Dublin Airport Check In Times

ballooba

I'm shortly due to move back to Ireland and am wondering about the ease of escaping when I need to. In Australia we can usually arrive 30 to 45 mins before a domestic flight and board with ease. How is Dublin Airport these days for getting in and out?

RachaelVO

I depends on when you're going, who you're flying with and where you're going, whether you're travelling with children!

If you are travelling for example with Ryanair, you're travelling within the EU. You have two choice, travel with a check in bag or without. They only have online check in so if you're travelling with a check in bag you need to give yourself the time to check it in.

If you're travelling at peak times (ie easter, christmas summer holiday time), you need to be there early to get through security as the queues are almost out the door!

If you're flying out of the EU, it's always advised that you're there 2 hours before your flight. It's not a strict rule, but you have have up to 40-45 mins before your flight to check your bags in.

My advise (and I travel through Dublin airport regularly) try to ensure that you have an hour AIRSIDE as it can (depending on what gate you're at) take 15 mins to get to your gate etc; and if you're waiting 30mins to boards it goes pretty quickly.

ballooba

Thanks, I'm planning a trip to Spain for a weekend. I suppose I better take Friday afternoon off to be safe.

LXFlyer

As a general rule (and I am a relatively frequent flyer) if I'm travelling with handbaggage only, I arrive 60 minutes before my flight, or with bags to check in 75-90 minutes. That is more than enough time to get through the airport.

Certainly if your flight is at 1700-1900, you do not need more time than that. The only reason the two hour rule is suggested is to get you to use the facilities in the airport (shops/restaurants) and spend money there!

However, if you are travelling at the peak time for the airport, i.e. 0600-0730, allow an extra 15 minutes as it can be very busy at security.

With Aer Lingus and long haul carriers moving to T2, it would be fair to say that there is less strain on the terminals than before.

ballooba

Thanks mate, I'm a seasoned traveler myself now but in Australia mainly. I loathe having to add unnecessary time onto my journey and even more so spending money at rip-off airport prices. I was on the red eye to Brussels regularly before I left Ireland but I've forgotten how I used to fare with the check in times.

markpb

lxflyer wrote: »

With Aer Lingus and long haul carriers moving to T2, it would be fair to say that there is less strain on the terminals than before.

+1

My wife has flown through T2 every Sunday and Friday for the last month and while she's not flying anywhere near peak times, the emptiness of T2 is incredible. She can check in, drop her bags in, clear security and be at her gate in under 15 minutes.

Carawaystick

For domestic flights in T1 anyway you can skip most of the security queue as there's a seperate lane for these.

What's the reasoning for flights to outside the EU taking a longer time to check in? Surely with Aer Lingus, there's no difference between the time to check into a flight to the Canaries or Zurich compared to a flight to London???

munchkin_utd

Carawaystick wrote: »

For domestic flights in T1 anyway you can skip most of the security queue as there's a seperate lane for these.

What's the reasoning for flights to outside the EU taking a longer time to check in? Surely with Aer Lingus, there's no difference between the time to check into a flight to the Canaries or Zurich compared to a flight to London???

In terminal 2 theres one common area for all checkin/ bagdrop rather than the half dozen separate areas in terminal 1. So regardless of GB/ US or the mainland its all the same.

T1 back in the old days WAS different and was a headfcuk for those of use heading to the continent with Aerlingus .
a) inevitably all fights were bunched at 7am-ish or 3pm-ish, so you had multiple flights for germany/ holland squeezed together on one checkin island all leaving at the same time (and none then in the in between times at all!!). And for the morning, most people couldnt be arse landing 2 hours or more early, so most landed at 6 or 6.30 all in a bunch!!
b) (compared to flights to/from Britian) theres much less day business commuters/ light travellers than on further afield destinations in mainland Europe - so european flights tended to have a LOT of luggage being checked in, and thus rightly gnarly horrible lengthy checkin queues.
c) ticket complications - inevitably someone would be getting a connecting flight from Frankfurt or Amsterdam to somewhere in the far east, and the ticketing would be dodgy. Suddenly the 400 or 500 passengers looking to check in on that paricular cluster of desks around a specific luggage belt leading to the german/ dutch planes, have only 2 desks rather than 4 . Or no active checkin desks at all if a mere 4 passengers with dodgy connecting tickets landed.
(Christ I HATE Terminal 1)

Now theres 15 or 20 checkin desks for ALL destinations together, so even if a few desks have people needing a half hour to checkin because of booking system/ ticketing issues, theres still plenty of other desks as a backup.

knick_knack

lxflyer wrote: »

Certainly if your flight is at 1700-1900, you do not need more time than that. The only reason the two hour rule is suggested is to get you to use the facilities in the airport (shops/restaurants) and spend money there!

With Aer Lingus and long haul carriers moving to T2, it would be fair to say that there is less strain on the terminals than before.

Also spending too much time in the vastness of T2 will cause you to start questioning reality. I would say 60 minutes before is plenty of time, web check in can also help speed things up.