As millions get ready to board planes for the school holidays, Australia’s airports are once again in a state of turmoil due to huge lines at the terminals.
On the first Saturday of the break, when many travelers began arriving as early as 6am, shocking photos from Melbourne Airport show customers waiting in long queues.
After flights were canceled at the Jetstar check-in, passengers reacted angrily at the airport.
One customer who had her trip canceled told 9News, “They came around and told us we may book another ticket for $1000 one way.”
‘Surely, they must have known earlier if there was a problem. Don’t tell us when we get here.’
More than four million travellers are expected to fly during the school holidays, with airline staff telling passengers to arrive up to 90 minutes early.
Between June 24 and July 17, Sydney Airport and Melbourne Airport both anticipate similar amounts of passengers passing through their terminals.
Long lines, delayed flights, and misplaced luggage have all been forewarned to travelers in the past.
Following the pandemic’s mass layoffs, airports have voiced concerns about a staffing shortage.
The pandemonium on Saturday follows such events on Friday at airports in Melbourne and Sydney.
Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert stated, “Our projection suggests the July school vacations are going to be significantly busier than what we witnessed in April.”
‘It’s terrific to see the ongoing demand for air travel. But we won’t sugar-coat the fact that the terminals will be busy during the school holidays, and there will be queues.’
Total passenger traffic recovered to 69 per cent of pre-COVID levels, the airport said.
‘The root cause of these challenges is that every business at the airport is rebuilding its workforce and doing it in the tightest jobs market in nearly half a century,’ Mr Culbert said.
“For domestic flights, arrive two hours early, and for international flights, arrive three hours early,” said Sydney Airport general manager of operations Greg Hay.
Although it’s excellent that travelers are showing up early for their flights, he urged getting as near to the suggested timings as feasible and not any sooner.
If you arrive at the airport too early, you could have to wait longer because some domestic airlines do not begin baggage check-in until two hours before departure.
As a result of several complaints about delayed flights and missing luggage on social media in recent days, Qantas has taken the brunt of travelers’ ire.
The airline on Thursday said it was ‘pulling out all stops and working with airports and suppliers to ensure the upcoming holiday period is not impacted by the significant disruptions that customers faced over Easter’.
Along with its budget subsidiary Jetstar, it has recruited more than 1000 operational team members with 20 per cent more staff on stand-by rosters than during the Easter period.
With millions of passengers anticipated to board flights as demand spikes over the holiday break, Australia’s airports are preparing for turmoil.
In April, shocking images revealed enormous lines that extended hundreds of meters, and many Australians had their flights rescheduled or cancelled.
In April, travelers at Sydney Airport were observed standing in lines that might reach 300 meters in length and encircled the security checkpoints.
The long wait at the terminals was reportedly made worse by people cutting in front of the lines, according to some passengers who complained of missing their flights.
Airport bosses blamed school holidays, a shortage of security personnel and, remarkably, forgetful passengers out of the habit of removing items from their luggage for scanning.
More recently those wanting to travel abroad have been set back by massive delays in getting their passports, or having them renewed.
Some have been waiting three months to get their passports, with many fearing they’ll have to postpone or cancel their holidays altogether.
‘It’s terrific to see the ongoing demand for air travel but we won’t sugar-coat the fact that the terminals will be busy during the school holidays, and there will be queues,’ Sydney Airport CEO Geoff Culbert said.
‘We are doing everything we can to get people in their way, including bringing an additional 60 customer service staff into the terminals every day to help manage queues and bring passengers forward in order of flight priority.’