Dublin Airport Area 14

Fratton Fred

I've made a mistake, I've told my wife I have booked her BMI and I have booked Aer Lingus. This means she has to go to area 14 (isn't that where they keep the alien spaceships?). She also has to check in her luggage one hour before her flight.

Any idea where this mystical place is and how long it takes to check in there? Usually we can get away with 40 minutes before (At the latest) but Aer lingus are saying it is 1 hour, do they rigourously enforce this?

I know, the answer is to get there with plenty of time, but that might no be that easy.

Stevek101

I'd give yourself at least an hour, that's kind of essential for any flight these days. Its not like Area 14 is far away its just in the basement, down from the arrivals area.

macplaxton

Just checked the Aer Lingus website and it says under "Services & Frequent Flyer" > "Airport Services" > "Check-In times"

Dublin Airport Check-in

Check in for all flights to the UK, Germany and Italy is now from Area 14 in the lower ground floor. Check-in for all other flights is located in the standard Departures area.

Recommended Check-in times

Flights

Recommended check-in time
Long-haul routes
(Depart or arrive outside Europe)

3 hours 30 Mins before departure*
UK & Europe routes

2 hours 30 Mins before departure

*Check-in facilities in Shannon airport do not open before 05:00am.

Note: Check-in for all flights closes 45 minutes prior to departure.

Failure To Comply With Check In Deadlines

Passengers who do not comply with Check-in Deadlines will not be accepted for travel. They may change their booking up until the flight they were booked on has departed, thereafter it will be treated as a 'no-show' and the booking will be forfeited.

If you set down at the far end of the set down lanes, at the second set of entry/exit doors, one can quickly get an escalator down to the arrivals floor and another escalator down to "Area 14". It's in the basement.

CLICKY LINK HERE

Piece of cake.;)

(I don't like hanging round airports, arriving 50 minutes before kick off and knowing where I'm going is my usual.)

I

GeturGun

I discovered (almost to my peril) that your arrival time in Area 14 should totally depend on what time/day you are travelling on. I went thru there a lot last summer on sunday afternoons and used to stroll in to an empty Area 14, drop the bag and off I went. I got really complacent and used to arrive 10 minutes before the max time was up.
But then this June, on the Sat of the bank holiday weekend I arrived at 5:30am for a 6:40am flight and there was about 1,500 people in the hall trying to drop their bags :eek::eek: Luckily i went to the closing flights desk before another 100 people thought of it - and after queueing there and then security, just about made the flight.
So it totally depends on the time of day. You really need to allow for worst case scenario. I'd be there at the very least 90 mins before the flight. Better to have to hang around the airport than miss the flight

(Aer Lingus say 45 mins for check-in but 1 hr for bag and tag drop, not sure why, I've arrived at bag and tag in Heathrow about 50 mins before and nothing was said - thankfully never had to test the limits in Dublin though!!)

Wishbone Ash

Fratton Fred wrote: »

(isn't that where they keep the alien spaceships?)

Area 51 .

Fratton Fred wrote:

Any idea where this mystical place is

Not very mystical I'm afraid.

The existing 1st floor has 13 check-in areas.

A new one opened in the basement below 'arrivals' and they called it "Area 14".

Davidth88

Don't panic , area 14 isn't the dungeon that the Unions tried to make out as they demanded extra money.

However it does depend on the time of day how busy it is as stated by other posters.

I would check in on-line , if you can't print your b/pass don't worry you can print it on the self service kiosks , but at least she can chose a decent seat , although the first 6 rows and the exit seats are blanked off to you online ( unless you are gold status or above ).

40 mins is a bit rushed TBH , it can take 20 mins to walk to the D gates if you are unlucky enough to be flying from there .

When you get to the airport , DON'T go to the departure level , go to the arrival level and turn right , go to the end of the building and go downstairs. There are 3 self service kiosks by the stairs, and loads downstairs.

Tenger

Deleted at Tengers request by Mod

Fratton Fred

Thanks guys for your help. They will be arriving by bus, so i will tell them not to go up the travelator and head straight on to arrivals.

Its so easy with BMI, they always fly from pier B whereas you never know where EI fly from these days. I landed with them the other week in the pouring rain and we had to walk across the tarmac to pier D. we were in between two FR flights which makes you wonder why you pay the extra for EI in the forst place.

skybus

Its so easy with BMI, they always fly from pier B whereas you never know where EI fly from these days. I landed with them the other week in the pouring rain and we had to walk across the tarmac to pier D. we were in between two FR flights which makes you wonder why you pay the extra for EI in the forst place.

Unfortunately EI or any other airline don't own Dublin Airport. Stands are allocated by the DAA. You will find however that EI like BMI are allowed to operate the majority of their LHR flight from pier B. It's quite amusing actually to hear comments like this. You don't pay extra (debatable) to fly with a particular airline to park at a specific area at Dublin airport.

Wishbone Ash

skybus wrote: »

Unfortunately EI or any other airline don't own Dublin Airport. Stands are allocated by the DAA. You will find however that EI like BMI are allowed to operate the majority of their LHR flight from pier B. It's quite amusing actually to hear comments like this. You don't pay extra (debatable) to fly with a particular airline to park at a specific area at Dublin airport.

The amount of Irish people who think that Aer Lingus own Dublin Airport is incredible!

And then there are those, like my father, who think that everone who works in the Airport, works for Aer Lingus! :rolleyes:

Tenger

Deleted at Tengers request by Mod

Base

Area 14 was built by DAA for use by FR. FR refused,can't remember why,probably didn't want to pay for the lightbulbs needed in a basement. Thus EI decided to use it.

The refused out of principle leaving the DAA in a pickle for a while trying to get someone else to use it! The DAA actually went as far as putting up graphics of how it was going to look around the airport - including Ryanair route map centre stage.

Tenger

Base wrote: »

The refused out of principle .................The DAA actually went as far as putting up graphics of how it was going to look around the airport - including Ryanair route map centre stage.

I remember that image. A bit premature by DAA!

Fratton Fred

skybus wrote: »

Unfortunately EI or any other airline don't own Dublin Airport. Stands are allocated by the DAA. You will find however that EI like BMI are allowed to operate the majority of their LHR flight from pier B. It's quite amusing actually to hear comments like this. You don't pay extra (debatable) to fly with a particular airline to park at a specific area at Dublin airport.

I don't care who owns who. If I want to go budget then i will fly FR. I pay the extra so at the least i would expect not to have to have to get wet walking down the stairs of a plane.

I have never seen a BMI flight go from A or B, so why do Aer Lingus? I appreciate that there is major building work going on and a lot of gates have been lost, but this confirms my opinion that Aer lingus have turned themselves into a budget airline without the low costs.

It's a shame, because once you are on the plane they are excellent and I love their cooked breakfast, but with BMI I usually get a cheaper flight, a more convenient gate at Dublin airport and a free cup of tea and Breakfast panini through my Diamond club card.

I don't have all the hassle of having to pay for any luggage I check in, pay to choose my seat etc (My diamond club membership means I get a seat towards the front of the cabin) and if i pay by debit card there is no card fee either.

Sorry, i don't want to have to rant on about Aer Lingus, but to pay twice as much to fly with them than Ryanair and then be treated like a budget traveller is a bit annoying.

Edit..Sorry Skybus, just re-read and this comes across like i am having a pop at you, that's not my intention

Davidth88

This is slightly off topic , but I don't often find FR cheaper than EI !

90% of my travel is for business at short notice , and EI are usually a lot cheaper. Also how many destantions do EI / FR share ? , I can think of LGW, Manchester ... is there many others ?

I have already given my opinion of the D and A gates on other threads , the D gates are a joke , it's a 2 mile route march to get there , then you have to cross a service road to get to the aeroplane.

The A gates are shocking , over crowded , uncomfortable etc etc . The only decent gates were the C gates which DAA in their wisdom decided to knock to build their new terminal ( which IMO is in the wrong place ! )

You should try Cork, they put airbridge(s?) on there , they break down , so they never use them .....so you have to walk to the aircraft there too.

Fratton Fred

Davidth88 wrote: »

This is slightly off topic , but I don't often find FR cheaper than EI !

90% of my travel is for business at short notice , and EI are usually a lot cheaper. Also how many destantions do EI / FR share ? , I can think of LGW, Manchester ... is there many others ?

I would agree with that, i am fortunate though, I book usually about 6 weeks in advance and head for either central London (Near Liverpool street so handy for the standsted express) or fairly close to Heathrow, so I have a choice of effectively all the London airports.

The only reason I don't fly FR more often is that I really don't Stansted or Gatwick. Stansted is ok as an airport, but flying home on a Friday when half of Essex are off to Dublin on a hen weekend isn't my idea of fun:D

skybus

I don't care who owns who. If I want to go budget then i will fly FR. I pay the extra so at the least i would expect not to have to have to get wet walking down the stairs of a plane.

I have never seen a BMI flight go from A or B, so why do Aer Lingus? I appreciate that there is major building work going on and a lot of gates have been lost, but this confirms my opinion that Aer lingus have turned themselves into a budget airline without the low costs.

edit..Sorry Skybus, just re-read and this comes across like i am having a pop at you, that's not my intention

No offense taken but could I suggest that if you get wet walking from an aircraft to the terminal that you make a complaint to the airport operator and perhaps make a copy to the airline to back it up.

I read a similar complaint to your own recently on the letters to the editor section of the Irish Times and was it was very promptly answered by a member of the DAA communications department as to why there are no jetways on the new piers of Dublin airport. Perhaps if you contact them they will issue you a copy of their answer.

In relation to BMI. They actually used to use Pier C the majority of the time for their sole aircraft and route to LHR out of Dublin. On occasions they use Pier A, sometimes parked beside a British Airways aircraft awaiting it's departure to LGW.

My point here is that there are currently 8 stands out of a possible 90 or so at Dublin airport with Jetways. Aer Lingus alone have about 40 aircraft based at the airport each night. The eight stands with the jetways have to be shared out amongst all the airlines using the airport. These include all the operators from foreign countries as well as the more home grown ones. Ryanair have always said they prefer stands without a Jetway as it allows them to turn their aircraft around quicker.

I agree with your argument. It's a ridiculous situation not having jetways on all stands connecting all piers. However, unless the airport authorities install them it will never happen.

From an airlines point of view they do actually slow turnarounds down considerably. As there is only one way on and one way off, boarding and disembarking takes 50% longer.

As for choosing who to travel with. That's a different argument and one of sole personal choice. If BMI or any other airline offer a better service and value then anyone would be mad not to fly with them. Personally I'm not the type that goes around canvassing for business.

Base

90% of my travel is for business at short notice , and EI are usually a lot cheaper. Also how many destantions do EI / FR share ? , I can think of LGW, Manchester ... is there many others ?

Ryanair's yield management team and policy appears to be a lot more active than Aer Lingus. Ryanair generally catch really early planners with medium fares, flexible leisure passengers with low fares and then balance it out by hitting last-minute business & unplanned passengers with high fares which at times can be higher than competitors. You don't see as significant a price differential with Aer Lingus fares.

Sorry, i don't want to have to rant on about Aer Lingus, but to pay twice as much to fly with them than Ryanair and then be treated like a budget traveller is a bit annoying.

Aer Lingus is now essentially a budget airline though - in terms of their business model at least, certainly not in terms of their cost base yet! The only key difference between themselves and Ryanair is that they serve the primary airports which will naturally cost more even with a low cost base versus Ryanair largely serving secondary airports or secondary facilities at main airports. I always find it amusing when I hear people comparing the two on the whole premium verus budget service idea. Granted it comes into play more so when flights are cancelled but that's about it as far as I can see.

oneway2

According to my buddy, Area 14 was in the basement as it was the site of the proposed Metro station. Some forward-thinking designer put this into the plans for the original Terminal 1 back when T1 was first built, assuming in the following few years someone would want to run a Metro / Underground / Train to the airport. When it became obvious that the train was never going to arrive, it was first used as a store area, until capacity suggested they use it as a check-in area.

Preset No.3

And the prize for digging up a 6 year old thread goes to.....

man98

man98?

lord lucan

Not new news, necro thread, closed.