Anyone done Dublin Pre-Clearance Recently?

[Tony Toon]

We don't fly until the end of August but are now wondering if the 1hour 30 minutes that Aer Lingus has allowed us to book for our connection is extremely tight! We've fallen victim to Aer Lingus' recent flight cancellations for our return journey and need to contact them about this as they've only half sorted out our rescheduled flights home. On the way out we currently have Glasgow 12:00 - Dub 13:20; Dub 14:50 - MCO 19:05. I know that pre clearance is busy in the morning but has anyone done this recently that would give us some insight into their experience? To compound things the punctuality of the Gla - Dub flight is pretty poor recently too! If it was just DH and I we'd be fine, but DS his wife and baby are coming along too.

Thanks for any info folks.

Mrs TT

 

[BadPinkTink]

I went through pre clearance in January. Fly from Dublin so I dont have connecting flights. 1 hour 30 is doable if you hustle. Pre clearance usually opens 2 hours before the US flight. You will get off the plane on the top floor of the terminal. You will have to walk from your arrival gate to the passport area and then follow the signs and take the transfer corridor off to the side of the passport control area.

The transfer corridor will bring you to escalators down to the middle level. You will see signs for for US Preclearance. You will go along another corridor which will bring you to the main Aer Lingus departure level.

You will see signs for Pre Clearance and you will need to go down to the bottom level.

At preclearance you will join the queue. You will need to show your boarding pass and passport.

Then you have to go through another security check. You will need to take off your shoes and take out electronics.

After the back check you then join the queue for the talk with a US Homelands agent and get the passport stamp.

Once you get your passport stamp you are technically in America, even though you are still at Dublin airport.

They start boarding the American flights 1 hour before departure.

There is very little food options and shops after the passport stamp area.

 

[Tony Toon]

Thank you @BadPinkTink. We've done this connection from Glasgow once before in 2018 and it was a bit of a nightmare however back then we were allowed to join pre clearance as we got off our early morning flight (we had a 5 hour layover) and the queue was ridiculous. The lady in front of us commented that she did this fairly regularly and had never experienced the mayhem before so I think we were unlucky.
Disappointing that there are still very little food options beyond the passport stamp area. When we travelled in 2018 we had our daughter with us (multiple food intolerances) and she had to bin her food. There was nothing suitable to buy prior to boarding and, despite advance notification, all Aer Lingus could offer her was the cabin crew's fruit salads. She was pretty hangry by the time we reached Orlando. Thank goodness for the Disney Chefs (Chef TJ was particularly amazing) for concocting fabulous bespoke delicacies for the whole holiday.
We'll try Aer Lingus again and see if we can get our issues sorted.
Thank you once more.

Mrs TT

 

[Tony Toon]

Update for anyone else in the same situation: -

DS finally managed to speak to someone on 'chat' yesterday. Successfully sorted out the return leg that they had rearranged with a 28 hour layover in Dublin (now the 4 hours we had on our original booking) and also asked about the connection time on the way out. 'Definitely not recommended with an infant' he was told and as we are travelling with the baby he offered to put us all on the earlier flight and waived the €140 charge.

Thanks Aer Lingus. Took a while but we got there!

Mrs TT

 

[nursejackie]

Update for anyone else in the same situation: -

DS finally managed to speak to someone on 'chat' yesterday. Successfully sorted out the return leg that they had rearranged with a 28 hour layover in Dublin (now the 4 hours we had on our original booking) and also asked about the connection time on the way out. 'Definitely not recommended with an infant' he was told and as we are travelling with the baby he offered to put us all on the earlier flight and waived the €140 charge.

Thanks Aer Lingus. Took a while but we got there!

Mrs TT

You have me in a bit of a panic now, as I haven't flown Aer Lingus before and hadn't read any issues with flight cancellations. We're flying from Manchester direct to MCO in 7 weeks. Mind you, I don't mind staying longer in Disney

 

[BadPinkTink]

I went through Dublin preclearance on Sunday 19 June. I was on the 10.55am Aer Lingus flight to JFK. I went through preclearance around 9am. From the end of the stairs to the security scanner took about 15 minutes,

There was a staff member going thrugh the line checking passports and boarding cards.

At the security you had to take off your shoes and take out laptops and Ipads. Phones could stay in your bag.

It was a majority of Americans when I went through passport check. There was no one ahead of me in the queue and I walked straight to a Homelands Security Agent. Just passport check and photo taken. I was asked about food, I said chocolate, candy, crisps. He confirmed no vegetables or fruit and stamped my passport.

I was starting in Dublin, so I wasnt transferring from another flight.

 

[Plague]

I've been thinking (never ends well) that the usual routine on US arrival is passport/immigration, then collect bags, then go through customs - like most places.
Which made me wonder how that works if you've done immigration in Dublin and arrive as 'domestic' in the US?

Does this count as the customs part?

I was asked about food, I said chocolate, candy, crisps. He confirmed no vegetables or fruit and stamped my passport.

If so it seems odd as, presumably, you don't have your hold bags with you at that point, so they can't really do a random check.

(Or is Dublin airport expert in blarney detection? )

 

[BadPinkTink]

I've been thinking (never ends well) that the usual routine on US arrival is passport/immigration, then collect bags, then go through customs - like most places.
Which made me wonder how that works if you've done immigration in Dublin and arrive as 'domestic' in the US?

Does this count as the customs part?

If so it seems odd as, presumably, you don't have your hold bags with you at that point, so they can't really do a random check.

(Or is Dublin airport expert in blarney detection? )

They used to ask you to identify your checked bag on a screen but the last 2 times I travelled January 2022 and on June 19 2022 they didnt. I would think that it you did have something you shouldnt in your checked bag, they would be able to pull your checked bag and bring you to a room to the side and open it. Also Im sure the checked bags are scanned behind the scenes and again, Im sure they would be able to bring you to a room if they found something in the scan.

 

[Plague]

Also Im sure the checked bags are scanned behind the scenes

Definitely, for explosive devices, etc. but that wouldn't normally look for contraband. Perhaps they do in this case. (Pun not intended )

But good to know there aren't any other checks after Dublin.

 

[Plague]

Just got another question, or more of a clarification really, particularly post-Brexit.

Is there anything special UK residents need to do if travelling via Dublin?
By special I mean beyond having valid passport, tickets and ESTA.

If it makes a difference, in my case I'm flying LHR to DUB the day before the flight to MCO, staying at an airport hotel overnight. So I won't be a transfer passenger of any sort, I'll actually enter Eire and then leave the next day. (If the flight's delayed I'll sightsee Dublin )

 

[Tony Toon]

Just got another question, or more of a clarification really, particularly post-Brexit.

Is there anything special UK residents need to do if travelling via Dublin?
By special I mean beyond having valid passport, tickets and ESTA.

If it makes a difference, in my case I'm flying LHR to DUB the day before the flight to MCO, staying at an airport hotel overnight. So I won't be a transfer passenger of any sort, I'll actually enter Eire and then leave the next day. (If the flight's delayed I'll sightsee Dublin )

My understanding is that for the time being there's nothing additional (bar any Covid requirements that may come back in given rising infection rates everywhere) as we are still able to travel across the EU freely within the 90 out of 180 days restriction. When we get to May 2023 and the new ETIAS travel permit kicks in we'll need one of those as well as an ESTA. No idea how that will affect transfer passengers but as one daughter lives in Sweden and the other in Tenerife we'll have one for visiting them anyway.

Mrs TT

 

[BadPinkTink]

My understanding is that for the time being there's nothing additional (bar any Covid requirements that may come back in given rising infection rates everywhere) as we are still able to travel across the EU freely within the 90 out of 180 days restriction. When we get to May 2023 and the new ETIAS travel permit kicks in we'll need one of those as well as an ESTA. No idea how that will affect transfer passengers but as one daughter lives in Sweden and the other in Tenerife we'll have one for visiting them anyway.

Mrs TT

As far as I know, this is NOT correct for Republic of Ireland. There is a common travel agreement between the UK and Republic of Ireland, which pre dates The EU. That is why during the Covid travel restrictions, travel between the UK and Republic of Ireland did not have the same restrictions as travel between the UK and France. It is also the reason why Irish citizens living and working in The UK do not have to apply for settled status like French, German, Polish etc citizens do.

 

[Plague]

the new ETIAS travel permit

I think I'd heard vaguely about that. Looks just like an ESTA.
But I'll get it free, which will pay for a couple of glasses of wine (in Spain ... about a teaspoon in WDW).

Also noticed that Eire is not in the Schengen zone, which I never realised.
That may be connected with:

There is a common travel agreement between the UK and Republic of Ireland,

 

[BadPinkTink]

Also noticed that Eire is not in the Schengen zone, which I never realised.
That may be connected with:

Eire is an outdated term, Irish people don't use that, we say Ireland or Republic of Ireland. The same with the term Southern Ireland, which is an outdated term left over from when Ireland was a British Colony and only used by UK people.

Ireland is not part of Schengen as we are an island, the only European country not connected by a land border. The border between Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland does not count for Schengen.

 

[Plague]

Eire is an outdated term, Irish people don't use that, we say Ireland or Republic of Ireland.

My apologies. I thought Eire was the Gaelic/local name (like Cymru for Wales). I'll stick to RoI in future.

 

[BadPinkTink]

My apologies. I thought Eire was the Gaelic/local name (like Cymru for Wales). I'll stick to RoI in future.

It is, its the official Government name, but its really only used on official things, like on my passport or on post from Revenue. Day to day we dont use it, everyone just says Ireland

 

[Tony Toon]

As far as I know, this is NOT correct for Republic of Ireland. There is a common travel agreement between the UK and Republic of Ireland, which pre dates The EU. That is why during the Covid travel restrictions, travel between the UK and Republic of Ireland did not have the same restrictions as travel between the UK and France. It is also the reason why Irish citizens living and working in The UK do not have to apply for settled status like French, German, Polish etc citizens do.

Thank you @BadPinkTink that's good to know. I had just tarred all the countries I understood to be in the EU with the same brush and assumed that an ETIAS would be needed. I know that there are some exceptions with individual arrangements but really hadn't thought of where would be different given that we'll need to have one in place for our regular visits (Covid willing) to close family members in Stockholm and Tenerife.

Mrs TT

 

[Plague]

I had just tarred all the countries I understood to be in the EU with the same brush and assumed that an ETIAS would be needed.

It's a bit more complex than that as it even goes beyond Schengen/EU.
In my trawling I found this page with an illuminating map about 1/3 of the way down:
ETIAS FOR UK CITIZENS

Note that although blue for Non-Schengen RoI is not listed with the others as needing an ETIAS.

[Disclaimer: There are a lot of 'ETIAS' websites. This map caught my eye. I have no idea how reliable, accurate or authoritative this particular website is.]

 

[steve_rob]

Ireland is not part of Schengen as we are an island, the only European country not connected by a land border.

Malta would like to disagree with that statement!
Possibly Cyprus as well, though it does have a land border with the Turkish controlled half I suppose.