As an Australian who lives overseas, I sometimes come back to visit, as I did this week. Spent 5 days in Sydney and purchased an Opal card to get around. Leaving this morning from my hotel near the Domestic Terminal, I followed the advice of Citymapper and all the adverts around town which told me I could get to the International Terminal from the Domestic Terminal by train for just AUD6.40. However, my Opal card (which had a balance of around AUD10 on it) would not let me into the station. Apparently, my only open was to buy ANOTHER ticket for AUD6.4 (thus wasting the money already on the card) or top up the Opal card to AUD18 which was even worse, because the system "didn't know I was only going to the international terminal". I offered to show staff my airline ticket which proved that point, but they were not interested.
In the end, I just left the station and caught a bus, leaving me late arriving at the international terminal, hot, frustrated and very angry at what happened.
People on the bus told me they made the changes because scammers had been going through with low value cards and then throwing them away in negative balance - but surely the solution is to just not let those people out of the station, not prevent legitimate travellers from using the train? Or at least providing a system whereby you can override if someone provides proof, as I had, of an intentional to only to the international terminal? Any why oh why spend a fortune on advertising a service that does not actually exist for Opal card holders? This was just utter stupidity.
In the end, I just left the station and caught a bus, leaving me late arriving at the international terminal, hot, frustrated and very angry at what happened.
People on the bus told me they made the changes because scammers had been going through with low value cards and then throwing them away in negative balance - but surely the solution is to just not let those people out of the station, not prevent legitimate travellers from using the train? Or at least providing a system whereby you can override if someone provides proof, as I had, of an intentional to only to the international terminal? Any why oh why spend a fortune on advertising a service that does not actually exist for Opal card holders? This was just utter stupidity.