Aer Lingus Late Night Arrivals at Dublin Airport

Ernest

I had an unpleasant experience coming in to Dublin Airport about 1am in the morning on an Aer Lingus flight from Alicante (its the only time Aer Lingus fly in from there - unlike Ryanair who have more consumer-friendly timetables).
The plane landed (about fifteen minutes late) and we were disgorged by airbridge/ramp to a strange 1960s-like building where we had to go down a flight of stairs, which looked like one from the original terminal building. No lifts or escalators were available. No toilets were available either. We could see signs for Teminal 1 and Terminal 2 but all these doors were locked to us. From there we were forced along a very, very long grey windowless passageway with no clue to were we were. Nor were there any toilets! Eventually after a long long walk we seemed to arrive at a Passport Control queuing area where a single Garda at a window glanced at each passport before we were corralled further along a passageway when it became clear that we were now actually in Terminal 2.

It appears that the Aer Lingus airplane landed in Terminal 1 but we were forced to walk all the way over to Terminal 2 to get out of the airport.
No explanation. No Apology.

Is this a regular thing With Aer Lingus and DAA? If so I don't feel like travelling again with Aer Lingus from Alicante given that they do not have any flights on this route scheduled for more civilised hours of the day.

Capri86

By reading your post I thought you were talking about the airport in Alicante.

Yes they sometimes park at the B pier at terminal 1 and you exit at terminal 2. It's a bit frustrating when you have a connecting flight at terminal 1 as you have to walk a long way only to walk all the way back.

As for finding the exit confusing I have to disagree. There is only one way to go.

paulmcgrath

Im not really sure why they are to apologise to bringing you to terminal 2 when you know you are going to terminal 2.

donvito99

Ernest wrote: »

unlike Ryanair who have more consumer-friendly timetables).

Ha

A319er

I much prefer the late arrival but it is great to have the choice and
Yes last flights in have to park at whatever sand or area that is left and
Sometimes it's a dreary walk but hey did you enjoy your holiday?

Preset No.3

Id say the OP was a hoot on the holiday!

lintdrummer

Ernest wrote: »

I had an unpleasant experience coming in to Dublin Airport about 1am in the morning on an Aer Lingus flight from Alicante (its the only time Aer Lingus fly in from there - unlike Ryanair who have more consumer-friendly timetables).
The plane landed (about fifteen minutes late) and we were disgorged by airbridge/ramp to a strange 1960s-like building where we had to go down a flight of stairs, which looked like one from the original terminal building. No lifts or escalators were available. No toilets were available either. We could see signs for Teminal 1 and Terminal 2 but all these doors were locked to us. From there we were forced along a very, very long grey windowless passageway with no clue to were we were. Nor were there any toilets! Eventually after a long long walk we seemed to arrive at a Passport Control queuing area where a single Garda at a window glanced at each passport before we were corralled further along a passageway when it became clear that we were now actually in Terminal 2.

It appears that the Aer Lingus airplane landed in Terminal 1 but we were forced to walk all the way over to Terminal 2 to get out of the airport.
No explanation. No Apology.

Is this a regular thing With Aer Lingus and DAA? If so I don't feel like travelling again with Aer Lingus from Alicante given that they do not have any flights on this route scheduled for more civilised hours of the day.

It was either pier A or B. B isn't too bad of a hike. I walk from there to T2 sometimes on night shift and it's only 10 mins with travelators and escalators and lifts along the way.
If it was pier A, it's more of an ordeal, personally I haven't walked that way myself.

Was the pier you entered ground floor only and circular? That's pier A. If it was 2 storey and you walked in at ground level then that's pier B.

basill

A quick check of Ernies posts would indicate that he has a lot of "issues" with transport in general.

ScouseMouse

This happens sometimes to my mum when she flys back from the canaries. She doesn't walk to well and its really is to much for her when they do it.

If the stands are full at T2, they park at T1

Locker10a

superscouse wrote: »

This happens sometimes to my mum when she flys back from the canaries. She doesn't walk to well and its really is to much for her when they do it.

If the stands are full at T2, they park at T1

To be honest, from my experience, the walk is a similar length to walking from the end of Pier E (the T2 pier) and a similar length from walking from the end of pier D(T1) ! Its really not that much of a trek! However if your mum has difficulty walking such distances, and airports can be difficult for allot of people, you should recommend getting wheelchair assistance! This is a fantastic service, and will make your mums airport experience much more relaxing.

LXFlyer

This is nothing new whatsoever.

Roughly half a dozen Aer Lingus short haul aircraft arrive at night to pier B and depart from there first thing in the morning.

The reason is quite simple. The first three long haul flights arrive after 05:00. These take up two short haul stands each. There simply isn't room for the entire Aer Lingus short haul fleet to park at gates 4xx every night as a result.

Quite frankly OP, your rant is all the more daft because the walk from the 3xx gates (old pier to T2 passport control is no longer than that from the further reaches of pier D (the 1xx gates) to T1 passport control and in all probability is as long as that from gate 426 to T2 passport control.

A rant over a long walk at an airport. It's a fact of life.

As for the scheduling, I'm sure you felt the outbound flight was at a civilised time? The airline is trying to maximise fleet utilisation and make a profit - no doubt you'd complain if they were loss making?

donvito99

It's no worse than the trek from T1 to Pier D though.

It's only frustrating, as said earlier, if your heading to T1 anyway.

Jamie2k9

OP if Ryanair's times are so great why didn't you fly with them, there has to be a reason why you picked Aer Lingus....

cruais

Op, it's not up to aerlingus where they park. At the end of the day, it's ATC who advise the aircraft where to go.

Maybe you should fly at the more 'convenient time' with Ryanair, who will in turn park in terminal 1 at pier a or most likely pier d. From pier d you will have a much longer stretch to walk.

And a tip for ya, maybe use the toilets before you land?

A319er

But was the holiday enjoyable!?? I like walking holidays
Myself and Alicante is somewhere I want to visit
It's on my bucket list, I don't mind later flights at all.

de biz

cruais wrote: »

Op, it's not up to aerlingus where they park. At the end of the day, it's ATC who advise the aircraft where to go.

Maybe you should fly at the more 'convenient time' with Ryanair, who will in turn park in terminal 1 at pier a or most likely pier d. From pier d you will have a much longer stretch to walk.

And a tip for ya, maybe use the toilets before you land?

FYI ATC have absolutely no function in stand allocation,unfortunately!

Jamie2k9

de biz wrote: »

FYI ATC have absolutely no function in stand allocation,unfortunately!

Airport slot coordinator decides where aircraft park now of course EI have some say but very little. Its simple no room in T2 and nothing anyone can do about it.

Stovepipe

It's absolutely true, EI have little or no say in what stand they are allocated. The OP should complain to the DAA.

regards
Stovepipe

Jamie2k9

Stovepipe wrote: »

It's absolutely true, EI have little or no say in what stand they are allocated. The OP should complain to the DAA.

regards
Stovepipe

Why the fact is there is not enough space at T2 in the evenings and mornings in the summer not so much of a problem in winter. The DAA are not going to move it to T2. As the OP speaks so highly of Ryanair why didn't he book with them in the first place and save all this as he wanted to go to T1 in the first place.

flanzer

lxflyer wrote: »

This is nothing new whatsoever.

Roughly half a dozen Aer Lingus short haul aircraft arrive at night to pier B and depart from there first thing in the morning.

The reason is quite simple. The first three long haul flights arrive after 05:00. These take up two short haul stands each. There simply isn't room for the entire Aer Lingus short haul fleet to park at gates 4xx every night as a result.

Quite frankly OP, your rant is all the more daft because the walk from the 3xx gates (old pier to T2 passport control is no longer than that from the further reaches of pier D (the 1xx gates) to T1 passport control and in all probability is as long as that from gate 426 to T2 passport control.

A rant over a long walk at an airport. It's a fact of life.

As for the scheduling, I'm sure you felt the outbound flight was at a civilised time? The airline is trying to maximise fleet utilisation and make a profit - no doubt you'd complain if they were loss making?

I echo this whole heartedly. If you're to fly with Ryanair regularly, and use Pier D, the weight would drop off you with the walk to Terminal 1. In no time you'll become a professional long distance walker!

It's a fact of life that a lot of international airports are like this.

Your walk from Pier B, was only slightly longer than a walk from the end of Pier E. Those further gates in Pier E are used for short haul stuff at night and in the mornings, as the long haul stuff are parked on stands nearer the Terminal (for CBP)

If I were you OP, I'd be complaining about more unjust things in life, and enjoy air travel

basill

Apart from the fact that there are not enough parking stands on T2 for all of the AL aircraft other factors come into play as to where you will park. The fleet desk prepares the following days aircraft allocations around mid afternoon. The following is not an exhaustive list but things they will take into account are:-

- aircraft carried forward defects which might preclude it from operating on certain routes eg: non MNPS ruling out the Canaries
- aircraft swaps at outstations eg: swapping an ORK, LGW, LHR or BFS based aircraft or vice versa so that it can be brought back to Dublin for maintenance
- aircraft that might be higher on hours which engineering wish to be flown less to push back a major check
- lease costs which might dictate how long the aircraft flies for
- A321 versus A320/319 depending on loads

Also certain rotations such as LHR flights typically occupy stand 410. This also ties in with marketing efforts inside the terminal. An aircraft arriving into Dublin which will require maintenance in the hanger is more likely to be parked at the end of a pier or on T2 as it minimises the disruption in towing it around the airport.

Shamrock231

Decided to take out the path ruler on Google Earth and get a rough measurements of the distances involved:

End of Pier E to T2 Exit :....................589m
Furthest Point on Pier B to T2 Exit: ......587m
Furthest Point on Pier D to T1 Exit:.......841m
Closest Point on Pier D to T1 Exit:........607m

So what was that about Ryanair being easier on the feet? :eek::rolleyes:
That's 42% more walking to the end of the Ryanair pier than the far corner of pier A...

eusap

As a regular user of the airport i can kinda see what the OP is getting at, if the plane parks at the B gates would it not make more sense to let the passengers use T1 passport and baggage hall or at least give the people with no hold baggage the option to exit at T1.

I know there are probably 100's of operation reasons why it can't be done but it does seem strange if you park beside the BA planes and they exit through T1 and you have to walk over to T2

A319er

It is a bit of a mess at times
Beyond me why eu passport holders who are
In Longstay car park can't be let off the plane before
It stars long taxi back to terminal or why we can't have a plane drop folks at t2 then go and park at whatever remorse stand
I don't mind the walk but sometimes think
EI could be more flexible for those who want to get to
Their cars

Jamie2k9

A319er wrote: »

It is a bit of a mess at times
Beyond me why eu passport holders who are
In Longstay car park can't be let off the plane before
It stars long taxi back to terminal or why we can't have a plane drop folks at t2 then go and park at whatever remorse stand
I don't mind the walk but sometimes think
EI could be more flexible for those who want to get to
Their cars

Just where do you want passengers to be let off before it starts its long taxi back to the Terminal

Terminal 2 has car parks to so why do people park in T1 car parks, most shuttle buses pick up at T2 for car parks outside the grounds of the airport.

lintdrummer

Jamie2k9 wrote: »

Just where do you want passengers to be let off before it starts its long taxi back to the Terminal

Terminal 2 has car parks to so why do people park in T1 car parks, most shuttle buses pick up at T2 for car parks outside the grounds of the airport.

I think you need to get your sarcasm meter calibrated.

LXFlyer

eusap wrote: »

As a regular user of the airport i can kinda see what the OP is getting at, if the plane parks at the B gates would it not make more sense to let the passengers use T1 passport and baggage hall or at least give the people with no hold baggage the option to exit at T1.

I know there are probably 100's of operation reasons why it can't be done but it does seem strange if you park beside the BA planes and they exit through T1 and you have to walk over to T2

Because all of Aer Lingus baggage handling facilities are in T2.

There may not necessarily be gardai on duty in T1 pier B to process them.

It would end up very messy trying to manage some people as going into T1 and others into T2. Far easier to process everyone in the same place.