Shambolic Sydney Airport
 

Not for the first time we've arrived back in Australia at an ungodly hour, knackered, to be confronted by a shambolic mess at Kingsford-Smith Airport. This time we found ourselves in a surging mass (three B747s' worth) of people milling around the baggage claim area and attempting to join a Customs queue which was so ill-defined as to be almost indefinable. For want of any clear signals, people were unwittingly breaking into lines under the impression that they were joining their end points, and tempers were short. This chaotic mess could have been avoided with some simple separator barriers and just one - one - official to impose order.

Once outside, we tried to find the Murrays coach for Canberra and again found a scene of confusion as weary and worried passengers bound for not only our destination but the domestic terminals (that's for non-through-booked pax), all departing from the same small area. Again, not a single official to sort things out. The customers had to do that for themselves by quizzing passing bus drivers and passing the word around among themselves. God help any non-English-speakers.

Of course there's the over-arching problem of having two domestic terminals a full mile away from the international terminal, with only inefficient shuttle bus connections instead of the obvious solution (a fast light rail link). And the international terminal, over 30 years old and architecturally mediocre to begin with, is now looking distinctly second-rate and shoddy. This is not helped by the fact that the airport operator (the government having outsourced management to the Macquarie Group for short-term monetary gain) is obviously skimping on basic maintenance. In the toilet I visited, for example, the doors on two of the stalls couldn't be secured, and the place that should have held a liquid soap dispenser was just a hole in the wall.

All this contrasted poorly with our arrival at San Francisco some weeks earlier, where immigration and customs formalities were well-organised, efficient and polite, despite the need for all incoming pax to be interviewed and electronically fingerprinted.

I should say that our immigration and customs officials were, as always, good ambassadors for Australia - efficient, courteous and friendly. But the environment that they have to work in is too embarrassing for words.

Then there's the airport-city rail link, another privately-operated rip-off. I believe the fare for this short trip is $12 each way? In contrast, when we caught a fast BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) train from a remote station in Oakland City to SFO, the train pulled right into the international terminal and we had paid a princley $6.70 each for our long (75-minute) trip.

Sorry, "so ill-defined as to be almost indefinable" should have read "so ill-defined as to be almost non-existent". Must remember to use the edit function.

What do you mean by "remote Oakland station". Is that the same one conveniently located 5 minutes from my apartment, eh

Andrewdavid

And shambolic? does that have something to do with the road to Shambala?

A/D

No and No, AD. We caught the train from South Hayward BART, and I'll try to anticipate your likely next question (i.e., "What the hell were you doing in South Hayward?")

It was like this, Your Honor. Staying in the Bay Area on our last night was a late decision, so late that due to some big event or other in SF there was no room at any of the inns we phoned. Hotels.com came to the rescue, though, with a suspiciously cheap room at the Fairfield-Marriott in Hayward. On Industrial Road, no less. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers. The reason why we ended up at South Hayward BART was that our taxi driver, a recent arrival in the United States, flatly refused to believe in the existence of the Coliseum/Oakland Airport BART station, initially recommending Amtrak over BART (no, I'm not making this up), and managed to confuse South Hayward for Hayward.

At this point we cut our losses, declined his kind offer of a $65 fare to SFO, with the option of a package deal to include a priceless rug, his eldest daughter, two pigs and four laying chickens, paid up with gritted teeth and caught the train.

pigs, what kind, eh

ps if you called I could have organized another key for you

A/D

Neil, I agree entirely re Sydney airport. Recently we arrived at the usual ungodly hour in the morning to be confronted with several changes to the signs telling us where our luggage would be ,which resulted in confused people running all over the place. Then when you finally got your bags you tried to find which of the several very long lines was the right one and fought with the hapless ones who got on the line in the wrong place . Then you VERY SLOWLY progressed to the Custome check. The officials were actually very polite and patient ( which is more than could be said for the passengers!). I asked one whether it was always like this or was that day just a one off to which he replied " It never used to be but now it has been outsourced , half the staff have been paid off and the rest can't handle the work! " Where have I heard that before? Not the most encouraging start to visitors to our country!!

And I gorgot to say that from the time we got off the plane to when we got out to the arrivals hall it was 2 hours!!

AD - thanks mate, that one didn't occur to me, but the thought is certainly appreciated. Lake Merritt BART beats South Hayward any time. (BTW, did I mention that a SF cop I chatted to on the train referred to West Oakland as "the ATM", i.e. a place where many unwilling cash withdrawals are made?)

Peter, as you might have noticed I always try to steer clear of ideological debates :) , but the sale of the airports seems to me to be one of the least defensible privatisations yet. If we have to have a monopoly, let's have a public one directly accountable to Parliament, not one whose motivation is profit first and public service a very distant second.

It seems that the Macquarie Group is very focused on developing airport land for shopping malls, cinemas and the like. While this will compete with surrounding facilities and add pressure to already strained road systems, the surrounding suburban councils (mostly Labor) and the state government (Labor) have NO influence over what happens on this patch of Commonwealth land, and the Federal Government has shown no interest in getting involved. The fact that Sydney Airport's CEO, Max ("Max the Axe") Moore-Wilton, was formerly the Prime Minister's most senior advisor and bureaucrat of course has no bearing on any of this.

Of course Macquarie will get you coming and going, as most people driving to the airport do so on Macquarie-operated toll roads. Then if you park your car the fees, among the highest in the world, also go into Macquarie's capacious pockets. As Arthur Daley would have said, "Dodgy, my son. Very dodgy."

On our trips I couldn't help noticing the major public infrastructure investments other cities have made in connection with hosting the Olympics, EXPOs etc. - as examples the new terminal in Atlanta with fast driverless subway trains as shuttles, and Vancouver's excellent Skytrain service, fast and frequent 2-car trains, again driverless. We heard a lot of satisfied back-patting in connection with the Sydney Olympics, but what (apart from the Homebush developments) have Sydneysiders been left with apart from a now faded warm inner glow? Bugger all, it seems to me.

I must say I have never had a bad experience at Sydney International, whilst I lived in Sydney, however, I guess things can change with time.
Now that I live in Qld, I find Brisbane International Airport wonderful in comparison to Sydney (a lot less busier, sometimes feels like a country airport) On our last trip with Emirates (leaves around 8pm)enroute to London, we couldn't help notice the small number of jets destined for overseas, from 6pm onwards. I do hope the Sydney authorities can do something to alleviate the problem Neil.

tropo, they can, but they won't - there isn't a quid in it. I don't see why anything will change.

Obviously no one has ever been a non US citizen arriving at Los Angeles airport - worst experience ever. Sydney on a scale of 1-10 probably about a 5

If this is going to turn into a thread about terrible airports to arrive from overseas in, I'll have to drag out my story of meeting my sweetie at JFK, where she waited in an airless room with a seven-foot-high ceiling divided down the middle by glass, with me on the other side, for six agonizing hours, before anything moved, and then processed the arrivals by moving them down a chute clearly modeled on one of the shoddier cattle slaughterhouses in the Farm Belt. Or the procedure in Seattle's airport, which involves clearing all your bags THREE times.

by comparison Sydney wasn't that bad, though it was made worse by the fact that when we finally collected our bags we discovered they were still in Los Angeles. Nothing gets a trip off to a good start like a shopping trip for shirts, socks and underpants!

I'm sure there are worse places to alight than Sydney - but Australia is, after all, a wealthy First World country. We should rate at least 8 on a scale of 10.

Neil, I agree that you don't usually get involved in ideology ( yeah right! ). I am an ex Public Servant so I am well aware of Max in action !

Peter, ironically, I believe that if the army of contractors (mostly ex-public servants of course) is counted, APS numbers have actually grown, so "Max the Axe" may not be an appropriate moniker after all, unless it refers to his role in punishing public servants brave or foolish enough to speak out. Lest it be thought that this is just an old lefty's bias I date the politicisation of the service to the Whitlam government - although it's now far more insidious.

Ah well then , maybe there is some hope for the airport after all?

if we'd all agree to sail to Australia we could put the
out of business

A/D

so many places so little time

Andrew, all of my forebears sailed to Australia, but they weren't too complimentary about the on-board facilities or in some cases their fellow passengers. In 1800 one commented: "We shall think it a miricle if we arrive safe at Port Jackson ~ should the Convicts rise I am determined to loose my life as dear as possible...There is some of the most abandoned Charictors on bord this ship that possible can be living ……"

I suspect that they would have found the confusion at Sydney Airport a welcome alternative, but they weren't offered the option. Come to think of it, quite a few were offered no option at all short of a hanging.

we were fortunate that vour Sydney host generously came out to the airport to fetch us. At 6:30 Am or thereabouts it was a piece of cake to sail throught the formalities

AndrewDavid