Queues for pre-immigration at Dublin

Rashers72

Nelly 21 wrote: »

No you haven't to worry about bags, that's all done for you but you go through scanners obviously and they can check your hand luggage! They'll tell you in Dublin when you give in your luggage that your bags are gone straight through!

Was more thinking about on the way back...

iusedtoknow

Rashers72 wrote: »

Was more thinking about on the way back...

you won't have to worry about them - as long as the flights are on the same booking code, you put them on at one end and collect them at dublin

The Black Oil

Went through at about 10am during the second week of Sept. Queue was about 40 minutes.

The Mig

I'll let yous know what it's like when I'm going through on Thursday :cool:

Nelly 21

Rashers72 wrote: »

Was more thinking about on the way back...

As long as your flights were booked in the same booking (same code) you'll be fine and won't have to worry about bags. However when you get to heathrow there's a lot of walking to do! Depending on how long your stopover is you need to make the most of your time. When we were there we had a 2 hour stopover and barely made it to the gates.

circular flexing

Nelly 21 wrote: »

As long as your flights were booked in the same booking (same code) you'll be fine and won't have to worry about bags. However when you get to heathrow there's a lot of walking to do! Depending on how long your stopover is you need to make the most of your time. When we were there we had a 2 hour stopover and barely made it to the gates.

That will change of course when BA move DUB flights to Terminal 5.

The Mig

The Mig wrote: »

I'll let yous know what it's like when I'm going through on Thursday :cool:

Was on the Orlando flight with Aer Lingus yesterday and was 5 minutes going through

aaronm13

Just gone through there and took about 45 minutes. As we got to the top of the line more desks opened so would speed up but the crowd was getting much bigger.

MadsL

Wife went through earlier this month. 2.5 hrs, and she's a US passport holder.

Ruu

I went through Dublin a few days ago about 9am and it took about 30 minutes. There was a few other US flights at the same time, some people in the back of the queue had to be rushed through by a gate agent because they were running late.

Snoopy1

Ruu wrote: »

I went through Dublin a few days ago about 9am and it took about 30 minutes. There was a few other US flights at the same time, some people in the back of the queue had to be rushed through by a gate agent because they were running late.

When I went through in may in took 15 minutes to clear immigration
The problem was check in.
That took over an hour and it was chaos, no order whatsoever.

Ruu

It can be a nightmare, took forever to get everyone on board for ours.

percy212

Have to say I haven't had any bad experiences with check in or immigration in Dublin. Been lucky so far. Up to one hour max if memory serves. What drives me BONKERS however is the second security checkpoint after immigration. I just took my shoes off twenty minutes ago lady!

One place I will never go again soley based on the airport check in and security experience in Lisbon, is Portugal. A nightmare from hell that I wouldn't go through again if I was paid.

Snoopy1

It's so chaotic everyone queuing for aer lingus line
I'd checked in online with us airways but I still had to que with everyone else for luggage, which was pointless. There were no signs no onw to help just pure chaos.
I always give myself at least 3 hours. And the minute they announce pre clearance is open for my flight I leg it down. And always fill out your forms before you get there.

jaykayathome

My flight leaves at 6.35 a.m, and i'm leaving myself an hour and a half to get from car to plane. It's been ok so far as i think it's just a little earlier than most of the morning flights, but after reading this thread, i'm getting nervous!

percy212

At that time of the morning you won't have any problems....have a great trip!

athtrasna

jaykayathome wrote: »

My flight leaves at 6.35 a.m, and i'm leaving myself an hour and a half to get from car to plane. It's been ok so far as i think it's just a little earlier than most of the morning flights, but after reading this thread, i'm getting nervous!

Not a hope. The airport is crazy busy at that hour, security can take 45 minutes or more. Plus they usually start boarding US flights an hour before takeoff. Is an extra hour or two in bed worth missing your flight for?

iusedtoknow

jaykayathome wrote: »

My flight leaves at 6.35 a.m, and i'm leaving myself an hour and a half to get from car to plane. It's been ok so far as i think it's just a little earlier than most of the morning flights, but after reading this thread, i'm getting nervous!

There aren't any Direct US flights at that time of the morning....this topic is only about going through US immigration for flights going direct to the USA from Dublin.

In reality though, there are a lot of flights at that time of the morning to UK/Mainland Europe...so I would still go with the two hour from car to plane

jaykayathome

oops got my times mixed up! But you're right, i'd better review the situation!

xabi_a

OP here - my pre-immigration in Dublin was fine in the end. The big problem I actually had was on my return: I was coming from Dominican Republic and transiting at JFK. I had to go through immigration there, and stood in one huge queue for 3 hours.

It's a pain to have to go through immigration anyway for just a transit, but 3 hours queueing is unacceptable in my view. There were older people and young children there too. I'll avoid any transit through the USA in the future.

iusedtoknow

xabi_a wrote: »

OP here - my pre-immigration in Dublin was fine in the end. The big problem I actually had was on my return: I was coming from Dominican Republic and transiting at JFK. I had to go through immigration there, and stood in one huge queue for 3 hours.

It's a pain to have to go through immigration anyway for just a transit, but 3 hours queueing is unacceptable in my view. There were older people and young children there too. I'll avoid any transit through the USA in the future.

JFK is notorious for immigration queues - i hate it - I've never been less than 1 hour through there. The best ones I've found for transiting are Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston

San Francisco is great, rarely more than 20 minutes as they have at least 16 agents on all the time, and if the US/PR queue is empty, they wave you over to them

The Mig

percy212 wrote: »

Have to say I haven't had any bad experiences with check in or immigration in Dublin. Been lucky so far. Up to one hour max if memory serves. What drives me BONKERS however is the second security checkpoint after immigration. I just took my shoes off twenty minutes ago lady!

One place I will never go again soley based on the airport check in and security experience in Lisbon, is Portugal. A nightmare from hell that I wouldn't go through again if I was paid.

The second checkpoint is now before you meet the immigration officer. And there's no more metal detectors either. It's just shoes off and put with your carry on luggage through a scanner. Much quicker process!

Thoie

The Android Dublin Airport app has a feature where you can put in your flight details, and it will keep you updated on that flight, and gives you the security queuing times. If it's a US flight, it also gives you the US immigration queue times as well. I usually put in the flight details for the week before my trip, and monitor what the queue times are like that way in advance. It's not foolproof, but it gives you an idea of how busy things might be.

Rashers72

Just wondering if anyone has used the automated machines at LAX yet? Installed last October. Flying Dub-LHR-LAX with BA in a few months arriving there during peak travel period at 7.30pm. Wondering will my immigration/customs checks etc. be any quicker? Thanks in advance.

cactusgal

Hi, I'm not sure about LAX, but I went through the new automated system in Dublin airport just before Christmas, and it was MUCH faster than the previous system (had to queue for hours when flying to the States last August).

endofrainbow

not sure about LAX either but I think you have to have previously travelled on an ESTA (if this applies in your case).

ProudDUB

cactusgal wrote: »

Hi, I'm not sure about LAX, but I went through the new automated system in Dublin airport just before Christmas, and it was MUCH faster than the previous system (had to queue for hours when flying to the States last August).

+1. The new system was much quicker for me too. However, my flight was the last one of the day. There wasn't a long queue to use the automated machines. I wonder if there would have been, if there were 4-5 flights taking off at the same time as mine?

That being said, having to go thru yet another security checkpoint, was a total pain in the ass, even if it isn't as intense as the main airport one.

Rashers72

My challenge will be several A380 load types arriving in from Europe and Asia within 1 hour of each other, potentially putting a few thousand passengers into the system in a short window. This previously led to queues in the 1-2 hours bracket, or worse. Just wondering has anybody experienced LAX from Europe recently?

jaymcg91

Rashers72 wrote: »

Just wondering if anyone has used the automated machines at LAX yet? Installed last October. Flying Dub-LHR-LAX with BA in a few months arriving there during peak travel period at 7.30pm. Wondering will my immigration/customs checks etc. be any quicker? Thanks in advance.

http://awt.cbp.gov

This will tell you how long on average people wait by terminal and per hour. Just pick a random date, and the terminal and airport, it'll tell you how long the average wait is.

Rashers72

jaymcg91 wrote: »

http://awt.cbp.gov

This will tell you how long on average people wait by terminal and per hour. Just pick a random date, and the terminal and airport, it'll tell you how long the average wait is.

Thanks - really good information.