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Home / Travel

Photo of queue at Sydney international airport sparks outrage

news.com.au
9 Nov, 2022 06:04 PM3 mins to read

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The Reddit user said Sydney Airport was a ‘disgrace to the city’. Photo / Reddit

The Reddit user said Sydney Airport was a ‘disgrace to the city’. Photo / Reddit

A passenger transiting through Sydney has blasted Australia’s busiest airport for its lengthy wait times and lack of facilities.

In a scathing review of the airport, the Reddit user wrote: “Fix the international airport please Sydney! It’s a disgrace to the city. Lines for kilometres. No smoking area, only one open transit check, one closed.”

Accompanying the post was a photo of the international transit queue which connects the domestic and international terminals, with the line was dozens of passengers deep.

Responding to the posts, some people blamed the influx on inexperienced “first time travellers,” while others agreed that Australia’s Sydney Kingsford Smith International Airport paled in comparison to other international airports.

“I’m so embarrassed when I fly home to Australia and have to experience our airports … I can only imagine what tourists think,” shared one user.

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“Completely agree – it’s shameful! Travelled a few months ago to Korea and was through Incheon airport immigration, quarantine, luggage collected and customs in 20 minutes,” wrote another poster.

“Arrived back in Sydney last month and there were lines backed up everywhere (always seems like they schedule five flights to arrive around the same time) – no staff directing confused looking tourists (duty free staff started telling people into which passport lane they should go to).

“Took almost an hour to get out – the place is dirty and there is a construction site out front.”

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The Reddit user said Sydney Airport was a ‘disgrace to the city’. Photo / Reddit
The Reddit user said Sydney Airport was a ‘disgrace to the city’. Photo / Reddit

However, others took issue with original poster’s query over a smoking area.

“Why would you need a smoking area? I have no sympathy for people’s so-called addictions and how they inflict their own desire for bad lungs into others,” shared one Reddit user.

“I’d rather not have to sit in an aluminium tube next to someone who stinks like an ashtray,” another wrote.

News.com.au reached out to Sydney Airport for comment.

Earlier this year, the Sydney International and Domestic Airports were criticised for the lengthy queues outside its airport. Photos from August showed a queue up to 150m long extending outside the airport, with winding queues inside prior to the security line.

At the time, travellers reported almost hour-long wait times to get through security, in which they were almost late for their flight.

“God damn Sydney Airport … waited like almost two hours for security and sprinted to my bloody gate,” one passenger tweeted.

At the time, the ballooning wait times were attributed to extreme staff shortages, which extended into all facets of air travel from missing baggage and cancelled flights.

Located 8km from the CBD, Sydney Airport is one of Australia’s 13 international airports, and regarded as the country’s busiest.

A second airport for the capital city is also slated to become operational in 2026. Located in the Western Sydney suburb of Badgerys Creek, construction remains ongoing.

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