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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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TheChizler

hu!me wrote: »

Isn't a quick visual citizenship check the same as producing your boarding card and drivers licence... you know this is the current set up at passport control.

But they also scan passports, ask you questions, check your visa if necessary. Surely there could be a fast queue where this isn't applicable?

hu!me

Isn't a quick visual citizenship check the same as producing your boarding card and drivers licence... you know this is the current set up at passport control.

JCX BXC

How does one identify a national from a non-national? Could someone simply say that they are a national?

TheChizler

Avada wrote: »

Ah yes, the "ah, you've a big Irish head on ya" check

Or, you know, looking at your documents.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

hu!me

Different countries different rules and objectives I assume, given the terrorism threat in the UK and number of illegal immigrants living there, I for one am glad there are at least some checks on those arriving from the UK.

Avada

TheChizler wrote: »

Surely there could be a quick visual "citizenship check" and you get diverted to the passport check if needed?

Ah yes, the "ah, you've a big Irish head on ya" check

TheChizler

hu!me wrote: »

Passport checks are not optional for non EU passengers arriving on CTA flights.

Surely there could be a quick visual "citizenship check" and you get diverted to the passport check if needed?

Avada

JCX BXC wrote: »

You sure about that?

Yes.

11.—(1) Every person (other than a person under the age of 16 years) landing in the State shall be in possession of a valid passport or other equivalent document, issued by or on behalf of an authority recognised by the Government, which establishes his or her identity and nationality to the satisfaction of an immigration officer.

(2) Every person landing in or embarking from the State shall furnish to an immigration officer such information in such manner as the immigration officer may reasonably require for the purposes of the performance of his or her functions.

(3) A person who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) This section does not apply to any person (other than a non-national) coming from or embarking for a place in the State, Great Britain or Northern Ireland.

trellheim

No hu!me is correct. My mistake. CTA passport checks only apply to non-nationals ( sec 11 of the 2004 Immigration act ) i Have stated this several times in posts above but it was omitted this time. If you are Irish walk on through.

The UK manage this problem with random checks, targeting their officers to where they will do the most good.

JCX BXC

hu!me wrote: »

Passport checks are not optional for non EU passengers arriving on CTA flights.

Well why is this not the same in the UK? Why do I just walk off my flight into the domestic arrivals and not meet a person? I could be from the moon for all the UK officials know, they haven't checked my passport.

You sure about that?

Spanish Eyes

Avada wrote: »

This is going round in circles. The immigration hall has limited capacity and a limited number of booths. You physically cannot fit the amount of passengers that land at peak time through that amount of booths

DAA again to blame. They provide the immigration space (AFAIK), and they sure haven't made it welcoming for anyone.

Michael O'Leary is right DAA is a disgrace. They only invest in money making schemes like franchises, shops, pubs and food.

Their first priority should be to ensure arriving passengers have a good experience of DA. All the pink shirted wannabes funnelling people this way and that around barriers galore is a joke. A little power is a dangerous thing there. But I honestly don't blame the pink shirt power shower. They are working with a disaster of an immigration hall.

What do the landing fees, taxes and charges that we all pay for go on?

It certainly isn't to get you landed and out optimally.

INIS and GNIB are given what they are given. If you only have say 7 channels, it doesn't matter if 20 staff are available to process. They just can't do it.

Aaargh.

hu!me

Passport checks are not optional for non EU passengers arriving on CTA flights.

trellheim

This is going round in circles. The immigration hall has limited capacity and a limited number of booths. You physically cannot fit the amount of passengers that land at peak time through that amount of booths

I fully agree. You make an excellent point. Segregate CTA passengers as per UK and it will solve the problems immediately. There is absolutely zero data or evidence to show that tying officers up in 100% checking makes any difference whatsoever.

Did you mention CTA ? No. You said passport checking was not optional. I countered by saying that passport checking was indeed optional for CTA passengers.

trellheim

DAA run a carpark that happens have a runway out the back. Look at their twitter feed ( for a recurring case of "not-our-problem-itis" )

Avada

trellheim wrote: »

Untrue; there is no requirement to provide a passport for a CTA flight. If there was, we'd need passports for the Belfast train or the Aircoach.

.

Where did I mention the CTA?

Avada

Negative_G wrote: »

Well then that begs the question as to what the staff are actually doing if not performing what I suspect is their primary duty?

If that is correct then it seems the Immigration staff are pointing the finger at the DAA, and the DAA are burying their heads in the sand. Outstanding.

This is going round in circles. The immigration hall has limited capacity and a limited number of booths. You physically cannot fit the amount of passengers that land at peak time through that amount of booths

Negative_G

Avada wrote: »

The Veteran has already pointed out that there are more staff than booths most of the time (further back in the thread). Staffing shortages were a problem, they aren't anymore.

Well then that begs the question as to what the staff are actually doing if not performing what I suspect is their primary duty?

If that is correct then it seems the Immigration staff are pointing the finger at the DAA, and the DAA are burying their heads in the sand. Outstanding.

trellheim

Afaik, its an EU agreement that all passports are scanned and checked against the Interpol database. Not optional.

Untrue; there is no requirement to provide a passport for a CTA flight. If there was, we'd need passports for the Belfast train or the Aircoach.

In addition, The independent link above shows Immigration officers publicly saying passport checking will be eased off in the peaks. ( Or words equivalent )

Ref the egates see this link for their removal http://www.dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-news/millions-face-dublin-airport-delays-13103555

An absolute shambles.

The Veteran

plodder wrote: »

Just to clarify. Are you saying the automatic scanning booths are to be done away with?

Personally, if I were being affected by this, I would contact my local TDs.

The pilot Gates are going over the coming weeks.

There are new expanded Gates (in terms of the number) coming for both Terminals. Been planned for ages but tender only finished in last few weeks.

Avada

Negative_G wrote: »

If the shifts need to be adjusted to provide more personnel at busier times then it should be a simple solution to do that. Get people into the booths and then deploy them elsewhere when the demand lessens. Surely there are other tasks and responsibilities for them other than scanning passports?

The Veteran has already pointed out that there are more staff than booths most of the time (further back in the thread). Staffing shortages were a problem, they aren't anymore.

Negative_G

The Veteran wrote: »

Where did anyone say that anyone refused to work any shift pattern.

The shift pattern is public knowledge ...

06:00 to 18:00 (2 Units)
14:00 to 02:00
18:00 to 06:00

That means there are two Units in duty in the nightly "rush hour". Some officers work the Lufthansa and other 'odd' flights into Pier 3. There is one and a half if not almost two full Units in the main area for the rush.

No breaks are allowed after 22:30 approx.

Last night there were more (a good few more) on duty than desks available.

Yesterday the Mail on Sunday had a story (repeated in dublin Live today) about a row over maintenance contracts closing the automatic Gates. Where did that tripe come from? The pilot is over; Gates are closed and due to be removed.

As I said before ... ask the right questions in the right official channels.

Ask the Department for the contact email address of the airport immigration guys.

eeguy wrote: »

Because busy times may only be an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening. They can't bring in 6 people to work a 2 hour split shift.

If the shifts need to be adjusted to provide more personnel at busier times then it should be a simple solution to do that. Get people into the booths and then deploy them elsewhere when the demand lessens. Surely there are other tasks and responsibilities for them other than scanning passports?

Since you are reading the thread, would you care to provide an answer to my previous question directed to you?

Avada

plodder wrote: »

Just to clarify. Are you saying the automatic scanning booths are to be done away with?

To be replaced by whatever company won the tender

plodder

The Veteran wrote: »

Yesterday the Mail on Sunday had a story (repeated in dublin Live today) about a row over maintenance contracts closing the automatic Gates. Where did that tripe come from? The pilot is over; Gates are closed and due to be removed.

Just to clarify. Are you saying the automatic scanning booths are to be done away with?

As I said before ... ask the right questions in the right official channels.

Ask the Department for the contact email address of the airport immigration guys.

Personally, if I were being affected by this, I would contact my local TDs.

plodder

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

I don't think it would be a problem so long as you co-operated with the officer's attempt to verify you were a citizen. If you stone-walled and refused to talk, then I think you'd be looking at a lengthier process I imagine.

The Veteran

Negative_G wrote: »

There's the first problem. And probably the root cause of it all, along with incompetent management by the DAA.

This notion that you can't expect people to work certain shifts to ensure that there is an appropriate amount of staff present to process large number of passengers is laughabe.

The same people would probably want to be heavily compensated if their tea room was moved down hall.

As I said already, the whole thing stinks of "union rules, bud". The finger pointing that has gone on already is testament to that. "Not my problem, ask the DAA".

Where did anyone say that anyone refused to work any shift pattern.

The shift pattern is public knowledge ...

06:00 to 18:00 (2 Units)
14:00 to 02:00
18:00 to 06:00

That means there are two Units in duty in the nightly "rush hour". Some officers work the Lufthansa and other 'odd' flights into Pier 3. There is one and a half if not almost two full Units in the main area for the rush.

No breaks are allowed after 22:30 approx.

Last night there were more (a good few more) on duty than desks available.

Yesterday the Mail on Sunday had a story (repeated in dublin Live today) about a row over maintenance contracts closing the automatic Gates. Where did that tripe come from? The pilot is over; Gates are closed and due to be removed.

As I said before ... ask the right questions in the right official channels.

Ask the Department for the contact email address of the airport immigration guys.

Negative_G

Avada wrote: »

Yes(sort of), its paid for.

https://www.dublinairport.com/at-the-airport/travel-services/platinum-services?gclid=CjwKEAjwja_JBRD8idHpxaz0t3wSJAB4rXW5_luj7pUkt72HmI8YFefgtl76PWOppPY2BdAlHCD2JxoCg3_w_wcB

And if you are arriving into Dublin on your private jet, you will get charged a handsome sum, much larger than what they quote for the "use" of their services.

FBOs at Dublin are forced to use them and pass on the charge from the DAA. Squeezing as much as possible out of them.

Then again, if you can afford to travel via private jet, you wont lose any sleep over a few hundred quid.

Avada

Fred Swanson wrote: »

Do VIPs and other minor celebrities have their own private passport control?

Yes(sort of), its paid for.

https://www.dublinairport.com/at-the-airport/travel-services/platinum-services?gclid=CjwKEAjwja_JBRD8idHpxaz0t3wSJAB4rXW5_luj7pUkt72HmI8YFefgtl76PWOppPY2BdAlHCD2JxoCg3_w_wcB

Fred Swanson wrote: »

I can see someone going to challenge it in court, when the wrong person gets delayed.

Challenge what exactly?

Spanish Eyes

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Good question, I reckon they do, along with oh so important politicians aswell maybe.

You see what I mean if it's true? They never see it so don't know what the big deal is for the great unwashed.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.