Time to be in Dublin airport for 7am flight?

Tigerandahalf

Hey all

Just wondering would 5.30am be fine to arrive at the airport midweek with young family and buggy. Thought about checking in the evening before but not sure with toilet bags and other bits needed the following morning.

Thanks

highlydebased

If I were in that situation I wouldn't be arriving after 5

Tigerandahalf

highlydebased wrote: »

If I were in that situation I wouldn't be arriving after 5

Am I better to go the evening before or perhaps I could just take all the luggage in myself and let the rest follow later.

eezipc

I presume it's Dublin airport. If so, that airport can be shocking busy between 5-9 every morning.
If you have to check in and go through security with kids, you will be cutting it way too close.
I'm flying on a 7am flight on my own on Sunday morning from Dublin and I intend on being in the airport at 4am.

Yamanoto

eezipc wrote: »

I'm flying on a 7am flight on my own on Sunday morning from Dublin and I intend on being in the airport at 4am.

If that's what you're comfortable with, go for it.

Unnecessarily early though.

Tigerandahalf

eezipc wrote: »

I presume it's Dublin airport. If so, that airport can be shocking busy between 5-9 every morning.
If you have to check in and go through security with kids, you will be cutting it way too close.
I'm flying on a 7am flight on my own on Sunday morning from Dublin and I intend on being in the airport at 4am.

Is it that busy? I have been there in busy holiday season and an hour and a half would get one through check in and security.

I might be better off to do it the evening before.

adrian522

I think 5.30am is fine as long as you are not doing pre clearance for a US flight or anything. Also that means walking into the terminal at 5.30am not driving into the long term car park.

MrVestek

You'd be cutting it fine but you'd be ok.

I've arrived for a 6:45am flight at 5:30am and been ok.

Like I said cutting it fine but it is doable.

They do also have personnel on the lookout for people in a bit of a panic in the queue and they'll normally fast track you through security... but that's only ever happened to me twice so I wouldn't bank on it.

Tigerandahalf

adrian522 wrote: »

I think 5.30am is fine as long as you are not doing pre clearance for a US flight or anything. Also that means walking into the terminal at 5.30am not driving into the long term car park.

No I will be parked up from the previous evening. Will the hotels at the airport have trollies that I could load bags onto and bring across to the airport. I know there is a shuttle but the hotels are very close anyway.

Penalty

OP - If you buy the fast track security 530am should be fine - if not add and extra 10-15 mins

I travel a lot and aim to be in airport an hour before at most if I have luggage I'll add an extra 10 mins.
With the family I do 90 mins before flight.

4am as someone suggested is just crazy imo - You'll be through security and waiting 2 hours or more for your flight with tired kids with nothing to do. No need to make an already stressful and long day even worse.

LXFlyer

eezipc wrote: »

I presume it's Dublin airport. If so, that airport can be shocking busy between 5-9 every morning.
If you have to check in and go through security with kids, you will be cutting it way too close.
I'm flying on a 7am flight on my own on Sunday morning from Dublin and I intend on being in the airport at 4am.

4am is utter overkill if flying alone.

km79

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

Hey all

Just wondering would 5.30am be fine to arrive at the airport midweek with young family and buggy. Thought about checking in the evening before but not sure with toilet bags and other bits needed the following morning.

Thanks

5am at latest imo with a family

adrian522

Tigerandahalf wrote: »

No I will be parked up from the previous evening. Will the hotels at the airport have trollies that I could load bags onto and bring across to the airport. I know there is a shuttle but the hotels are very close anyway.

They're not that close really are they? You'd still need to use the shuttle service.

EDIT: To be honest it might be worth getting up 30 mins earlier and taking all the stress out of the situation.

Tigerandahalf

Thanks for replies.

I have walked from the Maldron before. Maybe too far with bags. If there is no trolley at hotel I would have a good few bags to haul to the shuttle plus the shuttle can leave you waiting for a bit.
Just thought that the Maldron doesn't have a lift so makes it a bit awkward.

eezipc

Penalty wrote: »

OP - If you buy the fast track security 530am should be fine - if not add and extra 10-15 mins

I travel a lot and aim to be in airport an hour before at most if I have luggage I'll add an extra 10 mins.
With the family I do 90 mins before flight.

4am as someone suggested is just crazy imo - You'll be through security and waiting 2 hours or more for your flight with tired kids with nothing to do. No need to make an already stressful and long day even worse.

So getting through security early is considered stressful? I'm not sure that you understand what stress means.
Stress is arriving to the airport an hour before your flight and the queues for security are so long that there is a chance you will be late for your flight. Now that's stress.

Penalty

eezipc wrote: »

So getting through security early is considered stressful? I'm not sure that you understand what stress means.
Stress is arriving to the airport an hour before your flight and the queues for security are so long that there is a chance you will be late for your flight. Now that's stress.

When you are sitting for 3 hours in the airport with nothing to do you should perhaps read what I said.

I said a stressful day - many people find traveling with children stressful - some don't. Having nothing to do in an airport for 3 hours with tired kids would be stressful in my opinion.

Nowhere did I say arrive an hour before. I clearly said 90 mins with the family and a little extra if no fast pass. The extra 15 mins is sufficient when there is already enough time within the 90 mins to account for different delays.

20m mins bag drop 20 mins security 20mins walk to gate = 60 mins. It won't take that long.

I take 70-80 flights a year I think I know the time that is required in airports particularly Dublin airport.

If it was in the middle of July and August when the airport is full of inexperience travelers I might suggest an extra 10 -15 mins but no more than 2 hours.

If you want to be there 3 hours early that's your choice but no need to inflict that hyper conservatism and panic on other people.

coylemj

Penalty wrote: »

If you want to be there 3 hours early that's your choice but no need to inflict that hyper conservatism and panic on other people.

+1 I'm sick to the teeth of reading conservative posters on this forum saying that 'the airport will be mad busy at that time' so you should get to the airport three hours before a flight to the UK or Europe.

Yes, it will be busy but they will probably have all of the security lanes open as they did on the two occasions I flew very early last Oct. and Nov. when I got though in 10 minutes. In all probability you'll get through faster early in the morning than at a later time of the day thanks to the extra people on duty but also because a high proportion of the people who travel early in the day are business travellers who know how to get through security without any stoppages.

Then there are the other posters who smugly declare that they like to leave themselves an hour at the gate so they can chill out with a coffee. I'll take the extra hour in bed, thanks all the same.

Humour Me

3 hours before the flight is ridiculously early. I had a 6.50am flight on a Saturday morning a few weeks ago. Arrived at the terminal at 5.30 and was through security and sitting down drinking coffee at 5.50. All of the security lanes were open and the staff were directing people to the lanes so that queues didn't build up.

The key is to be prepared. I'm the person taking off my coat and boots while I'm in the queue with easy access to my liquids bag. If someone is holding up the queue the security staff just tell the people behind to go around them. The staff don't want massive wait times anymore than we do.

OldMrBrennan83

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LXFlyer

Patww79 wrote: »

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For flights leaving before 08:00 in the morning, Aer Lingus offer check-in between 17:00 and 20:00 the evening before.

You can then spend the evening/night as you wish and show up the next morning without having to worry about queues at check-in desks.

OldMrBrennan83

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LXFlyer

Patww79 wrote: »

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Yes - that's the whole point of the service.

coylemj

lxflyer wrote: »

For flights leaving before 08:00 in the morning, Aer Lingus offer check-in between 17:00 and 20:00 the evening before.

The Aer Lingus website says the service starts at 17:00 but when I was last doing it in October in T2, the signage in the check-in area clearly said it started at 16:00 and I dropped my bag off at 16:05.

The extra hour makes a huge difference if you live on the southside because the port tunnel toll for northbound traffic goes up to €10 at 16:00 and you obviously need to GTF out of the airport as soon as possible after 4 p.m. to miss the rush hour traffic going home.

Shawn Michaels

Purchasing Fast Track makes a lot of sense in my view. I always do, whether it's business or pleasure. Sometimes it's worthwhile and sometimes it isn't, but at least you know you'll never be delayed.

anais

I had a 7.30am flight last Thursday. Arrived at airport with my 3 kids at 5.30. The q for bag drop was incredibly long and I watched the clock until 6 20am and then approached a Ryanair person who was helping to manage the q. She directed us to skip around to a desk which was marked flight -40 mins. There were only 2 groups ahead of us.
We were very lucky security wasn't too bad and we raced up to our gate, got there at 7.10. No time for a coffee....but at least we made our flight.

Fred Swanson

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miezekatze

It really depends on how busy the airport is. I went on flights around that time before and usually try to be at the airport 2 hours before take off. 90 minutes would probably still be OK but I wouldn't cut it any closer than that, especially if you're travelling with young children.

devnull

Personally early mornings can be crazy in the airport, I had a flight at 6.50am on a Friday and got to the airport 5.15am and was pretty glad I had fast track. I probably would have been fine without it, but it just takes the stress out and is more relaxing that way.

It's rare I purchase fast track but for those first wave flights in the morning I think it's worth it since the airport is crazy then, especially on Friday's and around holidays when the weather gets better.

Fred Swanson

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devnull

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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To be honest it doesn't bother me on afternoon flights or late evening or mid-morning, at those times security is generally much quicker and I don't mind being at the airport earlier if required to avoid needing to pay for it.

Thing about early morning flights is I don't want to be there longer than I need to be, more sleep I get the better!

Yamanoto

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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I held elite status with Oneworld, Skyteam & Star Alliance last year, so utilised Fast Track in T1 quite a bit. I also did more flying with FR than I've ever done before in 2015, so found myself passing through standard security screening on a regular enough basis too. Outside peak periods, the standard screening was routinely a doddle to pass through, so much so that I'd view paying for Fast Track at any other time as an utter waste of money.

OldMrBrennan83

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Locker10a

Seriously I can't believe how often this question pops up here! Its on all airlines websites ! They all have information regarding when they recommend you turn up for your flight! For a short haul flight this is usually approx 2 hours before! If you're travelling with kids always allow yourself an extra 15 mins for security etc. Is it that difficult for grown adults to figure this out!! :P

Tigerandahalf

Dublin airport parking - I have this reserved from 6 in the evening but someone was telling me you can enter upto 2hrs beforehand. Is this ok and do you then have to leave 2 hrs before your allotted slot on your return?

Thanks