Mornings in Sydney - another QF/EK Alliance consequence

[Timsboot]

Mornings at Sydney airport are crazy at the moment. Traffic is backed up half a km from the airport, check-in is a scrum, security is a war zone and (yes this is a real first world problem) it is impossible to get a table for breakfast in the QF first class lounge. I presume this overcrowding is an unexpected consequence of the QF/EK tie up as both EK and QF now have their A380s leaving at the same time. Are others noticing the craziness and is this sustainable ?

 

[markis10]

Probably more to do with the Asian retimings given the A380 flights to Dubai leave mid afternoon.

 

[JohnK]

Any flights delayed/cancelled yesterday due to poor weather?

 

[ecg]

Mornings at Sydney airport are crazy at the moment. Traffic is backed up half a km from the airport, check-in is a scrum, security is a war zone and (yes this is a real first world problem) it is impossible to get a table for breakfast in the QF first class lounge. I presume this overcrowding is an unexpected consequence of the QF/EK tie up as both EK and QF now have their A380s leaving at the same time. Are others noticing the craziness and is this sustainable ?

Did you know that the QF/EK alliance has also been responsible for the fog all along the east coast for the last couple of weeks?? Yep, you heard it here first!!

 

[Timsboot]

Any flights delayed/cancelled yesterday due to poor weather?

Good question but no. This is the third morning flight I have taken out of Sydney since the Alliance and each time I have noticed the large increased in pax numbers - especially the traffic coming in and the lack of space in the lounge.

 

[JohnK]

This is the third morning flight I have taken out of Sydney since the Alliance and each time I have noticed the large increased in pax numbers - especially the traffic coming in and the lack of space in the lounge.

Qantas has retimed QF81 to ~9:40am and QF5 to ~1:10pm. There are a few other flights at that time of the morning as well.

Has QF81 added that many passengers into the First Lounge? Or is it that many Qantas Platinums flying Emirates and now have lounge access.

FWIW I flew out on QF5 late April and did not notice any difference in passenger numbers in the First Lounge.

 

[cmon0005]

QF127 to HKG @10am on A380 (and 747 some days).

When I flew QF127 a few weeks ago the FLounge was quite full (Thursday morning) but not full enough that I couldn't get a table, getting closer to the flight times 90% of the tables were taken.

 

[markis10]

Qantas has retimed QF81 to ~9:40am and QF5 to ~1:10pm. There are a few other flights at that time of the morning as well.

Has QF81 added that many passengers into the First Lounge? Or is it that many Qantas Platinums flying Emirates and now have lounge access.

FWIW I flew out on QF5 late April and did not notice any difference in passenger numbers in the First Lounge.

Dont forget HKG and BKK services were also retimed.

 

[JohnK]

So by ~10:30am there are now an additional 3 flights to SIN, BKK and HKG. That would explain why the SYD First lounge is a lot busier at these times of the day.

 

[ozmille]

haven't noticed it being busier than before, have a couple of morning flights coming up to NAN and BKK and another afternoon one to DXB in the next couple of weeks so will do a bit of a comparison

 

[mdurrant]

Mornings at Sydney airport are crazy at the moment. Traffic is backed up half a km from the airport, check-in is a scrum, security is a war zone and (yes this is a real first world problem) it is impossible to get a table for breakfast in the QF first class lounge. I presume this overcrowding is an unexpected consequence of the QF/EK tie up as both EK and QF now have their A380s leaving at the same time. Are others noticing the craziness and is this sustainable ?

Took nearly 30 minutes at 7:00 this am from M5 exit to Int'l Departures level ... weekend mornings seem particularly bad.

 

[oz_mark]

There was a similar thread back in April: http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ogram/syd-international-congestion-49884.html

 

[pauly7]

haven't noticed it being busier than before, have a couple of morning flights coming up to NAN and BKK and another afternoon one to DXB in the next couple of weeks so will do a bit of a comparison

Likewise, hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary either..... Never had a problem getting a seat in the F lounge.

Have a few more flights coming up will pay more attention to F Lounge PAX!

 

[VHOEJ]

It is one of the great mysteries. The queue from INTL backs up on Marsh St to the M5 (causing another traffic jam). Allowing people to park on weekends along Marsh St doesn't help but basically three lanes of traffic going into 1 is just not good enough.

Even on the other side, Saturday morning QF Drive was backed up all the way to the Jetbase entrance. That is worse than a Friday afternoon at 5pm.

On Saturday, I noticed 90% of the queue was actually going to the departures level. I had a feeling it would be split with arrivals but obviously people don't want to go into the car park.

I also noticed cops at the bottom of the ramp directing traffic - but thier car had flashing lights and 'reduce speed' so I think that just added to the problem rather than helping it.

But when SYD doesn't have another set down lane, it is going to be chaos. I also think more family/friends seem to want to farewell passengers compared to the weekdays when they are at work/school.

 

[knightman7]

FWIW, whenever I fly QF127 I always have trouble getting a table in the F Lounge lately. But if I fly CX 100 later in the afternoon, it's normally pretty quiet.

 

[Katie]

Public school holidays started this weekend in Qld. Not sure about other states. School hols do tend to have a noticeable impact on airport busy-ness. As a WP, I have tended to fly my family dom to BNE and Intl ex-SYD so that we can access the First Lounge there before an international flight.

 

[Timba-Jet]

Have also noticed huge bank up of cars from M5 exit to International even at 6am on a weekday.

Agree retiming if Asian flights to morning must have an impact to lounge breakfast traffic.

 

[MrJetset]

Have also noticed huge bank up of cars from M5 exit to International even at 6am on a weekday.

Agree retiming if Asian flights to morning must have an impact to lounge breakfast traffic.

This is not new. It has been like this for years. Morning have always been the peak arrival and departure period at T1.

I drive via both airports to work every day and know that traffic is always bad. It's more to do with Sydney infrastructure than anything QF related.

 

[Mal]

I blame the lounge overcrowding on those pesky cathay comped amex card holders and those silly double SC schemes.

(Lol... I am only joking).

The lounges in particular have their troughs and peaks. The last 90 mins before a US flight is usually very busy especially.

 

[MH_fan]

Sounds like night departures are the way to go then!