Adelaide Airport sets the standard for user-friendliness

Carolyne Jasinksi, the bubbly sub editor of the Adelaide Advertiser who joined the Disney media team on the recent trip to Disneyland last month to witness the opening of Nemos Underwater World, had a great trip with Air Tahiti Nui all the way there and all the way back. 

[Pictured right: Jazzer meets Mickey and Minnie]

Clearly though her experiences on the way back at Sydney Airport sadly turned out to be the low point of her trip.

Read on to see what “Jazzer” had to say in the Adelaide Advertiser recently……………..

We all know Adelaide Airport is a winner.  It looks great, there’s room to move, it’s full of helpful, smiling people and it’s user-friendly.  Parking or drop-off is easy and checking in is a breeze. And, if you’re flying overseas, our airport is a godsend.

However, it’s not until you do venture interstate, or overseas in particular, that you really appreciate its worth and realise just how bad other airports are in comparison.

Take Sydney Airport, for example – the first port of call for many overseas tourists and often the re-entry point for Aussies coming home. Landing in Sydney should be an exciting time. It’s the gateway for those all-important visitors ready to embark on a holiday Down Under. They’re itching to see our great attractions and meet those carefree, friendly people we like to portray.

Aussies returning to this Lucky Country are looking for a familiar accent and a welcome home.  Somehow, I don’t think those landing in Sydney are feeling the love, or the luck. What greets passengers is chaos.  And I’m not alone in my criticism.  Los Angeles is renowned for being difficult to negotiate but Sydney is giving it a run for its money.

I’ve just returned from a trip to Disneyland, land of the long queues. There, you queue for everything – to get in, to get out, to hop on a ride, to go to the loo, for food. The line-ups are annoying and they waste enormous amounts of time but you don’t have to be there. The choice is yours.  Queuing is your ticket to ride that fabulous American hurly-burly of fun and fantasy. It’s all part of the Disney day.

[Pictured left: Jazzer meets Pluto in his kitchen!]

So here I am yet again, standing in line. But wait, I’m not in Disneyland any more; this is not nearly as much fun. This is Sydney Airport.  

It’s 7.45am and international flights (permitted to land only after 6am) are offloading their passengers.  Some are doing the quick-as-a-flash dutyfree dash, before joining the throng heading to passport control.

Where are those laconic grins and welcoming ‘‘G’Days’’ these weary passengers are hoping for?  Missing in action.  A grunt and a grumpy ‘‘next’’ is about all we’re getting. Baggage claim, just a few steps away, is a simple affair. At least, the sniffer dogs are wagging their tails.  But what is building around us is frightening.

The queue to Customs is out of control. Two queues, in fact, that are ebbing and weaving around those still waiting for their bags.  Finding and joining the end of those lines is not an easy task; now they are looping around luggage carousels.  Airport rage is rampant, with suitcases and trolleys being thrust at those cheeky enough to try to push in. It’s chaos amid an angry mob of sleep-deprived travellers not really sure of where they should be headed.

At least in Disneyland, there were corrals to keep the queues in order.  Once through, though, life should be simple.  Follow the signs to the domestic transfer, hop on a bus, check in and away we go.  Only in your dreams (or at Adelaide Airport).

In Sydney, another nightmare unfolds.  More queues twist their way around buildings and facilities unable to cope with the sheer number of travellers trying to connect to domestic flights. No explanations are offered for the long delays.

There is seemingly no help offered to those whose flights are impending.  The three-hour gap between flights, which I had thought overly generous, is now down to just 45 minutes – and I still have to get on that bus and weave among the trucks and planes on the tarmac to one of the domestic terminals.  But that’s another long and sourfaced story. And, I should think, a security risk.

Now, what was I saying about Adelaide Airport?  Definitely a smooth operator.

A report by Carolyne Jasinski of the Adelaide Advertiser: [email protected] 

A Report by The Mole