Sydney Airport now sells Fast Track security access

Sydney Airport is extending the perk of Priority Entry at Terminal 1 beyond business and first class flyers, with paid access to a new Fast Track lane.

Paid Fast Track access shares the Priority Entry to T1.

For $20, passengers on any flight departing from T1 can join a priority queue for the security screening checkpoint.

$20 helps you beat the queue for security screening.

However, that’s where the Fast Track treatment ends: it doesn’t extend to the passport e-gates, and in our experience that’s where the real logjams can occur, especially at the busiest times.

Sydney Airport says Fast Track is intended to “reduce stress, save time and enable travellers to move through the airport more efficiently during peak travel periods.”

“More than 42 million people travel through Sydney Airport each year,” recounts Mark Zaouk, Sydney Airport’s Group Executive for Commercial, who cites Fast Track as “part of our broader investment in improving the passenger journey by giving passengers more choice.”

Each fast Track booking includes a QR code to show airport staff.

We’re hoping that some airlines decide to pony up and provide Fast Track access to their top-tier frequent flyers, as was once done back in the days of the T1 Express Path.

For more information, visit Sydney Airport’s Fast Track page.

An even bigger change sweeping through Sydney Airport is the rollout of the digital arrivals card, which will be in place for all international Qantas flights by the end of this year.

How the new Australian Travel Declaration looks when integrated into an airline app (in this case, the Qantas app).

The Australia Travel Declaration (ATD) is already built into the Qantas app, but will also become available for other airlines to integrate into their own apps.

The Australian Border Force says it will launch a web-based version of the Australia Travel Declaration “before the end of 2027”, while the existing paper cards will remain available in the arrivals hall of all airports.

Passengers have up to three days before the arrival of their flights into Australia to fill out the digital ATD.

After completing the declaration, passengers receive a digital pass with a QR code to be shown to ABF officers upon arrival.