Community feedback: Airport/airline experience for international departure/arrival

More people are looking to travel overseas for the first time since 2020 but the airline/airport services are still a hit and miss for some, particularly with connecting flights and terminal transfers etc in Australia

For those who have the time and the community spirit to share experiences, please do provide the following for any outgoing or incoming flights

1. Date of travel (doesn't have to be specific - for security purpose)

2. Airlines and airports involved (departing origin, departing connecting, final destination)

3. Time of day and if applicable, connecting window period

4. Any status tier,

5. Experience in check in, immigration and custom outgoing/incoming

6. Experience in lounge access, transfering between terminals if relevant

7. Any tips for overseas destination

Thank you for sharing

I've flown over 40 times in the past 12 months. About 15 of those flights have been international. That's far too many flights to list in the manner you've asked for, but, following the lead of Douglas Adams and The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, I'd summarise my experiences with the following two words:

“Mostly harmless.”

Obviously you still have to check your destinations' entry requirements. But for all intents and purposes and for almost every destination (bar China), things are back to normal.

No noticeable difference to the pre-2020 experience except perhaps that airfares are more expensive now.

Flew in South Africa in May, check in process was extremely long and painful, due to vax status etc. on both sides. Australian Govt App was a joke (thankfully, this is gone). After that trip, have been to NZ, USA (via Dallas and LAX) and Amsterdam.

Nothing has changed at LAX, 45mins to clear immigration arriving in the evening.

Dallas took less than 1 minute (even with manual processing). They need to give them an award for sure.

Amsterdam immigration took 1-2mins to clear (mind you, i was the first one to come off the aircraft). However, was not the great experience when i came back to depart. The process took more than 2 hours, mainly the time for security, due to staff shortages.

NZ was super easy.

Connecting time in Sydney to connect our south african journey was 90mins, it is definitely possible, but with stress added to the mix. If you are flying via LAX, have 3hrs handy.

QF Platinum and Velocity Gold.

@XWu

Your 'list' looks like an extremely intrusive/invasive police interrogation manual. Maybe that explains the lack of enthusiasm???

Apologies if fellow readers think too much details required, and if a monetary incentive is needed

Just that roughly 1 in 5 or 6 of the forum here is related to transfer/connecting flights/lounge/cabin experience and given the upcoming festive seasons where more people will be travelling overseas, some for the first time in months, I thought it would be great for those who are already doing it frequently to share their experiences (good or otherwise)

Otherwise the ones that get to post their experiences are largely to complain, and nothing gets our attention like bad news.

But this skewed picture also cause unnecessary anxiety for some ET readers whose work travel is largely domestic.

Sure there are many who says they would choose SQ/QR/EK/EY/AA for long haul over QF due to their experiences with booking cancellations or retiming (for example) but as other cheaper alternatives come on line it will be nice to know if these airlines returning to AU skies are offering the same service as prepandemic by sharing the experience

The list I wrote is some ideas to comment on, and of course there is no way I expect anyone to share something they are not comfortable with

There are any number of bloggers out there who are flying all over the place right now and blogging or vlogging about their experiences. Often their posts contain exactly the sort of information you seem to be after. Do a search on your search engine of choice, for the airlines and/or airports you're most interested in, and see what you come up with.