"not good for non-English speakers"
Peter Yang (Australia)
Not Verified | Good for regular or local travellers, but not good for non-English speakers or first-time travelers. If you arrive in Australia for the first time, Sydney and Melbourne airport would be more friendly, making more sense to you therefore much better than Brisbane airport. However, Brisbane airport is cleaner and less crowded.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | July 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"The experience was painful"
R Vantrex (Australia)
Not Verified | After being crammed into a plane for over 10 plus hours it was a great relief to finally land back home, but l was in for a rude awakening. We disembarked only to be immediately met by huge crowds of passengers cueing up for no obvious reason? there was no airport or customs staff around to direct people or explain where or what to do, after standing in this cue for about 15 minutes with very little progress we decided to leave the cue and just walk into the actual terminal, we saw that people were cueing to use the very few passport scanners, we finally came across a customs officer who directed us to another huge lineup further along, to reach the main bank of passport scanners you are made to walk back and forth with all your luggage like an idiot along a long cordoned off maze, it is a very long walk because you are forced to walk back and forth so many times, its ridiculous. Same story with picking up our suitcases from the conveyor, once you have the rest of your luggage its maze time again, the amount of walking back and forth along these mazes is just ridiculous and annoying, anyhow yet another checkpoint lineup crowd situation, baggage check time, forced to lineup like a prisoner and have dogs sniff our luggage, made to wait standing in one spot far too long for this to happen, finally released. The experience was painful, no other country l visited had anything like this shamozzle, it was just un organised, poorly set up and frustrating, being jet lagged and tired prob did not help either but when l arrived in Italy l was out of the airport within 20 minutes, arriving home l had to endure nearly 2 hours of checks and controls? not to mention the poor souls who had been waiting for my arrival at the airport for all this time also, just not good enough and a poor way for international tourists to start their Brisbane holiday.
Experience At Airport | Arrival Only |
Date Visit | November 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Family Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"no organisation for passport control"
Serano Nicolai (Australia)
✅ Trip Verified | I arrived at 7am and there was no organisation for passport control. The signage was poor, no staff to help co-ordinate, no logical points where people could join a queue. The passport machines were slow and inadequate for the numbers of people. Then finally an employee turned up and she was hopeless and then when some people expressed annoyance she commented that they got out of bed the wrong way! The arrival crowd were getting angry and frustrated. I travel a lot and this performance was similar to a third world country. I have noticed other complaints/feedback months ago so you have not improved the situation. The anger and frustration is then passed on down the line to your customs officers which is unfair for them. I will return to using Gold Coast airport as its a far better experience. I have to return on the 5th Nov to pick up my travel companion so will see if similar experience for her.
Experience At Airport | Arrival Only |
Date Visit | October 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"Arrival in the domestic terminal was painless"
12 reviews R Purten (Germany)
✅ Trip Verified | Arrival in the domestic terminal was painless, luggage arrived in a timely manner and we were able to leave the airport fairly quickly. On the negative side, there were only two food outlets for passengers arriving hungry from a domestic flight. The taxi pick-up bays were difficult to locate.
Experience At Airport | Arrival Only |
Date Visit | September 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"signage for staff was difficult to find"
12 reviews R Purten (Germany)
✅ Trip Verified | Our domestic flight out of Brisbane was cancelled by Virgin Australia, with only a couple of hours notice. No chance to book the next flight; we were dumped onto a flight four hours later. We only discovered the problem on arrival at the airport; signage for staff was difficult to find. Eating and shopping options on the airside were abundant.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | October 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"security was a breeze"
D Homer (Australia)
Not Verified | Terminal is beautiful and security was a breeze considering it was the busiest time of the day. Staff were also friendly and helpful, you didn’t even need to take your laptops out. On my way back customs took less than a minute as everything was automated. A real improvement from pre-covid! One minor complaint, the estimated walk times to gates should’ve been displayed as some people might find themselves running as they realise how long the terminal is. Speaking of, some people might not appreciate vending machines or walking another 20 minutes back to the food court if they’re hungry.
Experience At Airport | Arrival and Departure |
Date Visit | March 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | yes |
"immigration control was a total disgrace"
Eddie Keane (Australia)
✅ Trip Verified | After a 23 hour flight from Dublin Ireland via Dubai the processing through immigration control was a total disgrace. On entering the duty free hall the queue for passport control stretched all the way out to the ENTRANCE of the Duty free hall. I entered the queue at 7.00 am and exited the immigration control centre at 8.25 am. This processing of people is a totally unacceptable and disgraceful schemozzle and judging by others comments in the queue Brisbane immigration processing is a joke. How keeping people herded through a hall for one and a half hours in 2023 is beyond understanding. An utter disgrace that BAC and Govt personnel are continually spruiking Brisbane airport but I guess when it comes to processing these elites they are fast tracked and don't have to go through the disgraceful, inefficient processing experienced by everyday people. An utter farcical disgrace.
Experience At Airport | Arrival Only |
Date Visit | July 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"I hate Brisbane Airport"
1 reviews Iain McLeod (Australia)
Not Verified | I hate Brisbane Airport and all who have made it a nightmare. Absolutely appalling and probably the worst arrival experience we have ever had. I knew that the arrival experience was bad, ie it has been the last three times we've arrived back in Brisbane; but this was absolutely disgusting. We arrived from Singapore at 7.52 - why is it airlines seem to have the most dreadful departure and arrival times? Got to the first customs where there were queues which if added together would be about half a kilometre. Luckily we are Oz residents and were able to go through quite quickly, ie about 15 minutes; and watched the poor gits in the non residents queue. Off to the luggage bit and some luggage was going around. Then a lot of luggage was going around but most of the luggage belonged to the poor sheep who were still queueing up at customs. 40 minutes later a security chappie came along and asked us questions about our luggage. No idea said me because it hasn't arrived yet. The luggage computer won't allow new luggage to drop from the main carousel unless there is a space (I presume). There was no space because customers were still queuing up to get through custom so the luggage went round and round and round and round. We finally managed to get through the whole dreadful experience one and a half hours later. Been there, done that in the appalling Brisbane International service, and it's an absolute nonsense where us poor people, who have been flying for 30 hours (we did from Edinburgh) then have to wait one and a half hours. Addendum: Just yesterday a cousin arrived from Scotland. It only took one and a quarter hours and along with quite a few money grubbing, car parking airports in the world, you can no longer drive your car to the arrivals and pick up your relative. You have to park 200 metres away where you are allowed a free 10 minutes. I did a circuit and received a free 10 minutes because the lovely parking attendants told me what to do. I eventually gave up and stopped for the next 10 minutes. Cost was $23.
Experience At Airport | Arrival Only |
Date Visit | July 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Couple Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Recommended | no |
"not the way to treat passengers"
J Bee (Australia)
Not Verified | Arrived at Brisbane International Airport at 7am on a Saturday morning. Short delay while waiting for someone to turn up and operate the airbridge. Get through passport control in about five minutes. Get to the baggage hall and find a queue/line that has a line to join the line. The line snakes around the baggage hall before going into a roped off series of lanes. These double back up and down the hall before leading to a further roped off series of lanes. It takes an hour to get through this Customs/Border Force shambles. This is a disgrace. Brisbane International Airport and the Australian Government take a fee from every passenger that passes through the airport. The Airport Company is a monopoly and clearly doesn't care what level of service is provided. To say nothing of the black uniformed "Border Force " agents snapping at lined up passengers for various imagined infringements associated with moving forward in a line. This is not the way to treat passengers. The terminal itself is grubby and dirty. The baggage hall is awful. I can find nothing positive to say about this airport.
Experience At Airport | Arrival Only |
Date Visit | June 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Business |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | N/A |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |
"An embarrassment to the city"
K Sherman (Australia)
Not Verified | Worst Airport in the world. Starts with security staff yelling orders like in the army. When politely replying to them get yelled at more. After immigration its like a ghost town. Every eatery food place closed. Toilets dirty like at a truck stop in the middle of knowhere. An embarrassment to the city.
Experience At Airport | Departure Only |
Date Visit | April 2023 |
Type Of Traveller | Solo Leisure |
Queuing Times | 12345 |
Terminal Cleanliness | 12345 |
Terminal Seating | 12345 |
Terminal Signs | 12345 |
Food Beverages | 12345 |
Airport Shopping | 12345 |
Wifi Connectivity | 12345 |
Airport Staff | 12345 |
Recommended | no |