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How did Dublin Airport react during the 'Big Freeze' in December?

  • 02-01-2011 6:30pm
    #1
    airwaves10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15 ✭


    Hi everyone,
    I'm doing some research to find out how Irish travellers found Dublin Airport's communications during the snowy weather in December/the Christmas period.

    It would be great to hear some of your stories, for example:

    Was your flight to (or from) Dublin delayed or cancelled?
    How did you check if your flight was going on time?
    Did you find Twitter useful in terms of updates? Did you follow DublinAirport on Twitter?
    Do you think Dublin airport communicated with you as well as they could have in terms of when your flight was leaving?
    Should they have shut down the airport so many times and for so long or was this unavoidable?

    Any of your feedback is appreciated! Thanks
    Tagged:


Comments

  • #2
    Savman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,323 ✭✭✭Savman


    I had a flight Manchester to Dublin cancelled and ended up on the famine ship out of Holyhead on the overnighter.

    DAA need a good kick up the hole, caught cold for the second time in a year. And the airlines don't get off the hook either, they weren't much better. Won't bore you with my Ryanair rant, no doubt it's all been said ad naseum.

    But if the airport closes, you can hardly blame the airline for not being able to fly.


  • #3
    airwaves10
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 15 ✭airwaves10


    Thanks for your reply Savman. Did you manage to get a refund for your cancelled flight? Last year I got stuck in Lanzarote for an extra 3 days (was less fun that it sounds), but it took 8-9 months for Easyjet to provide me with a refund!

    How did Ryanair communicate your cancelled flight to you, or did you spend a huge amount of time queuing at the desk at the airport?


  • #4
    Dotsie~tmp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,428 ✭✭✭Dotsie~tmp


    Keep in mind that the same weather closed Heathrows 12,500ft runway. Dublin 10/28 is 8500ft. 4000ft less to play with means that slush affects braking action critically.


  • #5
    Savman
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,323 ✭✭✭Savman


    airwaves10 wrote: »
    Did you manage to get a refund for your cancelled flight?
    Still waiting. It's 'being processed' I'm told.
    How did Ryanair communicate your cancelled flight to you, or did you spend a huge amount of time queuing at the desk at the airport?
    Hmmm, it was something along the lines of...
    *ding dong*
    For the attention of passengers travelling on FR blah blah blah to Dublin, this flight has been cancelled. Please collect your luggage and GTFO of the airport. Go online if you wanna rebook but otherwise, tough. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.

    Charming.
    Dotsie~tmp wrote:
    Keep in mind that the same weather closed Heathrows 12,500ft runway. Dublin 10/28 is 8500ft. 4000ft less to play with means that slush affects braking action critically.
    Yeah I seen that, been on a coupla news channels alright ;)
    While I understand the basic physics behind why planes can't land on snow, I do not believe that airports and airlines can shirk the responsibilty they have to their passengers and get off scot free. There are murmers of new rules/regulations with regard to the penalising of the aviation parties if they are found to be inadequately prepared. I fully support that motion, obviously.

    Cancellations do occur, but abandoning people in such a fashion at the time of year it was, well that's just piss poor. Caveat emptor shall apply in future tho, and I have to give credit to Irish Ferries who pretty much ferried most of the country home in that week coming up to Christmas.

    Maybe DAA don't deserve the criticism or, maybe, they were simply found wanting yet again. I'm sure folks sleeping rough in the terminal will make up their own minds.


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