Increased aviation security at Australian airports

[samh004]

What's the legal requirement to show ID if you have a boarding pass?

Wouldn't it just be one of the conditions of travel imposed by the airline in the fine print?

No I didn't think so in Australia for domestic flights. That's why I posed the question.

I believe in the past there was no requirement that the name on the ticket match the person flying, but it is law now, so if you have a BP and are asked to show ID (to presumably prove your identity is the same), you would need to have it.

 

[mattm199]

Sydney QF domestic had long lines at about midday, but (silver lining to a degree), several lanes were open and the Priority queue was being enforced. Better that many past Sundays with no priority line and once one lane open. The only obvious extra measure was perhaps double the frequency of "random" ETD (a QF FA on duty got selected while I was waiting for my bag ). Looking down from the lounge at about 1pm, hardly any lines to see.

 

[ausfox]

No delays at MEL domestic at 0430 this morning.

 

[Pushka]

Apparently awful at Adelaide. Everyone - all domestics, and Internationals have to pass through the one screening area. No priority lane for people who know the process.

 

[RooFlyer]

Well, if this is a PR stunt, the storyline is getting pretty elaborate.

 

[Pushka]

Well, if this is a PR stunt, the storyline is getting pretty elaborate.

Certainly not a PR stunt but sometimes I think the situation can be manipulated by both Govts and media for their own purposes. 'Security' is something that we all take on board so an easy thing to make everyone frightened and obedient. I just wonder if the aviation industry is the ongoing target anymore. But who knows. I'm certainly happy for them to take action (seizures etc) before all the full details have been worked out.

 

[Melburnian1]

I hope it does not come to this, and it has been denied by the Federal Government a few months ago that it would occur, but there may well be some bureaucrats who would like to ban 'meeters and greeters' from proceeding airside at Australian domestic airports.

Some countries already prohibit non-travellers from domestic airports' airside: I don't know how many.

From looking at FR24 there seems little evidence this morning that domestic flights are running late due to the new security measures, but I am not at an airport to observe. There are a few photos on mainstream media sites of queues though:

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/nat...s/news-story/1572dde3ac87b6769a720c0f9faa498d

If the paywall defeats you, type 'Sydney Melbourne Brisbane passengers airport delays' into Google.

One other aspect concerns parliamentarians' behaviour. They seem to arrive sometimes at the last minute for flights so will we now see them all (or some) turning up two hours before the scheduled departure of a flight?

 

[clifford]

Doesn't sound good...

Huge queues at Sydney Airport's T2 terminal as terrorism security increased

 

[Denali]

Doesn't sound good...

Huge queues at Sydney Airport's T2 terminal as terrorism security increased

More reason to premium check in and then exit and use the lounge security entry.

Dont make eye contact if you do this as someone is going to call you out for jumping the queue. Just wave your bag tags to clear the way

We have a Saturday morning flight and was planning on getting there at 5.45am for a 7am departure so Im watching to see if it relaxes.

 

[billmurray]

More reason to premium check in and then exit and use the lounge security entry.

So im flying from SYD to Canberra today at 3pm, economy. Would i be able to purchase entry into the Virgin lounge for $65 to avoid all these queues? And enter via the dedicated entry?

 

[Pushka]

I hope it does not come to this, and it has been denied by the Federal Government a few months ago that it would occur, but there may well be some bureaucrats who would like to ban 'meeters and greeters' from proceeding airside at Australian domestic airports.

Some countries already prohibit non-travellers from domestic airports' airside: I don't know how many.

From an Adelaide perspective I think this is a necessity. We only have one security portal for every single departing flight - so one long snaking queue for every traveller. That queue must be reduced and removing extraneous people is an essential.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

From an Adelaide perspective I think this is a necessity. We only have one security portal for every single departing flight - so one long snaking queue for every traveller. That queue must be reduced and removing extraneous people is an essential.

Or Adelaide Airport could cough up the funds to add additional lanes in busy periods and a shared priority lane for QF and VA.
I am not privy to the arrangements but I assume some of the funding for such priority lanes comes from the carriers.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

So im flying from SYD to Canberra today at 3pm, economy. Would i be able to purchase entry into the Virgin lounge for $65 to avoid all these queues? And enter via the dedicated entry?

I think the short answer is no.

 

[kevrosmith]

Decided to allow an extra hour this morning at CNS, so arrived just after 04:30. There was a random-selected trace explosives swab at the entrance door (which I managed to avoid), and the security queue was relatively quiet, so I got through that stage fairly quickly - or at least, no slower than usual. Apparently it had been swelling and abating throughout the morning as large groups arrived. Then my back-pack was selected for additional checks, and they manually went through every pocket and compartment, opening cases and zip bags to check all the contents thoroughly. Then after packing up from this, was selected for additional trace explosives screening with the swab. They had about double the normal amount of staff on doing trace explosives swabbing, and seemed a lot more pax were getting picked for this. It was all fairly smooth and courteous, and the very noticeable increase in staff seemed to be helping to keep things moving along quickly. I was in the lounge by 5:00.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

I wonder how long before measures such as restrictions on LAGs which apply to international flights are applied to domestic flights.
I have always thought there is no logical reason to have two different security regimes.
Obviously this would be challenging for small airports but even if they remain more vulnerable that would represent a decrease in both the likelihood of an incident and the number of people potentially affected.

 

[blackcat20]

This is going to make the weekend fun; flying domestic on Saturday and international on Sunday. Lucky our ride would actually prefer to drop us off super early.

 

[Berlin]

there may well be some bureaucrats who would like to ban 'meeters and greeters' from proceeding airside at Australian domestic airports.

This would well be overdue in my eyes, never understood why they allow such nonsense here in Australia- in most other places, only passengers can get 'airside'.

All the additional cost for security (and the overall security issues of having 'anyone' just being allowed to linger in the departure area of the terminal) just so that people can wave goodbye at the gate rather than in front of security (like almost anywhere else in the world)? Doesn't need 'bureaucrats' to realize that this should be urgently abolished.

 

[Denali]

So im flying from SYD to Canberra today at 3pm, economy. Would i be able to purchase entry into the Virgin lounge for $65 to avoid all these queues? And enter via the dedicated entry?

When you enter Syd kerbside entry, you have to show your boarding pass first and then security before you get to the lounge desk so I would suspect they will turn you away but wont know till you try. Can you prepay lounge access to wave that as you enter?

 

[Quickstatus]

Security delays should not hold up the ontime performance of the airlines' schedule. Unless of course cabin and flight crew are stuck in a security queue.

Banning airside meeters and greeters is a good idea, but there is a group of passengers where an airside M&G is important - UM

 

[esseeeayeenn]

When you enter Syd kerbside entry, you have to show your boarding pass first and then security before you get to the lounge desk so I would suspect they will turn you away but wont know till you try. Can you prepay lounge access to wave that as you enter?

As this is being discussed further I did some research to check my gut reaction.
As I thought, premium entry is not officially available to anyone with lounge access.
Only business class PAX, platinum and gold status VFFs and lifetime lounge members.
It seems annual membership doesn't qualify you and I doubt a one off access pass would either.
Having said that, I don't know what the reality on the ground is or whether this is enforced.
I have only used the premium entry as a Platinum VFF and/or business class PAX.
Might be worth a try if you think it's worth it for lounge access anyway but I wouldn't pay just for the chance to use the premium entry.