Dublin Airport is offering refund vouchers after “absolutely insane” queues yesterday saw many passengers missing their flights.
The Junior Transport Minister Hildegarde Naughton will today meet with airport operator DAA to discuss the situation.
Shortly after 11am yesterday, DAA announced that “significant queues” would mean that passengers queuing outside the terminal “may not make their flight and may need to contact their airline to rebook.”
The operator has admitted the situation was “not good enough” and invited passengers who missed a flight to contact it to claim for “voucher expenses incurred”.
Due to significant queues inside the terminal for check-in, bag drop & security, passengers queueing outside the terminal may not make their flight & may need to contact their airline to rebook. We sincerely apologise for the obvious frustration and inconvenience this may cause.
— Dublin Airport (@DublinAirport) May 29, 2022
DAA spokesperson Graham McQueen told Newstalk that airports all over Europe are facing similar difficulties – and progress is being made.
“We’re trying to hire over 300 security staff at the moment which is obviously a difficult thing to do although we are making good progress,” he said.
“We have about 200 of those staff already on-board or starting in the next few weeks.
“They are going through a five to six-week training process at the moment so, as the weeks and months go on, we are sorting things out.
“It is just today the numbers caught up with us. We have got about 50,000 people departing from the airport today – that is a significant number.”
In a joint statement, Transport Minister Eamon Ryan and Minister of State Hildegarde Naughton expressed “deep unhappiness” at the situation – noting that the passenger experience was “falling far short” of the service Irish people and visitors should expect.
They said Minister Naughton would today seek assurances from the airport that the upcoming June Bank Holiday will not be marred by similar scenes, despite an “expected further increase” in passenger numbers.
