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The DUB Passport/Immigration Queue Thread

180567

Would anyone know if anything is being done to solve the issues at Terminal one passport control ? Extremely long queues for passengers arriving in the evenings. An hour or more seems to be the new normal now.

There seems to be a real problem with the number of inbound flights after 10 and not having enough passport control staff to cope with the numbers. For some reason Terminal two is not affected and it never takes more than five minutes to get through there. I see in T1 they are scanning the passport through a scanner machine now so I think that is what is also slowing it all down.

I'm kind of surprised Ryanair haven't been on going bonkers about this as it's really affecting their passengers rather than anyone elses. Any of their evening flights arriving later than 10 are going to be caught up in these massive queues. After being caught up in the long queues a couple of times I'd really think twice before I'd book a T1 evening arriving flight again. Regardless of the price I'd now pay the extra to go Aer Lingus through T2 just to avoid that.

We're not even into the peak summer holiday season so I don't know what it is going to be like come July or august.

I can think of a few ways to improve the system myself - separate the UK \ common travel area arriving passengers like they do at Gatwick where people show their boarding card to confirm they are traveling from the UK. Or loads more of the automatic scanner gates.

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revenent

There are many reasons some queues move quicker, look at the amount of flights landing together, if Ryanair land 5 flights within 10 mins there will be a queue. Passengers of interest and other issues that arrive all take up an officers time, Dublin is the same as every other airport in which when you land you have to queue sometimes.

killbillvol2

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

I really don't have time to read the thread but this nonsense has been going on for years.

Can someone please explain to me why passengers had to wait a few nights back for over an hour in a long queue for EU immigration control while non EU went through real quick?

There were kiosks empty.

I was very angry and I live here. I think it's an appalling first image for Ireland.

Just give me the headlines, what the hell is the problem?

Seriously someone needs a boot up their ass, that's all I know.

Everyone there was really perplexed and annoyed.

Get over it. You were unlucky.

I have a pain in my hole reading this sh1te. Sometimes things are slow. Mostly it's seconds. I go through various Asian airports regularly and immigration is immigration. Sometimes a load of planes land together.

My record is 1 hour 50 minutes in KL when every wife of every male passenger off a Saudi flight had her face covered. Cue mayhem. And not in 1999 but in 2017.

The Veteran

Kermit, if you want to give more detail on what you regard as “nonsense”. You may be Irish, and you may know that, but the officers don’t know who you are until you present. Some of the “headlines” you seek are that in the main Terminal 1 area there are reduced numbers of desks available presently that restricts the flow into the area. The officers routinely alternate between EU and non-EU but a non EU can appear short but would still take longer to clear as the transaction time is a multiple of five on average between the two categories. As another poster has said, there is congestion in airports the world over at specific times but the average wait times at Dublin are very short - averaging 3-5 minutes on any given day. Another headline is that access to the immigration hall is managed by daa, not the immigration service, so any stoppages before the Hall are as a result of their actions (for whatever legitimate reasons there may be). All of this of course is before we come to the primary purpose of the immigration officers - the protection of the State’s border not the facilitation of “walk through” controls. The statistics over the weekend on refusals and investigations speak for themselves and demonstrate that the primary objective was being met.

Dread Pirate Roberts

The queues are atrocious most nights I fly in. I fly into T1 weekly landing at around 11.

Fred Swanson

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Dread Pirate Roberts

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Yeah tis a joke.

The Veteran

There is no joke about it. The reality is that the Hall has a capacity and when it’s exceeded then there is congestion. The reality in T1 is that it’s largest customer brings between 12 and 20 flights to dublin in the hour from 11 until midnight. If 13 flights landed at a rate of 1 every five minutes there would be no congestion but they don’t, they tend to come in clusters; that’s when the capacity is expanded and you get congestion.

Passengers also have to be realistic; 10 to 15 minutes should not be unexpected and at peak times it will go higher.

You know T2 has massive capacity at that hour of the night; in fact Aer Lingus flights have essentially all but come in by then.

Fred Swanson

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Dread Pirate Roberts

The Veteran wrote: »

There is no joke about it. The reality is that the Hall has a capacity and when it’s exceeded then there is congestion. The reality in T1 is that it’s largest customer brings between 12 and 20 flights to dublin in the hour from 11 until midnight. If 13 flights landed at a rate of 1 every five minutes there would be no congestion but they don’t, they tend to come in clusters; that’s when the capacity is expanded and you get congestion.

Passengers also have to be realistic; 10 to 15 minutes should not be unexpected and at peak times it will go higher.

You know T2 has massive capacity at that hour of the night; in fact Aer Lingus flights have essentially all but come in by then.

I do indeed.

Dread Pirate Roberts

The Veteran wrote: »

There is no joke about it. The reality is that the Hall has a capacity and when it’s exceeded then there is congestion. The reality in T1 is that it’s largest customer brings between 12 and 20 flights to dublin in the hour from 11 until midnight. If 13 flights landed at a rate of 1 every five minutes there would be no congestion but they don’t, they tend to come in clusters; that’s when the capacity is expanded and you get congestion.

Passengers also have to be realistic; 10 to 15 minutes should not be unexpected and at peak times it will go higher.

You know T2 has massive capacity at that hour of the night; in fact Aer Lingus flights have essentially all but come in by then.

Its a joke in my opinion. I have seen enough of it.

LiamaDelta

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Have to say, I've only had good experience. 12 minutes was about the most I've ever queued and that's maybe once or twice. That's quite acceptable in my book.

Doltanian

Fred Swanson wrote: »

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Same with me, I must be living in a parallel universe.

trellheim

Given that the temporary desks to deal with the volume in T1 have been removed, and no date for their return , I do not look forward to a pleasant summer where this issue is concerned, all other things remaining equal.

The Veteran

Ive explained this before but I’ll donit again! This relates to the main T1 area:

There were 12 manual desks back in 2013 before the pilot eGates went in; 4 pilot Gates went in and the number of manual desks fell to 10.

Fast forward through various iterations during 2017; the scenario fell to 5 manual; 1 Gate referral desk and 10 eGates by January; it then went to 8 manuals for a weekend and was back to 6+1+10 eGates for last while. It will be at that level for another few weeks (until end April) when the final scenario will be in place.

At that point, there will be 10 manual lanes; 1 eGate referral lane and 10 eGates. A combined capacity significantly in excess of anything that has ever been there before or more importantly than what is required based on the busiest hours. This of course assumes a perfectly linear and orderly presentation of passengers. So, there is no reason to be anxious for the main Summer period based on the number of desks in the hall. That said, the Hall remains a poor design for how passengers enter it; how they move through it and its overall size.

trellheim

Is there an update regarding the acceptance of passport cards in the eGates or is their restriction permanent

Given the constraints imposed, I agree ref the 100 gates entry mechanism into the hall, the 200 gates are OK .

The Veteran

The fix for the cards is coming but technically the Gates can read them already; it’s down to ease of use for passengers which needs some more work.

The Pier 2 set up has turned out well and works but it doesn’t have the volume the other side has. There will be fun when Air Canada and the like start coming into that hall from next week - a sizable non EU queue and flow from Pier 1 kills the Hall

billy few mates

I passed through T2 on Friday night about 22:00.
Zero queue, plenty of desks open and through in two minutes.
Recently I've had more delays passing through security on the way out than immigration on the way in, and that s been with fast track

Fred Swanson

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The Veteran

Exit checks were carried out for about three months last Summer and are carried out occasionally. To do it systematically would mean infrastructure - there is space behind security in each of the Terminals; plus T1 Security is due to move to the Mezzanine level which opens up the opportunity.

jjbrien

What happened the old immigation hall in Pier 1 of T1?

The Veteran

jjbrien wrote: »

What happened the old immigation hall in Pier 1 of T1?

In what sense?

jjbrien

The Veteran wrote: »

In what sense?

Like is it still in use or is it gone? I seen it though a door about 3 years ago with officers sitting there but no queues getting off a plane and walking to the T2 hall

Jamie2k9

jjbrien wrote: »

Like is it still in use or is it gone? I seen it though a door about 3 years ago with officers sitting there but no queues getting off a plane and walking to the T2 hall

Its pier 3 you are referring to (?), its used but EI and US arrivals at that pier are directed to T2.

LXFlyer

jjbrien wrote: »

Like is it still in use or is it gone? I seen it though a door about 3 years ago with officers sitting there but no queues getting off a plane and walking to the T2 hall

All of the T1 handled airlines that use the old B gates (now 3XX) still use that hall.

The pier is also used by Aer Lingus for some flights but they are handled in T2 hence passengers on such flights use that terminal’s immigration hall.

G_R

Went through this morning at about 9am for the first time in a few months.

Was through in a couple of seconds.

I don't get the issues people are having with the e-gates though. Was fairly obvious where the passport goes, and the little screen above told me to push it in. It then told me where to look for the picture and then was straight through.

Was a hell of a lot quicker to get through than Arlanda when I arrived there on Friday at midday when it was quiet!

Noxegon

The Veteran wrote: »

plus T1 Security is due to move to the Mezzanine level which opens up the opportunity.

Wait, what??

Irish Steve

The Veteran wrote: »

T1 Security is due to move to the Mezzanine level which opens up the opportunity.

Presumably that's to enable DAA to put in even more airside shops to try and relieve departing passengers of more money. Strikes me that making people go up an additional level to then come down again is going to cause some issues, especially for anyone with mobility restrictions or limitations.

I wonder what they will put in landside in the areas that are freed up, unless it's that they want more check in gates for the airlines that are not able to get into T2 because of the lack of gates at that end of the system.

Jamie2k9

Irish Steve wrote: »

Presumably that's to enable DAA to put in even more airside shops to try and relieve departing passengers of more money. Strikes me that making people go up an additional level to then come down again is going to cause some issues, especially for anyone with mobility restrictions or limitations.

I wonder what they will put in landside in the areas that are freed up, unless it's that they want more check in gates for the airlines that are not able to get into T2 because of the lack of gates at that end of the system.

The move would allow capacity for 22 (18m long) lanes with larger queue area and auto tray retrieval. It will allow them to revamp T1 check in area and there will be a number of entry points so the long walk from Area 13 to current security is gone. The Mezzanine level will be extended and the food court re-located and stays land side.

The first phase would be 19 lane facility and no net gain in retail space from the project. New larger equipment will take up a lot of space. The current security area was one of the biggest mistakes made by the daa in recent times.

Currently T1 has 15 lanes.

The Veteran

Essentially the plan is to allow for more check in desks; and airside retail. The “dedicated” security allows for efficiency by design.

trellheim

The move would allow capacity for 22 (18m long) lanes with larger queue area and auto tray retrieval. It will allow them to revamp T1 check in area and there will be a number of entry points so the long walk from Area 13 to current security is gone. The Mezzanine level will be extended and the food court re-located and stays land side.

The first phase would be 19 lane facility and no net gain in retail space from the project. New larger equipment will take up a lot of space. The current security area was one of the biggest mistakes made by the daa in recent times.

Currently T1 has 15 lanes.

I have never seen 15 in action, as far as I can tell they do not have the staff to do so at peak times. I would like to see the second security check brought back into action instead ( the one that used to be beside Ryanair but I suspect this would annoy someone selling retail space)

The works in the T1 checkin hall at the moment are a pain in the behind at the moment you have to walk the long way round to get in.

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