Dublin Airport Preclearance

[valentinanola 17]

Hi guys,

I hope you're all well. I'm writing this to tell you about my experience at Dublin airport when I went to visit Jonathan last week.

I purchased a ticket online via Kiwi.com (former Skypicker) with a layover to Dublin (from London) via Ryanair and then KLM (operated by Delta) to New York and vice versa on the way back.

The layover in Dublin on the way to NYC was only 2 hours, but I called the airport and made sure I had all the information I needed to be on time and pass security in the shortest possible time, I made all the arrangements and went through security at London Stansted Airport in a matter on minutes, same thing for the security check in Dublin, but I wasn't aware there was a U.S. preclearance to go through in order to get to the gate.

I basically had to do the same thing I had just done, and put my bag and belongings in a tray to be checked for the second time in the same airport, when I asked why, I was told that in Dublin you have European security and U.S. security, so it "saves time" when you get to the U.S. because you don't have to go through customs, but the whole process is done in Ireland.

I went through security very quickly and I then got to another room where I queued for about 15-20 minutes to get an officer to take my fingerprints and check my passport, when it was my turn, I was seen by the officer Mattina, who asked me why I was going to the U.S., what did my boyfriend do for work, what his address was, and why I had a boyfriend in the U.S., after asking me these questions he took my passport and asked me to follow him to another room, I sensed something was wrong and I said "Sir, I'm going to miss my flight" and his response was "I don't care, you can discuss that with your airline", he asked me to sit down and gave my documents to an officer who was sitting behind a desk.

What I'd like to say now is that these people had no sympathy or work ethic whatsoever. Many people came into the room after me and were seen way before I was, even though the officers knew my gate was about to close. When I finally got called over, I was asked these three questions: "why are you only going to the U.S. for a week and not 3 months?" (I HAVE A JOB, DUH!), "what does your boyfriend do for work?" "are you bringing any food to your boyfriend?". After I answered these question, while in tears, I said "can I understand why I'm being held? You made me miss my flight to ask these questions??" and she said to me that I wasn't gonna miss my flight as she would call the gate and ask them to hold on for me, she made me run to the gate like a mad woman only to find out that not only the gate had closed but the lady never called.

I was lucky enough to fly with KLM, which is a great company and put me on a flight the next day without asking more money from me, but I had to spend a night in a hotel in Dublin, and when I went back to the preclearance office to ask for explanation and to get my bag back (as they took it out of the aircraft to inspect it!!!!!!!!) the first lady said "oh I don't know why they held you, I don't have your file!" and she was sympathizing with me as I was crying and asking why they did all that, then a man came up and after letting me speak he started patronising me, saying I should give them at least 2 hours to clear me, I said to him mine was a layover and I only had 2 hours to change flights, I also asked him why I was seen much later than people who walked in after me and he said "they might have had an earlier flight" and I said "HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE? YOU TOOK ME IN AT 11.15 AND MY GATE WAS CLOSING AT 11.45!!!", at that point I was too upset and left.

They never offered to compensate me for my flight or my hotel room, they were extremely rude and the officer who held me in the first place saw me crying at the desk and walked past me with a smirk on his face. When the day after I went through security again (I was in the airport at 6.00 am even though my flight was at 11.45) a very nice officer asked me what happened and cleared me in a matter of seconds, he asked me why they hadn't offered to compensate me and that he was sorry I had missed my flight.

I want to make a complaint, my rights were violated, I was held without an explanation, my documents were taken and I was treated like (excuse the french) a piece of and a criminal. If you are flying through Dublin, make sure you're there very early as these instances can happen. My trip was still amazing, but I had one less day to spend with my boyfriend and that wasn't ideal.

I hope no one has to go through this, but I just thought I'd let you know my experience.

[Caykay1 71]

I understand you pain and frustration too because just spending a week and having to miss a flight is awful. It happened to me before. Was flying 3000+ to spend just 8 days and had to miss a flight due to something similar like yours. It's just bad these people don't care about money and all.

[AmandaBN 32]

Thank you for posting this, I got stuck in the same terrible situation while trying to fly home from visiting my fiance last year. Luckily there were so many people stuck in line from my flight they held it for us. I got flagged by the scanning machine because I was wearing glasses and though the wait was about 45 minutes in the second room they have you queue in they sent multiple officers on break. The Dublin airport is not set up for the volume of traffic that this pre-screening process is generating and I had no warning that I would be going through customs in Dublin rather than Boston. I scheduled a two hour layover in Dublin and a six hour layover in Boston expecting customs to take forever on the American side. I'm headed back to the UK to see Harry in September and booked my itinerary to avoid flying through Dublin at all costs.

I'm sorry this happened to you