The queues at Dublin Airport have been described as an “absolute catastrophe” by a TD after numerous passengers missed their flights because of the amount of time they spent waiting to pass through security.
“Well, we didn’t think it could get any worse than it has been the last couple of weeks,” Labour’s Duncan Smith told Newstalk.
“But today seems to have broken new ground with many, many people missing flights and absolute chaos throughout the terminal buildings.
“I’ve had reports myself in this morning from friends and constituents who are travelling; one friend was on a plane that was able to wait to allow people to get onto the plane.
“Others had contacted me saying they had missed their plane altogether. So it’s an absolute catastrophe.”
Passengers wait to board an early morning Ryanair flight at Dublin Airport in May 2012. Picture by: Richard Wayman / Alamy Stock Photo'A really tough morning'
When the pandemic began international borders were slammed shut and the number of people flying out of Dublin Airport plummeted. Numerous members of staff were made redundant but when demand for international travel returned, the airport had to hire and train new workers.
However, they underestimated just how quickly demand for foreign holidays would return and in early spring they found themselves consistently short staffed - resulting in huge queues, missed flights and large numbers of disgruntled passengers.
Due to significant queues inside the terminal for check-in, bag drop & security, passengers queueing outside the terminal may not make their flight & may need to contact their airline to rebook. We sincerely apologise for the obvious frustration and inconvenience this may cause.
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) May 29, 2022
Things have been better in recent weeks and Graeme McQueen, a spokesman for Dublin Airport Authority, apologised and said they were keen to get back to normality:
“There’s no two ways about it - it’s been a really tough morning at the airport,” he told Newstalk.
“And we can only apologise to the passengers but the fact is there have been significant queues throughout the morning, there have been large numbers travelling - up to 50,000 passengers going out today - so it has been busy but that’s no excuse.
“It hasn’t been good enough and we’re looking at what’s gone wrong. We’re looking to rectify that for the days ahead.
“So hopefully we can get back to the way things have been for the last few months - since we last saw this at the end of March we’ve made significant progress.
“We’re working really hard to stay ahead of the rise in passenger numbers but today they just caught up with us.”
Mr McQueen said the chaos is likely to continue for the rest of the day and urged people to get to the airport as early as possible.
Main image: People queue to check in at Dublin Airport's Terminal 2. Picture by: Piere Bonbon / Alamy Stock Photo
