TravellerFrequently

I did not get any free drink vouchers last Summer. Perhaps it had already stopped.

NWIFlyer

Folks, much though the minutiae of benefits for high level members of HHonors are interesting, they are probably a little too precise for here and better suited to the Hilton forum ...

/mod

T8191

No argument, Sir!! Apologies. It was Markie who started it, Sir!

I guess we went there in the context of 'competitive hotel options when doing a layover B2B at DUB' and Shuttle Bus schedules.

Anyway, my HHons Gold has expired now

flydrive

Apologies if this is covered upthread, but it is difficult to read all 100+ pages, which lately mostly cover B2B trips. I'm doing ex-DUB on Delta to the US, returning from JFK on Delta at 09:20 travelling HBO. I'd like to book a BA flight leaving at 10:20 for onward to LHR. If the Delta flight is on-time, is this sufficient time to make the connection? I'm not sure if Delta to BA will lead to additional complications. My thought was if the Delta flight is late, I would do a same day flight change to the later BA flight at 13:05 (as it will already be same day GMT when I know the Delta flight from JFK is late). I'd rather not take the later flight if possible and trying to assess the risks of missing the flight. Thanks for any thoughts.

NWIFlyer

On HBO - you'd probably be fine, although it might still depend on whether you're sitting in J or at the back of Y. Checked luggage - minimal chance. You have a bit of a dilemma here still though - there is a possibility that the 1305 flight might be full when you try to move to it, and you therefore end up on an even later flight (or not on a flight at all).

It's not personally something I'd attempt - I'd probably book the 1305 and see if I could pull forward if I happened to arrive early enough to meet the "hour ahead" requirement for the 1020.

flydrive

Thanks for the advice. Will be HBO. Yes, I can book the later flight, but I'd have to arrive quite early in time for me to change the flight to the earlier one with an hour to spare. You are right about the risk of the later flight being full. If that's the case, worse case scenario thought I'd just buy a last minute ticket (or avios?) on whoever is cheapest flying to London the soonest.

Any other complexities going Delta to BA I haven't thought about?

MBDublin

This is T2 to T1 so you will need to clear immigration in T2. If you have an EU passport this is relatively quick in the morning. With a non EU passport this will be slow. You then have to walk to T1 and with F/T security you might have a chance. This is beyond my appetite for risk and runs the danger of a late inbound together with variable security queues.

My rough time estimates.
Aircraft to Immigration in T2. 5-10 mins depending on gate and where you are on the plane
Immigration- 5-15mins dependent on other arrivals
Walk T2-T1- 5 mins
T1 F/T 5-10mins
Walk to gate 3 mins

So optimistically 23 mins gate to gate pessimistically 43 mins.

flydrive

That's very helpful, thanks. I do have an EU passport (for the time being...) and flying J on Delta so should be off the plane quickly. Didn't appreciate the terminal change, so that might tip it over to booking the later flight. But I am a fast walker...

MarkFlies

There is a connections channel you can use. Before passports keep left. Connection totally doable especially when you hav backup.

daftboy

I was going to mention this - refurbishment is quite nice I think, if a little sterile. Certainly a much better use of space (of which there is a lot). Food offering was also relatively high quality, and much better than the EI lounge. Note the barista area in the room to the left of reception is also a staffed bar, where they were doing the usual range of alcoholic offerings on my Saturday afternoon visit; in speaking to the member of staff who served me (who was also one of the supervisors/managers I think) he said they had mixed reviews so far; I was sure to express my appreciation!

I used to skip this lounge in favour of one of the bars in the main concourse of T1, whereas now I'll be heading here.

AlanA

So, this was started in 2016.

Is DUB still the best bet for cheap business flights, or is another route better this year?

dylanks

Yes, I noticed that as well, though they were boarded off on the 9th. It really is a bit of a convoluted labyrinth to get to the gates at the moment... walk left of where the non-return doors used to be located, down a corridor, then down either stairs or a lift, past some gates and then into the round area at the end of the terminal, and then back up to the gate 204 region. You can now return from the gate to the main lounge, food and shopping area without having to reclear immigration and security, which is useful if the flight gets delayed.

Auron25

Oh dear, I haven't really been back here since I booked my DUB>LHR>LAS in Oct/Nov last year when the b2b seemed to be okay.

Looks like I could be in for an intersting time today then. 2 of us travelling with Hand baggage only. I've got a LHR>DUB>LHR on BA824 returning on BA823 which lands at DUB at 19:05 and departs at 19:45 and now I'm getting nervous this is going to be an issue. ticket states gate shuts at 19:25 so really only 20 mins to do the circuit. I have club Europe tickets for the DUB>LHR so can use fast track.

If passport control is going to be an issue with possible lengthy queues, do they have staff on hand to plead with to jump the queue?

I did this route in June last year but as the flight was delayed going out, when we landed at DUB the rest of the airport was shut / empty and it looked like it was going to be the last flight out of DUB. I was able to run around the airport and back through security and join the back of the boarding queue in time as there was no-one else around.

Anybody have experience at landing at DUB around 7pm and what the passport queues were like?

Auron25

Just to update on my experience. I made it, but I did jog most of the way until back past security fast track.

Okay, So plane landed at 7pm, were able to get off the plane at 7:05 from gate 204. I let the crew know I was coming back and showed my ticket, he smiled and said are you an executive member doing a tier point run? You've got 40mins better run run run! We jogged around to passport control where a plane full of children from malta were in front of us. Each line was about 8 to 14 deep but our passports were scanned within 5 minutes. Jogged through baggage and back up to departures where we went through fast track which was again less than 5 mins. Stopped and bought a drink at a kiosk just before gate 204, joined the back of the priority line at just after 7.25pm and a minute or 2 later they opened the gate and started boarding.

At 7.45pm (time of departure) they were still boarding people.

A lot of anxiety over nothing. Still not sure I would do this back to back on future trips if what people are saying is that passport control can be a major delay. I might have to find another airport where you can just get off and on again at the same gate.

ameripaige

Did my maiden back to back on return exDublin flight Friday late morning. Just wanted to report that it was really easy. It took me 12 minutes from disembarking first flight to getting to departure Gate for return flight. I did walk briskly and was fortunate that both passport control and fast track security were quiet. The cabin crew cheered when I arrived back on plane which was really nice.
when I arrived at Dublin on positioning flight week before the passport queue was very long but it did move very quickly and got through in ten minutes.