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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
National
Michelle Cullen

Dublin Airport passengers will be forced to wait outside terminals if too early for flights

The daa will tell the Oireachtas Transport Committee this afternoon of its plan to prevent the recurrence of the events on Sunday, which saw over 1,000 passengers miss their flights.

It is believed the new plan will focus on three core areas.

The airport is expected to maximise the availability of staff resources, increase the number of security lanes open at peak times, and improve queue management.

READ MORE: Spain holiday warning over airport queues as Brits accuse Irish of getting ‘preferential treatment’

The daa has said passengers due to fly out of Dublin Airport over the coming weeks are to arrive at the airport at least two-and-a-half hours before the departure of short-haul flights to Europe and the UK and at least three-and-a-half hours for long-haul flights.

Passengers queue to get into the Departures at Terminal 2 , Dublin Airport this morning (Collins Photo Agency)

The operators say at times when the terminals are particularly busy, they will only be allowing passengers that have flights departing within two-and-a-half hours to short-haul destinations and three-and-a-half for long-haul destinations into the terminal.

Passengers that arrive too early for their flights will be asked to wait in a passenger holding area, with special consideration being given to those who require special assistance and those Important Flyers travelling with autism.

For departing passengers, access to the appropriate terminals will be controlled and will require the presentation of documentation indicating the time of flight, such as a booking confirmation or boarding pass.

The DAA said it would be putting bad weather cover, seating, and toilets in the holding area following the trialling of this system over the June Bank Holiday Weekend.

It said it is confident that the measures will prevent a similar situation to last Sunday from recurring.

However, Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Transport, Darren O'Rourke, told RTE's Morning Ireland that if the plan outlined today does not include additional resources, people cannot have confidence that there will not be repeat scenes.

He said: "We need a commitment, a cast-iron guarantee that the scenes we saw last weekend won't happen during this weekend, or this month or this summer.

"So we need to plan for the whole summer to provide the type of assurance that people need because if we don't have assurances from the daa, the natural response will be from people to panic to be concerned to arrive earlier."

He added that the daa needs to look for resources within the daa group.

READ MORE: Spain airport giving Irish 'preferential treatment' with 'express lane' as infuriated Brits watch on

READ MORE: Clever airport hack to get suitcase out first and spend less time waiting at baggage carousel

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