Brisbane Airport

As a regular travelling through both the international and domestic terminals at Brisbane Airport I thought I would add my comments here. Compared to many airports throughout the world I have travelled through Brisbane Airport compares very favourably. Airbridges and steps to the aircraft tend to arrive quickly (unlike Heathrow for example) and immigration is mostly very efficient although I would recommend evening arrivals rather than early morning arrivals if you can plan it that way. Sitting next to passengers arriving from other countries I have noticed some confusion regarding transferring to the domestic terminal which is only about a kilometre or so away from the international terminal on the same airport and suburban trains are available for the transfer. However an odd problem I have noticed is that many in Australia seem to confuse the term 'terminal' with 'airport'. This means that you may be asked to transfer to the 'domestic airport' when arriving at the international terminal in Brisbane. Please do not be dismayed. This is in fact the 'domestic terminal' which is located on the same airport. There is no other airline-used 'domestic airport' in Brisbane separate from the main Brisbane Airport (as would be the case for example in Bangkok) The same issue applies in Sydney where the domestic and international terminals are located on the same airport despite what the confusing signs may tell you. The other main issue with Brisbane Airport is that although many flights now arrive from international destinations between 1030pm and 1am there are no trains into the city at all after about 7.30pm. The railway authorities do not seem to have realised this need. Otherwise both domestic and international terminals offer good shopping with airy walkways and plenty of parking and plenty of taxis are usually available.

Used arrivals and departures at both domestic and international terminals recently. The international terminal reminded very much of Hong Kong. Very spacious and everything seems to run smoothly. The time to wait in security queues was minimal and there were plenty of food and shopping options. The domestic terminal is a bit more tacky but good nevertheless. Very good airport.

Used BNE to get to and from Canberra recently. Flight departed at 9.15am and must say the airport was practically dead. Bag drop was quick at Virgin and security staff were nice. Got pulled up about carrying food products on board and although professional they were still humane about it all. On the way back landing at 2pm airport was sort of being used to say the least. Baggage collection was quick and Airtrain was waiting right there. Although the airport is old it is still very functional and easy to use.

Landing at BNE in the morning is a bit of a mess baggage control cant seem to handle more then one plane load at a time which forms massive queues the whole stretch of the conveyor belts. weird thing is the occasional security guard will come up to you and stamp your landing card to enable you to skip this and go fasttrack - although this is pure luck and also raises the question of why have the screenings in the first place if 30% of people slip through this? Departing the airport is pretty good easy checkin desks nice airport seats despite there appearances and relatively quick luggage screenings - staff on the day were helpful and friendly - a rare thing to find in an airport!

Big changes at Brisbane International. The most obvious is the passport control/security bottleneck has been addressed by moving the security in front of passport control. So now the lines don't get held up by security. The new extensions are apparently going to increase the size of the terminal by 66%. The new north air bridge is really nice with leather seats lots of tables and additional F&B outlets.

Traveled domestically to and from Melbourne with my football team. We arrived at 6am and used Qantas' group check in. By 6.30 the bag drop line (which we didnt have to use) took some passengers over 45 minutes to check their bags in. Security was no problem at all and took only a few minutes during rush hour. Terminal is always very clean and tidy. On our return our flight was over an hour late and arrived just before 9.30pm. We arrived to a completely empty airport meaning our bags were collected rather fast. Brisbane is such a great airport both domestic and international only if they could increase the train services to the city.

First time using Brisbane on Transit from Melbourne to Nadi. Based on experience I will avoid at all costs in future. Main issue is the lack of security staff and machines once going through immigration relative to number of passengers using the airport (exacerbated by stricter US Flight requirements). The security section is immediately after immigration (and I mean only 5-10 meters) and as a result the lines can back up quickly. It got to the point on the day we went through that they stopped processing passengers through immigration so the back log could clear meaning some passengers were late for their flights. Brisbane if you want to play with the big boys your International Airport needs serious work to compete. On a small point the terminal itself is miles form the end of the runway (depending on which way the wind is blowing).

Have travelled through BNE International terminal 7 times over the last few months and it seems to almost be a tale of two airports. Outbound I have no problem whatsoever there are rarely any queues (of more than a few minutes long) for security and passport control. Check in is always a breeze again I have never queued for more than a minute or two. The facilities once you get through customs/security are fine too. There's a fair selection of eateries and seating and it's generally clean and tidy. Coming back is a different matter - I've had queues of up to 45 minutes for immigration (as a non-Australian passport holder) and the same again for quarantine. Just what you need after a 24 hour plus flight.

Transfer from Brisbane Domestic Terminal to Brisbane International Terminal seamless. Quick ride across on Airtrain link. Check-in at Qantas was fast with only a short queue. However a long queue was encountered at customs which resulted in a half an hour 'crawl' to the customs officer. Customs officer was polite and at this time every customs station was manned. Another 20 minute wait to pass through security. It appears that queues form in the morning (as I encountered) but afternoons are quite relaxed as shown when arriving at 4.30PM. Quick check through immigration and customs again with polite customs staff. Bags quick to be out on carousel. Departing from aircraft to leaving terminal would have been 25 minutes. Prefer Brisbane and Melbourne International Airports over Sydney.

Checked in on line so went to bag drop & then to security check all in 5 minutes. Arrival - walked from plane to baggage claim to find bags already on belt. Good variety of shopping/eating outlets for domestic terminal. The only failure is the airtrain. It doesnt run after 8pm & with many domestic flights arriving & departing after this plus international departures it would make sense to run it longer as it offers a good service.