Dublin Airport apologises after passengers miss flights due to queues

There were queues outside both terminals on Sunday

Hundreds of passengers have missed flights at Dublin Airport as some described a scene of "total bedlam" with queues stretching outside the terminal doors.

Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) apologised to customers and said it had experienced significant queues for check-in, bag drop and for security.

It added that it would ensure "nobody is out of pocket" due to the delays.

About 50,000 passengers had been expected to depart on Sunday.

Kevin Cullinane from the DAA said the airport had been "aggressively recruiting an additional 370 security staff", however, many of the 300 already recruited were still being trained.

"We've been rapidly ramping up our operation since the start of March as international travel has rebounded, bearing in mind we had very few passengers travelling due to the pandemic for the last two years," he told BBC News NI.

'Total bedlam'

Pauline Moore, who lives near Rathfriland in County Down, missed her Ryanair flight to London Stansted on Sunday morning.

She told BBC News NI that she joined the queue outside Dublin Airport at about 05:30 local time and spent nearly three hours waiting in line.

She reached the departure gate at 08:22, missing her flight by just two minutes.

Ms Moore managed to rebook a replacement flight with her airline but described the atmosphere in the airport as "total bedlam", saying there were a lot of very frustrated passengers complaining about the length of time it is taking to get through security.

Ms Moore also said she witnessed "scuffles" in the queue as some people became very anxious about missing their flights and tried to skip the line, upsetting their fellow passengers.

The retired grandmother is a frequent flier to Spain and said she had never seen the queues as bad as they were on Sunday morning.

On this occasion, she was making a four-day trip to visit her grandchildren, which has now been cut short because of the delays.

Kevin Cullinane said customers would not be left out of pocket following the delays

Mr Cullinane said queues eased at terminal one on Sunday afternoon, but some people had continued to queue outside terminal two.

The DAA official explained there would be a "post-event analysis" of what happened on Sunday as there had been similar numbers passing through departures on Saturday without such lengthy queues.

"We found ourselves, obviously, with not a sufficient number of security lanes open this morning very early on to cope with the unexpected presentation of passengers at that hour and for that we have to unreservedly apologise," he said.

"It's been a very challenging day for everyone and for that we obviously apologise for those passengers that endured those lengthy queues."

Mr Cullinane said many customers would be offered the chance to rebook or claim through their travel insurance for expenditure incurred by the delays.

He also said others should contact the airport's customer service team for reimbursement "to make sure that nobody is out of pocket as a result of today's inconvenience".

Plans 'down the plughole'

Tim Neill, a medical student from Pontyzpass in County Armagh, was due to fly from Dublin to Birmingham for a two-day trip with his girlfriend.

The couple were due to attend BBC Radio One's Big Weekend in Coventry but they, too, missed their flight.

"My girlfriend just finished her exams, I just finished my clinical placement in Newry in the hospital," Mr Neill said.

"So it was supposed to be a nice weekend away to see some good music acts, big headliners, and that's just all gone down the plughole."

Tim Neill's big weekend away turned into a walk around Dublin city centre after he missed his flight on Sunday

Mr Neill explained that when they arrived at the airport on Sunday morning they were "greeted with this mass of people queuing outside" the terminal building.

"We actually panicked. We thought: 'How are we going to get through security?'"

The couple managed to get hold of fast-track passes but it made no difference to their wait.

"We eventually got into the terminal, found where the fast-track queue was - it was about as long as the normal security queue," he explained.

"We asked for help and couldn't really get anywhere."

'Bit of a shambles'

Mr Neill added: "There were a few very helpful people at the doors but everybody just was saying: 'You have to queue, you have to queue.'

"They weren't prioritising people to get flights. It was really a big mess, a bit of a shambles really."

The couple are considerably out of pocket because had they booked accommodation in England and train tickets from Birmingham to Coventry, neither of which are refundable.

Tim Neill took this image of the Dublin Airport queues as he missed a flight to England

So instead of flying to England to see acts like George Ezra and Harry Styles, they are spending the day walking around Dublin.

"We were at the stage that we couldn't afford to move on to later flights this evening. We would have missed most of the concert anyway," he said.

The student said it was not the first time he has experienced delays at the airport in recent weeks.

"I'm just annoyed, disappointed, let down. I just can't really understand why a problem that's been going on for this long can't be sorted out."