The DUB Passport/Immigration Queue Thread

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

robyntmorton

Went through T1 yesterday just before 17:00. Fair queue but moving well. They closed off the queue for the e-gates while I was approaching that queue, so went to a desk. Through in less than 5 minutes.

VG31

I used the e-gates at Dublin Airport T1 for the first time yesterday evening. There was no queue at all for them and I found them very quick and straightforward to use. I reached the arrivals area 10 mins after the aircraft arriving at the stand which is a record time for me.

Donegal Storm

Flew in from Donegal yesterday and everyone was allowed to walk straight through immigration without showing any ID, the hall was empty at the time so I'm guessing it was just because they were sure everyone was from the CFN flight. Interesting though as I've flown the route countless times and never had that happen before

iancm25

More of this carry on at T1 this evening. Welcome to Ireland folks.

Tenger

iancm25 wrote: »

More of this carry on at T1 this evening. Welcome to Ireland folks.

It happens at airports all over the world.

iancm25

Tenger wrote: »

It happens at airports all over the world.

In my experience of "airports all over the world", it is rarely to the extent that this happens in DUB.

The Veteran

iancm25 wrote: »

In my experience of "airports all over the world", it is rarely to the extent that this happens in DUB.

Immigration Halls “in airports all over the world” are usually built to handle the volumes being put through them.

At the moment there are 5 manual desks in the hall fed by the Skybridge. Yes there are 10
EGates but the hall itself and access to it are designed, built and managed by the daa and as such the hall is. It currently capable of handling the volumes at times.

Compared to the UK’s main airports, as an example, there is nothing in Dublin like the queues you get in Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester etx.

We’ve been over it a hundred times here - ask daa for the queue data and you’ll see what the norms are. It is also not see by the average punter but there were a number of “things happening” at the same time as that photo roughly speaking (assuming it was posted within approx an hour of being taken).

trellheim

INIS as usual ducking under the counter

It is worth noting that the temporary counters put in place to relieve exactly this problem have been removed and electronic, slower gates have been installed.

Staffing, since INIS took on T2 has been nothing short of atrocious.

The agency is well aware of the volume of inbounds and the times which they arrive at, but instead the weary traveller is greeted with Dunta gates that are open and staffing levels that would be adequate for Farranfore.

The Veteran

Trellheim, I missed you!

On T2, ask daa (who keep count) how many desks have been open in T2 since last October. More than there ever has been is the answer (since T2 opened).

The temporary booths introduced at a Christmas time 2016 were to compensate for the desks lost where daa were building the new Pier 2 access.

The same temporary booths are gone now to make way for new permanent ones. The new booths were delayed to install the eGates. They are in now so the other work is underway. It makes sense to do these works at this time of year.

In staffing terms, there are more officers than seats available, simple fact.

Nobody ducking anything, simple facts. It’s also probable that there will be congestion during the busier periods because of the said and configuration of the hall. I could show you photos of a “crowded hall” but nobody up at the booths.

Noxegon

Is there any timeline for when passport cards will work at the E-gates?

plodder

I went through T1 this evening. Arrived at the immigration hall at 21:30. My heart dropped on seeing the place chuck full, but the queue moved at a brisk pace. Exited at 21:34, which is quite amazing really. I made a tactical decision to go to the manned booths, which I think was faster, but the machines seemed to be processing people. So, they definitely helped.

Off topic, but I arrived from Copenhagen, and it was interesting the security experience there was quite a bit less efficient than Dublin. (Passport control was a lot slower as well). Their security setup is such that one person at the top of any line, can holdup the whole show if they have forgotten to do something. Have to say I've been impressed with the sheer throughput of people in Dublin lately, given the limited size of some of the important facilities.

Jamie2k9

The Veteran wrote: »

Immigration Halls “in airports all over the world” are usually built to handle the volumes being put through them.

At the moment there are 5 manual desks in the hall fed by the Skybridge. Yes there are 10
EGates but the hall itself and access to it are designed, built and managed by the daa and as such the hall is. It currently capable of handling the volumes at times.

Compared to the UK’s main airports, as an example, there is nothing in Dublin like the queues you get in Heathrow, Gatwick, Manchester etx.

We’ve been over it a hundred times here - ask daa for the queue data and you’ll see what the norms are. It is also not see by the average punter but there were a number of “things happening” at the same time as that photo roughly speaking (assuming it was posted within approx an hour of being taken).

I think I have some queuing data, when I get time to dig it out I will. It covers a period in 2016 or 2017 can't remember which.

The Veteran

plodder wrote: »

I went through T1 this evening. Arrived at the immigration hall at 21:30. My heart dropped on seeing the place chuck full, but the queue moved at a brisk pace. Exited at 21:34, which is quite amazing really. I made a tactical decision to go to the manned booths, which I think was faster, but the machines seemed to be processing people. So, they definitely helped.

Off topic, but I arrived from Copenhagen, and it was interesting the security experience there was quite a bit less efficient than Dublin. (Passport control was a lot slower as well). Their security setup is such that one person at the top of any line, can holdup the whole show if they have forgotten to do something. Have to say I've been impressed with the sheer throughput of people in Dublin lately, given the limited size of some of the important facilities.

Thanks Plodder for adding some perspective and an experience of another airport.

Dublin is up there as number 11 busiest airport in Europe in 2017. I haven’t done this but I’m sure if the intra Schengen element of other airports was deducted, the number of passengers requiring border control are Dublin compared to other airports would show that Dublin is a very efficient airport all round.

Of course it could be better but passengers could help too! (Documents out; open on right page; groups together; move on swiftly; etc). Passengers in a lot of cases don’t understand what they are doing when they present .... they are crossing a border. We know a lot of the US guys in Dublin, we respect them and they respect us and they are just as human as any of us but the same people who will bemoan passing the Irish control will be little lambs if going through pre-clearance.

Jamie2k9

The Veteran

Are the E-Gates processing passengers within 20 seconds?

The Rape of Lucretia

Came through there a couple of hours ago no queue. But, machine was unusually quick (last week, the passport transport seemed to take longer registering before sliding it back, and the camera spent longer looking at me before opening the gate. Nothing intollerable mind). This week it was only a second or 2 and the gate seemed to open pretty instantly almost without me looking at the camera.
For those in the know: is there a remote override that someone let me pass manually? 'Felt' like it.

The Rape of Lucretia

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

The Veteran

Are the E-Gates processing passengers within 20 seconds?

I was through in about 5 I would guess. Total operation.

LiamaDelta

Came through yesterday evening also. All machines working with very few problems. The only time it kicked people back was for their own mistakes - wearing headphones, glasses not putting the passport in correctly. Machine gates were a few minutes quicker than booths but all in all there was less than 10 minutes delay.

martinsvi

iancm25 wrote: »

More of this carry on at T1 this evening. Welcome to Ireland folks.

the scene was still the same at 11ish pm.. apparently they have their good days and bad days.. yesterday was one of the worst in recent memory

LXFlyer

iancm25 wrote: »

More of this carry on at T1 this evening. Welcome to Ireland folks.

martinsvi wrote: »

the scene was still the same at 11ish pm.. apparently they have their good days and bad days.. yesterday was one of the worst in recent memory

Before rushing to judgement, it is worth examining:
1) How many flights were scheduled to arrive at those periods
2) How many flights actually did arrive at those periods

If there is a significant disparity between the two, with 2) being higher then queues are going to be inevitable.

The Rape of Lucretia

LXFlyer wrote: »

Before rushing to judgement, it is worth examining:
1) How many flights were scheduled to arrive at those periods
2) How many flights actually did arrive at those periods

If there is a significant disparity between the two, with 2) being higher then queues are going to be inevitable.

Not necessarily. A good system will recognise a probability of likely discrepancies at times between scheduled arrivals and actual arrivals and build in a adaptive service to cope with it.

LXFlyer

The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »

Not necessarily. A good system will recognise a probability of likely discrepancies at times between scheduled arrivals and actual arrivals and build in a adaptive service to cope with it.

I did say "significant" disparity in my post above. Any system of course should have resilience built in to handle a reasonable amount of delays.

It is worth observing that Ryanair's tight scheduling of the return of its Dublin based fleet at night (pretty much within a 2-2.5 hour window - far far closer together than Aer Lingus) probably doesn't help - if one hour of that is seriously delayed, that's going to cause headaches.

The Veteran

Yesterday being one of the worst in memory ... omg!!! There were a few extra flights yesterday due to the rugby but nothing major when compared to the Summer time. The simple fact in T1 yesterday and every day at present is that there is insufficient infrastructure for the peak periods. 5 desks for all passengers not eligible to use the Gates. Throw in a heavy non EU flight and a targeted flight and there will be congestion.

I keep coming back to this - it’s a Border not something that can be compromised or rushed.

Does anyone know how many false docs or no doc cases there were over the weekend or in the last week? Up to about 6pm today there were 2 in T2 alone.

There is also an ongoing operation in relation to one of the airlines - highlighted in another thread which is itself resource intensive.

Returning also to a point made about Ryanair’s scheduling; they bring home the fleet predominantly in the last hour or so. T2 never gets busy frankly in the same way.

VG31

The Veteran wrote: »

There is also an ongoing operation in relation to one of the airlines - highlighted in another thread which is itself resource intensive.

Is that Lufthansa? I thought I saw it mentioned here somewhere. Is there some reason why it is just involving one airline?

trellheim

5 desks for all passengers not eligible to use the Gates

1. There is no requirement to use the electronic gates
2. Neither is there any 'eligibility' to use the gates unless the law got changed and no-one told me, you're either carrying a narrowly defined biometric ID that works, or you're not. And in fact those gates were contracted to do Passport Card what's the story there ? What does the manufacturer say ? Are you refusing to take the gates on or what . As far as I can see the State hasn't got what its paid for.
3. The single largest source of people into Dub ( the UK , both Irish and UK nationals) legally do not need to present an ID that will work the gates .

Neither is it a Border for all people going through those desks.

The Veteran

trellheim wrote: »

1. There is no requirement to use the electronic gates
2. Neither is there any 'eligibility' to use the gates unless the law got changed and no-one told me, you're either carrying a narrowly defined biometric ID that works, or you're not. And in fact those gates were contracted to do Passport Card what's the story there ? What does the manufacturer say ? Are you refusing to take the gates on or what . As far as I can see the State hasn't got what its paid for.
3. The single largest source of people into Dub ( the UK , both Irish and UK nationals) legally do not need to present an ID that will work the gates .

Neither is it a Border for all people going through those desks.

Yawn!

The Veteran

VG31 wrote: »

Is that Lufthansa? I thought I saw it mentioned here somewhere. Is there some reason why it is just involving one airline?

Yes and yes

Caranica

Queues this evening in T1 were ridiculous. Arrived from Paris at the same time as a flight from Amsterdam and at least one other flight. Non EU line was long but the EU lines were crazy and people opened tape barriers which enabled loads of people to skip the queue. Not sure whether it was a passenger or employee that did it but the extra line was two fingers to those of us who'd been queueing forever.

Tenger

Right at this stage I feel that this thread is going around in circles. It took weeks to get the discussion away from the legal issues of passports check/CTA/Schengen.
Recently it has been anecdotal tales of woe from people who arrive at unfortunate times. We have been lucky enough to have a couple of posters who can pass on actual info about the situation in Dublin airport.
There will always be congestion at peak times in any infrastructure dealing with people. And while some resilience may be built in it isn’t infallible. (as Irish people we know that we’re not too great on that front.....looking at the DART, LUAS and M50)

I don’t want to close the thread or stifle the discussion but it needs to be a discussion. Banging on about the same issues each week will not solve the perceived issue. No one on boards can fix this.
If any poster is that bothered then they should engage with the correct authorities. (DAA, INIS, Dept of Transport, IAA etc.) From here on if I see a repeat complaint that has already been clearly answered (to my satisfaction) warnings will be issued.

Tenger

Caranica wrote: »

Queues this evening in T1 were ridiculous. Arrived from Paris at the same time as a flight from Amsterdam and at least one other flight. Non EU line was long but the EU lines were crazy and people opened tape barriers which enabled loads of people to skip the queue. Not sure whether it was a passenger or employee that did it but the extra line was two fingers to those of us who'd been queueing forever.

You answered your own complaint; at least 3 flights simultaneously, not helped by passengers messing up the queues. (Why would an employee open a barrier? They are there to channel the passengers in an orderly fashion)