Brisbane Airport

✅ Trip Verified | Sitting now in the Airside domestic departures lounge near the Merlo Espresso kiosk and looking above it. The high walls around the air vents are filthy and there’s thick dust sitting on the top of the wall mounted speaker. Just hope none of it drops on the food or drinks!

Not Verified | Dropped off my daughter today around lunch time. We were going to have some sushi for lunch. Not only was it closed at least half the eateries were shut. No matter, let's go find you something to read on the plane, noP. Looks like even the book shop was closed permanently. As an international airport, it's a disgrace. Kind of ironic as my daughter is going to London via Changi. From possibly the worst international airport in the world to the best. Brisbane international is a disgrace.

Not Verified | Brisbane International Arrivals is a disgrace to the city I live in! I’ve just returned from travelling abroad where every other country I’ve been to (even the much poorer ones) has a better, nicer, friendlier, more helpful, cleaner, better set out arrivals platform than my own city! I’ve seen better looking stockyards. This is the best first impressions you can do for people around the world Brisbane! The staff consistently act like they are herding cattle, are rude, look depressed, and obviously hate it too.

Not Verified | Was at the Brisbane international airport on the 27 April at around 11.50 am. Almost all restaurants bar and the food court was closed. Only one café was open which was totally overpriced. The airport itself is clean and nice but the service is terrible. A real disappointment.

Not Verified | I don't have a ticket, I was picking up someone. The go around avenue is closed. There is a roadblock there. It wasn't very busy, but we didn't see our pickup, so we went to go around. You can't, you just get sent back out onto the major thoroughfare. There are no u-turn signs the entire way so they are aware of the problem. We will be back, when it is busy and will just double park wherever we like. We won't be attempting to come back around until that is made possible again.

Not Verified | My least favourite international airport. Its ugly, inefficient and slow. At every other international Airport one can clear immigration and customs within an hour, Brisbane averages 2 hours every time. The staff are often rude and condescending. I'm an Australian and I hate to think our first impression to other nationalities. No kids play area. No kids facilities in bathrooms like lower sinks. Shops are terribly dull unless you want to buy ugg boots and postcards. Sadly unavoidable as I'm a keen shopper but literally the thought of Brisbane Airport fills me with dread.

Not Verified | Inept security. Having travelled through 55 countries Brisbane airport is the only one to continue to try and bully me into disconnecting from my medical device. I know my rights and stand my ground. After 20 minutes this time they relented and did the standard pat down which is standard procedure. They are risking people's lives by not knowing or simply not caring to follow procedure

Not Verified | I travel regularly on international flights and often arrive at Brisbane International airport. On the past dozen arrivals in the last 6 months, my e-passport doesn’t work in the machines available and I am told to join the queue for the passports that don’t work in the machines available. Normally it’s not a problem as the roping system allows passengers to merge in the queue with others instead of going right to the back of the line again. Today when my passport didn’t work in the machine I merged in the line as usual but some passengers in front of me took offence and called the immigration official to intervene. On arrival, the officious official told me to get to the back of the queue which I did and waited 50 minutes in line to get to the counter. I don’t think I’ve waited that long in a line at an airport anywhere even when there were a thousand people inbound. Brisbane Airport wake up, Get your staff on the counters instead of having them standing around in the background talking to each other and get those machines working, you’re hopeless.

Not Verified | I am a permanent resident in Australia. Have been for 15 years. Every time I return from international travel to Brisbane, the passport control manning levels are very low. On my most recent return there was 1 booth being operated for the ‘all other passports queue’ which was significant. It took me >1 hr to get through. Others much longer. Crying babies, small tired children, elderly etc. sitting on dirty vinyl floor in a queue that won’t move. If you are from australia or have an e-passport, there is little wait time. Seems the harassment (which is what I call it when there’s ample border patrol standing around in the terminal) is exclusive for those not so lucky.

✅ Trip Verified | All in all, Brisbane is a satisfactory airport. Far from perfect, and there's a lot of room for improvement, but it's still satisfactory. I'd rather Brisbane (or Gold Coast or Perth) be my primary port of entry than Sydney or Melbourne, if I'm being perfectly honest. I'll start off with what I like. First, the overall friendly personnel in the airport. I only remember ever dealing with a truly unfriendly ticketing agent at the train station at the international terminal, as well as a gruff (but not rude) ticketing agent for a Qantas flight. Other than them, it didn't matter if I was there early in the morning or sometime in the afternoon, ticketing agents, security personnel, gate agents, and store staff were all pleasant and helpful. Second, the domestic and international terminals are very spacious and comfortable, if still stuck in the late 1990s-early 2000s. But they are clean, well-kept and laid out orderly, in my experience. Thirdly, the signage is generally good arriving at the airport by vehicle and within the airport, but you do have to pay closer attention to signage as you're driving away from the airport en route for the city, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, etc. Fourthly, the speed of which security and immigration lines are processed has always been expedient and efficient, as I've never had to wait any more than five minutes for either. Now, this airport does have some major flaws. First flaw, the rideshare pickup area (e.g., Ola, Uber) is poorly indicated, and not that easily accessible even if you're paying attention to signage. Second flaw, if you want to transfer between the domestic and international terminals, you have to get on the Brisbane city train just to travel between those terminals. This means, yes, you have to pay for a train ticket! That's honestly asinine. Third flaw, the airport or Brisbane Council should improve the signage for outgoing traffic toward the City, Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Toowoomba, etc. Fourth flaw, while I realize that this airport isn't nearly as busy as Sydney, Melbourne Tullamarine, or even Auckland, it would be nice to at least have a couple of extra kiosks open for snacks, wine and beer during peak traffic hours. In summary, Brisbane is a fine and friendly airport, if not a little disjointed and "time-warpy" and this description is really apt for the Greater Brisbane area as well.