Melbourne Airport — Attraction in Melbourne

Failure of Disability Assistance at Melb Airport (China Airlines team) regarding the unacceptable lack of disability assistance during my recent departure from Melb Airport made me cry while I wait for the damn flight for vacation "How to Ruin Someone’s First Vacation in 8 Years"

Despite contacting airline on 7 June 2025 to request disability assistance which their team confirmed and assured had been arranged although what unfolded at the airport was an appalling display of disorganisation, indifference, and frankly, sheer disregard for basic duty of support.

Upon arrival at the gate, I was told to multiple times of wait for staff. Instead of assistance, I was met with a game of multiple staff telling me to wait for staff involving several staff members pointing me from one line to another, It was disorienting, time-wasting, and frankly embarrassing as they couldn't assign just one staff to do the simple task while they noted very confidently through email as if there will be absolutely assistance.

After quickly completing check-in, I was told to wait again, reassured with the classic line: "Someone will be with you shortly. We wont forget you." That shortly turned into from 6:35 p.m to 8:00 p.m with not a single staff member showing up to assist me or atleast to let me know what’s going on or sorry for delay while the economy check-in area stood nearly deserted.

Let me be clear every passengers passed through security and moved on, while I disabled passenger who arranged assistance on june advance was left sitting in limbo like dumped rubbish. No update, after of course showed my frustration on staff suddenly one staff came to assist me.

I was later informed there was "no staff available." My question is: WHY CONFIRM assistance at all during June if you’re not going to deliver it? It was template email as Aussie work place only do copy paste without real effort? I do understand this is how Australia is with the policy every staff for maximum inconvenience Or was I simply not disabled enough to be treated with dignity not in a wheelchair, not completely blind, so not worth a staff time.🤷🏻‍♀️

To contrast in Taiwan, the airline and airport team showed exactly how disability support should be handled respectful, efficient, and grounded in common sense. So clearly, the problem lies squarely with the Melbourne ground operations.

This wasn’t just a service failure it was neglect. For able-bodied passengers, this would be easy pissy. For someone with a disability, it’s exclusion, emotional and mental toll it cost our sanity for every simple easy things able-bodied get privileged for. I could have used that time to access airport facilities or prepare for my flight like everyone else instead, I was parked in a chair and then forgotten.

😮‍💨With another return flight looming, I’m genuinely dreading going through the same arrogant shrug that leads to abandonment in practice.

There should be a clarification of the airport’s and airline’s protocols for assisting passengers with disability properly without following the nonchalant Aussie culture trend, and guarantee that proper actual support not just empty promises sent via email.

Disability support is not optional nor is it a courtesy. It’s an obligation. This experience was not only made me feel emotionally felt burden it was dehumanising.

😡I should not have to repeatedly request support, only to be met with inconsistent responses and inaction. Treating passengers with disabilities as invisible is...

Melbourne airport has to be the least efficient international Airport in the world. We arrived to thousands of people confusedly looking for their bags, as the carousels kept changing 2 or 3 times - minimum. People were so desperate for their bags that they were practically standing on the conveyer belts. Occasionally a staff member would scream at them to step back, but they didn't. Probably because the wait time to collect bags was 2 hours at the very least. People just want their bags and to get out. But getting your bags is just the beginning of the inefficiency. Signage is poor. We went to the regular exit point where we were shouted at to move further along. So we went to the next exit spot. Only to be shouted at again, repeatedly to move along. Eventually we were sent, along with hundreds of others, to the far end of the arrival hall in an attempt to leave. Despite not having anything to declare, we were directed to the line which was not only for declaring luggage, but to also have bags opened and gone through by customs officials. I understand that this is their job, and it must be difficult. But there wasn't a single member of staff on duty that didn't shout or yell at, each and every arriving passenger. We waited in the queue for goods to declare for over an hour. Finally we were stood a line for training for the trainee drug dogs. I know the dogs need to be trained... but it would have been nice to be asked if we wanted to take part in the training, rather than just sticking us in a line for an extra hour - with a connecting flight waiting for us. It was incredibly stressful for everyone.

On the way back, we flew Emirates. Our flight 2:35am. We arrived at 11:15pm. Over 3 hours early. We were greeted by an enormous queue, but no signs indicating that this was where we need to go. So we didn't know it for us. We approached a member of staff, who only spoke to my husband and treated me like I didn't exist. He was so rude. We were sent to the back of the line. We were checked in. All we needed to do was bag drop.. but all automated bag drops had been shut off for the night. So thousands of us waited in this nightmare queue for 3 overworked and underpaid staff to get our bags onto the plane. It took about 2 hours of waiting in line and dropping the bags. We went through to International Departure to find that not a single thing was open( except a skeletal Duty Free). Anywhere to get food, drinks, books, magazines, gifts etc we're all closed.. even WH Smith and the 7 11 were closed. How can Melbourne Airport be offering itself as an international Airport, run flights for 24 per day, but then close every single feature that might provide any comfort to passengers at all? It's terrible. My preference is to never fly into Melbourne airport again, which means I'll never go to Melbourne again, most likely. Oh, one more thing there are signs everywhere warning passengers to not be intimidating, argumentative, or abusive to staff. All I saw on this most recent trip back into Melbourne (4 flights in total), is that it's the airport staff doing the abusing. It's offensive. It's intimidating. It's awful. I think staff need more training, and Melbourne airport needs a complete overhaul of its policies...

If there is a ranking for “most abysmal airport experience,” Melbourne Airport would win by a landslide. This place is the epitome of chaos, filth, and incompetence — a third-world masquerade pretending to be an international gateway. I’ve traveled extensively, and yet I have never encountered an airport this appallingly mismanaged.

Let’s start with the absolute circus that is the drop-off and pick-up system. Why Uber, DiDi, and taxis are relegated to three different car park zones — each less logical than the last — is beyond comprehension. Uber drops you on level 4, but pickups? Ground floor. As if hauling luggage up and down like a pack mule is part of the “Melbourne experience.” And when you finally try to use the lifts, they’re so outdated and grimy that there’s an actual gap wide enough to eat your suitcase whole. Any sane airport designer would’ve anticipated that luggage — the very purpose of being at an airport — should not get wedged into death-trap gaps.

Then you stumble out of the lift only to be greeted by a minefield of pointless speed bumps. Nothing screams “welcome to Australia” like dragging your suitcase across jarring silver humps designed to destroy your wheels and your sanity. Elderly passengers? Disabled travelers? Good luck. Melbourne Airport seems allergic to the concept of assistance — unless you’ve pre-booked it weeks in advance, in which case maybe, just maybe, you won’t be left to fend for yourself. Compare that to Changi, where human dignity is actually respected, and you realize how utterly shameful this place is.

Step into the terminal and brace yourself: the staff barely make eye contact, customer service is nonexistent, and the entire atmosphere reeks of disdain. The employees look like they despise their jobs — and frankly, after seeing this cesspool of an airport, I can’t blame them. But still, the attitude drips with hostility, making you feel like an inconvenience simply for existing.

Next stop: security and the food court. After zig-zagging up, down, sideways, and diagonally through the labyrinthine design, you’re spat out into the most disgraceful excuse for a food court I’ve ever seen. Sticky tables, food scraps strewn across the floor, bins overflowing — it’s a smelly, unhygienic nightmare. Forget sitting down for a meal; the tables are revolting, the chairs are sticky, and the floors are too filthy to even consider as an alternative. Unless you’ve mastered levitation, there’s literally nowhere sanitary to sit.

As for the gates? If your flight leaves from anywhere remotely far, like gate 46, prepare to marinate in overcrowded misery. The seating is filthy, the layout is claustrophobic, and the bathrooms? Utterly vile. Unflushed toilets, wet floors, and zero upkeep. Melbourne Airport clearly doesn’t believe in even the most basic hygiene standards.

In short: Melbourne Airport is an international disgrace. It is chaotic, disgusting, and utterly demeaning to every passenger who has to endure it. If Australia wants to be taken seriously on the world stage, this airport should either be gutted and rebuilt from scratch or razed to the ground and started over. Until then, flying into or out of Melbourne is less a journey and more...