How long does it take to change terminals at Brisbane Airport?

Minimum Connection Times

The “minimum connection time” is the amount of time between the scheduled arrival of one flight to the scheduled departure of the next that is generally considered to be “doable” for a transfer. It’s not typically possible to book flights with a shorter transfer time than the minimum connection time. At Brisbane Airport, those times are:

• Domestic to Domestic transfers: 30 minutes
• Domestic to International: 90 minutes
• International to Domestic: 90 minutes
• International to International: 50 minutes

Keep in mind a couple of things though:

• if there are circumstances that affect your ability to move around reasonably quickly (or even if it’s just a case of you knowing you can get yourself rather lost navigating around airports), book flights with more transfer time.
• certain airlines and flight combinations require more (and occasionally less) transfer time than the minimum times posted above, so it’s always best to check with your airline. Generally speaking, if a flight combination can be booked through the official airline website, then it is a combination that meets the minimum connection time requirement.
• the minimum transfer time doesn’t guarantee that you’ll make your connecting flight – airlines won’t necessarily hold your connecting flight for you. In most cases though, assuming you booked your flights on one ticket, your airline should take care of you and reschedule you onto an alternate flight if you end up missing your originally booked connection.
• you will need more time if your flights are on separate tickets! Booking flights on separate tickets carry a number of risks, and these risks will be exacerbated if you have a tight connection. Minimum connection times are not good reference points for flights booked on separate tickets.

Terminal Transfer Time

Moving between the domestic and international terminals is a relatively straightforward process. Brisbane Airport offers a complimentary terminal transfer bus which operates from 4am to 1:30am every day. The service runs once approximately every 10 minutes, and the journey itself is only about 5 minutes.

• International to Domestic: the bus picks up passengers from the bus stop on level 2 of the international terminal building
• Domestic to International: the bus picks up passengers in front of the Qantas and Virgin ends of the terminal – just look for the orange transfer bus stops. There’s a display at the stop showing upcoming bus times.

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