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Poll reveals one in 10 Dublin Airport passengers to change travel plans due to queue chaos

More than 1,000 passengers missed their flights on one day last month due to long security queues.

MORE THAN ONE in 10 passengers with a flight departing from Dublin Airport this summer either have already or intend to change their travel plans due to the chaotic scenes witnessed at Dublin Airport recently, according to a new poll. 

At the end of last month, more than 1,000 passengers in one day alone missed their flights due to long queues at airport security. Although measures have been put in place to avoid a repeat of this situation, for some prospective passengers the damage has already been done.

In a poll carried out by Red C for The Journal, 42% of people said they had or have flights booked to depart from Dublin Airport this summer. Of those, 12% have already or intend to change or cancel their flights as a result of the long queues at the airport.

The highest proportion of those who have changed or intend to change plans were men and women aged 18-34.

Almost half of those polled said they have no plans to take a flight this summer, while 10% said they booked flights departing from another airport.

The government stepped in last month to force the airport operators DAA to develop a plan to manage the increased footfall over the summer.

The plan included improvements to the queue management system, a maximisation of staffing resources and an increase in the number of security lanes open at peak times. 

Though the airport has continued to be busy – including early yesterday morning when passengers had to queue to enter Terminal 1 – DAA has said the kinds of delays experienced by passengers at the end of last month have not been repeated. 

Dublin Airport has also come under criticism in recent weeks over the cost of its longterm car parking. One customer noted a €70 increase for a ten-day period in the longterm car park, compared to the same amount of time just a couple of months earlier.

 Another person paid €53 for nine days of parking in September 2021 and when booking recently for a trip this month they were charged €74.50 for just four days.

The airport operators have said they use a ‘dynamic pricing model’ which means prices for car parking depends on factors such as the time of year and demand at that time for parking. 

DAA has said it expects pressure on car parking availability will continue over the summer months. 

Senators this week signalled their intention to seek a debate with the Transport Minister on plans to improve the country’s aviation policy. 

Speaking in the Seanad, Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway said he had recently visited Shannon Airport and found it to be “very impressive”. 

“The new security features, including new scanners, that have been installed during the Covid pandemic have made a great difference,” he said.

Despite this, 87% of the aviation traffic in and out of this country goes through Dublin Airport. The Minister has acknowledged that we need a new aviation policy. I propose that we have a debate with the Minister in the Seanad on such a policy because I believe there is a lot of expertise in the area of transport and aviation in this chamber and that such a debate would be useful.

Fianna Fáil Senator Lisa Chambers said Conway had made a valid point about the need to rebalance the air traffic across regions. 

“The Senator made the valid point that we have other airports in the State such as Cork, Shannon, and Ireland West Airport Knock, that can certainly have more capacity to assist in getting passengers in and out of the country,” she said.

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    Mute donal O'brien
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    Aug 8th 2023, 5:26 PM

    Howabout passing the exams first time and no need for these fees?

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    Mute Robert Smith
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    Aug 8th 2023, 11:17 PM

    @donal O’brien: Says the fella who can’t even capitalise his own name lol.

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    Mute Tom Mc Sweeney
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    Aug 8th 2023, 11:29 PM

    @Robert Smith: We’ll said.I can’t bear pompous fools.

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    Mute parislanuit1
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:08 PM

    Let’s introduce another measure to protect the mental health of students! Sure we have already dumbed down the Junior Cert, sorry junior cycle now! We are in the process of dumbing down the leaving cert! Sorry making it more accessible! We need you to pass the exams now one way or another even though they are not able as we need to get their fee money off them

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 8th 2023, 10:27 PM

    @John John: From what I’ve observed, you don’t spend much time away from this site with your snide and demeaning remarks. Are you employed?

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    Mute Lorne Malvo
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    Aug 8th 2023, 8:00 PM

    There is no shortage of work out there for students, bar staff, lounge staff, waiters, kitchen porters, shop attendants, shelf stackers the list is endless. Fees should be doubled for repeats.

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 8th 2023, 11:04 PM

    @Lorne Malvo: What does that serve? Is it possible the reason they didn’t pass the first time is they were working to fund going to college as their parents are of little means?

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    Mute Lorne Malvo
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    Aug 9th 2023, 12:22 AM

    @I can see clearly now: a couple of weeks work after the failed exams would pay for the repeat exams. I never mentioned working before the exams.

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 9th 2023, 7:04 AM

    @John John: But who are you to make that assumption? I will be objective and say that yes, possibly there are some that have not done their study in order to pass the exam – but they tend to take it seriously the second time around. It isn’t that they are incapable, I would say rather that they have been distracted by college life.

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    Mute I can see clearly now
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    Aug 9th 2023, 7:06 AM

    @Lorne Malvo: Yes Lorne, you never mentioned working before the exams as a potential factor for failing. One has to take all possibilities into account.

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    Mute Lorne Malvo
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    Aug 9th 2023, 11:10 AM

    @I can see clearly now: I’ve no interest in why they are failing exams in the first place. You brought that into the conversation.

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    Mute Margaret Tiernan
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    Aug 9th 2023, 12:02 AM

    There are so many reasons why students do not pass exams first time round, let’s not be too hasty to judge regarding these reasons and the stress it places on the students who do need to repeat.

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    Mute Tommy Haze
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:06 PM

    Read an article recently about a time when students were radical taking to the streets to fight causes for social and political justice. Anti Establishment fervour.
    Hard to believe isn’t it?

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    Mute Sylvia Power
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:43 PM

    @Tommy Haze: Any time young people protest anything, which happens a lot, the comments on the articles here are heaps of people telling them to get back to class. What do ye people want

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    Mute Alina
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    Aug 9th 2023, 1:33 PM

    Honestly, the fees should not be scrapped. It is not the college’s fault that staff need to be paid to administer and correct the repeat exams, as well as needing money to print out and purchase all the relevant papers and whatnot. If a student fails one or more exams, it is their fault and as such it is their responsibility to pay for it. If the money is not coming from the student who failed, it is coming from the fees of other students who have not failed, or otherwise, the Irish taxpayer. Why should responsible students and/or the Irish taxpayer pay for the failures of students? They shouldn’t.

    €295 is a drop in the bucket compared to things like the €3,000 student contribution fee, or the €5,000+ fee that University of Galway charges for international students to repeat their exams. Students are whining about less than €300, when I can almost guarantee you that these same students are spending their money on lunches either on campus or in one of the shops across the road from the university, or on things like gum, teas/coffees and/or other treats, and/or alcohol, vapes, cigarettes, in various shops or pubs. If these students cut down on any one of these categories of frivolous spending, it would almost certainly save them way more than €295.
    I would understand if these concerns were coming from frugal students who just genuinely don’t have a lot cash after their bills and didn’t get lucky with their parents nor the student grant, but this is not the case. These whiners are almost certainly not the financially responsible type. (And I honestly think that personal finance classes should be compulsory for all students).

    And this is coming from myself, a student who attends this university. I really hope our President does not listen to these Student Union folk, because I don’t want my fees (nor my taxes) being spent on other students’ repeat exams, thank you.

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    Mute Pato
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    Aug 8th 2023, 10:50 PM

    The union don’t charge the fees but the membership pay them. They can just pay what they feel is fair.

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    Mute Pato
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:21 PM

    Why propose it. Do it.

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    Mute Thomas Berry
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    Aug 8th 2023, 7:55 PM

    @Pato: Eh.. The union don’t charge the fees.

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    Mute James Carroll
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    Aug 8th 2023, 9:22 PM

    @Pato: Why suppose it. Read it.

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