Dublin Airport security waiting times

Went out to Bristol on Ryanair on the 9th (Thursday), couldn't post till now, as laptop died, and getting things sorted on desktop took time.

Arrived at Blue zone at 03:10. for a 06:30 flight, first hassle was that ANPR wasn't working, and finding which card was used to make the booking for the car park wasn't easy in the poor light, they really need to get their act together on the information side, and very small fonts on a piece of almost blank paper don't make it any easier to sort out. More on that later, the attendant swiped us in with the card, and that was hurdle one overcome.

finding a free space was "interesting", but we did get in to one, and we were dropped at T2 (No T1 drop off any more) at 03:35. Walked up to T1, got into the security queue, and we were airside by 04:30. 45 minutes at that time of the morning is not great on a relatively quiet day, our flight had all of 60 people on it, and there were plenty more like that, the issue was simple, T1 has 15 scanner lanes, and when we went through, there were 7 actually operating, presumably because there are still not enough staff available to man more. I still am amazed by just how many people are still not aware of the rules for what has to be put through the scanner in the poly bag, and what clothing has to be scanned, and that's just another aggravation that causes delays. There's no two ways about it, Osama Bin Laden and his henchmen well and truly Fcuked air travel with their activities, and the fact that 20 years on, we're still messing around with small liquids in a poly bag, having to remove belts and boots and take valuable items out of their cases for scanning says a lot about how sheep like we've all become. I dread to think how much goes missing at airport security, between phones, tablets and laptops in plain sight on the belts, I suspect it's a large number, and catching the people responsible will be almost impossible.

Departure was not too bad time wise, we pushed back about 10 minutes after due time, but it took a long time to actually get airborne, which meant we didn't arrive in Bristol on time. No great surprise there either, there are over 30 departures out of Dublin between 05:35 and 06:35, and that doesn't allow for long haul and freight arrivals, and there were plenty of them to be seen.

No big deal for us, but there were a number of people who were desperate to get off the aircraft at Bristol, as they had connections to get to, and Bristol is the same as everywhere else now, even with no bags being transferred, you have to exit arrivals, and then go back up to departures and through the security checks etc.

Coming back in the evening, Bristol security was not an issue at 18:45, we were through in less than 5 minutes, and then had plently of time, as our 20:25 scheduled flight was delayed by over an hour, so we eventually got back into Dublin at about 22:40.

It's a LONG walk from the 100 gates to arrivals, and then to the new shuttle bus pick up point that's over by the T2 multi storey car park, and that's something to be aware of for anyone that's suffering mobility issues, one of my group had to stop twice on the way to the bus stop to allow the pain in her back to ease, a long day sitting on a variety of not particularly comfortable seats for extended periods took it's toll.

We got to the Blue car park at 23:20, and after a hassle getting out, because the system getting in 18 plus hours earlier hasn't correctly processed us, we got home again around midnight. The car park exit system is not well labelled, and trying to work out how to deal with it if the ANPR doesn't register is not easy, between poor lighting, next to no instructions, and very small type on small stick on labels, it is NOT a user friendly system, but sure, why should we expect anything better from tech nerds at DAA.

I've been flying in and out of Dublin for close on 40 years, and the simple truth is that it's no longer any pleasure to use Dublin, between the hassles of security, the lack of comfortable seating in the gate areas, the appalling quality of the PA systems, and the marathon hiking distances, the pleasure has well and truly gone out of it, and we were lucky, it wasn't raining when it came to boarding, there's nothing worse than standing on a wind swept ramp in the rain because the gate started processing before the aircraft was ready to board, and that's a regular issue these days.

The confusion from Ryanair and DAA doesn't help. We had 2 emails from Ryanair, about half an hour apart, one saying allow 3 and a half hours, then a later one saying 4 hours, and the on line app was still saying 2.5 hours if no bags. On the day, we had plenty of time, but it's clear that they are balanced on a knife edge, and it doesn't take much to screw the system up.

I never thought I'd say this, but it's getting to the point where going over on the ferry with our own car is looking like an attractive option again. The flights were cheap enough, but if you want to add in a night in a B & B, and then factor in the obscene prices that are being charged for car hire at the moment (the cheapest car on offer when we checked in on Wednesday night was a Fiat 500 at over £400 for ONE day), it starts to look a lot more attractive than going by air, given the total travel time that stupid check in delays are causing, the time to fly to Liverpool or get the ferry to Holyhead is almost the same now for an early morning flight, which is crazy, and some of the duty free offers on the UK ferry (4 litres of spirits for €40 ) are very good, but of course, you can't use them at Dublin because of the problems of liquids at security coming back.

Perhaps we should take the easy option, and get from the entrance of the terminal to the gate by OCS, at over 70 it would not be an issue, but it's still hassle and aggravation, and for now, not going to the UK is not an option, with even older parents who need visits from us, we are going to have to keep going for a bit longer.

So. that was our day. The good part of it was being able to suprise my 98 year old mother on her actual birthday with an unannounced visit from 2 of her great grand children, who she's not seen since before Covid, the look on her face when she saw them made it all worth while, but we paid the price for it the following day, we were absolutely fit for nothing for most of the day.