Warning for anyone connecting out of Dublin to fly to USA, don't be me!

[MorrisZapp]

I'm a broken human and it's all Aer Lingus's fault. Business trip yesterday Edinburgh to JFK, connecting through Dublin.

Due to weather, my Edinburgh flight was delayed and we landed late in Dublin. Still in time for connection but all travellers to the USA have to go through US Homeland Security in Dublin, and there is no fast track option for late incoming connections.

It took well over an hour to clear US customs, the queues were horrendous and there are four levels of security to clear.

I think ten different people beeped my boarding pass but this means nothing as US security exists to protect the USA, not to help people catch flights.

After a horrific race to the furthest gate in the terminal, I arrived to a closed gate and the staff clearing up. They were kind and sympathetic but I was absolutely not getting on the plane. My bags had been taken off. Other people were in the same situation.

We could not approach Aer Lingus ticketing until to got landside, and we couldn't get landside until we had our bags back, which took an hour. Once we arrived at the ticketing desk there was a queue of desperate and upset travellers ahead of us, all trying to get to the USA. There were further flights out but we couldn't get them because going through homeland security again would have taken too long, and many flights were full anyway.

All they could offer was overnight accommodation with onward travel the next day. This didn't work for me as I'd missed my meeting anyway so I had to get a flight home instead. Edinburgh was full so I took a teatime flight to Glasgow. I got home at 10pm having been in transit from 6am.

I can't explain what it feels like to miss a transatlantic flight, I'm still processing it now. Seeing that closed gate was like the most stressful scene in a film, but it was real and actually happening to me.

Catching connections works until it doesn't. How the fuck Aer Lingus thought I could negotiate their huge, multi level airport and the whole of US security in the time allowed even had my incoming flight been on time was baffling to me. Why they haven't set up support airside for all the people held up like this is a mystery for the ages. Entire families were crying, the staff were helpful but there weren't nearly enough of them and they can't offer solutions that don't exist.

People who don't live near hub airports have no choice but to use connections. I've learned my lesson. I've informed my company that my next journey to the USA will require me to catch a train to London the day before (early, in case of train shenanigans) a night in a Heathrow hotel and a flight out of Heathrow next day.

Don't be me. Don't trust airline's own itineraries for connecting flights, and never fly Dublin to USA unless you are able to arrive at Dublin many hours in advance.

And an extra fuck you to the last US security guy I dealt with. Your utter nastiness made one of the most stressful experiences of my half century on this earth even worse and for what, sir? If you want your country to be safe then ban gun ownership and be civil to middle aged ladies who obey every rule and command asked of them.

Last moan, a pint in Dublin Airport costs seven pounds thirty. Most needed pint of my life. Just.... don't be me.

God, flying can be so stressful. I do this thing where I am very very calm, calculated, get everything done, everyone always comments how i can keep my shit together etc until I reach breaking point. I distinctly remember breaking down in Munich Airport over a similar experience. Missing the flight, all that, didn't quite break me but when I got to the hotel room they put me in and it was extremely cold in the room and I had NOTHING (bags had been sent to destination) and I had to sleep in my fucking coat, I broke down and cried like a child. And I also broke something, I threw my notebook or something across the room. It wasn't the end of the world or anything but travelling is tiring, you have so many plates spinning and sometimes something just breaks you!

The a321xlr plane to market will reduce the need for most connecting flights to stateside. It will mean major us airlines hubs of and medium size airports will be able to fly direct to all uk airports from all mainland destinations. Thank the engineers and the visionaries who brought this product to market. It doesn’t help you now Morris but it will in the future.

Yes, and that's what makes the movies dramatic! 'that ship has sailed' is the stuff of anxiety dreams. And don't even bother writing a rom com without missed connections, how else are you going to jerk tears of frustration?

That has literally never been the narrative, though, apart from possibly a brief aberration during the Tiger when it was all hot tubs and ‘Aren’t we great?’ Our national narrative from 1916 on is Interesting Failure, But We Write Well About It. I flew back to Ireland today on a flight full of French tourists all poring over maps and reading Back Roads of Ireland, all of whom were totally charmed when the air bridge didn’t work on arrival and there was no one at passport control, and who are clearly expecting to end up stuck in a herd of stray sheep and Healy-Raes by nightfall.

Sounds stressful but no one died

Love the geekery. This development is a long time coming, especially here in Scotland.

Was it your choice to make the arrangements or did they just say show up, we don't care how.

Nothing but sympathy, OP. I had to get a flight once to be with a dying relative. The flight was delayed and delayed and then cancelled with no reason given. There was another flight later that day and the crew asked the airline for a bigger plane so we could all go on it (7 hours later so time to make changes). Airline said no. I was crying and explaining my situation and the indifference and occasional hostility I received was actually heartbreaking. Nobody cared. I was stuck and my relative was slipping away. I paid so bloody much for my flight, I was there hours and hours in advance and they just wouldn't bloody well take me or take any responsibility or even just say 'Oh sorry, this is awful. Here's why it's happened and how we'll fix it'. Eventually they grudgingly put me up in a hotel and flew me out the next morning (it took 4 hours in the airport after my cancelled flight - which was later than the flight time and hours later than I arrived for them to agree to this). I did make it in time to say goodbye but missed spending precious time and I was sick to the stomach with distress at the whole thing. It genuinely put me off ever flying again - that feeling of being completely helpless in the hands of an uncaring airline was awful.

to be fair to aer lingus, the lines for us pre clearence are usually very very quick. I travel to the US a couple of times each year via Dubin, never yet encountered long lines. (in many years)

They do close at some point so I know people have been caught out by that.

I agree 1.5 hours is a bit too tight, and aer lingus should really be able to help you airside. (maybe on the pnone?)

Aren't you a delight!

That sounds awful. Really horrendous

But I much prefer flying via Dublin cause US customs is horrendous in the USA and when Dublin works it's fantastic to just get your bag when you land and go.

Perhaps you are better to just ensure a longer stopover in Dublin.

If you are determined to go through Heathrow why not just fly there from Edinburgh instead of the train.

This sounds stressful! We had a hoohah at Toronto Pearson on Sunday but it was so stressful I can’t bring myself to look back on it yet. Maybe in a few days.

I think I’m traumatised 😂

I’m sure the A321xlr will be the best thing since sliced bread and will open up some formerly unprofitable routes for non-stop services.

Unfortunately it won’t help with pre-clearance, and that’s the main reason many people like Morris are choosing to take a connecting flight and go indirect UK>DUB>US, rather than for example fly non-stop EDI-JFK which is already an option.

Have you seen Leap Year? Amy Adams is trying to fly to Dublin from the US to propose to a wanker, her flight gets diverted to Wales, she charters a random fishing boat (ferries not running?) and ends up, mystifyingly, in Dingle (which would have involved sailing around most of the south coast of Ireland and taken he4 much further from Dublin), and she then travels with Matthew Goode’s offensively terrible impersonation of a muck savage to Dublin via the Cliffs of Moher and Connemara, which are in pretty much the opposite direction.

But the geography is less of a war crime than Matthew Goode’s accent.

Ah yeah we always slag ourselves off.

There was no need for OP’s hysterical post. The way it was written you’d think that some awful tragedy or death had occurred. They missed a connection, hardly the end of the world. Pointing fingers at the airport, security etc and telling the world never to go there is just childish. Delays happen and it is common sense that you should plan accordingly for this when booking a connecting flight, especially when you know you will need to go through US pre-clearance.

There's even a lanyard you can buy www.flightstore.co.uk/product/airbus-a321xlr-lanyard-12604

There's a Scottish one of these. Lairds, clans, castles the lot. Strangely, street crime doesn't feature and the guy from Kelso speaks with a Glasgow accent delivered through a biscuit tin. Is it raining? I hadn't noticed.

If I'd had that yesterday I'd have breezed through! Only half kidding, a clipboard could have worked too.

Well if we’re going to get into lanyards then going really geeky for a moment it’s funny that not that long ago Airbus pretty much bet the farm and the whole company on the idea of a few super-hubs being served by super jumbos, yet it looks like now they think one of their real money spinners over the next few decades might be a single aisle, single deck, relatively small aircraft……

I did not tell anyone never to go there. Preclearance is great but at busy times it takes ages. So I said don't connect to the US at Dublin without having loads of time, a sentiment shared by everyone on the thread, many of whom have lots of experience of it.

Who was the flight to Dublin with?

Helpful. You should be a therapist.

And if the common muppet such as I should be savvy enough to factor in pre clearance then you'd surely expect Ireland's national airline to be ahead of the game here? This reminds me of signs warning about sepsis so the public can beg medical professionals to test for it.

My son married an American, 15 years ago, and they come to England once year. Experience has taught them to only do direct flights, without stopping off in Dublin.

Broken flights are always a nightmare.😗