The DUB Passport/Immigration Queue Thread

Irish Steve

Several thoughts, in no specific order. We've been out of Ireland for a long weekend in Spain, not through T1 in fairness as we were flying on Aer Lingus to Santiago. Went out through T2 on Thursday, no delays on security or anywhere else come to that, very smooth and painless, what was nice was to see the DC3 come in to land on 28 as a result of getting through so quickly.

Arrival into Santiago was less speedy, there were a number of flights arrived at the same time, and only 2 people checking the passports, so the process was not fast. What was interesting was a note in Spanish and English explaning that under new EU regulations, ALL passengers from airside have to be identity checked both electronically and possibly manually, "Which may take some time". It did, from arrival airside to departing for our onward destination took pretty much an hour before we were all in the bus and ready to move on. So, two thoughts. It's not just Dublin that has long delays and clearly the EU have changed the rules to make the checks more appropriate and thorough, even on internal and Schengen flights.

Coming back today, the queue to get to the gate at Santiago wasn't massive, but there was only one flight departing at the time, so not the same pressures, about 10 minutes from airside to the gate. The initial security check was almost instant.

Arriving into Dublin T2 at 17:15 was also a non event, we were through the passport check in about a minute, albeit that this was T2, rather than T1, which meant we were in the reclaim before the bags came off the aircraft.

Clearly, the EU have changed the rules, which is making it slower to process flights across the board, so while there are specific issues with T1 at Dublin, which have been well discussed here, there are also issues that have happened as a result of the EU being more restrictive than it was, it seems the checks now are all passengers, even within Schengen, so we clearly can't complain too much about having to be checked in Dublin, as while we are not Schengen, we are EU, so have to operate within the same structures and rules as the rest of the EU.

joeysoap

Flew in from Faro last night, flight landed at 10 45 but seemed to ages to open doors. Long walk through T1, through passport control in few mins, both passports scanned. While we're waiting the 2 mins I had a look around, enough booths open for arriving passengers, few with Dunta on them and there was officials in some of those boxes but definitely not working.

The non EU queue seemed to a different matter altogether, about 20 in the queue, not moving at all, not even certain there was any official in any position down there. I certainly didn't see anyone.

As regards EU rules being changed, maybe so. Faro was always notorious for the passport controls EXITING the country. Previously you went through security, then duty free area then the passport control area. Queues were often 25 mins and a few times I witnessed gates being thrown open and a stampede to get to the boarding gates. (Sounds mad but it did happen)

New layout at Faro this evening, security checks are now upstairs, and after security there was a sign with a Union Jack flag and underneath an Irish Tricolour with United Kingdom (in Portuguese) and Irlanda written on the sign underneath the flags. You were directed to a brand new passport control before entering shopping/restaurant area. Don't think it applied to Shengen area countries. 2 mins this evening. What I did notice though was the blue passport area (EU) was much smaller then the green -all passports- area. Getting ready for Brexit?

And another thing that I noticed. RY always board from the B gates and the screens tonight duly showed B56 as the departing gate, but when were queueing there ( as you do with RY) the gate was clearly marked A56/B56. And the Ryanair screen at the gate displayed gate 56. No letter. I asked the lady why was it A56 and B56 and she said if was a Schengen flight it was A and non Schengen was B.
confess I was no wiser after that.

billy few mates

I travel through Dublin airport at least once a week and through many other airports and (apart from some of the small quirky ones) Dublin airport security is one of the less stressful ones to depart through regardless of the time of day. I travel light and I'm often through in five minutes or less, and on the rare occasions it's longer it's usually because the people in front of me don't know the rules about liquids or what they're allowed to bring through.
Arriving is another story, if I have to arrive back on a Friday evening I'll try to pick an airline that arrives into T2 having been caught in several horrendous queues for passport control in the past.

The major problem as I see it with passport control at Dublin is the way they try and sort the queues at the desks, it's bad enough being stuck in a queue but then when the DAA staff try to filter people into the individual roped off queues for each desk and somebody at the front of that queue is held up for whatever reason you're fcuked! You're stuck in a small queue that's going nowhere while people who were behind you are through because they were filtered into another queue which wasn't held up.
In LGW North it's a big hall with far more people but it's easier to pass through, there's one queue and when you get to the front you get the next vacant desk or machine, you don't get held up.
They need to find a way to take people aside who need further investigation or a way to ensure you don't have a queue at an individual desk while the immigration officer is trying to do their job.

LiamaDelta

billy few mates wrote: »

They need to find a way to take people aside who need further investigation or a way to ensure you don't have a queue at an individual desk while the immigration officer is trying to do their job.

Have to agree with you there, but rather than needing to take people aside the DAA staff could just allow people through in batches, then if one booth gets held up for a few minutes those behind should be directed to the next available booth by the DAA staff. But at the moment the DAA staff member at the top of the queue just directs people to the next available booth and is blind to what is happening at an individual level.

Fred Swanson

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LiamaDelta

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Possibly so but the vast majority of cases can be dealt with within a couple of minutes at the booth which is preferable to having to take the person to a secondary area (which in any case, unless there is a spare officer to go to the booth, may not necessarily speed things up). More effective queue management by the DAA would fix the majority of the issues.

testicles

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AGC

Came in from London on Monday evening and straight through, no queue.

Jamie2k9

Clearly, the EU have changed the rules, which is making it slower to process flights across the board, so while there are specific issues with T1 at Dublin, which have been well discussed here, there are also issues that have happened as a result of the EU being more restrictive than it was, it seems the checks now are all passengers, even within Schengen, so we clearly can't complain too much about having to be checked in Dublin, as while we are not Schengen, we are EU, so have to operate within the same structures and rules as the rest of the EU.

Full Details:

REGULATION (EU) 2017/458 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 15 March 2017

amending Regulation (EU) 2016/399 as regards the reinforcement of checks against relevant databases at external borders

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/ALL/?uri=uriserv:OJ.L_.2017.074.01.0001.01.ENG

Jamie2k9

Work on a dedicated immigration detention centre at Dublin Airport is due to begin in September, with completion due by July 2018, the Department of Justice has said.

“This involves the refurbishment and fit-out of an existing facility to provide a Garda station, office accommodation and detention facilities. The estimated duration of the work is 10 months,”

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/work-on-dublin-airport-immigration-detention-centre-to-begin-1.3169079

Just 2 years later than planned!

The Veteran

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/work-on-dublin-airport-immigration-detention-centre-to-begin-1.3169079

Just 2 years later than planned!

Relevance to this thread?

Fred Swanson

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trellheim

Came through at 21:50 T1 last night. Zero queues. ( utterly empty hall , only INIS staff in the house ).


Had no bags , so fastest ever transit inbound

Time elapsed from exiting airplane to getting in taxi : 4 mins approx ( 200 gates ) and walking really really quickly

fking unreal. I saw a unicorn while I walked.

jeanjolie

trellheim wrote: »

Came through at 21:50 T1 last night. Zero queues. ( utterly empty hall , only INIS staff in the house ).


Had no bags , so fastest ever transit inbound

Time elapsed from exiting airplane to getting in taxi : 4 mins approx ( 200 gates ) and walking really really quickly

fking unreal. I saw a unicorn while I walked.

Would you say that the e-gates used in Schiphol and Heathrow would have made your journey faster or slower?

trellheim

They would have slowed me down tremendously as my driving license would likely not have scanned.

LXFlyer

trellheim wrote: »

Came through at 21:50 T1 last night. Zero queues. ( utterly empty hall , only INIS staff in the house ).


Had no bags , so fastest ever transit inbound

Time elapsed from exiting airplane to getting in taxi : 4 mins approx ( 200 gates ) and walking really really quickly

fking unreal. I saw a unicorn while I walked.

Not really surprising as the Dublin based Ryanair fleet wasn't due to start returning until from 22:10 and only five landed before 23:00.

The Veteran

Trellheim, I will pass on your thanks to the lads.

ahbell

And so it begins...

Fred Swanson

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LXFlyer

There's about 11 or 12 FR flights arrived in 35 minutes or so - that's going to cause a build up.

arch_stanton

Passed the queue 10 minutes ago (Sunday afternoon) on the other side of the glass as I head for my departure gate and it’s 50-60 metres back down the glass corridor before the steps down to the hall

ahbell

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Apologies tried to attach a photo, not sure why it didn't work. Yes queued from about 50m back from the escalators down to the passport hall. Took about 20 minutes to get through, thought it was going to be a lot worse when I saw the queue.

trellheim

In response to the poster above referencing the recent amendment to 2016/399

that amendment very specifically says

This Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take
part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC ; Ireland is therefore not taking part in the adoption of
this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.

IN addition it says those checks can be scaled back if its causing queues.


the exact opposite of both those things seem to be happening, we are implementing it and its not being scaled back at peak times.

Jamie2k9

trellheim wrote: »

In response to the poster above referencing the recent amendment to 2016/399

that amendment very specifically says

This Regulation constitutes a development of the provisions of the Schengen acquis in which Ireland does not take
part, in accordance with Council Decision 2002/192/EC ; Ireland is therefore not taking part in the adoption of
this Regulation and is not bound by it or subject to its application.

IN addition it says those checks can be scaled back if its causing queues.


the exact opposite of both those things seem to be happening, we are implementing it and its not being scaled back at peak times.

So Ireland should compromise its already poor security so people don't have to wait a little extra or would you rater certain people to enter the country and carry out various acts of terror?

I posted the link specificly for Irish Steves post not DUB and queues. I am not overly familiar about how our scanning policy came about but it was long overdue and its available at most airprts in Europe. Its nothing to do with the March link above. I would expect more to come when traveling but unlikely related to immigration queues.

goingnowhere

It is not mandatory in Ireland to check each document

I certainly have been able to get through T2 without a full document scan in recent months

For all the fuss in Europe, the Germans without fail put me through the system every time for the last few years. The real difference is the exit check is now on the same level of scrutiny as entry, when in the past on an EU passport they didn't really care (though the Germans nearly always did the full proceedure).

That said I've seen fewer internal checks in the Schengen zone, I've seen entire trains checked, everyone no exceptions but multiple cross border trips this year nothing beyond the usual German Polizei doing a quick walk through

Irish Steve

Santiago Spain checked every document on both the inbound and the outbound flights, with full scan of passports. Also fully checked in both directions a few months ago at Hamburg. Totally appropriate given the levels of problems that are occurring across Europe in recent times.

Dublin may not be obliged to check, but I don't have an issue if the relevant people who make the decisions feel that it's appropriate to do so.

goingnowhere

Big advice is to carry your full passport, avoid EU/EEA ID cards, the full passport will get you through the system faster.

I warmly welcome a full check, but this need to be consistent so everyone coming off the ferry from France needs the same drill.

If the checks catches 1 person on the run from the law then its worth it fully, for everyone person they catch the risk of getting caught will restrict the mobility of people of interest to the authorities

Really we will have to move to a API approach for all EU flying, it already applies in Spain and a few others, if the Irish authorities have issues with someone, would rather they don't even get on a the plane to start with (unless we really want them to come home so we can nick them upon arrival)

Jamie2k9

It is not mandatory in Ireland to check each document

It's typical Irish approach to things.

All passengers should be checked, my communication with GNIB ended when I criticized them for their half arsed approach to selectively scanning passenger documents.

Fred Swanson

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Jamie2k9

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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They won't stop, it will just take people time to get used to them.