Outbound Smart Gate @ MEL. Hi all, it has been about 10 months since I've flown internationally out of Melbourne Airport and was wondering if the outbound smart gates have been installed (and are in use) yet? I've found plenty of information online relating to the inbound ones which most of as have already used but nothing really concrete in relation to the outbound ones apart from "they will be installed" and that they're already at BNE or SYD
I was there 2 weeks ago and these are def in operation on departure. I don't know if it because it was just new or not, but the process of getting through it was quite the shambles. There were no signs to direct people to the smart gate queue, one just joins the generic queue and then you spit up as you get near to the front. Hopefully they would have improved on this by now.
They are installed and functional. The beauty of the new system is that you can hang onto your Express Path boarding pass when you clear the fast-track security, and move to the automated gates... ;)
The confusion so far is that the queuing system is non-existent (just a big bank of automated gates), and people mill around nervously in front of them, unsure of what to do. There's typically a customs officer yelling at people to move through. Aside from the crowd control problems, foreigners (and many Aussies) obviously just don't know if their passport is eligible for use at the gates.
Both gardermoen & Jay describe my experience departing through the smart gates from Melbourne last December so looks like not much improvement yet..... Departed via outbound smart gates from Brisbane last month to find the express card only fast tracked me through security and then we were all funnelled into one line fanning out to the smart gates. When I queried where the express lane through immigration was with a staffer directing the flow (better organised than my earlier experience in Melbourne), I was told "there's not, we're all in this together". Together we may have been, faster than my previous express departures it was not. I'm deducing there's still a crew lane but, on that day at least, it wasn't being made available for express card holders. Both entering and exiting the country nowadays, the express cards appear to be losing their value.
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Outbound Smart Gate @ MEL.
Bennyboy
Bennyboy
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 23 Dec 2014
Total posts 3
Outbound Smart Gate @ MEL. Hi all, it has been about 10 months since I've flown internationally out of Melbourne Airport and was wondering if the outbound smart gates have been installed (and are in use) yet? I've found plenty of information online relating to the inbound ones which most of as have already used but nothing really concrete in relation to the outbound ones apart from "they will be installed" and that they're already at BNE or SYD
gardermoen
gardermoen
Member since 09 May 2011
Total posts 16
I was there 2 weeks ago and these are def in operation on departure. I don't know if it because it was just new or not, but the process of getting through it was quite the shambles. There were no signs to direct people to the smart gate queue, one just joins the generic queue and then you spit up as you get near to the front. Hopefully they would have improved on this by now.
ausJCP
ausJCP
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
Member since 28 Aug 2014
Total posts 132
They are installed and functional. The beauty of the new system is that you can hang onto your Express Path boarding pass when you clear the fast-track security, and move to the automated gates... ;)
The confusion so far is that the queuing system is non-existent (just a big bank of automated gates), and people mill around nervously in front of them, unsure of what to do. There's typically a customs officer yelling at people to move through. Aside from the crowd control problems, foreigners (and many Aussies) obviously just don't know if their passport is eligible for use at the gates.
Happy travels!
mberzins
mberzins
Qantas - Platinum (Lifetime Gold)
Member since 25 Apr 2013
Total posts 51
Both gardermoen & Jay describe my experience departing through the smart gates from Melbourne last December so looks like not much improvement yet..... Departed via outbound smart gates from Brisbane last month to find the express card only fast tracked me through security and then we were all funnelled into one line fanning out to the smart gates. When I queried where the express lane through immigration was with a staffer directing the flow (better organised than my earlier experience in Melbourne), I was told "there's not, we're all in this together". Together we may have been, faster than my previous express departures it was not. I'm deducing there's still a crew lane but, on that day at least, it wasn't being made available for express card holders. Both entering and exiting the country nowadays, the express cards appear to be losing their value.