Dublin Airport Immigration Control Section

ArmaniJeanss

Shambolic stuff last night.

Got off my plane at 22.50 to be faced with a queue of maybe 800 people in a long corridor all waiting to get through the Garda immigration control area.

It took 55 minutes from getting off the plane to actually get out of the airport (that with only hand luggage).
Thankfully it was a short flight - god bless older people, those with kids and those getting off a 10 hour flight as it must be an impossible ordeal.
I've travelled to about 40 countries in my time and never experienced anything like it.

Complained to a DAA guy and got a shrugged shoulder and a 'blame the gardai' comment.

Just a warning for anyone arranging pickups from the airport.

hallstatt

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Shambolic stuff last night.

Got off my plane at 22.50 to be faced with a queue of maybe 800 people in a long corridor all waiting to get through the Garda immigration control area.

It took 55 minutes from getting off the plane to actually get out of the airport (that with only hand luggage).
Thankfully it was a short flight - god bless older people, those with kids and those getting off a 10 hour flight as it must be an impossible ordeal.
I've travelled to about 40 countries in my time and never experienced anything like it.

Complained to a DAA guy and got a shrugged shoulder and a 'blame the gardai' comment.

Just a warning for anyone arranging pickups from the airport.

Ive had several scenarios like this around the world. worst was in george bush intercontinental airport houston where i waited best part of an hour and a half. There were several gates all manned at the time.but only one gate for non-americans.when all the yanks had gone tru,instead of letting us use their gates we all queued for the one gate while the immigration officers in the other gates sat back and ate their donuts!!:mad::mad:

decoder

same crap again tonight, has happened every time i come home from anywhere... its an absolute embarassment... bloke with a microphone saying to queue in oreder because 8 flights had landed at once... what a joke.

welcome home eh?

sdanseo

Where did the two of you come in? Pier B/A&D?

ArmaniJeanss

sdonn_1 wrote: »

Where did the two of you come in? Pier B/A&D?

Not 100% sure, it was Ryanair* from Madrid so its the 'new' section which I think is Pier D.

* Not that I'm blaming them or anything, an innocent party afaics.

sdanseo

Well, Ryanair do their own scheduling. That aside, the DAA etc have no control over the GNIB (Garda National Immigration Bureau) really, so picking on the DAA lads will do no good. If there's only 2-3 desks open it's because of a lack of Gardaí.

Del2005

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Shambolic stuff last night.

Got off my plane at 22.50 to be faced with a queue of maybe 800 people in a long corridor all waiting to get through the Garda immigration control area.

It took 55 minutes from getting off the plane to actually get out of the airport (that with only hand luggage).
Thankfully it was a short flight - god bless older people, those with kids and those getting off a 10 hour flight as it must be an impossible ordeal.
I've travelled to about 40 countries in my time and never experienced anything like it.

Complained to a DAA guy and got a shrugged shoulder and a 'blame the gardai' comment.

Just a warning for anyone arranging pickups from the airport.

Got stuck in Naples for about 1 hour when the world cup was on. They'd cancled the Schengen Agreement for the world cup and all the EU nationals had to queue for ages as they where checking all passports. Non EU nationals flew throught their area, as there where only a few of them. After about 50 min they stopped inspecting everyones passport and let us all through.

Got stuck for ages in Dublin in the US immigration queue also. They had to delay my flight for ~40 min to wait for people to get through.

Nothing to do with the airports, just the immigration people.

ArmaniJeanss

Del2005 wrote: »

Got stuck in Naples for about 1 hour when the world cup was on. They'd cancled the Schengen Agreement for the world cup and all the EU nationals had to queue for ages as they where checking all passports. Non EU nationals flew throught their area, as there where only a few of them. After about 50 min they stopped inspecting everyones passport and let us all through.

Got stuck for ages in Dublin in the US immigration queue also. They had to delay my flight for ~40 min to wait for people to get through.

Maybe I've just been lucky in the past then, had a think about it and the worst I can recall is 30 minutes in Tampere in Finland, every other airport has been a simple stroll out. In Madrid last Monday I literally had a choice of 6/7 immigration booths to show my passport at! Similar story in Schippol, CDG, Barcelona, Copenhagen, and Rome in the last 12 months. Only problem I've ever had is Dublin.

Del2005 wrote: »

Nothing to do with the airports, just the immigration people.

SDonn wrote:

That aside, the DAA etc have no control over the GNIB (Garda National Immigration Bureau) really, so picking on the DAA lads will do no good. If there's only 2-3 desks open it's because of a lack of Gardaí.

I didn't pick on the DAA people as such, they just seemed the more obvious ones to ask the question to (if I'd hassled the guards then I'm only holding up the hundreds of other people behind me in the queue).
Also the airport fees that we pay for our flight go directly to the DAA, who then pay the GNIB to provide the service? So logically we are either not being charged enough, or else the DAA are not putting enough pressure on the GNIB to provide the level of service we have paid for.

Bluetonic

There is industrial action at the moment with the GNIB which is adding to normal wait times.

(and no I don't have a link to provide)

df1985

this has happened me a couple of times at dublin.a load of flights land in quick succession,all sent to pier A and you have hundreds of people trying to go through 3 or 4 kiosks at once.

the last time was horrible, a good few of the flights were from crete,the canaries,turkey etc-id say everyone getting off the planes had hangovers after a week or 2 gettin pissed and were in a bad mood as it was.then when faced with the wait it all kicked off.the young lads working at the airport were getting a shower of abuse with some people simply barging passed them.a few groups of lads went the wrong way up the travelator things and then hopped the barriers dividing incoming passengers from outgoing passengers.eventually took gardai and security to get them back. was mayhem!

BendiBus

I've had similar in Heathrow, Gatwick, Moscow (SVO) and Dulles. And Dublin once since the new passport control area for Piers A/D opened.

It happens sometimes in every busy airport. A number of full flights all arrive at the same time and chaos ensues. Worst case is when it's due to widespread delays, flights arrive at a time that was expected to be quiet and staff aren't rostered to deal with the volume.

Ckal

My flight from Bremen was the third last flight in on a Friday night (isn't that the busiest time for flights?). We walked through the Blue (?) area quite easily, guy looked at my passport (he was very friendly) and I walked out the terminal. No queues or anything

Bluetonic

Ckal wrote: »

My flight from Bremen was the third last flight in on a Friday night (isn't that the busiest time for flights?). We walked through the Blue (?) area quite easily, guy looked at my passport (he was very friendly) and I walked out the terminal. No queues or anything

Oh Jesus can you delete your post please.

Good news is frowned upon here.

jank

Bluetonic wrote: »

Oh Jesus can you delete your post please.

Good news is frowned upon here.

Yea bluetonic, spin it, spin it, spin it.
Dublin airport is great!!:D

A Dub in Glasgo

It is a pain in the arse alright, flew in from Glasgow at the start of December and queued for 20 minutes to get through immigration

brettmirl

Never had a problem myself with delays at passport control.

I do see people joining the "all passports" queues and being delayed there.

If you have an irish passport, make sure you are in the EU passports queue to get through quicker.

spurious

Came through on Friday evening about half ten. Mental queues, though they did move along.

Usual complement of people of other races getting grilled at two positions, while everyone else jammed past three windows, each bizarrely having a number of queues going to them, vainly 'managed' by those poor people in the pink jumpers.

It's a long time since I've seen it that crowded.

The "jump up as the plane hits the runway, push your way out in a frenzy, charge to the baggage hall as if any of it makes things happen quicker" brigade must have been apoplectic. Haha.

FoldedShirt

These queues are particularly annoying when you arrive from the UK. Legally, passport control shouldn't apply for those flights. In Heathrow you just walk straight into the arrivals hall, in Stansted you just present your boarding card and walk through.

The "jump up as the plane hits the runway, push your way out in a frenzy, charge to the baggage hall as if any of it makes things happen quicker" brigade must have been apoplectic. Haha.

It usually does make things happen quicker when there's not a massive queue in a chaotic, disorganised airport like Dublin. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone who is in a hurry to get off the plane and out of the airport is doing it for the sake of it. If I'm rushing to catch a bus, meet someone, go to an interview or a wedding, I'm not going to just wander along taking my time, am I? I don't know why it's seen as normal to rush off a train but if you do it on a plane, you're impatient or an idiot. We're not all going on holiday yknow! I've caught buses and trains by only seconds (and therefore made it on time to interviews or caught onward connections) because I rushed through the airport instead of taking my time, so yes, it is worth it most of the time. Once you're not being rude, pushing and shoving, why is it anyone's business? You don't know why people might be in a hurry. Sometimes I'm travelling for pleasure and have checked bags and take my time strolling along, but I wouldn't judge someone else for rushing. It's a strange attitude to have.

Davidth88

I too have had experience of this on the A/D gates ( and indeed the B gates once when all the US flights arrived ).

The problem with the A/D gates area ( Garda work issues not withstanding ) is the design is useless , you approach as an angle and you can't see if the desks are manned , hense the need for the pink shirt brigade .

I was quite surprised the first time it happened , it was about 21:00 on a Thursday if I remember rightly and it took me 35 mins to get through.

Ill be honest , I have not experinced queues like that for p/port control anywhere else in Europe ( yes of course you get them in the US where they are busy checking if you have ever been a nazi etc ). You sometimes get a bit of a queue in Amsterdam now I think of it , but only ever about 10 mins.

What are the Garda complaining about ( to the poster who says there is industrial action , or to any Gards out there ) ?

Ill be honest I laugh at the people who jump up as soon as the aircraft stops and pull their stuff out of the overheads , only to be stuck standing for 10 mins, I sit and read my book until I see the people in the row ahead moving then stand .

mickoneill30

Davidth88 wrote: »

Ill be honest I laugh at the people who jump up as soon as the aircraft stops and pull their stuff out of the overheads , only to be stuck standing for 10 mins, I sit and read my book until I see the people in the row ahead moving then stand .

Same. The whole plane always unloads in order anyway.

Paris is crap for immigration too. Not because of the queues though. The last time I went there were 4 immigration guys. Just before I got to them they decided to stop calling. A nice loooong queue built up behind us. An equivalent to a DAA worker ran up and started filtering us to the immigration guys. From the look the immigration guy gave me when I handed him my passport I think he was doing me the biggest favour in the world by spending a whole 20 secs to verify my passport was from Europe. It was a very welcoming way to come into a country.

Got the same on the way out with the XRay machines. All the guys decided to stop scanning at the same time. 4 desks went down to 1. Maybe it's something about me.

alentejo

Caught a little of Newstalk this evening (George Hook?). Seems there is some kind of unofficial industrial action with the Gardai immigration crowd,. Seem to be asking everybody there name and address...

NFD100

Probably because they've been asked to smarten up! They are the scruffiest immigration crowd around. Put your uniforms on!

Cookie_Monster

I've had mixed experiances in Dublin, half the time its quiet and you just walk through, half its mental and you end u taking 30 mins + just to clear passport control.

What really annoys me is that any time i have been there there is only 1 gate open for EU and 1 for non EU, despite the fact that usually 99.9% of people are queueing for the EU desk. I've never seen them open more to ease the flow either:mad:

gman2k

alentejo wrote: »

Caught a little of Newstalk this evening (George Hook?). Seems there is some kind of unofficial industrial action with the Gardai immigration crowd,. Seem to be asking everybody there name and address...

Listened to the same spot on Newstalk and Hookie was going ballistic over the situation.
He said his research staff had been trying all day to get comments from DAA, Gardai, airlines etc, but everybody was denying the problem.
They had loads of comments in from listeners who had been queuing for up to three hours to get through. Guards had been stopping everybody and asking questions and addresses etc (and this was with Irish passports!!!!!)
One texter into the show said the guards were on a unofficial dispute over reduced allowances, and as they are not allowed to strike - this was their way of industrial action.
George made the valid point that the guards will lose their respect from the people very quickly for stupid action like this.

mickoneill30

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

What really annoys me is that any time i have been there there is only 1 gate open for EU and 1 for non EU, despite the fact that usually 99.9% of people are queueing for the EU desk. I've never seen them open more to ease the flow either:mad:

Pier D seems to have a decent immigration section. There are about 10 desks with most of them manned.

There's another area I came in a few months ago (can't remember where it was) that filtered me down into a stupid little room where the queing system was crap. Didn't take long to get through though. There was no industrial action then though.

Ham'nd'egger

FoldedShirt wrote: »

These queues are particularly annoying when you arrive from the UK. Legally, passport control shouldn't apply for those flights. In Heathrow you just walk straight into the arrivals hall, in Stansted you just present your boarding card and walk through.

Legally, you don't actually have carte blanche to walk on through freely within the EU unless you are a citizen of the EU. If and when this is established, you can then proceed on; if not you may require Visas to enter the State. It has been known for EU citizens to be barred from entering or leaving EU States so some level of check can be carried out. Some checks even take place on Dublin-Belfast trains and buses.

lynchie

mickoneill30 wrote: »

Pier D seems to have a decent immigration section. There are about 10 desks with most of them manned.

There's another area I came in a few months ago (can't remember where it was) that filtered me down into a stupid little room where the queing system was crap. Didn't take long to get through though. There was no industrial action then though.

I went through it on the 27th Dec around 10pm. There was about 600 people queuing with only 3 of the 8-10 desks open. One was for non-eu holders the other 2 were for EU holders. Took 20 minutes to get through where as a friend of mine who was about 5 minutes behind me ended up taking another 45 mins to get through due to the other flights that had arrived the same time as us and were all descending on the immigration section. I was already after getting a taxi home before he even got out of the airport!

Terrontress

Hamndegger wrote: »

Legally, you don't actually have carte blanche to walk on through freely within the EU unless you are a citizen of the EU. If and when this is established, you can then proceed on; if not you may require Visas to enter the State. It has been known for EU citizens to be barred from entering or leaving EU States so some level of check can be carried out. Some checks even take place on Dublin-Belfast trains and buses.

He's not talking about the EU, he means the Common Travel Area.

Ham'nd'egger

Terrontress wrote: »

He's not talking about the EU, he means the Common Travel Area.

That arrangement in theory applies only to Irish and UK citizens. While at a surface border it is easier to assume that people are citizens, at an airport it is impossible to be sure given that flights arrive in from all over the world or for passengers to have transferred onto Irish bound flights so some checks can be justified. I blame the immigrants for it all;):p:D

FoldedShirt

Hamndegger wrote: »

That arrangement in theory applies only to Irish and UK citizens. While at a surface border it is easier to assume that people are citizens, at an airport it is impossible to be sure given that flights arrive in from all over the world or for passengers to have transferred onto Irish bound flights so some checks can be justified. I blame the immigrants for it all;):p:D

That's true, which makes me wonder why checks are so few on the UK side. I guess UK immigration assumes that anyone with an "undesirable" passport coming from Ireland would have most likely had to pass through the UK on their way to Ireland in the first place.

The Common Travel Area is a lazy, half-assed agreement that needs to be overhauled. What would be wrong with a Schengen-style immigration union between Ireland and the UK? The UK will never join Schengen, but surely a more formal arrangement between the two countries would be both practical and politically acceptable.