Brisbane Airport

I arrived mid-morning on a China Airlines flight and transferred onto a Qantas domestic flight. Everything was fine. All queuing and waiting for customs bags and passport control was minimal with our flight and another from Japan arriving at almost exactly the same time. The process of international to domestic transfers is so easy and made pleasant by the Qantas transfer desk (who had to come running after me when i left my boarding pass on the counter). The free train (if you have a boarding pass) makes a good change from Sydney. Domestic has a reasonable range of food places.

Arriving at Brisbane airport was good hence being very far away from baggage claim passport and security although some travelators are provided when coming in on gate 75 but not all the way so whats the point of having them at all. and when departing when entering the terminal there are no screens telling you which check in desks your flight is at all then when buying some chocolate at first duty free before customs and security they tell you to pick it up after having cleared customs and security not good if you are in a hurry. Who came up with such a dumb idea of having security first and then passport control forcing you to line up and stand in a very long line and wait twice which is a total waste of time unlike all other airports where passport control is first and then security flows on from there very smoothly. Once through there are only gate direction signs in some far corner instead of straight in front of you when you leave passport control so you end up asking where to go. And when going to gate 75 which Emirates uses you walk for ages and at the end of it there is a travelator whats the point of having one at all if you have none at the beginning.

Not a big airport by any means and a bit crowded when we were there - however a really excellent facility. It was clean and comfortable and actually had a bit of character. Apart from the normal over-pricing of food etc (and what airport retailer doesn't do this?) this is a great airport and hugely better than SYD or MEL in my opinion.

Travelers to Brisbane airport need to realize that there is no free regular convenient inter terminal shuttle service between domestic and international terminals. The airport web site advises using the 'Airtrain' - or a taxi (they must be joking!) The Airtrain is in fact the regular service to the Gold Coast operating twice an hour so if you just miss one you have to spend 30 frustrated minutes on the platform from which the other terminal is clearly visible at the risk. And the train costs $4.00. (Only travellers arriving and leaving on Qantas flights have complementary travel by train.) There is a further inconvenience: getting yourself and your luggage to and from to the elevated train track; this may involve another $2.00 for the use of a trolley. There is an alternative: the airport-city mini bus service. The fare -- $3 when I last used the service - is paid at a kiosk just outside the arrivals hall and you have to wait nearby while a confusing sequence of mini buses bound for various destinations comes and goes. So inter terminal travel at Brisbane isn't a seamless experience and with trolleys and train fares factored in can cost around $6.00. . No one at the airport seems to be particularly sympathetic to the inconvenience (and cost) of this curious arrangement.

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.