12:30 p.m. flight out of Sydney too early?

We are scheduled to dock in Sydney at 7:00 a.m. and our airline has only one scheduled flight per day out of Sydney, at 12:30 p.m. If we do a walk off with our bags as soon as passengers are allowed to disembark at the White's Bay Terminal, will we have enough time going by taxi to the airport to make the 12:30 p.m. flight?

Barb

We just did something close to that. We arrived at the pier around 7am, walked off with our luggage at approx 8 (we could have left earlier) grabbed a cab and we're in our hotel (which was very close to the pier) by approx 9am. The next day we left our hotel at 9:30 am and were at the airport by 10:15. By the time we checked in and did the whole security thing we had an hour to spare. If I had to do it again, I'd do the same thing. Someone else may disagree.

We are scheduled to dock in Sydney at 7:00 a.m. and our airline has only one scheduled flight per day out of Sydney, at 12:30 p.m. If we do a walk off with our bags as soon as passengers are allowed to disembark at the White's Bay Terminal, will we have enough time going by taxi to the airport to make the 12:30 p.m. flight?

Barb

I'm a local in Sydney so hopefully this is a reasonably informed answer

Lets work it backwards - 12.30pm flight means 10.30am check-in to be on the safe side (check airline documentation for their required timing) - 30 minutes taxi ride (but I'd allow 1 hour as a safety net as you'll be just outside peak hour) - so need to get a taxi or Uber and leave the terminal at 9.30am - so it would seem quite achievable

Thanks for the replies. By working it out backwards, it certainly seems as if we will have ample time to leave on the same day that our ship docks.

Since you are asking the question about the airport, which is a short ride from the docks, I'm guessing it's your first time to Sidney. We arrived three days early and were busy sightseeing the entire time. One day included a trip to the beautiful Blue Mountains just north of town. So the real question is: "Why would you want to leave the day your ship docks?" Sidney is a wonderful City, and I was thoroughly impressed with its beauty and friendliness.

Hello Pinotlover,

We are coming in a few days earlier than our cruise to sight see in Sydney and we have planned to go to the Blue Mountains as one of our activities. Since we are doing b2b cruises, which will add up to a total of 19 days cruising, and we are coming in a few days early to see Sydney, that brings us to over three weeks away and unfortunately my husband is still working and cannot take any more time off, hence our departure home as we get to port on our last day of the cruise. Wish we could stay longer but that will have to wait for another time.

Barb

We had incredibly long walks from check-in to the departure gate in Sydney.

We had incredibly long walks from check-in to the departure gate in Sydney.

Really? Which terminal and airline was this for? It's hard to find a check-in to gate walk that's more than about 350 yards at Sydney, but I can immediately think of airports at which you can routinely expect to have to walk double that!

We were on Air New Zealand: Sydney to Auckland to LAX. --sorry no idea of terminal or gates.

AirNZ flies out of the terminal that is furtherest away from the customs clearance and main shopping area but it's not too far to walk - possibly 5 minutes

Not a lot further than some of the most distance boarding lounges on the Qantas side of the terminal

Certainly not as far as some true multi terminal airports around the world

Sometimes people miss the shortcut to that pier of the terminal and go all the way through the Duty Free shop area and then have to double back.

The shortcut, on the right just after the security check, is well signposted but you have to know to look for it.

Sometimes people miss the shortcut to that pier of the terminal and go all the way through the Duty Free shop area and then have to double back.

 

The shortcut, on the right just after the security check, is well signposted but you have to know to look for it.

That is what happened to us.

Sometimes people miss the shortcut to that pier of the terminal and go all the way through the Duty Free shop area and then have to double back.

It was a sad day when SYD T1 closed the shortcut staircase up to the Qantas lounges that allowed you to avoid almost every inch of the duty free shop.

A blog post about airport revenue and shopping. LINK HERE

There is a door at T5 Heathrow that allows BA first class passengers to go directly to the lounge, bypassing the duty-free gauntlet. The urban aviation rumor is that BA pays LHR a million pounds a year to have that bypass for their F passengers.