Sydney Airport - SYD - YSSY Reviews 13

The policy of removing all passengers with moderately long layovers (6-7 hours) on flights departing at 6:00 AM is ruining the travel experience. Almost every other international airport allows transit passengers, but Sydney Airport doesn't. And no, I'm not going to rent a damn hotel for just 7 hours.

Staff are rude and unhelpful to me travelling to Sydney without a physical opal card. Old lady at ticket counter wouldn't sell me a ticket, told me to go use the machine to purchase it, even though I was struggling with a broken foot.
1.14pm 28 /09/2025

Security staff team lead was completely disrespectful to my disability as I have a spinal cord simulator implanted in my body (similar to pacemaker battery) I’m not allowed to go through scanners and have paperwork and iPhone controls to prove this!
He said in front of a full line of others that I didn’t have a problem and if I did not go through I couldn’t make my next flight home!
I had been travelling for 4 weeks and was on flight number 9 without any issues as other security staff worldwide including London Heathrow Dubai Bangkok New Zealand and Fiji. So Sydney what’s your problem with discrimination against passengers who are disabled? He completely ruined my trip made me cry in front of strangers whilst making me look like a fraud! Still no response from the Airport even though I emailed them last week!
Absolutely disgusting and disappointing considering it’s 2025 . Out dated Airport who employs staff that are bullies even his team apologised but couldn’t do anything because he was team lead!

Great airport. Excellent staff. It was a lovely experience for me and the girls

I am a UK based Cruise Travel agency owner and we recommended our guests to take cruises out of Sydney and, have a good
pre-stay before, as a really great experience.

I am giving Sydney airport, just one star, not because of, the majority experience, which we found excellent, but because of what, in my view, appears to be, an overwhelming failure, of airport management, to proactively work to prevent, some taxi drivers, scamming travellers at Sydney airport on the fare for journeys into the City from the airports own official stand.

We had cruise customers to Australia (Feb 25) report to us a great holiday but, in feedback, told us the fare in the early evening with good traffic flow to a Circular key hotel to be 80-90 Aus dollars. ( I had told them, in pre-brief, that I had, expected, up to 55 Aus.)

On 14th April 2025, my wife and I arrived in Sydney airport and decided to take a regular taxi to our Circular key area hotel from the airport official stand, where there appeared to be an official staff member. It was not pre-booked taxi.

The time was about 6:20 pm road traffic flow was good, I was observing the meter, which by the 20 mins or so approx end of the journey, was showing nearly 90 Aus dollars and showed also 17 dollars of road tolls. The route taken was the appropriate one, we have been on it on past visits.

I naively, it now seems, took it at face value, when I asked,on arrival at the hotel, what the fare was, having also had the safety( or I so I thought) of having monitored the meter and I was asked for 86 Aus dollars and paid 90.

A staff member at the hotel, on arrival, enquired what had been the taxi fare and I was then, promptly told I had, likely, been scammed.

So, if I was scammed and if our February guests to Sydney were also scammed is that just unlucky? .. or is this concerningly widespread? ..well the later it now seems more likely the case, after doing some Australian internet research which showed that the Daily Telegraph newspaper ran a story of concern in January 2025 and I have noted there seems to be widespread consistent internet concern going back at least two years on the same point.

That all suggests a huge failure of responsibility, in my view, by the airport operator, who at the very least by now, I would have expected, to have a prominent large poster sign at the boarding point of taxis to say something like fare to Central Sydney more than 60 Aus dollars? Take the taxi details and just check you are getting the correct fare, adding perhaps a "report it" line email address.

So that's why I am giving Sydney Airport one star and why I will not be again recommending, our UK guests, to take a taxi from the airport until it looks like the airport really is trying to do something about preventing scammers that really let down, the majority honest drivers.

I did think the official taxi rank at the airport was shockingly quiet for a busy international airport .....is it that people are already taking other options because of this problem.?

Letting the scammers get away with it like this, lets down the likely overwhelming majority of taxi drivers that work really hard and professionally do a great job.

I am writing to the Chief Executive of the Airport and Government tourism minister too.

Really poor I feel Sydney Airport, I really did expect better and trusted the system.

The airport shuts off at 11 at night, can you believe that's the airpor for sydney?. The security staff is rude and the traffic controllers are worst.

Schöner Flughafen. Gute Parkmöglichkeiten. Guter Sevice und Sauberkeit ist in Ordnung.

Wir kennen viele internationale Flughäfen, aber nirgendwo wurde mit einer solchen Arroganz wie in der Sicherheitskontrolle in Sydney gearbeitet. Dort werden sogar Gegenstände wie z. B. ein Gläschen mit Meeressand, Muscheln oder kleine Meeressteinchen für den Weiterflug ausgesondert, obwohl man bereits in Neuseeland die Sicherheitskontrolle durchlaufen hatte.

My partner needs assistance when we travel. We arrived on Singapore Airlines. We were asked to remain seated until everyone had disembarked. We were then greeted at the aircraft door by a lovely young woman with a wheelchair for my partner. We were taken from the aircraft through passport control then luggage reclaim then bio security and customs. The young woman queued with us all the way and delivered us to our cousin in arrivals. The whole process took 35 minutes.
Brilliant service!
Thank you.

Not an interpretive. We need porter service and pleasant staff

my daughter got told sydney airport closes from 11pm to 4am she was to wait outside in the seating area that housed many vagrants but the so called security staff will protect her. When asked how was she supposed to check in at 2am, they told her perhaps if she knocks on the door they will let her in?
Qantas staff in melbourne were also unhelpful.
Goes to show, youd be an idiot to want to visit Oz now- let alone stay there.

Flaming nut jobs! luckily my daughter found a hotel room to stay in, as she has more brains then the Australian PM. I blame Emirates for not informing her when I booked her entire itinery with them.I have also posted bad reviews on there handling of the situation.

I've never been at an international airport in any country to be kicked out of the building in cold, like at Sydney's Kingsford-Smith International Airport, while waiting for an early morning flight. To make matters worse all hospitality venues close 9pm far before that. Yeah, Australia proves to be one tough mf country on every step, but it's a surfer's paradise for those who care about that. Clearing of the building is practised on a daily basis for whatever good reason so enjoy. But you could as well allocate extra assets before you travel for an early cab or stay at the airport hotel if you believe you'll catch pneumonia and might not make it to your destination!

If only check in can be quicker. New food area is very good