Sydney Airport: Chaos as passengers jet out for school holidays

The combination of bad weather, the post-Covid travel itch and the first day of school holidays has created a second day of mayhem for those jetting away at Sydney Airport this morning.

A perfect storm of school holidays, shocking weather and a post Covid desire to get out of the city have resulted in delays at Sydney Airport.

Holiday makers arrived at the airport yesterday morning to find lines out the door and down the street with flight delays also adding to the chaos.

But a Sydney Airport spokeswoman said despite the challenges the lines were moving smoothly on Saturday morning with an average check in time of 30 minutes, which was actually an improvement from Friday.

Despite the average wait times there were still long lines at domestic check-in terminals.

Travellers took to social media to vent their frustration and warn others not to come to the airport if they could avoid it.

“The line at Sydney airport Virgin bag drop is out the door and through the adjacent car park,” one Twitter user posted just after 10am.

@VirginAustralia kicks off the 1st day of school hols with 4 cancelled early morning flights out of Sydney + severe weather. Fun times. #sydneyairport ground staff were well organised and helpful so thanks. Just hope I see my bag again. #virginaus #SchoolHolidays pic.twitter.com/XgE339dF9W

— Unbounded rationalist. (@wupdater) July 1, 2022

Another wrote: “Sydney airport is crazy this morning. Check in is completely packed and bag drop line is out the door and spilling into an undercover area next to the terminal.”

A third posted a photo of her flight stranded on the runway.

🚫✈️ parking at @SydneyAirport so we’re just gunna sit here and watch the rain. ⏱🌧 pic.twitter.com/jvYegSxcQO

— Mich-Elle Myers (@MichMyersMUA) July 1, 2022

Sydney airport forecast a bumper 2.1 million passengers to pass through its terminals between June 27 and July 17.

Adding to the problem has been staffing shortages on check in and security check in points.

A Sydney Airport spokeswoman said crowds were moving relatively “smoothly” despite the initial days of school holidays being a high demand day.

“All things considered, it is all moving quite smoothly,” the spokeswoman said.

Sydney airport is in chaos as the city

braces for wild weather and rains. Picture: Twitter

An estimated 350,000 people are set to descend on the domestic and international terminals in the four days from Friday to Monday.

And the peak period from June 28 to 18 July 18 will see an estimated 2.1 million people use the airport.

“The advice is get there early,” the spokeswoman said.
It comes after shambolic scenes and massive queues continued to plague passengers on Friday night.

Sydneysiders looking to jet away for the school holidays on Friday night were greeted by snaking lines of punters and technical failures as they rushed to make their flights.

“I couldn’t check in at the kiosks, the app is down, the baggage check-in is down and there are massive queues for customer service,” one passenger said.

It comes as Sydney’s rail network was crippled by a day of industrial action — and the threat the worst is yet to come.

A rail union ban on operating foreign-made trains saw 75 per cent of the network taken offline on Friday, causing headaches for commuters hit by cancellations and delays.

Kayleigh Ramsay almost missed her flight thanks to rail strikes. Picture: John Grainger

Travellers were forced into overcrowded trains and stuck on platforms shoulder-to-shoulder waiting for delayed services, with some routes ­replaced by buses and an extra shuttle service added to the airport line to deal with the ­onslaught of crowds.

At the airport furious passengers faced hour-long queues, with check-in kiosk breakdowns, app failures and massive queues at Qantas customer service counters.

Town Hall station during the rush on Friday. Picture: John Grainger

Furious Transport Minister David Elliott blasted the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) over the “childish” industrial action on trains, and warned commuters the situation was likely to get worse if the union did not take a government deal. “I’m doing everything humanly possible to stop further industrial action but the way the union is behaving I have the unfortunate sinking feeling it’s going to get worse before it gets better,” he said.

Mr Elliott was scheduled to fly to Europe on Friday for a family holiday, but delayed his travel plans because of the union action.

A deal, which includes the previously announced $264 million for safety modifications to the new fleet as well as increased pay in the new enterprise bargaining agreement, is a sticking point for the union, who want the issues dealt with separately.

The union has been given 5pm Tuesday as a hard deadline to either take the deal and cancel planned action or face the Fair Work Commission.

A fired up Transport Minister David Elliot speaks to the media during the train strike in Sydney on Friday. Picture: John Grainger

On Friday RTBU Secretary Alex Claassens said the union wanted to see the safety modifications “signed in blood” before backing down from two more days of industrial action next week.

“That’s going to continue to escalate until we obviously get to a point where we’re going to take the ultimate action, which is strike action.

“And we are very quickly getting to that point because our patience is running out,” he said.

Commuters were fed up with the delays, especially on the busy airport line.

“It’s really frustrating because I don’t want to miss my flight … there’s just uncertainty,” 28-year-old teacher Kayleigh Ramsay said.

Ms Ramsay, from Bondi Junction, was frustrated when announcement boards on the platform were blacked out and her train delayed by 20 minutes.

“I just don’t think they are considering all the different jobs they are impacting, because not everyone is privileged enough to own a car or pay for taxis,” she said.

Meanwhile, Qantas’ Loyalty Chief Olivia Wirth was one of hundreds of staff helping passengers check-in at the airport kiosks.

“We have some additional employees to manage peaks,” she said.

Got a news tip? Email [e-mail]