Irish airports in December: ‘Got stopped by a Customs officer with mask below his nose’

Alex Larkin
London, England, United Kingdom
I flew from London Gatwick to Dublin on December 10th for a friend's wedding, and returned to London on December 14th. The process felt straightforward to me. I had my antigen test in London on the morning of the flight and ensured I had completed the Passenger Locator Form and had my vaccination history to hand. I have taken several flights to different countries this year so I knew what to expect and was prepared. I witnessed other passengers who were confused and flustered when asked to produce their documentation at the gate, but this seemed to be a reflection of their unfamiliarity with the system and expectations, rather than a sign of an overly complicated system. The return to London was more straightforward as no Covid-related documentation was required. I'm happy to get tested regularly and provide any necessary documentation as long as I can continue to travel and socialise.

Ray
Flew last week to New York from Dublin. Had to get antigen test to travel to the US which I did at the airport day before. Day of travel everyone in airport wore the masks and especially in plane. In New York I was impressed, everywhere needed a Covid cert and ID. Plenty of pop-up Covid test tents. That was great as the tests were free and we needed test to get back into Ireland. As Aer Lingus used VeriFLY app on both journeys, check-in was a breeze. Back in Ireland at passport control you had to present Covid cert, passenger locator form and proof of negative test. One person had a flat phone and had to charge it before allow to proceed through control. I felt safe.

Lorna Guerin
New South Wales, Australia
We travelled from Sydney to Dublin on December 14th stopping in Dubai. Finding the information for what we needed was difficult as it had to be pieced from a lot of sources. In the end we needed a negative PCR 72 hours out, proof of Covid vaccination and an Irish traveller location form. All printed for checking at the front desk. Flying was pretty straight forward, we just needed to wear a mask the whole flight. Hand sanitiser and masks were handed out on the plane too. I was surprised to see both flights were packed to the rafters. The tricky frustrating part was getting our Covid test when we landed in Dublin, despite booking a time slot we had to wait one hour to get the test ... after flying 24 hours ... with a huge queue of frustrated people behind us. Despite that I still found it a small price to pay to be reunited with family and friends after three long years.

Marie Proudfoot
Ireland
We travelled back from Lanzarote on December 10th. We flew with Aer Lingus and used the VeriFLY app which made things very simple. Had to have an antigen test. Made the mistake of getting it done at 2.30pm two days before we flew home and our arrival time was not until 4pm so had to have it redone. Our own fault so after that it was seamless. Just showed proof of vaccination on arrival at passport control and it was grand.

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Naomi Windrum
Dublin, Ireland
Flew back to Ireland on December 10th from Scotland. My friend and I had to arrive early to the airport in Edinburgh to get a Covid Antigen test that we paid £50 each for. We were told this was essential for travel back to Ireland yet when we arrived back home and were making our way through immigration checks my test wasn't even checked and my friends was. Safe to safe I was mad after the hassle of booking the test, which had limited appointments left, and paying extortionate prices for an antigen test which was not even checked. An absolute joke to be told we could not get home without it and nobody in the airport actual cared.

Shane Riordan
Ireland
I travelled back from the US on December 9th. Along with hundreds of other arrivals, I experienced long delays in over-crowded conditions at passport control which seemed to be under staffed. I had to hand over my iPhone and my PCR test was checked. However, a family member who returned from the US on December 10th used the electronic passport system at Dublin Airport and nobody checked their PCR test. As there's no international standard or template for PCR test results, I'd question if all arrivals into Ireland have legitimate PCR test results.

Emma Power
Ireland
We flew from Cork to Lapland on a charter flight. Check in was straightforward but the usual backlog at security was in full swing. Our Covid vaccine certs were checked. Flying back the security queue was appalling in Finland. Social distancing was non-existent! Everything was checked at the check-in desk: passports, vaccine certs, passenger locator forms, proof of antigen test 48 hours before arrival in Ireland. Nothing bar our passports was checked on arrival in Cork. I do think something needs to be done about the security queues, either they open more of them or deploy more staff to that area when required or move the entire thing to a bigger area – in both airports it was crowded and there was no room to be 2 metres away from others.

Laura McManus
Dublin, Ireland
I arrived to Dublin from Dubai with Emirates on December 20th. Emirates did a great job checking PCR and passenger location form at check-in/bag drop. Very efficient and this should be the way it works on all flights. I am really surprised with the amount of people complaining online that since they were not "checked" in Dublin Airport they feel they didn't need a test and it's a waste of money. I cannot understand why grown adults feel the need to be "checked"! PCR is the rule and it's the responsible thing to do before boarding a flight, regardless if they need to be "checked" to ensure they follow a simple rule. It is the way forward for returning to international travel, especially for business. Personally I felt more safe travelling knowing everyone on board had a negative result. If PCR and the passenger location form brings us closer to normal life resuming, I completely agree!

Geraldine Reilly
Dublin, Ireland
Travelled back from UK on December 13th. Ryanair checked at Stansted airport that all passengers had required antigen/PCR test. At passport control Dublin airport I was asked for Passenger locator, Covid Certificate and recent test result. Very happy all was checked in attempt to slow transmission of virus. I am doing recommended antigen tests since arrival back home

Sarah Davey

Dublin, Ireland

Myself and my Mum (aged 74 – vaccinated, with booster) flew to Copenhagen on Sunday December 12th and returned to Dublin on Tuesday, December 14th. We did a rapid PCR test in Dublin on the Saturday evening (results within 4 hours), which we used for our return on Tuesday. No negative tests currently required to enter Denmark, just vaccination status checked on arrival. Our negative PCR tests were checked in Copenhagen Airport before boarding flight to Dublin (by Ryanair staff), and again at passport control in Dublin Airport. Gave us great peace of mind to know that everyone on our flight home had shown a recent negative test. A wonderful few days away and precious times with my mum.

Jack
Cork, Ireland
I flew to Krakow from December 9th to December 12th. I got a "professional" antigen test done at the airport a couple of hours before my flight, and had my negative result back in about 15 minutes from a gentle swab of my nostrils. The airline were checking all documents. There was a pair of sisters in their 50s behind me in the boarding queue. They said they had been told that a negative PCR test within 3 days of the flight was sufficient, and the airline staff member told them that the rules had changed and that this only applied to the already vaccinated. The lady doing the talking said that she had been vaccinated but her sister hadn't and that she could not leave her behind. The airline said then 2sorry, but you will not be flying today". They left the queue shortly after.

Paul Flanagan
Dublin, Ireland
I flew from Dublin to Gatwick on Sunday and back on Tuesday with Ryanair. Flights were half empty both directions. Cabin crew were saying that lots of passengers aren't showing up for flights that they have bought. (Not worth the money trying to change a booking with Ryanair.) I was travelling to see a friend in London who had her 50th birthday last week. She had a party with a group in a hotel in central London but I wasn't comfortable with being in a group in London. We had arranged to have a meal in a restaurant together. By the time I got to London she wasn't feeling well and had tested positive on a lateral flow test. I got two days of walking around London without meeting anyone and staying in a hotel as Omicron developed. There is fair degree of mask wearing in shops and on public transport. The high risk bit that I couldn't avoid was in restaurants where it is virtually unknown for staff to wear masks. I didn't have any travel restrictions to deal with travelling Ireland to England. I did a PCR test in Dublin on Saturday evening in Dublin which was within 72 hours of being scheduled to arrive back in Dublin and I already had my clear result before boarding the flight to London so I wasn't going to be stuck in London. On the way back I filled out my Passenger Locator Form online. I checked in on the Ryanair app and uploaded my Covid Cert, Passenger Locator Form and PCR result onto the boarding pass. At Gatwick I was checking in a bag. The check-in was quite slow as the staff were manually checking that everyone had a PCR test. They didn't seem to have access to the info I had already uploaded. At the gates they were very concerned with checking PCR results for passengers who had not checked in a bag. When I arrived in Dublin I went to the electronic gates in the immigration hall but the gate wouldn't let me through and directed to go to an immigration official in a booth beside the e-gates who checked my PCR test. My impression was that passengers going through the gates were being randomly sent to have the PCR tests checked. I wasn't asked about the passenger locator form by check-in staff or immigration but they had already been aware that I had completed this.

Tríona Sørensen
Denmark
I travelled home to Ireland from Denmark with my daughter on December 9th, a few days after the new regulations were introduced. We're very lucky with the testing regime over here – anyone can avail of both PCR and antigen testing free of charge – so the introduction of the requirement for a negative test for travelling to Ireland didn't present any problem. We had planned to do "just in case" PCR tests anyway and as usual, felt very privileged at being able to do so, being acutely aware that this isn't the case everywhere. With vaccine certs, negative test results, passenger locator forms and boarding passes all duly printed and ready to go, the most striking aspect of the journey was how quiet it was. Copenhagen airport has rarely been so empty and so from a Covid perspective, it felt very stress free with plenty of room for social distancing and no queues anywhere. The paperwork checks are quite entertaining though. When dropping off our bags in Copenhagen, a Ryanair employee asked if we had a locator form and test results. I reached for the ubiquitous plastic folder to show them to her only to be told, "No, no – it's fine. I just have to ask you if you have them". No documents were checked and I was given a small slip of paper which, ironically enough, stated that my documents were in order. I was told to keep the slip of paper to present to staff when boarding. When the time came to board, Ryanair staff asked everyone to have their slip of paper ready for inspection. Those with carry-on only who hadn't been given the magic slip had their actual documents checked, the rest of us just handed over the slip of paper and proceeded into the holding area for boarding. An unfortunate few were turned away at the gate for not having the relevant documentation. There still seems to be some confusion among travellers with people assuming that they don't need a negative test if they're fully vaccinated. Ryanair don't always have the best reputation when it comes to customer relations but it has to be said, the employees in question handled it as kindly and as sensitively as they could. Arrival to Dublin was also stress free. There was little queuing at passport control and from what I saw, everyone was being asked to present a locator form.

Kate Ryan
Dublin, Ireland
Flew back from Washington DC on December 10th so rules changed while I was away. Had to arrange a Covid test for return to Ireland which cost $125. Unfortunately neither travel nor health insurance covered the cost. Couldn't check in online because of document check. Lines were long at the check-in desk, Check in agent didn't request to see ANY of my documentation (Covid vaccination certificate, locator form, negative Covid test) just asked did I have them and checked them off on the monitor. Although my documents were in order, the VeriFLY app does not seem compatible with the Aer Lingus App therefore rendering VeriFLY useless. This applied both outbound and inbound. On arrival in Dublin, I was only asked for my passport – no checking of Covid cert or locator form receipt. Took almost an hour to get through Passport Control, not enough gates open and no distinction between EU/Non EU/All Passports. Very little social distancing in line and absolutely none at baggage carousel. Tighter controls and checking of documents is definitely needed at Dublin Airport. Social distancing and lack of mask wearing was also an issue at check-in on the outbound flight.

Suzanne Cullen
London, England
I came in on December 10th. My passenger locator form was checked by British Airways staff at Heathrow. I got an NHS supervised lateral flow test on Thursday (day before flying). It was negative, but because NHS test results are not mentioned on the Irish Government's testing list, I paid for a private supervised test on the day I was flying, again negative. When I arrived in Dublin airport that evening, I scanned my (Irish) passport and was let through. No checks on Covid vaccination status, lateral flow test results or passenger locator form. This is my fourth time back since the pandemic began and I have never been asked for proof for any of the above in Dublin airport, apart from on the first occasion in July 2020.

Tony
Dublin, Ireland
Arrived in Dublin Airport on Sunday 12th from Faro, walked off the plane to find two airport workers sitting beside one another, no masks laughing and joking very close to passing passengers. Got to the passport-checking area, I used the electronic passport checking machines, no one asked for Covid vaccination certificate, no one asked for my Covid test, and no one asked for the travel form complected the day before – from what I could see anyone that went through the electronic passport checking machines were not stopped and checked. At the baggage collection area there was no sanitiser to clean the baggage trolley handles (as there is in supermarkets), no one about to help and ask for sanitiser. Got stopped by customs officer with his mask below his nose asking were we came from, we told him Faro, he waved us on.

Michael Gaffney
Glasgow, Scotland
Travelled back my home town of Kilkenny through Dublin to see my elderly mum before Christmas. Mandatory antigen test was a bit of a chore – and cost (£55) – which I took in Glasgow the day before my trip. All worked smoothly – took literally 10 minutes in and out – but I did feel for other travellers in the test centre – particularly families with kids requiring PCR tests (£320 for a family of 4). Arrival into Dublin pretty seamless – apart from longer than normal queues at immigration due to closed e-gates. It was funny to see lots of duty free bags on board the flight post Brexit. My Ryanair flight was a lot quieter than normal (I travel the same route every 4 weeks) and chatting to cabin crew they told me they had seen a noticeable drop in loads since mandatory testing introduced. Ironically – the guy sitting beside me had never heard of the testing requirement – but was happy to "chance it" on arrival. Trip back to Glasgow equally seamless – this time with Aer Lingus and a near empty flight (10 passengers including myself). Really sad to see – and brought I home to me how tough things remain for airlines / airports and ancillary companies. I work for a global travel retail company myself – my December trip to Kilkenny brought it home to me how much further we still have to go before returning to any kind of normality.

Brendan Hayes
Ireland
We recently travelled to London for a weekend and found the process quite seamless. We were able to arrange lateral flow tests when we recently visited London, which were then checked by the airline staff on departure. We were also asked for our completed Passenger Locator Forms on arrival back in Ireland. You do need to be organised when planning trips but we had no complaints about the process overall.