Passengers face delays as terror plot causes airport chaos

Dublin Airport bore the brunt of travel chaos in Ireland today as frustrated passengers complained they were being ignored.

With around 40 flights cancelled, thousands of travellers had holidays disrupted while family and friends of those returning home were left waiting for hours claiming they had not been kept informed.

Many spent the morning huddled around widescreen televisions in the arrivals lounge watching rolling news coverage of the foiled terror plot to bomb transatlantic jets.

They were able to see the extent of disruption in airports across the UK but few of them had any idea of the impact on flights in and out of Dublin.

Hundreds of people in the packed terminal accused airport authorities of failing to pass on vital information about cancellations and delays.

But Siobhan Moore, spokeswoman for Dublin Airport Authority, insisted dozens of officials were liaising with stranded passengers and others waiting for flights to arrive.

“We have special dedicated corral areas. We have 35 customer care teams on the floor at any one time. We are giving out water to passengers,” she said.

“Where we have information we are giving it out. We are getting information from the airlines themselves because obviously it affects their flight schedules, so where we can give information we are doing that.”

A massive security operation was in place in all UK airports, but an overcrowded arrivals hall and queues at check-in desks were the only sign of disruption in Dublin.

The Government said there was no increased security risk at Irish airports.

However, transatlantic airlines complied with strict US rules on hand luggage and all passengers were forced to hand over liquid, including drinks at check-in. Passengers were also denied the chance of some duty free shopping with alcohol, perfume, shampoo and hair gel also on the banned list.

The disruption began in the early morning after hundreds of passengers had checked in for the first round of flights. Many were forced back inside the terminal building as pilots confirmed their flights had been delayed.

The worst affected airlines were Ryanair and Aer Lingus and it is expected the knock-on effect of the massive security operation will be felt over the next two days.

One man, who was due to emigrate to Australia with his wife and two young children today, spoke of his frustration.

“Plans today were to fly into Heathrow, get in about half eight, get a flight at a quarter past on to Singapore and on to Perth ‘cause we are emigrating today, or we were,” he said.

“We were on the plane, sitting there, told it was delayed for about half an hour, then we were taken off the plane. Baggage was taken off; four cases, a buggy, a car seat lying over there, plus two screaming kids – deadly.”

Cork and Shannon airports escaped with minimal disruption. Six flights were cancelled out of Cork while four services from Shannon were disrupted.