dublin/Delta questions

Gekko

Feel free to move this if it's in the wrong place.

I'm flying to NY on saturday morning at 9am, in business class with Delta. How long in advance do I need to be at the airport?

Is there a lounge I can use in Dublin?

highlydebased

Around 2 and a half hours

Neon-Circles

Neon-Circles wrote:

Around 2 and a half hours

Heh that would be too tight,I'd say 3 and a half hours... especially if you want a bit of time in a lounge to relax .

Flying business class with Delta,will give access to the anna livia lounge.
It's small and pokey and kind of worn out at this stage.
It has two pc's with the slowest internet access you'll ever experience.

You can make your own coffee,grab some crisps and nuts and partake of the alcohol but thats about it.

Nearly every airline sends its business customers there so it gets very busy.
It's not the haven you'd expect at other airports.
The Aer lingus lounge I've always found much calmer and more spacious but you won't have access there.

For the return,you'll have a far better lounge in JFK-the delta crown room.

As for when you should be in Dublin...the queue's for U.S immigration are long-90 minutes or so,it depends on if there are any charter flights going to Florida aswell.
That will be post check in so allow at least 2 hrs for check in and another 2 for immigration.
Mind you these days, planes are delayed to the U.S due to that queue so you wont miss your flight if its extra long.That should be plenty of time and if it goes smoothly you'll have time to relax in analivia or peruse the shops.

Being a U.S citizen if you are one won't save you either as they've done away with the separate line for citizens.

Gekko

Thanks for the replies.

I'll probably leave about 3 hours to be safe. The others in my group are flying out the day after me are leaving 2 hours.

I've been in the Anna Livia lounge and it's pretty dull compared to say the BMI lounge at Heathrow where there's a pretty good selection of papers, magazines and usually TV to watch.

At that time of the morning and with an early start I'll just be keen to get into my seat and get some sleep I expect.

Anyone know if Delta flies pretty modern 767s?

My only other long haul flight was on one with United Airlines from Heathrow to Newark which was ok.

BuffyBot

I think thier 767 fleet is about 10-11 years old maximum - not brand new, but no where near then end of their tether either.

highlydebased

They fly B763's to Dublin, which are slowly but surely being updated with new seats, AVOD etc

Third_Echelon

I flew with Delta a few weeks ago on a monday at 12 noon. I presume the flight schedules are pretty similar each day anyway.... but the guy in immigration said that pretty much every US bound flight is delayed due to the long queue in immigration. (my flight was delayed by an hour)(they wont take off without you if you are in the queue for immigration)

Due to the summer schedule change there is something stupid like 6 flights that leave for the US in the space of 1 hour, so you could have up to 1800 people trying to get through about 6 immigration desks in the hours leading up to this... You do the maths on that one

When I got into the queue just to go down the stairs into the actual area where the immigration booths are, the back of the queue was actually just a few feet from the entrance, i.e. it was so long that it went the whole way around the circular area where all the gates are... My advise would be to give yourself at least 2 hours to clear immigration. You can get your business class lounge service on the flight

As for the plane itself, it was quite modern with new leather seats in economy. Quite comfortable actually...

Gekko

just back and have to say immigration queues in dublin were long. I must've waited about 45 minutes after being up at 4am and was very glad to get on the plane.

We were a bit late taking off but we made up the time in the air.

have to say Delta's service was very good although my video screen didn't work on the way to NY and there were 2 annoying american teenagers in business class across from me.

Coming back was ok. Movie choice wasn't great but I wanted to sleep anyway. Choice of food very good.

Anna Livia lounge in Dublin very poor compared to the Delta lounge in JFK - it was very very good.