‘We loved Ireland, but this will be our last time in Dublin Airport’

Long queues for departures at Terminal 2, Dublin Airport on Sunday morning. Pictures: Colin Keegan/Collins Dublin

An American family who spent over 11 hours in Dublin Airport on Sunday have said that their first time in the airport will be their last and have described today’s events their “worst travel experience” to date.

Dublin Airport saw thousands of passengers affected by delays this weekend, resulting in lengthy queues and passengers missing their flights.

Bonnie Radintz and her family spoke to the Irish Examiner from the departure lounge of her connecting flight home to Minneapolis, having already missed their flight earlier today after walking around 4km in Terminal 2 queues.

She said her family received no water, vouchers or any form of communication about their new flight, which was delayed.

One family the Irish Examiner spoke to said the wait time at Dublin Airport had cost them $1,500 extra in fees and expenses.

“We were originally on a Delta flight connecting in Boston to Minneapolis,” Ms Radintz explained as they awaited information on their new Aer Lingus flight to London where they’ll fly home from tomorrow.

She said the queues after check-in “snaked back and forth the length of the terminal and went outside on the ticketing level, then snaked all the way to the car park on the next level”.

“We didn’t even make it to the security level before our flight left,” she said.

The family were informed that they wouldn’t arrive home until Tuesday on new flights, so they booked an Aer Lingus flight to London and changed their Delta Airlines flight to fly them from London to Minneapolis.

Ms Radintz said that between new flights, accommodation, food, and extra dog-boarding fees back home, the family incurred expenses of around $1,500 today due to delays.

The family didn’t sit down to eat until 2pm, though Ms Radintz described her nine-year-old son as “a trooper” having read two books and “blown through the battery on his tablet”.

“He’s tired, we’re all tired.”

The family had been on holiday for two weeks, visiting London and Inverness and finishing their trip with a road trip around south Dublin.

“We loved it here, but won’t want to do this again,” said Ms Radintz, adding that her family “had nowhere to sit” and spent most of their time sitting on the floor.

“All of our travels have been pretty smooth. Some minor bumps and delays, until today. This has been the worst travel experience…and we had some doozies in Peru.”

Ms Radintz emailed Dublin Airport and received an auto-reply that they’re overwhelmed with requests and to expect a delay in response.

Good humoured

Meanwhile, Christine Quigley, a Dubliner who was travelling back to London on Sunday afternoon, arrived at the airport at 3.40pm. Having followed the situation online throughout the day, she travelled to the airport three hours before her flight and queued for approximately 40 minutes before she got inside Terminal 1.

“When you got into the terminal, there were queues snaking through the whole terminal, up and down through all the check-in gates, and running into departures and to security,” she explained.

“People were very calm, and generally good humoured about it.”

Her advice to any passengers with a flight coming up is simple; “Make sure your phone is fully charged, especially if your boarding pass is on it, and bring a bottle of water. One thing I would say is that I am relatively young and able-bodied so standing in queues wasn’t an issue for me.”

There weren’t many announcements made or information on hand for people who were afraid they would miss their flight.

“There were a few people who were saying, ‘Look, we are going to miss our flights’. In general, people in the queue were letting them go forward but there didn’t seem to be any announcements, and there wasn’t a huge number of staff,” she continued.

“The staff who were there were being very helpful, and very calm, but there was no big announcements over the intercom or anything like that.”

Dublin Airport issued a statement apologising for the long delays and urged those queuing outside to contact their airline to rebook.

In a statement issued on Sunday, a Dublin Airport spokesperson said due to the significant queues inside the terminals, "passengers queuing outside the terminal have been advised they may not make their flight and may need to contact their airline to rebook".

The spokesperson added: “Dublin Airport sincerely apologises for the obvious frustration and inconvenience this is causing.