Perth International Airport

As distinct from Perth domestic airport, which is another story entirely.

So for a start, the international terminal in Perth (Australia, not Scotland), is not really anywhere near the domestic terminal.  It’s about another 15 minute drive from there.  Getting a taxi to the international terminal from the centre of town will cost roughly AU$40 if you don’t hit traffic, about AU$55 if you hit peak hour traffic.

The good?  Uhhh…I’m struggling to think of anything nice to say really.  Oh!  Immigration queues and quarantine queues are relatively short!  That is if you don’t land straight after the flights in from Bali and get stuck behind the 500 people who all brought back wood carvings that have to clear quarantine inspection.

The not so good?  Where to start? Getting a taxi.  You land at the airport after having travelled for the last 24+ hours.  You’re jetlagged.  You’re pissed off.  You just want to get home and crash.  So you go out to the taxi rank after clearing immigration and customs…Only to find there’s no taxis.  Which is so totally useful when 3 full flights just landed.  So then you spend the next 90 minutes waiting in a queue only to find your taxi driver doesn’t know where they’re going (despite the in car GPS).  So you can’t even have a nap in the taxi since you’re having to give the driver directions.  Though how the hell a taxi driver doesn’t know how to get to Subiaco from the airport is truly beyond me.  And unless you’re going to the CBD, there’s no airport shuttles or anything.  The taxi problem I suppose can largely be blamed on the taxi company.  But the complete lack of alternative transport (train/shuttle buses/public transport/other) is really a problem that Perth Airport needs to address as a matter of urgency.

Then lets go with the airport lounges.  I’m a Qantas FF who has Qantas Lounge access.  It would be nice if the lounge had more extended opening hours rather than simply opening it 2 hours before the next Qantas (OneWorld) flight leaves.  Honestly, I’d rather go over to the domestic terminal and use the lounge in there than use the one in the international terminal.  It is pathetically sub-standard.  This is a Qantas issue, but you would think that the airport would do something to get them to improve the situation.

Airport shopping?  Almost non-existant.  Pre-security screening there’s a few shops.  Mostly Australiana, a few food outlets, a newsagent and a tacky costume jewellery shop.  Post-security in the departure area?  Woefully inadequate.  Perth is in the strange situation that quite a few flights depart between midnight and 2am.  Apparently most of the shops figure that they don’t need to open at this time of night.  Despite flights leaving for Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore…So seriously, be thankful to the shopping Gods if anything is open at that time of night other than the newsagent.  The newsagent/bookstore is ok, if not understocked.  It’s pretty small, so don’t expect much more than the current bestsellers and a few other popular titles.  They sell magazines and the usual snacks.

The coffee shop is the only place in the departure area to get food (unless you have airline lounge access, but then see my rant above about the Qantas lounge).  But be grateful if it’s open, or staffed.  There is a mini Eagle Boys (pizza place, compare with Pizza Hut) next to the coffee shop, but in all the times I’ve been through Perth airport, I’ve never once seen it open or staffed.  So I don’t know if it’s actually operating.  Other than that there are no food places in the departure lounge.

There’s Australiana type shops that sell the usual tacky souveneirs.  There’s a Rip Curl shop.  There’s a jewellery shop that sells the usual tourist souveneirs like opals and such.  There’s a duty free alcohol shop.  There’s duty free electronics shop (which I might point out has a seriously limited range of stock).  I wanted a spare battery for my DSLR, and lo and behold, they didn’t have any.  Don’t rely on them having what you want unless you call them beforehand to make sure they have it.  There’s duty free beauty stuff like perfume and makeup.  Though I wouldn’t buy it in Perth to be honest.  Buy it in Singapore.  Even with the current exchange rate, you’ll still get a much better deal in Asia.

And there’s no luxury goods store!  No Gucci!  No Louis Vuitton!  No Prada!  No nothing!  Ok, I realise that Perth isn’t a huge airport and couldn’t support standalone stores for all the usual suspects.  But would it be too much trouble to have even one sort of luxury goods store that sold any of that kind of thing?  That’s the kind of thing that people have some interest in buying duty free because of the sheer cost of it otherwise.  But to have nothing?

Lets just say that Perth international airport is in a pretty sad state of affairs.  It’s my understanding that they’re currently in the process of shifting the domestic terminal over to the international terminal.  Maybe with the increased number of passengers going through the future combined airport, the whole situation will improve.  But as it stands, I hate Perth international.  It’s a pain in the ass to get to.  It has sub-standard facilities.  It’s a pain in the ass to get a taxi home.  Right now I seriously struggle to say anything nice about it.