There has been much discussion on Dublin B2B recently. Most has been alarming, so much so that I paid to change my flights to allow a bit more time.
I am now in the Dublin lounge and would like share my experience tonight. My outbound flight was BA 824 scheduled to depart at 17.40 my flight back is BA 839 and the aircraft to operate this service was due to leave LHR at 18.45
As is now the norm in my experience, BA provided no information at LHR until everyone was on board with the doors closed. Then they announced a 15 minute delay which then slipped and finally we pushed back at 18.24 and were not airborne till 7pm. This was all due to bad weather. During the delay I kept a very close eye on BA flight tracker which never changed from showing a scheduled departure for either my flight or the one 839 - yet bad weather had caused LHR to temporarily suspend operations and introduce a flow rate.
On arrival in Dublin we parked in 200 stand and disembarked via steps. From opening the doors to arriving in immigration took 4 minutes at a brisk walk. The non EU queue looked busy and was probably around a 20 minute wait. EU was clear and I waited less than 2 minutes. By 20.08 I was exiting the baggage hall and made my way up upstairs.
Despite there being 40 minutes to the last scheduled BA flight there was no one at check in. This could have been an issue as my printed boarding pass had no bar code! Fortunately my phone was charged so I was able to get one on the phone.
Fast track was clear and I would have got through in 30 seconds but got selected for random screening and there were people waiting ahead of me. Nonetheless I was airside by 20.20 just 20 minutes after the doors opened.
I didn't go the gate as I didn't believe BA would let me take the earlier service even if seats were available. So I went to lounge where someone else was asking the same question and got a straight no.
So, DUB B2B IS possible in my view, comfortably but I almost certainly would not book B2B at DUB in the future. I would have been a nervous wreck but I was travelling early evening and despite the weather, most things worked for me. Am now sitting on board and far happier than is reasonable when seated in cramped Europe! I was certainly far more relaxed knowing I had an hour clear and was pleased that I had changed my flights.
As an aside I am flying AA on the TATL on Friday and this morning woke to an email telling me of potential bad weather on the East coast on Friday and offering me a free re route. BA could learn a lot from AA.