Brisbane Airport - international to domestic terminal.

Hello all - looking for a definitive answer please.
We have through tickets Auckland - Brisbane - Cairns with Air NZ/Virgin.
Are our bags likely to be ticketed through to Cairns? I'm assuming not as we would have to clear immigration and bio-security?
Secondly, how do we get from the international arrivals terminal to domestic departures. We will each have a suitcase and a cabin bag and neither of us is as sprightly as we used to be! We arrive at 11.05 and our flight to Cairns leaves at 13.30 - is this enough time?
Thanks in advance

You will have to collect your bags in Brisbane - the only bags that would be exempt would be for passengers in transit through to another international port (Asia, etc).

A quick search reveals this:

Catch Airtrain between the Domestic and International terminals at Brisbane Airport. It takes only 2 minutes to transfer between the terminals on one of Airtrain's frequent services. For passengers travelling on connecting Virgin Australia flights, a transfer between terminals is provided at no charge.

As codeshare partners with Virgin Australia, I expect this would also apply to Air NZ ticket-holders. I think your connection times are sufficient, even if it took an hour to disembark, clear immigration, and collect your bags.

There's a bit of a walk over to the train station and then in again when using the train for an International/domestic transfer and so it adds another 10 minutes each way for some people, especially if taking luggage.

There is also a transfer bus and that will likely leave from right outside the terminal and thus save you something of a walk, it complimentary for incoming or outgoing passengers.
http://www.bne.com.au/airport-transfer-bus

11.05 to 13.30 ought to be sufficient time for a transfer, including getting luggage and checking in.

All flights on one ticket have been well calculated. Airlines wont sell a flight if it didnt adequately cover the time between flights. After all, they arent in the business if having to put passengers on the next flight if avoidable. You should also have received instructions from Air New Zealand as to what would happen at your transfer point.

All flights on one ticket have been well calculated. Airlines wont sell a flight if it didnt adequately cover the time between flights.

Our OP could have bought the two tickets separately.

Could have. So you aren't assuming as well??

Could have. So you aren't assuming as well?? Its a fair guess given the airline and where from, its on one ticket.

I assume and infer nothing much ... if the OP needs to ask the question about the adequacy of the connection time then perhaps they were bought separately.

Nope - they were bought as one ticket. Auckland - Brisbane - Cairns. Being unfamiliar with Brisbane Airport I just wondered what the procedures were for onward travel within Australia and how long it was likely to take to go from the international to the domestic terminal.

Well, you have your answer. Yes - you will have to collect your bags, and no, it's not very far or long to the Domestic Terminal.

Two sectors on one ticket does not automatically guarantee a connection.

However, I think 2.5 hours is ample for this transfer, although one or more of these factors may contribute to slower progress:

• late arrival of the inbound flight
• congestion in arrivals
• what you have in your luggage

If you have an ePassport/biometric passport (with a chip), you can use one of the SmartGates on arrival in Brisbane to avoid engagement with the odiously-named Border Force officials at immigration. (NZ also has SmartGates, which are smarter than the ones in AU because they have only one stage of processing, so you can get some practice with them there.)

On the other hand, if the queues on the SmartGates are long (it takes about one minute for each person to pass, so do the calculation), you may be better off using a gate staffed by an odiously-named official.

• https://www.border.gov.au/Trav/Ente/Goin/Arrival/Smartgateor-ePassport

Depending on what you have in your luggage, you may have to submit to further examination. Foodstuffs, plant matter, wooden carvings, and dirty hiking gear, among other things, can all be problematic.

The link provided by #2 is on the right track, but this is a better page. Look under 'transfer information':

• http://www.bne.com.au/passenger-information

Two sectors on one ticket does not automatically guarantee a connection.

In most of the real world it certainly does.

Foodstuffs, plant matter, wooden carvings, and dirty hiking gear, among other things, can all be problematic.

Presumably our OP is savvy enough to arrive in a clean Nothing To Declare state.

NOTE TO OP: YOU WILL BE FINE!

Jetstar in NZ have been known to not honour a connection from domestic to international.

Not flying Jetstar. Will be coming from NZ en route to Cairns with Air NZ/ Virgin. I was just nervous about Brisbane Airport's international to domestic arrangements.We've only transited BNE on our way to Asia/Europe before, so don't know the procedure for transferring to an internal Australian flight.

Jetstar in NZ have been known to not honour a connection from domestic to international.

I did say the real world.

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