MEL Melbourne Airport
Melbourne 
"Arriving Into Hell"
I use the International terminal every 2 months. Departures area is fine, although check in desks have long, snaking lines for full flights. It is easy to find your way through security and passport controls to the gates as there are only about 15 gates. Arriving into MEL is just vile. As most flights arrive early morning or late at night the congestion at these times will fray your nerves.Passport Control will see you waiting up to 40 minutes if you don't have an AUS passport. Then you must battle the crowds to retrieve your luggage from one of the four carousels serving all of these flights. Then 1000 people must queue into 2 lines to pass through the first customs check, God help you if you have to have your bags examined, it will be nearly 2 hours from your flight arriving until you can leave the airport. This airport was not built to handle this many large flights, delays may be minimised if only there was adequate staffing levels. The staff there are overwhelmed and as such their tempers are frayed. Very embarrassing for my home town.
Share"Very bad international arrivals hall"
While the outgoing international check-in is satisfactory, the international arrivals hall is disgusting. It is crowded, carousals are jammed together, customs checking area is short of space. Luggage takes anything up to an hour to arrive at the carousal. Early morning can see two 380s and five 747s arrive within an hour and it is pure chaos.
Share"UNIMPRESSED"
This airport does not tick any boxes for me. As, in my mind, Melbourne is the best city in the world for shopping, culture, dining & ease of travelling (with free tourist trams & buses) plus the friendliness & dirvirsity of nationalities, the arrival centre is no indication of what lies ahead.Come on owners of this facility bring the Airport up to the 6 star stanard of your city!!!!
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Share"What The Hell!?"
I guess my experience with Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport began with the SkyBus - which was quite cramped, and had a two minute promotional video that constantly replayed throughout the half-hour journey to the airport.
Upon my arrival, I was confused. Unlike other Australian airports, there was no actual separation between domestic and international terminals. For that matter, there was very little separation between anything.
After finding the Jetstar check-in desks unstylishly stashed against the side wall adjacent to the Qantas check-in desks in what is a clearly over-crowded airport, I proceeded through security. On a positive note, clearing security at Melbourne Airport was quite fast.
After getting through security, all hell broke loose. It felt like I was literally in a maze. I had to go down an escalator to an area that went to another area. That area then went on to have its' own escalators, leading down to the gates. From there, I had to walk all the way past the Qantas gates to get to a set of stairs, which I again had to proceed down to get to the Jetstar gates.
The Jetstar gates, much like their check-in desks, were clearly "stashed" into a spare area of the airport. This area of the airport was poor and unkempt, and had few if any facilities. Lighting in this area wasn't even that sufficient.
Finding the food court was torture. Some of the staff in shops surrounding the Qantas gates weren't even sure there was a food court. Eventually, after making my way back up all the sets of stairs and escalators, I reached an area that had about 12 foodstores and 250 seats, which felt hardly sufficient for an airport of such size.
THANKFULLY, I found internet access near Gate 22, and this took up most of my time until my flight departed.
I will not willingly use Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport again in the future.
My suggestion is to fly Jetstar to Melbourne's Avalon Airport. Although the commute into Melbourne CBD is longer, the airfares are generally cheaper, and SITA Bus operate transfers into Melbourne and Geelong by full-size coach.
Avalon Airport is the far simpler, far more comfortable, and far more desired option for me.
Share"LACK OF DISABILITY AIDS"
I suffer with a balance disorder & consequently cannot stand in a line for any length of time. My suggestion is to have a chair positioned at the check in & bag drop counters) for the sole use of the disabled passenger (whilst waiting for their partner/carer) as to maintain some sort of independence, rather than be offered a wheelchair
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