Brisbane Transit Time

12 replies

KJR

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 14 Sep 2018

Total posts 9

Not sure if this is the place to post, but I am travelling SYD-BNE-NRT with three kids in January. Flying Qantas, originally with 3 hours between domestic & International flights, but Qantas have brought forward BNE-NRT by 30 mins and cancelled my 6.30 flight SYD-BNE so I now only have 1h50 between flights. I'm on one ticket, so can apparently check through from Syd Domestic, but I'm still worried about transit time, especially if domestic flight is delayed. Do you think I should I be considering overnight in BNE and remove concern about transfer? Thanks

anonymous

Member since 24 Dec 2013

Total posts 159

You'll be fine. I had a 1hr 40min domestic to international connection last week. I still had enough time to queue up at the TRS counter and eat something at the lounge.

mspcooper

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 09 May 2013

Total posts 442

I think Qantas has their own bus (unless they use sky bus), both are approximately on 15-20mins cycle. The trip is 4-5 mins. If you have no bags, immigration and security is incredibly fast in BNE (with smart gates). You have'nt mentioned if it is 6:30am or 6:30pm. Mornings can be quite busy at security, but 1hr 50m is still adequate. 6:30pm should be straight forward.

wdeguara

Etihad - Etihad Guest

Member since 06 Apr 2012

Total posts 93

The bright orange coloured Terminal Transfer bus runs every 10 minutes in front of the Qantas domestic terminal at that time of morning. Trip time between the domestic and international terminals is about 10 minutes. (It's a free service). So, you should be fine if the inbound flight is on-time. I would recommend though once you hop off the bus that you do head straight down to Customs as the queue to process passengers at that time of morning can be quite long - especially since they introduced the full body scanners. Here's details (and a nice picture) of the bus in question. Make sure to check with the driver that it's headed straight to the International Terminal when you hop on: https://bne.com.au/passenger/to-and-from/terminal-transfers

Stephen D

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 12 Nov 2017

Total posts 42

I have had to do this in the past and had a 1:30 gap, but it was tight as security was so slow (in spite of the priority lane). Had no time in the lounge and had to board immediately. My least favourite airport in Australia... to change between Domestic and International.

djtech

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 02 Sep 2018

Total posts 375

Buses tend to be a bit of a wait to transfer between Domestic and International. If the bus has just departed, then it would be faster to walk. Either way, security customs are all pretty efficient. Through checking should help with this as well.

henrus

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 23 Oct 2013

Total posts 766

Buses tend to be a bit of a wait to transfer between Domestic and International. If the bus has just departed, then it would be faster to walk. Either way, security customs are all pretty efficient. Through checking should help with this as well.

Um... we are talking about Brisbane here.

The terminals are 2km apart and walking would take 20-25 minutes - also noting that there isn't a footpath that connects the two terminals so you'd be walking on grass along the side of the road (If you even knew where to go in the first place).

Brisbane airport runs a free shuttle bus that departs every 10 minutes (takes around 5 minutes) and it leaves from outside the domestic terminal on the curbside. You just need to look for the orange bus and matching orange bus stop to find it.

Qantas used to operate a bus for Qantas passengers only but that stopped over a year ago now.

I'd ask if they can give you some express pass cards at Sydney domestic (to use the priority lane at Brisbane International security). It'd be worth noting that if you were connecting via Sydney they give them out when boarding the transfer bus, so I don't see why Qantas couldn't give you some for Brisbane.

Your chances are good (Brisbane's not that hard to navigate) however if you didn't make the connection Qantas would either fly you back down to Sydney for the evening Qantas flight to Haneda, put you up overnight in Brisbane (and fly a day later) or fly you via Singapore/Hong Kong with a connection on a partner airline.

BJ01

Virgin Australia - Velocity Rewards

Member since 07 Dec 2015

Total posts 57

All things being equal, no problems. Security will be the only variable. That's a busier time of the morning and I've had varying experiences at that time. The Smart Gates make the Customs process so much quicker now.

And no, you won't be walking between terminals as someone suggested above!

tommygun

Delta Air Lines - SkyMiles

Member since 16 Oct 2017

Total posts 282

If there happened to be problems with the bus service you can also catch the train, though it doesn't operate as often.

Mightyreds

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 09 Feb 2015

Total posts 69

You should not have too many issues. It would be worth phoning Qantas and asking them to put you on an earlier flight to Brisbane if one is available (6:00am). If available there should not be any costs for changing this as they have cancelled your original flight. Good luck

Red Cee

Member since 15 Feb 2018

Total posts 151

If it is all on the one ticket, you won’t have any problems. As already stated, the orange T Buses do the transfers between the domestic and international terminals. Very frequent at quick.

KJR

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 14 Sep 2018

Total posts 9

You should not have too many issues. It would be worth phoning Qantas and asking them to put you on an earlier flight to Brisbane if one is available (6:00am). If available there should not be any costs for changing this as they have cancelled your original flight. Good luck

Earliest QF that day is 07.00, which we are on. There's an 06.05 deathstar, but wouldn't risk that!

KJR

Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer

Member since 14 Sep 2018

Total posts 9

Thanks everyone. We'll risk the transfer, and thanks for the express pass idea - I'll chase that up when we check in.

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