Immigration in melbourne- a disgrace. Travelled in to MEL this am. The queue for non aus passport holders was over 200 metres long. I dread to think how long they were standing in line. Is this how we greet our oversees guests wanting to part with their hard earned cash? I wonder whether this was a preamble to next weeks strike by immigration? In any event I was cursing the 3 rd world nature of the immigration at DPS on departure , how wrong was I!!
Is there an actual question here? Try queuing for 2.5-3 hours at US immigration in JFK (where there is no fast track). Even US citizens had a long wait.
obanpointer, yes agreed. One wonders if the risk of illegal entry is high at airports, given the ETA arrangements, visa arrangements, validation prior to check in and boarding. Or perhaps it is the unionised workers acting up!
I once asked an immigration official at the point of exit, when the new exit machines will be installed in MEL. I think he growled at me and complained about something I cannot recall! Suck it up princess, the 21st century is well and truly here!
Most disgraceful immigration queue that I ever seen was in Warsaw. To be honest since they introduced self-servicing path I do not really care - my personal record was 15 min from touching tarmac to getting outside airport (no checked baggage though). No one can complain about such speed. Ah, and I managed to buy booze on the way :-)
I travel to Australia all the time, I usually sit in the front row so I can pass thr the immigration asap. My worst experiences were in MEL 2 months ago, queued for 2 hours, 3 staffs only. I was on QF29 from Hong Kong, delay occured and so we were right behind more than 5 international flights which landed almost the same time, including EK from SIN, UA from LAX and QF from LAX.
I've never been to USA so I don't know the situation there, but compare with the one I've been to: HND, ICN, NRT, BKK, AMS, LHR, HKG and a lot more. Australians' airports have the worst in immigration lane.
Ross, that is when they decide to just collect your Smartgate tickets from you and put it into a collection box just as you depart the secure zone into general population.
I was flying in from WLG once, JC was late into MEL due to heavy rain on arrival of the incoming aircraft, yes, I made my last 19.10 run to the MEL QFdom terminal from int, lucky they just collected my Smartgate ticket without asking questions.
I use Smartgate all the time now, lucky that more than 10 nationaltiies can use it.
But that general "human assisted (processing) line", yes, it can be long.
Lots of people don't trust the Smartgate machines though, don't know how to answer the questions, or don't want to learn.
I know of an older couple like this, they prefer the human scanning of their Aust passports on return to Aust.
I have put up with worse in Adelaide and to top it off I live there.Strip Searching for the most part like Prisoners of my luggage and belongings depending on where I coming home from when it comes to declaring some things or it taking an eternity to get through.I would swap that for Melbourne where by comparison for the most part they treat incoming passengers like humans as opposed to criminals.
obanpointer
obanpointer
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 08 Jun 2014
Total posts 318
Immigration in melbourne- a disgrace. Travelled in to MEL this am. The queue for non aus passport holders was over 200 metres long. I dread to think how long they were standing in line. Is this how we greet our oversees guests wanting to part with their hard earned cash? I wonder whether this was a preamble to next weeks strike by immigration? In any event I was cursing the 3 rd world nature of the immigration at DPS on departure , how wrong was I!!
Ben84
Ben84
Etihad
Member since 23 Jan 2013
Total posts 74
Is there an actual question here? Try queuing for 2.5-3 hours at US immigration in JFK (where there is no fast track). Even US citizens had a long wait.
TheRealBabushka
TheRealBabushka
Member since 21 Apr 2012
Total posts 2,058
Ben84,
When has US immigration been our yardstick?
obanpointer, yes agreed. One wonders if the risk of illegal entry is high at airports, given the ETA arrangements, visa arrangements, validation prior to check in and boarding. Or perhaps it is the unionised workers acting up!
I once asked an immigration official at the point of exit, when the new exit machines will be installed in MEL. I think he growled at me and complained about something I cannot recall! Suck it up princess, the 21st century is well and truly here!
Serg
Serg
QFF
Member since 12 Apr 2013
Total posts 999
Most disgraceful immigration queue that I ever seen was in Warsaw. To be honest since they introduced self-servicing path I do not really care - my personal record was 15 min from touching tarmac to getting outside airport (no checked baggage though). No one can complain about such speed. Ah, and I managed to buy booze on the way :-)
jayd0116
jayd0116
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 29 Jun 2015
Total posts 40
I travel to Australia all the time, I usually sit in the front row so I can pass thr the immigration asap. My worst experiences were in MEL 2 months ago, queued for 2 hours, 3 staffs only. I was on QF29 from Hong Kong, delay occured and so we were right behind more than 5 international flights which landed almost the same time, including EK from SIN, UA from LAX and QF from LAX.
jayd0116
jayd0116
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 29 Jun 2015
Total posts 40
I've never been to USA so I don't know the situation there, but compare with the one I've been to: HND, ICN, NRT, BKK, AMS, LHR, HKG and a lot more. Australians' airports have the worst in immigration lane.
betterbub
betterbub
Member since 19 Sep 2015
Total posts 11
I've never been to MEL so I can't say, but it's worse than LHR?! That's quite the statement!
Ross
Ross
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 10 May 2014
Total posts 83
So many passports now can use e-gate, yet many remain unaware.
My last arrival into MEL in April I was off the aircraft, through immigration and customs and checking into the airport hotel in 20 minutes.
Andrew Barkery
Andrew Barkery
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 21 Mar 2011
Total posts 433
Ross, that is when they decide to just collect your Smartgate tickets from you and put it into a collection box just as you depart the secure zone into general population.
I was flying in from WLG once, JC was late into MEL due to heavy rain on arrival of the incoming aircraft, yes, I made my last 19.10 run to the MEL QFdom terminal from int, lucky they just collected my Smartgate ticket without asking questions.
I use Smartgate all the time now, lucky that more than 10 nationaltiies can use it.
But that general "human assisted (processing) line", yes, it can be long.
Lots of people don't trust the Smartgate machines though, don't know how to answer the questions, or don't want to learn.
I know of an older couple like this, they prefer the human scanning of their Aust passports on return to Aust.
abudhabi1
abudhabi1
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
Member since 15 Jan 2013
Total posts 105
I have put up with worse in Adelaide and to top it off I live there.Strip Searching for the most part like Prisoners of my luggage and belongings depending on where I coming home from when it comes to declaring some things or it taking an eternity to get through.I would swap that for Melbourne where by comparison for the most part they treat incoming passengers like humans as opposed to criminals.
Denmark
Denmark
Singapore Airlines - KrisFlyer
Member since 21 Sep 2015
Total posts 1
Melbourne in FEB: is very bad 200m was short,it is your summer
was there last month went like water of a ducks ass , WINTER
RAR to LAX, tom bradley,end of march, this no lie, my wife and i were the ONLY ones getting our passports stamped, no photos allowed
this was noon, something to do with clocks going back PICK THE BONES OUT THAT ONE
Back in Jan ,sleeping bag looks like order of the day