Airport watch

E-mail your views to go@irish-times.ie

E-mail your views to go@irish-times.ie

Sean O'Regan, who is based in Brussels, is not a fan of Dublin Airport, which he uses regularly.

"I continue to be astonished at how dirty and run-down it looks, including the new Pier D, where I could not help but notice broken tiles and tatty paint.

"It's also badly designed. Take Pier B. You often have to descend the aircraft steps, then go up a short flight of steps and immediately down again, then take a tour of the basement to reach passport control, then head up a flight of steps (where, thankfully, there is an escalator), then walk along a corridor, then go down steps or an escalator, then walk along another corridor, then go down another flight of steps or escalator to the hell of the baggage hall. Then you go through the pit of a customs area to battle through the heaving mass of drivers, parents, children and siblings.

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"Next you have to find a taxi or a bus. The buses don't run on time and, after midnight, the taxi marshals abandon their posts, leaving travellers to the mayhem of sharp elbows and swinging hand luggage. Pier A is not much better. Pier D requires stamina. The less said about Pier C the better.

"Contrast this with Brussels. You walk off the aircraft, down a long corridor, with a long moving walkway - or even an electric golf cart if you need it - through the spacious baggage hall, into the well-laid-out arrivals area and out to a long but moving taxi line or down one floor, in a spacious lift, to an efficient and cheap bus service or down two floors to an efficient and cheap train."

Carlow-based librarian Carmel Flahavan recommends Dresden Airport, in Germany.

"It is compact and user-friendly with great rail connections to city stations. There's no need to feel trapped. Come on you travellers: give the former East Germany a try. It's well worth it."