Traveller Letters: New SmartGates at Sydney Airport are a schemozzle

Arriving into Sydney International Airport recently, I found the familiar passport scanning machines that give you a little credit card-sized chit replaced with banks of facial recognition devices that print a slip of paper with your photo on it to be taken to another gate for facial scanning before exiting. But the scenes travellers were met with was nothing short of pandemonium.

There was little signage, hundreds of people had no idea what they were meant to do, and the whole shemozzle was being handled by two shouting Border Force officers trying to give people instructions. The main problem was that there were only about 12 machines and one of them broke down before my eyes The queues stretched back to the horizon.

Once cleared to travel, I was taken by wheelchair through check-in, where our bags were checked straight through to Sydney. We were issued our BA boarding passes with a surprise upgrade to premium economy. Everyone we dealt with during this experience was caring, capable and efficient. The same could not be said for the crew on the BA flight or the surly staff at Sydney Airport.). My corner room was more modest, yet high up with a 45-degree panoramic view of the Chao Phraya river.

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