Sydney Airport re-opens T1 Express Path lane

That won't be popular.

That's ridiculous that no alternative solutions were made.

Anyone know if the APEC line is a viable option for departures?

The express path inbound is never open from my experience. Most recent example being Sunday night.

That's a shame. In my experience, you often don't even need a pass to access the line. You just say "Express" in a cheerful voice as you walk past the staffer.

Rats! I have a flight from Brisbane landing in Sydney at 8:05am and then on a flight out to Hong Kong at 10am. Was hoping the express lane would give me some time in The House. Sounds like I’ll be lucky just to board my connecting flight on time!

The Express path at arrivals is useless - just look for the shortest line...
With Arrivals, I am surprised they can't sort express card holders (or now they often just look at boarding pass) to dedicated lines. First world problems I guess...

Suspect this won't be a popular comment, but if it's a problem then its for the airlines rather than the airport. You either need / want to fly to / from Sydney or you don't. I can't imagine anyone has ever chosen to fly there based on the availability or otherwise of a priority lane. Maybe slightly different in cities where you have multiple airport choices (London, New York as two examples). Would be interested to know who actually pays for the priority line, is it the airlines? I can't imagine that ABF / Airport Authorities have any obligation to provide such a facility.

They hadn’t informed MEL this morning. Still handing out cards for transiting passengers. Bit of a memento..

What a shame. Infrastructure of Kingsford-Smith is already third-world, temporarily closing down Express Path makes it worse.

I have always wondered were the bloody Express Path was ... enter from the higher letter check-in counters, and you don't get see any express path, with airport staff seeming to always direct you to the regular queue.

That is an absolute disgrace. Business and first pay thousands of dollars more than economy and the ability to arrive later and skip those queues is part of the price - particularly for time strapped business flyers. Will the airlines be discounting our ticket prices (subsidised by the airport) for this major inconvenience?

PS express path arrivals is used after immigration at the far left hand side of the terminal. Always works for me.

Shame about the temp closure of the Express Path... Anyone know if QF will still giving out Express Cards for pax to burn to skip the potential queues at security check after (departure) immigration?

Yeah gods this is appalling, the queues on the last flight where so long...

Let’s hope the new Express Path lane will be more functional than the one already closed.

Let's hope that they'll actually have an express path security too, rather than a separate lane that then just funnels behind every other man and dog that they've dispersed along all available security checks

Cripes. Flying out of Sydney on 15 May with a shortened connection from Canberra. Was counting on the Express Path to ease the process. Gobsmacking the Sydney can't have a temporary facility. This simply confirms its place as one of the worlds truly dreadful airports.

Who is first in line for the Darwin Award. Dumb decision without a temporary facility.

First world problem. Getting through all of that security business is not really that much of a chore compared to LHR at times and some US ports

Thanks for the heads-up, I'll make sure I avoid SYD for the duration. I'm trying CNS for a change for my next international departure. Any views?

Sydney airport has become completely ridiculous. There never seems to be any point in the incoming express path and very little on the outgoing. Wherever possible I try to make my international connections via Melbourne from Canberra predominantly because QF flies so few jets into Sydney and it is so much easier to walk from domestic to international in Melbourne. The whole experience is superior. I have 3 international flights in the next 6 weeks and fortunately 2 of them have been able to be routed via Melbourne.

Typical Sydney Airport don't care, like it or lump it policy

Where is Qantas and the other airlines advocating for premium pax. Sydney airport is a piece meal confusing building at best. Not putting in place alternative arrangements is a perfect example of Sydney Airports Corporation incompetence.

so its not my imagination, that so-called priority line gets very blurred with non fast track pax. those attendants that man the lines are the ones to blame, they just keep ushering anyone into the supposed priority queues.

So they close the express lane during the bloody peak season which starts end of may! Which stupid airport official decided on that! If they get of their arses and stop sitting in their Ivory tower..they will see what really happens in the real world!.same applies for customs too!

Crap decision by Sydney Airport. It can make a difference having an Express Path depending on the day. Like most travellers you want to get through Immigration and security screening ASAP, one of the perks of flying at the pointy end. I hope they do what they need to do quickly and get the Express Path access back on track.

You can send your feedback direct to Sydney airport...see below..

I transited from BNE en route to BKK on Wednesday morning and there was no warning from Qantas and no signage/advice by SAC. Just crowds of people and frazzled staff.

The express path in both Sydney and Brisbane is normally shut when I go through anyway... so it's not going to make much difference. It's sold as a benefit by the airlines and handed out when checking in, but those airports often just pile biz over into the economy passengers' queue.

Given the fact that SYD has a curfew, have any of the bone heads at the airport thought of doing the works at times when there is no one there? Thereby the works could be completed earlier and some adjustment could be made to allocate 3-4 Customs counters to Fast Track during normal and peak hours. Oh. That's right, we are in Australia. We don't work on projects like this outside of normal working hours, as do the rest of the world..

https://www.sydneyairport.com.au/investor/investors-centre/investor-contact-us

I leave MEL 0830 on 18/5 for JNB via SYD. Only i hour transit, so may have a problem there. My TA suggested getting to MEL earlier to see if I could get an earlier flight. When I contacted QANTAS a while ago, they said that if there are delays in MEL, they would re-route me if I missed the connecting flight. Just hoping I get there OK. At least I've got an o/night in Jo'burg and an extra night in Cape Town before the start of my tour.

I hope the publisher of this article sends the comments to Sydney airport corporation..so they can see how dumb and stupid they are!

This doesn’t make sense, it’s ridiculous that (despite any construction) they can’t spare 1m of real estate on the left side of whatever space remains for express pass passengers. Surly the change would just affect the separate entrance, and not the lanes in the hall themselves.

Flying out of Sydney tonight there was still someone ushering crew through the old express path security area after the e-gates. When I asked about the express path I was told that it's gone due to renovations.

No express lane in Sydney? Seems that every time I arrive or depart BNE international; the express lanes are closed.

When I checked in at SYD T1 for my QF flight to HKG last Monday morning, the business class check-in desk staff told me that “due to airport changes, Express Path departure was no longer available”. She then wished me “good luck” as this was the morning that Border Force computer systems were experiencing a nationwide outage. Affecting both arrivals and departures, Border Force officers were manually processing all passengers, resulting in lengthy delays.

I have just confirmed with Qantas that despite their website requesting pax to "allow additional time", they will not allow already ticketed transit passengers to actually do that without charging them the standard flight change fare penalty.

Flying F SIA later this morning and just had the pleasure of queue into passport control which I kid you not would have been 150m long winding through the terminal with the NSW police trying to keep everyone in check and making sure people join the line at the end. Only good thing I can say is that all gates were open but didn’t help.

As I said..we are coming into the peak season for intl travel. They should know better..the problem is they do know it's peak season and they decide to shut down the express lane! And having the police there won't help and they do not need to shout at the passengers either! Where are we? In a third world country? It's disgusting and they should be ashamed of themselves! I hope someone sends a copy of all the responses direct to SACL!

Has the pleasure of departing T1 on Sunday morning - absolutely chaotic. The e-Gates were the most crowded so head for manual checks - I was lucky they had a very organised Airport Staff member moving people in that area very efficiently, others were waiting much longer. The worst part was security - frustrating watching people take forever. All in all from getting boarding pass to walking into duty free - 45 minutes. Disgracegul.

Good lord... I am not looking forward to my next few international flights from SYD over the next few months. This construction work to update the Departures Express Path area better be worth it.

This makes no difference to when it is open as its always full of Economy class people who try to queue jump that staff fail to send to the other side. The only value for business class is the seat and the lounge in some airports but not Sydney the QF business lounge is rubbish.

Thanks for the update David.

Im traveling on Wednesday 28/8 and would be eligible to use the express pass in the early morning.

When Sydney airport says opens next week, do you know if this going to be ready on Monday or Friday?

Small mercies. A softening of the blow the delayed QF Business lounge refurb delivered earlier today.

Reading the comments has been the highlight of my day.

I went through Sydney International Thursday 29th August and Express Lane was still not open yet

I went through on Aug 31 and it was indeed up and running that day. I couldn't find the separate Express Path entry for passport control and it looked like there was just a single entry point to get there (and it looked nice too) but the express lane for security screening was operational.

Has anyone been through in the last day or two? Flying Sunday and wondering what to expect.