Neiltoo

Arriving back from Boston next week, I assume there is no arrivals lounge but are there any options for arriving passengers to have a shower at the airport?

irishguy28

The Gold Circle lounge has showers.

Access details here: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/aer-l...s-lounges.html

Neiltoo

Thanks for that. So how do we access the Gold Circle Lounge as arriving passengers, we are travelling BOS - DUB in J and girlfriend is EI elite?

porsche911

Yes you do

Neiltoo

Yes we do what?

antichef

I don't think you have access to any showers on arrival, as they are all airside in the lounges.

However if you step outside the terminal you are 50% likely to encounter a shower most of the year
The forty shades of green are all mould.

Neiltoo

Thanks Antichef, that is what I thought that the situation would be but I wanted to check!

I shall have my shampoo ready for when I leave the terminal is there a particular brand you would recommend that works well on the mould?

DELLAS

You would only have access if you were doing a flight say BOS-DUB-BCN whilst in transit with GC lounge access. As above no arrivals lounge for DUB sadly. AFAIK no paid option land side either. Wash down in the disabled toilet in arrivals

Heuston

Can you not get back down to departures by taking a left just before immigration for connecting passengers? I've never been down that way personally so i'm not sure. But if you can you should be easily able to get back down to the lounge.

antichef

Even if you could do it (which you can do when you are in transit), you have no right to enter the departure lounge and it is not an arrivals lounge. You have to show a valid departing boarding pass to enter and the OP does not have one. If they were in transit they would be going straight to the lounge anyway and the OP would not have had to ask the question.

Jclarke923

Interesting thread for me as was on a very long flight once JNB-AUH-DUB-CPN and as the tickets and baggage check were in-line, i was told by etihad one time to try to come through that T2 transfer point before immigration to use their lounge on the Dublin side. however, my last flight to Copenhagen was from terminal (T1). As the etihad lounge closed at 9am and their flight arrived around 8ish, there would have been no way to clear exit in T2 and return back through T1 security and hoof back to T2 etihad lounge ( my bag was checked through to my final SAS destination). I was stopped after turning left before immigration and the transit person was insisting that you couldn't transit from T2 to T1 at that point. I argued my case stating they are connected airside anyway so why not and the etihad lounge were closing soon and I needed to get there etc. after a number of phone calls, They finally relented and let me in, scanned my SAS boarding card, which brought up all my details, so its not a technical reason, and I got to the etihad lounge at about 10 minutes to 09:00, which is literally 20 steps or so from that point in time for a nice shower before traversing over to T1 to make the 11:20 flight. Someone later told me they don't allow cross T2/T1 transfer there in some agreement with the T1 shopping facilities, which sounds crazy to me. Maybe it's changed now as this was about 2 years ago.
The long and short is, you won't be able to get through without a boarding card for sure.

irishguy28

It is a bit ridiculous to turn someone away because they're in the "wrong" terminal when, as you say, they are connected airside anyway. But I suppose it's done in the interests of the clueless who could otherwise get completely lost if admitted airside in the "wrong" terminal and not be able to find their way to the correct gate.

Jclarke923

I think it would be easier for the clueless arriving to T2 with ongoing boarding card and bag checked through to T1 airline starting inside by turning left before immigration for the transfer security area, they do security there and it brings you literally right to the hub of all areas in between terminals, with ample signs for gates 100s, 200s, 300s,... All the staff would have to say is, you now have additional time to look for your gate but it is in a further away area that is well sign posted. Instead Sending them out past immigration at T2, baggage area, hoping they find the ultra cold exterior corridor from T2-T1, which is sometimes locked for some reason, or walking outside in the wind and rain to T2, redoing security in T1 (yuck) and then ending up at exactly the same place they would have been 45-60 minutes previously is a bit odd. As I said, this was a few years ago and may have changed by now. There probably isn't a whole lot of traffic going from T2 flights with boarding cards already and bags checked through so maybe I was a first they were dealing with. EY and SAS are probably the only T2 and T1 airlines that are code-shared anyway to allow baggage check through and pre-printing boarding cards. So maybe i was a unique guinea pig at the time. Anyway, thought I would air my experience.

Adrade

I'm actually quite curious about this myself, as I'll be arriving in DUB one week from today fairly early and would love to be able to take a shower.

I noticed in the lounge FAQ (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/aer-l...s-lounges.html) that in the section describing access rules, they add that "UA J passengers are permitted access (outbound)", suggesting that UA passengers are allowed outbound but not inbound access. It would seem silly to mention this if other passengers were also prohibited from inbound access.

I just tried calling the hotline and they're closed - I'll try again in the morning, but I don't see, based on what I'm reading, why they wouldn't let you through to use the lounge. There wouldn't be any crossing between T1 or T2, and you'd presumably need to cross immigration anyway to exit anyway. I feel like most airlines allow access to normal lounges on arrival, so I'd be surprised of Aer Lingus didn't offer the same.

What do they check there when you cross back into the transit area? Do they allow you to simply walk through, or do they look at your ticketing information?

Neiltoo

As confirmed above there is no access to the lounge or any other showers on return to DUB. I spoke to a very helpful agent in the lounge on the way out and she confirmed there was no way to access the lounge on the return flight.

We actually arrived at T1 and followed a long and twisty route to get to immigration in T2.

As an aside the flights were great, my first transatlantic on EI, the food was the best I've had on a plane, by quite a way. I'm only comparing with BA CW and CX J but still a very pleasant surprise.

I plan to do a trip report but I guess I should first do the Hong Kong report from June which I still haven't got around to!