annhig

DH and i will be arriving from HK [international terminal presumably] on an 8 am flight and we want to fly straight off to Cairns that morning.

there is an 11.10 virgin flight or a 13.25 jetstar flight.

I'd like to be able to catch the 11.10 but worry that might be cutting it too fine.

I understand that there is an international terminal and a domestic one; the info on line suggests that jetstar on this route operates out of the domestic terminal at Brisbane but I can't find out about the virgin one. anyone know the answer?

how long does it take to transit between the two? do we have to clear immigration and customs? collect luggage? [I'm assuming yes on all those fronts].

anyone got any thoughts, helpful or otherwise?

Deno111

Hi annhig,
The International and domestic terminal are less than 2km's apart. The Virgin flight will also leave from the domestic terminal. It will take you less than 10 minutes to get from 1 airport to the other. You will have to clear immigration, customs and collect your baggage.

There is a train that runs between the 2 terminals, at 15 minute intervals. The train will take about 3 minutes. Cost is $5 per person 1 way. A taxi would be slightly more expensive. There is also a bus transfer, link below - http://www.bne.com.au/sites/all/file...table%20v4.pdf

Even if the flight was delayed by 30 mins, and allowing 1 hour to get through customs, you will still have plenty of time to get to the domestic terminal.

Check in on line the day before for your flight Brisbane to Cairns to save time at the airport.

tt7

I assume the CX ticket to BNE is already booked? If not, CX flies direct to CNS several days a week (and the rest of the week via BNE). Obviously, that's a better bet (if the price is right) and you haven't booked it yet.

I can't quite figure out what date/time of year you're arriving based on the flight times you're quoting. However, in terms of the choice of BNE-CNS flights, I would rank them -

1. QF
2. VA
3. Stay home
4. DeathStar

I've never flown JetStar (and hopefully never will). It was started by Qantas as a low cost carrier. Originally, there were no seat assignments, no luggage transfer to/from connecting flights and no mileage earning. QF basically cannibalized their own airline, by breaking off a lot of the 'leisure' routes - hence the lack of interest in ever flying them. They're a bit better now but I still would never choose them over Qantas or Virgin. Read the small print carefully - the cheap JetStar fares include no luggage allowance (and neither does the cheapest VA fare).

As discussed in the other thread, just get the bus between terminals (free if you have a connecting boarding pass, otherwise $5). Don't bother with the train (you'll probably spend more time walking to it and waiting for it). I wouldn't risk the wrath of the taxi driver when he finds out you only want to go to the other terminal.

annhig

Hi Deno/tt7,

thanks both for your help [on this and the other thread so kindly started by toucan2 - i asked the monitors to pull this one so as not to have 2 threads going simultaneously, but obviously that didn't work so I'm doubly grateful for your input!].

We arrive from HK on CX in BNE on 15 Nov [love all those initials] and yes, the flights are booked - the price for those dates looked so good we just couldn't resist! also at that point we hadn't really worked out our plans so flying into BNE was the obvious chose to give us the most options.

sounds as if getting between terminals should be a doddle so I'm going to take a punt and book the earlier Virgin flight.

tt7 - love the description of "Death Star". Presumably you're not employed as Jetstar's publicity manager!

Thanks again,

Ann