Travel delays Australia: Warning over international travel this winter

Another applicant, who didn't wish to be named, said she has been waiting more than 10 weeks for her daughter's passport ahead of a trip to Turkey.

"I went to the Sydney passport office on Tuesday, and the queues were too long, so I just left. So I went back on Wednesday just after 7am and there were already about 300 people," said the Marrickville mum.

Although she has since received an update that the passport is on the way, the delay has left her family in holiday planning limbo, as they require passport details to apply for visas and COVID-19 certificates.

"When we applied it was more than three months [before our trip]. And there's no ability to check your passport application status online," she said.

Travel insurance is unlikely to cover any expenses incurred as a result of passports or other documentation not arriving in time for scheduled travel.

"The COVID-19 pandemic might have seen a lot of people ignore the expiry of their passport, causing them to apply at late notice for a renewal and overloading the processing times," said Canstar finance expert Steve Mickenbecker.

"Travel insurers will generally exclude any claims for cancellation for not having the relevant visa, passport or other travel documents."

With forecasts showing a significant increase in international travel throughout June and July, staffing remains an issue at many of Australia's major airports ahead of the upcoming peak winter travel period.

Melbourne Airport has been working with partners to recruit new staff; it recently held a jobs fair to attract local residential workers.

"Many of the delays experienced over Easter were the result of airline-specific issues, and they have also been working to ensure those aren't repeated," a Melbourne Airport spokesperson said, adding that July international passenger numbers are up around 25 per cent on June.

Sydney Airport CEO Georgg Culbert said of the 15,000 jobs lost at the airport during the pandemic, there's still 5000 to fill across 800 organisations.

The airport is scaling up its recruitment efforts by holding a jobs fair on June 16 at the T1 International Terminal.

"Labour shortages are hitting every sector in the economy, and we want to thank everyone who is travelling during this period for their patience as we rebuild the sector," Culbert said.

"Our security contractor and ground handlers have been advertising jobs since December and have brought 500 staff on board since the start of the year, but they have another 1200 roles to go, which is incredibly challenging in this market."

Brisbane Airport is also working to recruit more frontline staff, as they prepare for daily international passenger numbers to surge between 8000 and 9000 a day.

Passengers are also being encouraged to take measures such as pre-booking taxis, Ubers or airport parking, staying up-to-date on security checkpoint requirements, and arriving three hours early.

Qantas has been working with airport operators on ways to prevent the type of congestion at security checkpoints seen during the last peak Easter travel period.

The national carrier is also adding extra staff at check-in areas, queue combers and additional signage across its terminals.

The July school holiday warning comes as Melbourne and Sydney domestic airport crowds spiked ahead of the Queen's Birthday weekend, with long queues forming early Friday morning and reports of some passengers missing flights due to delays.

By Friday afternoon, Qantas had recorded an above-average number of flight cancellations, (about 7 per cent from Melbourne, and 10 per cent from Sydney), according to airport departure data.