Gate closing time for transatlantic flight

jim-mcdee

Hey guys flying to JFK tomorrow, flight is at 10.50, it says "TRAVEL WILL BE REFUSED IF YOU ARRIVE LATE AT THE GATE. GATE CLOSES 9.05"
Sorry but this seems ridiculously early. If I wasnt traveling with someone else, I would be normally setting my alarm clock for 9.05 for this flight, and would be still in bed. What is the reason for arriving at the gate 1.50 before the flight, and then putting "WILL BE REFUSED" instead of "MAY BE REFUSED". Seems a bit anti customer. Oh and btw, Air Fungus now appear to have a near monopoly on the Dublin - NY route, so flights are priced accordingly.

L1011

jim-mcdee wrote: »

I would be normally setting my alarm clock for 9.05 for this flight, and would be still in bed. .

You've clearly never flown this route before.

US CBP can take an hour or more, hence the requirement to check in so far in advance.

All other airlines would have extremely similar policies, as they have to. As goes a "near monopoly" - they've two flights a day this time of year, against Delta, American and United with one each.

delahuntv

jim-mcdee wrote: »

Hey guys flying to JFK tomorrow, flight is at 10.50, it says "TRAVEL WILL BE REFUSED IF YOU ARRIVE LATE AT THE GATE. GATE CLOSES 9.05"
Sorry but this seems ridiculously early. If I wasnt traveling with someone else, I would be normally setting my alarm clock for 9.05 for this flight, and would be still in bed. What is the reason for arriving at the gate 1.50 before the flight, and then putting "WILL BE REFUSED" instead of "MAY BE REFUSED". Seems a bit anti customer. Oh and btw, Air Fungus now appear to have a near monopoly on the Dublin - NY route, so flights are priced accordingly.

Even 9.05 would be cutting it tight.

1. Flights operate on strict landing / takeoff slots. Miss your take off slot to wait for one passenger and all the otehr passengere could be delayed by an hour or more.

2. My guess is you have not flown to the USA for a long long time, if ever. Hence you don't know the procedures and why a 2 hour check in is needed. Put it this way - if you leave it to 9.05, you'll be tight on time!

3. Monopoly???? - Are you serious?
Delta, United, American & Aerlingus all operate to new York for Dublin. More choice than ever.

afatbollix

Its because you do US immigration security in Dublin. Depending on how busy it is it could take a hour or two to get through.

slimjimmc

Posts split out from zombie thread.

Greenmachine

Look like you have your answer, not that I think it is even a consumer issue. They have explained their policy. It they do other than than say refuse you entry at 8:50 then you would have cause to complain.

Rasmus

jim-mcdee wrote: »

Hey guys flying to JFK tomorrow, flight is at 10.50, it says "TRAVEL WILL BE REFUSED IF YOU ARRIVE LATE AT THE GATE. GATE CLOSES 9.05"
Sorry but this seems ridiculously early. If I wasnt traveling with someone else, I would be normally setting my alarm clock for 9.05 for this flight, and would be still in bed. What is the reason for arriving at the gate 1.50 before the flight, and then putting "WILL BE REFUSED" instead of "MAY BE REFUSED". Seems a bit anti customer. Oh and btw, Air Fungus now appear to have a near monopoly on the Dublin - NY route, so flights are priced accordingly.

Do you mean the check-in closes at 9.05? The gate is simply your point of departure to the plane.

jim-mcdee

Rasmus wrote: »

Do you mean the check-in closes at 9.05? The gate is simply your point of departure to the plane.

No, strangely enough, check in closes 1h30 before the flight, yet, according to Air Lingus, you will be refused travel if you turn up later than 1h50 to the gate. So if you go by that logic, you can arrive 1h50 before the flight and check in successfully, but you may as well not, because you will be turned back at the gate.

jim-mcdee

L1011 wrote: »

You've clearly never flown this route before.

US CBP can take an hour or more, hence the requirement to check in so far in advance.

All other airlines would have extremely similar policies, as they have to. As goes a "near monopoly" - they've two flights a day this time of year, against Delta, American and United with one each.

Clearly not. What does US CBP mean?

galwayjohn89

Its because of preclearance. Yes I've made flights checking in 90 minutes before going through. But people where staying in duty free/bar then heading for the gate 30 minutes before departure only to be met with hour long immigration queues. They're just covering themselves.

galwayjohn89

jim-mcdee wrote: »

Clearly not. What does US CBP mean?

US Customers and Border Protection. You clear US immigration and customs in Dublin before boarding. This can take quite a while.

Uno my Uno.

That requires you to be at US Preclearance by 9.05, there was an extensive thread in the US forum about it a couple of months ago that I won't link to because it got somewhat *ahem* heated.

The gist of it was that usually queues at Preclearance were manageable and normally moved quickly but that wasn't always the case and delays could happen later in the morning and that had previously caused people to miss flights or suffer other disruptions. One experienced traveler was of the opinion that 2 hours was enough time if you chose not to visit duty free, have a coffee etc. I wouldn't advise that.

Most other posters thought that arriving 3 hours before take off as required by the airlines was probably a good idea for inexperienced or first time travelers to the US (as it would appear you are) even though in many cases they wouldn't need all that time.

Rasmus

jim-mcdee wrote: »

No, strangely enough, check in closes 1h30 before the flight, yet, according to Air Lingus, you will be refused travel if you turn up later than 1h50 to the gate. So if you go by that logic, you can arrive 1h50 before the flight and check in successfully, but you may as well not, because you will be turned back at the gate.

Doesn't make sense as you don't announce your arrival at the gate. I don't understand, however, why you would be in bed at the time check-in is closing. Have you flown before?

You need a fair amount of time for transatlantic flights these days, for the reasons mentioned by other posters and the size of terminal 2. I fly to U.S. a lot and I tend to get to the airport around 2.5/3 hrs before. The immigration lines can be long.

jim-mcdee

delahuntv wrote: »

Even 9.05 would be cutting it tight.

1. Flights operate on strict landing / takeoff slots. Miss your take off slot to wait for one passenger and all the otehr passengere could be delayed by an hour or more.

2. My guess is you have not flown to the USA for a long long time, if ever. Hence you don't know the procedures and why a 2 hour check in is needed. Put it this way - if you leave it to 9.05, you'll be tight on time!

3. Monopoly???? - Are you serious?
Delta, United, American & Aerlingus all operate to new York for Dublin. More choice than ever.

Sorry, I meant direct flights. I assume the others make stop overs? They never showed on the bijillion searches I did, though I only searched for direct flights.

cruizer101

Just to go into bit more detail as people seem to assuming you know about customs which you or others reading thread may not.

Travelling to the US is unlike travelling around Europe as you have to do specific US customs clearing, which takes a lot of time. Dublin is quite unique in this as you do the clearance at this end, most (if not all) flights from other countries do this in the US, this will also happen if for example you were connecting through London.

So this is why there is the extra time required at the airport for flying to the US, it does seem excessive but can be required if it is a busy day.

Paulw

Last time I went to the US (last Nov), the queue took just over 2 hours. Check-in with the airline was quick, Irish airport security check was fine, but the US Immigration queue was insane. There were 4 US flights heading out at very close times, and only 5 people on duty at the immigration desk.

As for direct NY flights - US Airlines, American Airlines also fly direct.

groovyg

I flew to the US two weeks ago and I was in the airport 3 hours before my flight. After checking in and going through Irish security, I had to go through another security scan downstairs before waiting for about 1hr in the queue to go through US Immigration. The place was jammers. Best thing to do would be to get there early rather than leaving it to the last minute.

dudara

Not a Consumer Issue. Moved to Travel

dudara

L1011

jim-mcdee wrote: »

Sorry, I meant direct flights. I assume the others make stop overs? They never showed on the bijillion searches I did, though I only searched for direct flights.

No, they're all direct.

And they're often dearer than Aer Lingus by quite a margin, which is why you won't see them easily on Skyscanner etc.

fricatus

delahuntv wrote: »

Even 9.05 would be cutting it tight.

1. Flights operate on strict landing / takeoff slots. Miss your take off slot to wait for one passenger and all the otehr passengere could be delayed by an hour or more.

2. My guess is you have not flown to the USA for a long long time, if ever. Hence you don't know the procedures and why a 2 hour check in is needed. Put it this way - if you leave it to 9.05, you'll be tight on time!

3. Monopoly???? - Are you serious?
Delta, United, American & Aerlingus all operate to new York for Dublin. More choice than ever.

Just to expand on your first point above, which is accurate, but doesn't tell the whole story: transatlantic flights are also subject to oceanic clearance, which means that not only do they have a slot they have to stick to at the departure airport, they also have to cross the boundary from the national air traffic zone into the oceanic zone at a particular time, and then follow a particular track across the Atlantic.

To the OP: what this means for you is that there is likely to be zero tolerance for you being late, because of the knock-on effects if the plane is delayed. You give the impression that you live close to the airport, so be glad that you don't also have to factor a three-hour drive plus "puncture time" into your travel equation. Turn up early and relax!

Humour Me

OP since your not familiar with the pre-clearance process, can I suggest you double check you have requested your ESTA visa to enter the states? The airline won't let you check in without it.

endofrainbow

As for direct NY flights - US Airlines, American Airlines also fly direct.[/QUOTE]

US Airways fly to NY via CLT or PHL. Delta Airlines is direct.

DragonBourne

Tromso Norway ....Check it out

Yamanoto

cruizer101 wrote: »

Dublin is quite unique in this as you do the clearance at this end, most (if not all) flights from other countries do this in the US, this will also happen if for example you were connecting through London.

Shannon, Abu Dhabi, several Canadian airports & parts of the Caribbean also operate US CBP preclearance.

waxon-waxoff

Im going to the US soon, didnt realise that preclearance could take so long. Lucky i seen this. That raises the question, if you go with BA or Virgin etc, what kind of delays can you expect at passport control on the other side?

On a side note, i see the American carriers use a 757. A quick search says theres no in seat entertainment and a roller coaster ride if turbulence is bad. Not that their prices reflect the cost cutting....

billie1b

waxon-waxoff wrote: »

Im going to the US soon, didnt realise that preclearance could take so long. Lucky i seen this. That raises the question, if you go with BA or Virgin etc, what kind of delays can you expect at passport control on the other side?

On a side note, i see the American carriers use a 757. A quick search says theres no in seat entertainment and a roller coaster ride if turbulence is bad. Not that their prices reflect the cost cutting....

I went to Las Vegas with BA 6 weeks ago, got off the plane and was out in arrivals getting my taxi in 40 minutes

iusedtoknow

waxon-waxoff wrote: »

Im going to the US soon, didnt realise that preclearance could take so long. Lucky i seen this. That raises the question, if you go with BA or Virgin etc, what kind of delays can you expect at passport control on the other side?

On a side note, i see the American carriers use a 757. A quick search says theres no in seat entertainment and a roller coaster ride if turbulence is bad. Not that their prices reflect the cost cutting....

I do passport control in the US 8 times a year and have never waited any more than 20 minutes. They are usually pretty quick - they do a good job forecasting how many people arrive vs staffing. If they are finished process people in the american/greencard section they open it up to foreigners to get them through.

As for the american airlines/757 - it depends. Delta have entertainment, as do some of the AA planes. At this time of year you start seeing the bigger planes being put on the routes, 767 and depending on the airlines the a330. They have entertainment on them

syklops

billie1b wrote: »

I went to Las Vegas with BA 6 weeks ago, got off the plane and was out in arrivals getting my taxi in 40 minutes

Thats McCarran airport which is very efficient(to maximise the time gamblers can have perhaps?). Other airports won't be as efficient.

athtrasna

syklops wrote: »

Thats McCarran airport which is very efficient(to maximise the time gamblers can have perhaps?). Other airports won't be as efficient.

Precisely. I've queued for hours in Lax and Atlanta when travelling from Europe.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

billie1b

syklops wrote: »

Thats McCarran airport which is very efficient(to maximise the time gamblers can have perhaps?). Other airports won't be as efficient.

Unusual cause on research of CBP in America McCarran is supposed to be one of the worst for getting delayed

schemingbohemia

I find the pre-clearance a huge bonus, first time I flew to DC was waiting over an hour to get through, second time with pre-clearance I walked straight to the bag carousel. Flying into JFK from Panama last year also took over an hour as we seemed to arrive in at lunch-time when a lot of the desks were un-manned.

galwayjohn89

Last 3 times I've arrived in US without preclearance I've walked straight up to the counter at immigration. Its really down to luck.

Yamanoto

There's a tool on the CBP site which allows you to check approximate wait times at any given port of entry.

http://awt.cbp.gov/

syklops

athtrasna wrote: »

Precisely. I've queued for hours in Lax and Atlanta when travelling from Europe.

Atlanta is a nightmare.