Arrived into Melbourne yesterday morning to an absolute shambles in the terminal.
Shoulder to shoulder for nearly an hour from the arrival gate to duty free. Urinals overflowing on to the floor in the two toilets I visited (and decided not to use). Conga line after baggage collection blocking access to carousels 1, 2, 3 and 4. Customs overwhelmed and opened emergency exit door near carousal 1 to try and clear the congestion, which caused added confusion as folk queue jumped to be in that line.
Nearly three hours from disembarking ( from a remote park - don't ask about the crowded bus) to freedom.
Wonder what impression visitors and tourists gained form the experience. Made my past experiences at Lagos, Kabul, Tarawa and the old days at LAX seem like a pleasant and efficient process.
Gne
Par for the course these days - on 25 Feb the queues were at least a couple of hours long, the congestion was so bad it would have been impossible to get out in the case of fire, etc. Impossible to move around some of the carousels with the crush of people - an extremely dangerous situation and Melbourne Airport needs to address this urgently.
Apart from the significant safety issues, it is a shocking first impression for new arrivals. Maybe stop building flash duty free shops (which remain mostly empty) and invest in baggage handling and passenger movement areas.
I'll never criticise LAX again - by comparison it's a dream arrival compared to MEL.
Pathetic!