Brisbane Airport

We are frequent travelers to Australia and Brisbane Airport has always been a great experience for us, far better than our experiences in Sydney, Melbourne and Gold Coast airports.

My worst experience ever going through passport control and immigration. My wifes passport failed to read so they put us both in the manual check line, which wasn't too bad, but then the customs check line was lengthy and not well controlled. We got in one line, only to find that it had been redirected, there were multiple lines going around the area - all of them long. Finally, faced with missing our next flight, we cut in line - twice. When we finally got to the head of the line there was a single civil servant slowly waving people through.

Coming back into Brisbane there were not enough staff to accomodate the amount of big planes that landed. Queues that stretched over 100 metres wound round and out the customs hall. Shocking wait after a huge flight. On top of that the electronic passport checker was faulty and had to close putting even more pressure on the ones that were open.

The queue takes between 1.5 and 2 hours to pass through immigration. And yes this happens every-time. The airport itself is very nice, clean and organised. I truly cant believe that there are no more than two immigration officers at a time servicing hundreds of travelers. Funds cant be the reason for lack of additional staff, as there are 2 x immigration card jockeys checking cards of travelers in the queues and 1 lady offering the exhausted/frustrated travelers a refreshment. What a terrible way to end a long haul flight.

Brisbane has been my preferred airport in Australia for transit to New Zealand, however my latest experience with a very early morning transit had me questioning that preference. Our plane landed at around 5am and I proceeded to the transit that was closed. I saw around 4 officers inside and waiting as more and more passengers began queuing behind me. An airline official arrived on our side of the gate and called out to the staff that there were 30-40 passengers now queuing at the door. A response was yelled back "we have no female officers so you'll have to wait". We waited around 15 minutes until they finally opened the door. After 6 hours overnight on a plane queuing at a closed door is the last thing you want to experience. They could at least have processed the male passengers but chose not to.

I have always commended Brisbane Airport for their speedy processing times. However, despite being given an express card onboard, there was nobody directing people who didn't have express cards to queue in the non express lines. There seems to be a shortage of employees, who quite frankly don't have a clue about what they're doing. It took over an hour to be processed this morning. Everybody was complaining about what a circus it was. Seriously, bring back the old system.

I was coming back from a holiday in Italy on July 8th with my family and after almost two days of travelling we were directed by airport staff to a line reserved for family with children and I was glad to see that they finally did something to make life for parents and kids easier especially after a long flight. However I was wrong to think that because the line we were in was the longest and most painful I experienced with just one officer checking passports keeping us waiting for more than 1 hour. The worse part was that our line (family line with children) was queuing and it was extremely slow while there was hardly any queues in the rest of the lines for passengers with no children. My frustration was unbearable especially when you are surrounded by children crying and screaming.

This is my first visit to the international terminal since the renovations took place. The tilted hall looks a little cold and harsh at the moment but then again the newly planted trees have not grown and will probably soften that effect soon enough. Having a small food court at one end and three bars and coffee shops in the other areas gives an impression of a luxury end and poor end to the hall. Have not had the bad experience through immigration or customs that others complain about. The far flung gates can feel very distant and empty with few services bar those that exist in the central hall.

I've been through approximately 20 different international airports and don't understand why everyone is giving Brisbane such a bad rap. After reading through a few reviews I don't believe anybody has really experienced anything that could warrant such low ratings. Is the airport easy to get to? Yes. Do I feel safe in this airport? Yes there's no need for soldiers to be stationed there or paramilitary with automatic weapons at every vantage point. Is it easy to navigate? It's small and fairly open so yes. Are the staff culturally sensitive and ethical? In my experience yes you're not going be searched here because you haven't covered your tattoos or have to worry about security staff confiscating your items so they can pocket it. And neither are you going to be separated into different queues based on your gender. Are the queues that long? There's definitely room for improvement but in no way is it anywhere near the worst I've experienced elsewhere. Clean? Every time I've been through it's clean.

Shocking customs and immigration queues. They know how many international airlines are arriving at the same time so why don't they add more staff. Trying to be an international destination with regional staffing!