Sydney airport terminals
 

We are arriving in Sydney on Qantas on an international flight and want to book a flight on Virgin Blue to get up to Brisbane. How much time should we allow to retrieve our baggage, get through customs, catch a shuttle bus and then check in with Virgin Blue? We arrive at 9:15 AM, assuming we arrive on time, I thought 1 1/2 hours to get baggage & go through customs, 1/2 hour to find and take shuttle bus, 1 hour check in prior to Virgin Blue flight, which adds up to 3 hours. Does this sound like too much? Anyone out there have any personal experience with this process? Your advice is appreciated!

A minimum of 3 hours, I'd say.

You have to change terminals, and Virginblue are a bit inflexible about missing a flight.

I agree with Margo. I had the same problem last Sept when I arrived on international flight and had a connecting flight to Alice Springs on Virgin Blue. We had given ourselves a 3 hour window which became just nice as our flight was delayed and we later found that check in had to be done at the VB terminal which was quite a distance away.

Virgin Blue are quite pedantic about checking in 1/2 an hour before the flight leaves. I have known people who have turned up after this time, have not been allowed on the booked flight and have had to pay more to get on the next flight. Virgin Blue are quite clear about this in their website (see FAQ) and do put it into practice - so do leave yourself PLENTY of time for check-in.

Unless it has change recently the Virgin Blue terminal is ways away, there is a bus, as others have said, leave plenty of time.

befoe booking the flight DO check Qantas red Deal fares! Sometimes Virgin are the cheapest other times Wantas, but DO check both as you could find you can get same or cheaper on Qantas and that solves your problem.

http://www.virginblue.com.au
http://www.qantas.com

Clairdesol's problem is not solved entirely by flying Qantas domestic, rather than VurginBlue. The Qantas domestic terminal, like Virginblue, is some distance from the International Terminal. You still need to use the bus.

Qantas is probably more tolerant of flight delays on it's own flights, though.

Thanks for all your suggestions. I did some checking on the Qantas website, and found that they have a "Qantas Transfer Lounge" with buses to Terminal 3 every 10-20 minutes, with instructions to walk via a link rail walkway to Terminal 2 from there. Anyone know if they let you use their buses if you are going from a Qantas flight to a Virgin Blue flight at Terminal 3?