IntVic

Flying DUB-PHL on Thursday AA723 departing 1355.
​​​​​To make that flight, I am Booked on BA832 which is scheduled to arrive 0825 the same day.
With all the fun and games, just wondering if I should fly the evening before, maybe Ryanair from LTN.
I have luggage.

MaxFlyer

I would say that 5.5 hours should be plenty of time to connect. Getting baggage and re-checking it might be an issue if there’s delays.

I’m hopeful that things would of settled down by next Thursday, unless there’s another IT issue…

I normally always fly up the night before. Unfortunately Dublin airport hotels are not cheap.

27Liam

I assume these are separate tickets. If all goes to plan you'll be absolutely fine. If anything goes wrong with BA832, you seem to have a few other options to make your US flight with the next BA departure at 0820 and 2 or 3 EI ones - EI151 and EI 153 still seem v comfortable, EI 155 a little tighter but still doable assuming you can switch from T5 to T2 in time.

In Dublin, all US flights have to preclear US CBP and if it's busy this can be a lengthy process - you will have to do the regular DUB security, another US-flight specific security and then CBP. As a non-US citizen without GE and with fast track through both security checkpoints, I would consider 30 mins to be the best case to get through that process, my last two times have been around an hour and I have read that CBP queues can be even longer at busy times. Absolute minimum I would want to check in is 2h before the US flight and that would make me nervous - I usually stick to 3h. In your case, if on separate tickets you'll also have to clear Irish immigration after your BA flight (usually quick for me at e-gates, lining up takes longer), reclaim any baggage you have checked (hit and miss - I have never found BA particularly quick) and transfer to T2 (quite easy - a 5 min walk using a covered walkway) then queue for check in for your outbound.

bisonrav

It's not something people can advise on really, it comes down to personal risk tolerance. There are plenty of EI flights available you could get moved onto should your flight get cancelled, it's not impossible to construct hypothetical delay circumstances where you'll hit snags, lowish probability. For an early flight out it would take a serious technical issue to hit problems.

For what it's worth I tend to travel the day before the expensive part of the trip in similar situations. But Dublin is really not a cheap place to stay.

IntVic

Thanks for the thoughts and ideas.
I will see if BA will change flight and if not just take it on the chin and purchase a new ticket to fly the day before .
And yes Dublin Airport hotels are expensive.... 😩
Such is life and travel

bisonrav

There's absolutely no reason to expect that BA would allow you to switch dates without a stonking change fee and fare difference (assuming this is a cash ticket)

higham44

I have a lower risk approach re ex-DUB and prefer to fly out the night before. Airport hotels are, indeed, pricey but to avoid problems with cancellations/delays it's worth it. I have IHG points so can offset the price at HI Express by using points to bring cost down.

Wembleygal

Yet the HI Express is currently being used as Ukrainian refugee housing ... Saying that, I booked into this property a number of months ago (using points), and they moved me over to the Crowne Plaza in a week and a half time.

IntVic

By way of an update... £54 total to change plus the cost of a hotel for the night. I am going to take it.

T8191

Our occasional ex-DUB TATL sectors always had an early ETD, so a night at the Hilton became part of the experience. The cost was always a very small %ge of the overall trip cost. Of course, in our case it always took a large slab of a day doing JER-UK-DUB … YMMV!

bd95

Don’t forget that the US airlines at DUB also have those additional security agents at check in, who ask a litany of questions then stick a sticker on your passport. That can add a few minutes to check in also.

T8191

Always been in a queue/line when that happened, so no delay involved. But a good point about the processes.