Lack of information fuels airport anger

MANY PASSENGERS waiting to board flights at Dublin airport yesterday afternoon were angry and confused because of a lack of information on delays caused by problems with the radar system.

Passengers complained they were being given very little information, with some resorting to phoning friends and family in a bid to get up-to-date information.

Queues of customers snaked around the check-in areas, as passengers faced the prospect of delayed and cancelled trips.

Aiveen Cooper, from Celbridge, Co Kildare, was travelling to Leeds via Liverpool to attend a Crowded House concert.

"This is my first trip away on my own since I had a baby a few months ago, and I was really looking forward to it. It was my sanity trip!" she said. "I have two tickets for the concert in my bag. My friend . . . was meeting me over there. She can't even go because I have the tickets. My flight was supposed to go at 1.45pm.

"I queued up at the Ryanair desk from 2pm until 3pm, and they've put me on to a 5.15 flight, but now they're saying it could be two or three hours delayed. If it is, there's no point in me going."

Joe O'Donnell from Swords was due to fly to Faro for a 12-day family holiday at 5pm yesterday, but was informed by Aer Lingus that the flight had been cancelled when he arrived at the airport.

"We were given a phone number and told air traffic control was down. It was a number to ring, or book online. I eventually got through on the phone after about 10 minutes. The next available date for Faro was next Sunday, for two adults and four children. We've now changed to go to Lisbon on Friday at 7.15am. It's ruined our holiday. We'll have to get from Lisbon down to the Algarve."

The long queues to rebook tickets were causing severe difficulties at the airport, with some ticket desks having waiting times of more than 90 minutes.

Announcements directing people to ticket desks were being made in the check-in area, but many passengers had already gone through security checks before they discovered their flights would not be leaving on time, if at all.