LAST UPDATE | 2 Jun 2022
THE DAA HAS been taken to task this week after extreme queues at Dublin Airport led over 1,000 passengers to miss their flight out of the capital.
Government ministers ordered the airport authority to devise solutions that would prevent the problem, which has been driven by staff shortages, from reoccurring.
The DAA still needs to hire more security workers to make up a shortfall after many were let go during the pandemic but released a plan yesterday of short-term actions to try to prevent further inordinate waits.
And this afternoon, the airport announced that the popular drop-off area outside Terminal One has been closed to vehicles to accomodate waiting spaces for passengers who arrive early during busy periods.
DAA chief executive Dalton Philips came before the Oireachtas Transport Committee yesterday afternoon to outline the measures that are being implemented.
If you’re travelling from the airport this bank holiday weekend, here is what you can expect if the DAA’s plan is implemented.
When should I arrive?
The advice to passengers is to arrive at least two-and-a-half hours before a short-haul flight to Europe or the UK and at least three-and-a-half hours for long-haul flights.
However, if you are checking in a bag, you’re advised to arrive at least another hour earlier than that.
Security screening is open 24 hours a day in Terminal One and from 4am in Terminal Two. Check-in desks are operated by the specific airlines.
You can check which terminal your flight is departing from on the Dublin Airport website before you arrive.
At particularly busy times, the DAA will be “triaging” access to the terminals, meaning it will only allow passengers into Departures whose flights are leaving within 2.5 hours (short-haul flights) or 3.5 hours (long-haul flights).
To enter the terminals during those busy period, passengers will be asked to show a document like their booking confirmation or boarding pass to prove the time of their flight.
Ultimately, passengers who arrive early when the terminals are busy will be asked to wait in new ‘holding areas’, which will be fitted with a bad weather cover, seating, and toilets.
Special consideration will be given to passengers who require assistance and passengers with an Important Flyer wristband or lanyard for autism.
Where do I go?
At Terminal One, the usual entrance route for cars outside Departures has been closed to all vehicles.
Instead, passenger drop-off has been moved to the Atrium, from which there’s a short walk across to the terminal building.
The road space immediately outside the terminal will be used for queue management, including the covered spaces to hold passengers who arrive several hours before their flight during busy periods.
The change to the drop-off area “will remain in place for the coming weeks”.
How will I get through security?
The DAA is planning to increase the number of security screening lanes that are open this weekend.
Last weekend, as few as six security lanes were open in each of the two terminals, down from the usual maximum of 12.
This weekend, that should be increased to at least ten at “peak periods”.
An additional 40 security staff are due to be on duty to try to reduce the time it takes to get through screening.
“Each lane ordinarily screens about 200 passengers per hour and being down six lanes we had a processing deficit of 1,200 passengers per hour,” Philips told the committee.
He said the DAA will “try to maximise the availability of staff resources, increase the number of security lanes open at peak times, and improve queue management”.
You might want to review the usual rules for what you are and aren’t allowed to bring through security screening in a carry-on bag.
That includes putting liquids, gels and pastes, which must be no larger than 100ml each, into a single, clear one-litre bag.
At the security screening, you’ll be asked to take your liquids bag out of your luggage and put it into a tray, along with electronic devices like laptops or tablets, jackets, coins, jewellery and some heavy shoes like boots.
How is this going to be fixed long-term?
The crux of the problem is with “staffing and resources”, as Minister of State for International Transport Hildegarde Naughton put it earlier this week.
Philips told the committee that “since recruitment began in 2021, we have now recruited over 300 new Airport Search Unit Officers, with 150 officers recruited since the end of April 2022 alone”.
He said the airport authority will bring another 70 officers on board over the coming weeks and has set no upward limit on recruitment numbers.
However, he said the “absolute criticality of security training, the process of onboarding
these new staff cannot be rushed” and it will take another month before the additional trained security officers are fully deployed in the airport.
Additional reporting by Rónán Duffy
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