Review: US pre-clearance at Dublin Airport and the ’51st & Green’ airport lounge

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• T says:

  20 Jul20 July 04:41

  It is strange to see that all over the world, some airlines are closing lounges, not reopening lounges, switching to lower end contract lounges, lowering their offering at excisting lounges, whilst this for many is clearly a valued part of the trip.

  • John says:

    20 Jul20 July 05:48

    If bookings in cabins eligible for lounge access and bookings by status passengers start to drop, then airlines may revisit this, but for now it appears that bookings remain high despite the lack of lounge access or decline in quality.

  • JohnG says:

    20 Jul20 July 11:17

    Although I agree, I think you need to consider that flying hasn’t recovered as much as it might seem since the pandemic. Heathrow was averaging 221,600 passengers a day in 2019, and is now struggling with 100,000 a day. It seems a little short sighted but I can see why airlines are cutting capacity/costs on running lounges, especially if it is difficult to recruit and retain staff.

    • AJA says:

      20 Jul20 July 12:14

      But the important question is how many of those 100k have lounge access versus the 221k in 2019?

      And it’s not as if the airfares have dropped to take account of the lesser service we receive in terms of lounges themselves and the service on board – food is an easy one to cut cost with and possibly the only area that doesn’t impact safety or security as is lounge access. But that does diminish what you ostensibly are getting for your business class airfare.

      And the reason for the 100k is not because there is a lack of demand – it is an artificial limit imposed by HAL due to a lack of staff to meet the demand. That is down to poor management by HAL and the airlines.

      • T says:

        20 Jul20 July 16:28

        I agree,

        We are paying higher fares now then Pre covid, yet service levels are going down the pipe!

• can says:

  20 Jul20 July 05:19

  IIRC this was a PP lounge. While I was living in Bristol pre pamdemic, flying to NYC with aer lingus was the most efficient way for me. I’ve been to this cute little lounge many times during that period. It is really odd to think it is a business class only lounge now, because it cannot be.

• Ian says:

  20 Jul20 July 05:23

  Are global entry people able to skip the long queue?

  Or would they have to queue only to be able to split off closer?

  • Stuart says:

    20 Jul20 July 07:50

    There are a line of Global Entry kiosks to the right but only after bags have beeen scanned. However, it is a significant time-saver when finally through, probably a saving of at least 20 minutes.

    • Deckard says:

      20 Jul20 July 08:06

      Last time I used global entry at Dublin it was almost instantaneous. Facial recognition now, not passport scan, so ticket printed off almost immediately and straight to the front of the queue. Given the size of the immigration Q at the time I would say it saved me 45 minutes to an hour.

• riku says:

  20 Jul20 July 05:43

  Is the lounge business class only ? The article contradicts itself
  >>you can access it for cash if you are not flying in Business Class
  >>the only people using this lounge are people flying to the US on Business Class tickets

  • Rob says:

    20 Jul20 July 08:18

    Obviously anyone can pay €39 if you are so keen for a plate of curry ….

    • rob keane says:

      20 Jul20 July 09:24

      …and a quiet place to be and some drinks….why the concentration on a plate of curry ?…sounds petty.

      • Rob says:

        20 Jul20 July 09:52

        It’s not quiet and a 2 drink limit as per the comment below.

        It just feels like a wasted opportunity, probably because the airport runs it and not the airlines, and the airport couldn’t care less.

    • Sammyj says:

      20 Jul20 July 10:31

      Don’t underestimate the number of people who do pay for lounge entry. Business folks flying economy, not so much, but people heading to Orlando or California for their jollies with no idea about different classes and lounges are generally very keen to get their holiday started in style!

• Olly says:

  20 Jul20 July 05:49

  Surely it’s Ireland which is considered the 51st state, not Dublin

  • John says:

    20 Jul20 July 13:31

    I thought it was the UK

    • Dubious says:

      20 Jul20 July 16:15

      Only Manchester I thought?

• The real Swiss Tony says:

  20 Jul20 July 07:05

  They have the ability at DUB to block off the upper floor of that pier at some point, so the gates essentially in the area above the lounge can also be used for US flights. It’s also a far nicer place to sit than down on the ground floor.

  Sad to hear pre-clearance is such a mess, though.

  • Michael says:

    20 Jul20 July 20:19

    Yes, at peak times I’ve seen almost the whole regular departures level turned over to preclearance, reserving just the nearest two gates on the pier for the LHR shuttles. Aer Lingus doesn’t night stop except at LHR so most of the fleet overnights at DUB, then there’s a first wave in the early am to get the first of two or three European rotations done. In the later morning, short haul can use the 300 pier and the bus gates.

    Saying “For some reason, all US flights from Dublin leave from a very narrow corridor with departure gates on both sides” fails to understand that preclearance necessitates corralling precleared passengers after they’ve cleared customs and US security. That’s why there’s no duty free after CBP. It’s not a huge problem unless there are delays. The EI lounge before preclearance used to be able to tell you the optimal time to preclear.

    DUB has done a lot with T2 in a very constrained site and pre covid has probably exceeded its design capacity. The ground level of the pier is turned over to preclearance and is the same area available for short haul after the shops! It’s not as bright as it’s on ground level with planes either side, and the ceiling is a bit low. Without having a dedicated preclearance terminal DUB T2 does a pretty good job and excels compared to what went before in T1!

• Ross says:

  20 Jul20 July 07:13

  I gained Global Entry a couple of years before the pandemic. As I guess there is no way to use GE in Dublin, or *not* to pre-clear there (as the whole plane will be treated the same, one imagines). As such, Dublin excludes itself as a transfer base for me, taking many times longer than the literal 30 seconds it takes me on landing in any US airport.

  When you do cover GE, don’t forget to review the free (and helpful) “pre-TSA” status that comes with it for internal flights! A secret added benefit.

  • Sammyj says:

    20 Jul20 July 10:33

    I believe there are GE kiosks in Dublin too, so you could skip that line and go straight to those, the same as you normally would on arrival.

    Worth noting too that Aer Lingus is not part of the TSA pre-check scheme, so even though we have GE, we can’t use TSA Precheck flying Aer Lingus.

  • Michael says:

    20 Jul20 July 17:31

    There are GE kiosks at DUB. I used them on Monday this week. It’s also facial recognition only. The queue was quite short for both xrays and passport when I arrived so GE wasn’t a real benefit on this occasion.

• S says:

  20 Jul20 July 07:19

  I’ve never had to wait in the immigration queue at MIA for more than 30 minutes!

  (I’ve never had NY as my entry point to the US, and I no longer want to!)

  • The real Swiss Tony says:

    20 Jul20 July 07:33

    Pre-COVID, we waited almost 2 hrs at Boston. In April, walked straight off the plane and up to a desk in Orlando. This is the problem – there’s no pattern. Austin and Tampa used to guarantee a quick route but don’t think that’s assured anymore, either….

    • JandeW says:

      21 Jul21 July 12:29

      Unfortunately, US entry via MCO or MIA not much good if you’re travelling on E Coast business…

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