I was going to put this as part of a Trip Report – Other Airlines but given that it really applies to the chaos that is currently DUB, I think it is more appropriate here.
Over the past 10 days I have made two return flights from Cork to Dublin, each on Ryanair. They have been entirely satisfactory flights and the most noteworthy thing was the introduction of Check’n’Go - an OLCI with the capability of printing your own boarding cards. [y] I used it each time and from Cork it was most satisfactory. At security it was scanned and that was that. The only other thing remotely worthy of mention was that our return aircraft went tech on arrival in Dublin but was substituted so quickly by Ryanair that we would not have known it if the captain had not mentioned it. That aircraft had not been catered and therefore we were spared the normally aggressive marketing associated with Ryanair. Given that it was only a 30-minute flight no-one was going to die of starvation.
They’re the good bits. Two entirely satisfactory ORK-DUB flights. Now for the rest
Disclaimer: Persons of a nervous disposition should proceed immediately to the next post [:0][:0]
Sunday May 28th – Dublin Airport
It was heaving. At all the check-in desks humungous crowds were gathered bound for here, there and everywhere. At security the snake was five rows deep and the line extended well beyond that for a good twenty-five metres or so. The second security line was as bad and I reckoned it would take at least an hour to get through – except I had a few tricks up my sleeve. [:w] I was already checked in and tucked away in the corner of the airport is the Domestic Express Security Area where there was no line at all. Basically it was set up for business people travelling to Dublin for the day as a means of by-passing the crowds but was also available for those on a bit of R&R in the capital. Looking entirely smug I arrived there and presented my boarding pass – except that it wouldn’t scan! The security guy looked suitably apologetic and told me I needed to go back to the desk where I had checked in. I told him that was exactly what I was trying to do but it was in Cork and unless he let me through I couldn’t. [:w] He laughed but I was sent back to the Ryanair check-in area and told to go to the top of the queue there. Yeah, right! I have a death wish and really want to be set upon by a lynch mob! At the check-in area the check-in queue for Cork was long enough, but, BUT a rara avis was to be seen. I had heard about these mythical creatures but I didn’t believe they existed, yet here was one in the flesh – a Ryanair customer services agent who was patrolling the area. I threw myself on her mercy and she was about to direct me to the end of the queue but in a rare act of compassion took my pass and returned with a new boarding card with my sequence number intact! I was now able to skip through the still empty domestic security gate and off to my gate [y]
The gate areas in concourse A where all the Ryanair flights and many other domestic carriers as well as some EI UK destinations is extremely congested and really demonstrates the need for a second terminal.[V] They were never really designed for the level of use now experienced and if two flights are leaving around the same time the overcrowding is immense. It was impossible to get to the seating area without ducking under barriers and one of the by-products of the Ryanair phenomenon is the ridiculous queues that form long before any departure time. Sunday was therefore an unpleasant day in Dublin [n]
Wednesday 7th June
After a perfectly adequate flight up and a hectic meeting I decamped once more into DUB. I had a colleague with me who had not availed of OLCI and so we went to check-in which was empty. While she checked in I asked about the scanning equipment for OLCI and the check-in agent confirmed there was a problem and handed me a boarding card. We passed through security and checked the monitors – gate A67. A67? [?] The A gates only go up to 18 so where had 67 come from? [?] An arrow pointed to downstairs and our hearts sank. This area was part of the original airport and is completely bleak – especially at the far end and that was where we were appearing to be going – except that when we got there we found an new corridor had been built alongside the SR Technics place where the VS aircraft go to be beautified. There was a warning that it was 5 minutes to the gate area and in the distance we could see a pre-fabricated building with gates 65-71. When we got there we found ourselves in a huge hall with the gates arranged in pairs. It was air-conditioned – fortunately and men were installing a lighting system. There was plenty of seating, a coffee dock, vending machines and toilets (with partitions of such a dazzling red that they would make VS look dowdy!)[:0] There was a departures monitor in place but no monitors at the gates. Our flight and a Ryanair flight to Krakow were due to depart from there and apart from the workmen there was no-one from the Dublin Airport Authority. At one stage a Ryanair plane passed close by the gate from where the Krakow flight was due to leave and inexplicably everyone rose up to form a queue there. [ii] As more and more people came in they joined the end of the queue. We were to one side watching and while there was no way of telling I felt that many people bound for Cork were in that queue.
What followed next was appalling especially in these days of heightened security. [V] The flight from Cork arrived and the passengers deplaned through the hall as normal. However once they were through no-one came to close the doors to the ramp and until we boarded it still remained open. Anyone was free to come and go and with a yellow jacket who was going to question them?
As our flight time approached and that of the Krakow one passed still there was no sign of anyone in authority and I had visions of the flight departing from another part of the airport and someone coming down days later to find our bodies! [:0] Fortunately for us staff did eventually arrive – I know not from where as they arrived from the tarmac – ordered us in to line and we were released to the merciful arms of Ryanair.
Oh, yes. I was right. Most of the people in the Krakow queue ended up on our plane
This was probably the first or second day of the operation of this new gate area given that Monday was a Bank Holiday over here and it will ease the congestion in the other part of the A concourse, but boy, it was a nightmare!
Over the past 10 days I have made two return flights from Cork to Dublin, each on Ryanair. They have been entirely satisfactory flights and the most noteworthy thing was the introduction of Check’n’Go - an OLCI with the capability of printing your own boarding cards. [y] I used it each time and from Cork it was most satisfactory. At security it was scanned and that was that. The only other thing remotely worthy of mention was that our return aircraft went tech on arrival in Dublin but was substituted so quickly by Ryanair that we would not have known it if the captain had not mentioned it. That aircraft had not been catered and therefore we were spared the normally aggressive marketing associated with Ryanair. Given that it was only a 30-minute flight no-one was going to die of starvation.
They’re the good bits. Two entirely satisfactory ORK-DUB flights. Now for the rest
Disclaimer: Persons of a nervous disposition should proceed immediately to the next post [:0][:0]
Sunday May 28th – Dublin Airport
It was heaving. At all the check-in desks humungous crowds were gathered bound for here, there and everywhere. At security the snake was five rows deep and the line extended well beyond that for a good twenty-five metres or so. The second security line was as bad and I reckoned it would take at least an hour to get through – except I had a few tricks up my sleeve. [:w] I was already checked in and tucked away in the corner of the airport is the Domestic Express Security Area where there was no line at all. Basically it was set up for business people travelling to Dublin for the day as a means of by-passing the crowds but was also available for those on a bit of R&R in the capital. Looking entirely smug I arrived there and presented my boarding pass – except that it wouldn’t scan! The security guy looked suitably apologetic and told me I needed to go back to the desk where I had checked in. I told him that was exactly what I was trying to do but it was in Cork and unless he let me through I couldn’t. [:w] He laughed but I was sent back to the Ryanair check-in area and told to go to the top of the queue there. Yeah, right! I have a death wish and really want to be set upon by a lynch mob! At the check-in area the check-in queue for Cork was long enough, but, BUT a rara avis was to be seen. I had heard about these mythical creatures but I didn’t believe they existed, yet here was one in the flesh – a Ryanair customer services agent who was patrolling the area. I threw myself on her mercy and she was about to direct me to the end of the queue but in a rare act of compassion took my pass and returned with a new boarding card with my sequence number intact! I was now able to skip through the still empty domestic security gate and off to my gate [y]
The gate areas in concourse A where all the Ryanair flights and many other domestic carriers as well as some EI UK destinations is extremely congested and really demonstrates the need for a second terminal.[V] They were never really designed for the level of use now experienced and if two flights are leaving around the same time the overcrowding is immense. It was impossible to get to the seating area without ducking under barriers and one of the by-products of the Ryanair phenomenon is the ridiculous queues that form long before any departure time. Sunday was therefore an unpleasant day in Dublin [n]
Wednesday 7th June
After a perfectly adequate flight up and a hectic meeting I decamped once more into DUB. I had a colleague with me who had not availed of OLCI and so we went to check-in which was empty. While she checked in I asked about the scanning equipment for OLCI and the check-in agent confirmed there was a problem and handed me a boarding card. We passed through security and checked the monitors – gate A67. A67? [?] The A gates only go up to 18 so where had 67 come from? [?] An arrow pointed to downstairs and our hearts sank. This area was part of the original airport and is completely bleak – especially at the far end and that was where we were appearing to be going – except that when we got there we found an new corridor had been built alongside the SR Technics place where the VS aircraft go to be beautified. There was a warning that it was 5 minutes to the gate area and in the distance we could see a pre-fabricated building with gates 65-71. When we got there we found ourselves in a huge hall with the gates arranged in pairs. It was air-conditioned – fortunately and men were installing a lighting system. There was plenty of seating, a coffee dock, vending machines and toilets (with partitions of such a dazzling red that they would make VS look dowdy!)[:0] There was a departures monitor in place but no monitors at the gates. Our flight and a Ryanair flight to Krakow were due to depart from there and apart from the workmen there was no-one from the Dublin Airport Authority. At one stage a Ryanair plane passed close by the gate from where the Krakow flight was due to leave and inexplicably everyone rose up to form a queue there. [ii] As more and more people came in they joined the end of the queue. We were to one side watching and while there was no way of telling I felt that many people bound for Cork were in that queue.
What followed next was appalling especially in these days of heightened security. [V] The flight from Cork arrived and the passengers deplaned through the hall as normal. However once they were through no-one came to close the doors to the ramp and until we boarded it still remained open. Anyone was free to come and go and with a yellow jacket who was going to question them?
As our flight time approached and that of the Krakow one passed still there was no sign of anyone in authority and I had visions of the flight departing from another part of the airport and someone coming down days later to find our bodies! [:0] Fortunately for us staff did eventually arrive – I know not from where as they arrived from the tarmac – ordered us in to line and we were released to the merciful arms of Ryanair.
Oh, yes. I was right. Most of the people in the Krakow queue ended up on our plane
This was probably the first or second day of the operation of this new gate area given that Monday was a Bank Holiday over here and it will ease the congestion in the other part of the A concourse, but boy, it was a nightmare!
[:w]