Preclearance Question
 

Hey all,

I'm flying out of Dublin on DL 165 tomorrow DUB - JFK, and I was wondering two things that I wasn't able to find anywhere -- neither on FT nor on DL/CBP/airport websites.

1. Is the flight precleared? All websites are ambigious.
2. If so, are there Global Entry kiosks? I really, really don't want to wait in line tomorrow morning :D

my best guess is yes and no. The last time I went through pre clearance at DUB for a DL flight to ATL, it was a miserable experience, including being stuck in a holding pen in the gate area when it was over.

Yes.
And IDK about DUB but YYC, YEG, YVR, YMQ, YTO, YOW, NAS have them.

Google Search "US Customs Preclearance Locations"

First Result: http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/toolbox/c..._locations.xml



Which lists Dublin as a preclearance city.



Google Search "Global Entry Dublin"

Third Result: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/16117365-post13.html

Which discusses that there are no Global Entry kiosks, nor benefits afforded to you in Dublin.




And MSP, for the record, you were in the "pen" at the gate after passing through Customs and Immigration, because in essence, you are already " in " the United States, and thus need to be in a sterile setting. Just as you do not get dumped into the main Terminal when arriving in the United States from a non-precleared city.

I understand that, but it isn't pleasant with barely a drinking fountain and not a large enough seating area. You can be stuck there for quite a while if you are cautious about wait times and your flight delays boarding.

I know pre-clearance has been available from DUB/SNN for years. I do recall one flight where I cleared "customs/immigration" and was in a secure area without any amenities, my mistake. But my memory is that flight was DUB 10+ years ago. The last time I flew through DUB was my honeymoon :D three years ago, where the post-security gates had amenities typical of any other terminal (food, drink, restrooms) but since then I think their new terminal that DL uses has been completed so one would hope the OP's experience will be better.

OP do let us know...today (3.17) reminds me & MrWeezer it's time to go back to the homeland. Slainte!

Flew DUB-JFK/ATL a bunch of times last year.

As other have said, you pre clear US customers. As of late October 2011 there were no Global Entry kiosks, nor even a special line. I asked an CBP agent if there were any plans and she said no.

There are some snack bar/news stand places after pre clearance (and another bag x-ray -- but no WTMD -- weird)

Looks like the only GE locations outside the 50 states at this time are some in Canada and San Juan, PR.

http://www.globalentry.gov/locations.html

Preclearance and Global Entry may be ginger peachy if you don't have any checked baggage but if you do they are worthless.

I don't have GE and on my last TLV-JFK flight there were not enough Immigration officers working in the "Citizens Only" lines, so a number of us were instructed to go to the "Visitors" lines. I was one of them.

I had the great good luck to be behind a family of four from some Asian country and apparently at least one of them had a passport problem because they were talking to the Immigration officer for at least 30 minutes. Our line remained stuck.

Finally, they were cleared and our line moved. As everybody behind them were US citizens there were no further delays. Still, having waited so long, I was a bit concerned that my baggage was going around on the carousel and that anyone could grab it and walk off with it. (I was flying Biz Elite and had the "Priority tag" which, I believed, would mean that my suitcase would be among the first off.)

When I got to the carousel, I did not see my suitcase. Nor did I see anyone else's -- our baggage had not yet started to be unloaded. When it was (about 15 minutes later), I had to wait another half hour until mine arrived.

That totals up to about 1 hr, 30 minutes, from the time that I got off the plane until I got my checked baggage. Having GE would only have meant that I would have spent less time in the Immigration line and more time waiting for my luggage.

I wouldn't go that far on Global Entry -- I've never checked baggage when transiting JFK but I have in ATL and LAX (AF) and the priority tags there seemed to work. Yes, I had to wait for baggage but the over all time is often less (since I'm waiting for my bag rather than my bag waiting for me) and because you also get to "cut the line" at the customs checkpoint when exiting. In ATL there is often quite a wait at exit.

Plus, you didn't pre-clear customs, only immigration. It took 60 minutes to get through customs in ATL (of course, this included the wait time as on our flight the PRIORITY tagged bags came off last).

My last experience at DUB was October, 2009. I can tell you that, yes, post-security, the amenities are similar to other international airports. There was a lounge (I think it was called "Anna Livia") that DL BE and STE+ could use. However, I was warned by staff that I had to leave at least one hour before scheduled departure time in order to pass through the US Immigration station. And it was immigration only, not customs. After passing the US Immigration station and entering the "gatehouse", we were definitely in a walled off area with no ability to backtrack into the post-security airside. As they started boarding the flight 45 minutes before departure, my personal wait in there was not long, but others who weren't informed and went straight to the gate got stuck in there for a while.

Believe it or not, I have never once even seen a line when going through Customs -- not in the US nor in any other country.

One time, in Boston, I was asked to put my suitcase on an x-ray machine. Another time, in Frankfurt, I was asked to open my briefcase. Three or four times, in Tel Aviv, I have had my bags x-rayed.

In none of these instances, were there lines. Even when my bags were being x-rayed in Boston, everyone else simply went to a different Customs Officer to hand in his Customs form. In Israel and Europe, you simply walk through the "Green" line and nobody says a word (if they are busy checking somebody else).

My delays have always been either the result of waiting for my luggage or, in ATL, because of the long TSA lines.

When I did DUB-ATL it was even worse in that our plane arrived at a normal gate and we did immigration all over again, then customs.

I travelled to Dublin within about six months of your trip and I stayed in the lounge until advised that it was time to leave, when I walked quickly toward our gate. There was a huge line for USA immigration, stuffed to the very back of the waiting zone. It was miserably hot and stuffy in that area, made worse by airline employees yelling names and expressing displeasure at passengers for being caught in the mess. It seemed that every USA bound flight was trying to leave at the same time. Not fun at all.