Dublin airport.... Seek solace in Guinness is my advice (Dublin Airport (DUB))

Member Name: Lools_24

Product:	Dublin Airport (DUB)
Date:	10/02/09 (141 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean, and modern

Disadvantages: Poor tannoy system, inability to handle large volumes of people

I'm going to put in a disclaimer again to say my worst ever airport experience was encountered at Dublin Airport flying with Ryanair but I am going to point out that Dublin airport is certainly not the worst airport I have ever been in (or ever will go in).. in fact its not that bad!! But be warned my review is quite negative!!

Location
The airport is 10km north of Dublin City Centre and the airport has good transport links into the City Centre. Travelling by car, there are plenty of signs into the city centre. Travelling by bus is very easy - the airlink bus service (Services 747 and 748) depart every 10 minutes and take you to O Connell Street in the City Centre. Its 6 euros per adult for a single and 10 euro for a return journey. It states that the bus takes 45 minutes however our journey to the city centre took 30 minutes and even at rush hour coming back it took 35 minutes. There are also plenty taxis from outside of the airport. My advice would be if you are in a group of over 5 people than taxis work out best value into the city centre however it will set you back around 50 - 60 euros which is quite expensive compared to the bus. A taxi will take around 20-25 minutes to get you into the City Centre.


Arrivals
Arrived on a Ryanair from Newcastle on time!!! So in a really positive mood and looking forward to a mini break in Dublin. Escorted from the plane via the tarmac to the terminal. It is quite a walk so be warned if you have trouble with walking long distances. Me and my partner are fast walkers and it took us 10 minutes to get to passport control. Sign posts are clear. Passport control area is quite large and there were plenty of staff on for a number of flights arriving at the same time. Took less than 30 seconds to pass through. The baggage area is quite small in comparison to the airport and the number of flights coming in. Because of the long walk baggage arrives quite quickly, we waited around 5 minutes.

The arrivals hall is a reasonable size (very long but not that wide) you will find tourist info, airport information, cash machines toilets and food and drink outlets. You can buy tickets in the arrivals hall for the Dublin bus services.

Departures
The departures hall is on the first floor and is very large. There are plenty of lifts and escalators up to this floor. Because the airport is busy there are a lot of strange queuing systems and plenty of queue ropes.

Now this is where everything went downhill. Arrived at the airport at 4.30pm 4 hours before my flight was due to take off. This is where chaos erupted! One end of the airport was very busy at Aer Lingus had cancelled all of their flights out of the airport due to snow and bad weather in the UK and some snow in Dublin (less than 2 inches). This decision was made and to minimise passengers being held and waiting around at the airport as there was a high chance all flights out of the airport were being cancelled anywhere. Aer Lingus opened all of their check in desks as well as the ticket sales desk in order out minimise queuing times and sort out the problems asap. Airport staffs were present and helpful telling people where to queue not just staff from the airline.

As a Ryanair passenger I didn't have to worry, when we were checked in we were told our flight would definitely take off by the Ryanair staff as "there is no snow in Newcastle".

We then headed to the Mezzanine area on the next level up, where there are restaurants and bars.. Decided to visit the pub for a well deserved Guinness. Two pints of Guiness set us back 10 euros which is expensive but cheaper than pubs in the City Centre. After finishing the pint of Guinness we then found all Ryaniar flights had been cancelled. This came up on the screens and it was only because of the bar staff that we found out what we needed to do.

By this time most of the airport staff had gone home and it was only the airline staff left to deal with the chaos that erupted.

We then went down to the departure hall to see a queue of around 600 Ryanair passengers snaking around the airport. It took over 6 hours for us to get to the front of the queue and sort out new flights home (the next day) even worse was that there were probably another 400 people behind us in the queue who had even longer to wait. Unlike Aer Lingus Ryaniar didn't open check in desks to rearrange flights and minimise queue disruption they had 4 people on the sales desk to deal with around 1000 people!

So after being put on standby for a flight to Newcastle the next morning or a flight to Leeds we had the night to spend in the airport. The staff on the airport information staff were really helpful and did advise about the hotel situation around the airport, i.e where was available and also prices.

So our choices were limited of where to sit/ lie. The airport doesn't have a large seating area like some airports so most people were lying across chairs and tables in the restaurants and cafes. And even the floors. Probably one of the worst nights of my life being ill with flu and lying on a hard airport floor. Only McDonalds was open out of all places so choice of food was limited. I did find some amusement from the police officers that patrol the airport on space age like floating scooters...... The airport obviously spends more on these gadgets then equipment to sort out snow and extreme weather!!!

So next morning we got on the Newcastle flight due to take off at 6.20am. Being on standby Ryanair only told us at 5.45am and we had to pass through security as boarding the plane closed at 6.10am. By the time we were in the queue for security it was 5.55am and a queue of so many people which we knew we wouldn't get through in time. I tried to negotiate with the airport staff to let us through (other passengers in the queue were willing to let us) however they said no and actually blamed the airline. My boyfriend tried to get us help from Ryaniar staff with no joy. No cooperation between airport and airline staff. So after a 30 minute queue time being 6.25am we reached the front where we were told the flight hadn't take off and would take off without us by the security officers who told us to run to the gates. This was a 15 minute walk however we ran it in 5 minutes.

In normal circumstances I wouldn't even considering doing this (having a chest infection and as an asthma sufferer who hadn't eaten properly since 3pm the previous afternoon) but I did not want to be stuck in the airport any longer so I was desperate and was under the impression the plane would not leave without us.

Got to the departure gate at 6.35am and there were no airline or airport staff around to ask but the boarding gate said delayed to 6.45am. After frantically searching for someone to help us and get us on this flight, I glanced up and noticed the departure board has changed from delayed to departed. No tannoys or final calls had been heard. I then heard a final call for another flight and realised the tannoy system is so poor and message ineligible that even if we had been called for we wouldn't have heard it. So after collapsing in a sobbing heap on the floor , taking my inhaler to stop an asthma attack and generally pulling myself together we tried to find someone from the airport to help us to ask what to do. It took 15 minutes and the person we spoke to was extremely scathing about how poor Ryanair was for putting this in this situation.

To cut a very long story (and long day) short we got through security and onto a later flight to Leeds (even though we wanted to be in Newcastle. The departure gates in this area were not so modern as where we went for our missed Newcastle flight and were shabby and the area a bit dirty and extremely crowded. We took off 8 hours later than expected to Leeds in the end however Ryanair left us queuing at the gate the whole time without one word to people in the queue however kept postponing the flight delay as every 30 minutes passed. Ryanair blamed the airport and that there were not enough staff to sort out the issues caused by the bad weather. (less than 2 inches of snow)

We got home to Newcastle 42 hours later than expected in the end via Leeds!

Basically I fully blame Ryanair but the whole bad experience but it was handled badly by Dublin airport also who couldn't cope with the backlog of people in the airport.

Shops and Facilities

In the departures area you have a McDonalds, Starbucks, a bar, O'Briens, Real Food Company, Café Rizla and another café style outlet.

You are looking at 12 euros for a breakfast and the same for a meal like fish and chips in the restaurants.

Once you get through security you will find duty free with the standard items in. Because Dublin is more expensive in general the prices aren't as low as what as you get in some other European destinations.

Plenty of toilets which are clean and lots of cubicles which means the toilets are probably one of the only places in the airport you don't have to queue for!!


To summarise my LONG review!! The airport is modern and undergoing even more work. Flights to a large number of destinations. If walking long distances is a problem notify the airport and airline as you will need assistance as plenty of walking is involved. Also beware of a lack of communication between airport and airline staff and the general dislike of Ryanair by Dublin airport staff (probably with good reason though in my opinion!)

Summary: Large airport, lots of destinations.... Lots of walking