefully they’re open soon?

 

[Sprucegoose]

‘I’m not blaming them’: Qantas CEO walks back criticism of passengers for Sydney Airport delays

Alan Joyce angered passengers by saying they contributed to long queues by not removing laptops and aerosols at security. Chronic airport shortages meant several security lanes were closed.

www.theage.com.au

Alan's blaming passengers.....
"Mr Joyce agreed, stating at a press conference that “our customers are not match fit”.

“I went through the airports on Wednesday and people forget they need to take out their laptops, they have to take out their aerosols ... so that is taking longer to get through the queue.”"

Airlines would be far better off if they refused to fly passengers

Match fit !!

If it's just a case of readjusting to something that you haven't done for a while, then that's an easy fix, Pam and Bruce will let you know what to do when they provide you with the rehydration or smelling salts...

However, if it's a corporate policy of not engaging appropriate levels of staffing until demand is well and truly met, (and creating a timing issue) well then that's a matter for Mr Joyce to address.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Certis, a Singaporean company, is advertising for multiple “aviation screening officers” at the airport."

I was having an honest conversation with myself about whether I would have the qualifications and essential personal qualities to be able to hold down such a role. I expect this to conclude shortly.

 

[jb747]

Absolutely agree. Qantas is simply not up to the job of running an airline right now.

I think it’s more that Alan is not up to the job of running QANTAS.

 

[bam71]

Why didn’t airlines and holiday companies see the Easter travel chaos coming? — The Independent

Big businesses have to take responsibility for the short-termism and greed which has caused the current chaos in part

apple.news

 

[Pushka]

Why didn’t airlines and holiday companies see the Easter travel chaos coming? — The Independent

Big businesses have to take responsibility for the short-termism and greed which has caused the current chaos in part

apple.news

You'd think ticket sales might be a clue. But on the other hand part of the issue is the close contact stuff. So many healthy people stuck at home.

 

[jakeseven7]

From the reports of yesterday apparently 3 of the 8 lanes at security at T2 were closed, normally pre-covid there would have been 8 out of 8 lanes of security open but even then it sometimes couldn't cope with the volume of passengers.

From what I saw of the T3 Qantas domestic part of SYD yesterday in comments here there also was not the full complement of security lanes open there either.

Yup we moved a stack of staff through both domestic terminals in SYD yesterday and they were both a disaster.

Melbourne Grand Prix, school holidays, impending Easter / Anzac Day public hols, pent up demand for travel, footy games along the east coast - the flights are all rammed. Easter is historically the biggest travel period of the year.

Combine that with airport security staff shortages = the mess we are now seeing.

T2 Sydney was hard hit especially from what our staff told us - the layout of the budget terminal makes coherent queuing worse as well and they said that people were getting aggressive because it was hard to actually work out where the queue was and lots of people were cutting in (perhaps not even intentionally….).

However the prior weeks have been fine to some people panicking in this thread and assuming this is ‘normal’ - yes it’s been busy but not like this! I’ve been through Syd and or Mel almost weekly and it’s been busy but fine.

 

[pangwen]

However the prior weeks have been fine to some people panicking in this thread and assuming this is ‘normal’ - yes it’s been busy but not like this! I’ve been through Syd and or Mel almost weekly and it’s been busy but fine.

I flew out of SYD T2 on Friday 25/3 and while the queue wasn't quite this bad, it was close!

1. The escalator from the arrivals level up to departures wasn't working. So each of the lifts had massive queues to get up. I ended up walking out of the terminal across the road to the car park and using the lift there.. and I wasn't the only one. This impacted anyone who was going to departures from the train, or from the car rental returns area.
2. Once at the departures level, check in wasn't too bad. But the line for security was longer than I had ever seen. There appeared to be two lines - one that started in front of security, and a second that extended along the back wall behind the Virgin check-in counters. That security queue extended the entire length of the building and turned around the corner towards the check-in queue.
3. Despite AJ's claim of people not knowing what to do, they had constant announcements telling people to take out their laptops etc. I didn't notice having to be re-scanned due to not taking out stuff.
4. The wait was extended significantly by 'staff-assisted line cutting' - I assume these were people who checked in close to the traditional cut-off times and would not have gotten through if they had started at the back of the queue. Had 3-4 people placed immediately ahead of me at one point, and saw maybe another 10 or so inserted further ahead while I was near the back of the line. Probably a few more that I couldn’t see from where I was in the line at any point in time.

 

[Lynda2475]

NSW government has finally done something about it, hopefully this has a positive impact

I doubt will make much difference as only close contact if you live in same household as a positive, working with a positive doesnt make you a close contact. Covid is a convenient excuse, when fact is SYD Airpirt failed to maintain and roster sufficient staff.

I think it’s more that Alan is not up to the job of running QANTAS.

That well may be the case, but this lack of security staffing and failure to have all lanes open sits squarely with SYD Airport and not with the Airlines.

 

[jb747]

That well may be the case, but this lack of security staffing and failure to have all lanes open sits squarely with SYD Airport and not with the Airlines.

In which case dear Alan could have said so, instead of mealy mouthing the passengers. Who, in case he's forgotten, he'll need to come back for future flights.

 

[Lynda2475]

In which case dear Alan could have said so, instead of mealy mouthing the passengers. Who, in case he's forgotten, he'll need to come back for future flights.

I agree, was stupid, he should have directed reporters back to SYD airport since their responsibility.

 

[Saab34]

Looks like similar scenes next Fri. Not many seats anywhere on anyone next Friday. I think it was mentioned QF Group at 110% capacity and it would seem Virgin is also.

No hire cars available at OOL/CNS/MCY/BNE for the next fortnight also adding to the chaos. I was chasing a hire car in my home town while my car is currently getting problems fixed, no cars for the next 40 days.

I think this was the holidays to hang around at home.

 

[Seat0B]

I don't think I'm an inexperienced traveller by any means, but every single airport seems to have different requirements about whether you need to take your laptop out, aerosols out, whether liquids need to go in a plastic bag, belt off, etc. It can get confusing if you're regularly flying from different airports, even if you are "match fit".

100% in agreement with you, @Mattg. I actually find this pretty annoying at the best of times, given my double knee replacement and the totally inconsistent run around that I get every time I travel. They are not even nice about it. They just snap at me like I am the one being obtuse, when usually I am doing what I did last time at that airport, or at the last airport I went through. And then to be blamed for their own failings....

 

[Seat0B]

Body scanner at cbr has a problem with bra underwire for anyone with a sizeable bust. Have been subjected to a pat down both times I've been through it.

Really, you'd think they would realise that half the world wears bra underwires and have technology that can cope with that. I always get that too, even with a very modest bust, but then, I always get the full treatment

 

[Seat0B]

If it weren't for the bad publicity spending a heap on technology whilst laying off staff and limited cash they should have used the downtime to replace the x-ray machines with modern ones where you have to take nothing out of the bags to speed things up. That would have helped move people through quicker enormously especially if such upgrades were rolled out nationwide at all major airports so that everyone quickly came to expect it everywhere.

This is exactly what they did in Canberra. We now have the new body scanners, and truly, they are usually much better and much faster, especially for those of us that used to get the full shoes off routine before. However, as I mentioned before, in my recent travelleing experience, they are still quite inconsistent about whether you have to take out lap tops and battery packs for separate scanning. It has been lap tops out on 2 out of 4 recent trips. They seem pretty standardised that iPads don't have to come out.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Really, you'd think they would realise that half the world wears bra underwires and have technology that can cope with that. I always get that too, even with a very modest bust, but then, I always get the full treatment

My scanning at SYD international a couple weeks ago set off the alert… inside both thighs were highlighted as ‘areas of concern’. A staff member was called over and did the pat-down… he looked up as his colleague and said ‘it’s just fat’.

 

[Seat0B]

My scanning at SYD international a couple weeks ago set off the alert… inside both thighs were highlighted as ‘areas of concern’. A staff member was called over and did the pat-down… he looked up as his colleague and said ‘it’s just fat’.

Oh that's just harsh @MEL_Traveller

 

[eastwest101]

This is exactly what they did in Canberra. We now have the new body scanners, and truly, they are usually much better and much faster, especially for those of us that used to get the full shoes off routine before. However, as I mentioned before, in my recent travelleing experience, they are still quite inconsistent about whether you have to take out lap tops and battery packs for separate scanning. It has been lap tops out on 2 out of 4 recent trips. They seem pretty standardised that iPads don't have to come out.

Yeah the trialing of the full-body scanners should in theory speed things up, once they have them consistently everywhere, and people get used to how they operate and what they pick up and don't. At the moment they have them randomly distributed throughout Australia so it's a bit of a lottery as to what you get on any day.

The pulling out and separation of laptops and other electronic devices before going through the x-ray machines is totally inconsistent and the major bottle-neck for security throughput. If your x-ray machine can't see the inside/contents of my laptop/tablet when it's inside a bag, or inside a thin rubber sleeve in a tray, then I say your X-ray machine is just security theatre, and not really a fit for purpose X-ray machine.....