GoGators

In about a week and a half I may have a trip to Dublin and have started doing some research on flights home. Wikipedia says the Dublin airport offers pre-clearance for US bound flights... some of the time.

Anyone experience this? Does it mean you land in ATL or JFK and go straight to baggage, skipping passport control?

OrlandoFlyer

DUB has US immigration pre-clearance, and usually a long line to get through it. You still have to pick up your bags at ATL, JFK, and go through customs. This pre-clearance was instituted several years ago when the lines at JFK immigration were very long and started in SNN. It has outlived its usefulness with the long lines and cramped area in DUB as you still have to wait for your bags at the first US airport you land at in the USA and clear customs.

Bottom line is that you have to spend more time at DUB Airport to clear US INS and then spend about the same amount time at US entrance Airport to collect your bags and clear US customs. It is not a times saver but rather a time consumer.

Swiss Tony

I believe they are building a new terminal at Dublin for US flights. Passengers will now clear customs and immigration before departure and presumably the facility will be built to cater for the increased number of flights now operating on the route.

andrewfm

It is correct to note that new US Immigration facilities will be in place at Terminal 2 in DUB when that facility opens (eventually!). Terminal 2 will not be specifically for US bound flights but will have full immigration AND customs preclearance facilities which will mean no further queues on the US side and the ability to fly directly to "domestic" US airports and teminals (i.e. ones without immigration and customs facilities). Further information about the Dublin Airport development can be found here: http://www.dublinairportauthority.co...nt/Terminal_2/

FYI - full preclearance facilities should be available at SNN within the coming year if a planned extension to accomodate the customs pre-clearance and associated baggage facilities is approved. (and in SNN queues are short )

Hope this helps ...

Andrew

majorwibi

Make sure you plan on the 2 hour window at DUB unless you are in Business class. Last time I flew out of DUB they didnt have separate lines for returning US citizens and for all others.

DMIrishFlyer

in my experince (and its a lot )you'll go through immigration in DUB traveling to ATL or JFK (can't think of one time in the last 8 years that i haven't) but allow plenty of time. Its hit or miss, sometimes if you are on the only US flight departing around that time its fast (15-20 minutes) other times if there are several US flights departing it can take 90 minutes (i've never been longer than 90)

I do not agree that "its outlived its usefulness" - but its a personal preference - I'd much rather do the immigration thing prior to the flight, rather than doing it on arrival (especially at ATL) and in general I've found the immigration officers at DUB to be more accommodating and chatty that the ones stateside.

uavking

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread, but I was wondering how immigration/customs would work in DUB for a turn. Is there any way to just stay in transit and avoid Irish immigration/customs?

blagger

If you are considering an immediate turnaround on a MR, I doubt it's feasible since check-in closes pretty early (to allow time for US pre-clearance). If you arrive on the JFK flight and depart on the ATL flight there's probably enough time as long as your inbound is not delayed. Arriving and departing passengers are separated - you will need to pass through Irish immigration.

etch5895

Am I correct in assuming that any flight departing Dublin flying directly to the US will complete US Immigration pre-clearance in DUB, leaving only the Customs form required to be turned in upon arrival in the US?

sbm12

The DUB immigration is only open early morning. The later flights don't use it. You are correct that even if cleared by immigration there is still customs when you arrive in the USA. That is going to change later this year from SNN and next year from DUB as the US adds customs services in Ireland.

etch5895

I was thinking specifically the US Airways flight to PHL that departs at 11:15.

How does that work at the arrival airfield, since you would need to access the sterile area to claim your bags?

sbm12

I believe that flight is after the US Immigration is closed at DUB.

Either way you'd have to claim your bags on arrival into the USA proceed through customs and then re-check any checked bags and re-clear security. Only after the customs pre-clearance is established will you be treated as a "domestic" arrival and have bags checked all the way through.

If you're planning on buying liquids and wondering what happens in PHL the answer is pretty simple - you have to check them or forfeit them.

gj83

I flew on the DL flight to ATL that leaves around noon and we had preclearance for that. I can only speak for ATL since I didn't connect in PHL, but in ATL when we landed we were in the international arrivals area. Everyone on other flights had to queue to see immigration, but we just showed our stamped blue form and proceeded directly to the customs baggage claim, collected bags, then turned in our forms. Since ATL requires everyone to go through the sterile area even if they are ending in ATL we all had to go through TSA so if you bought duty free you had to put it in checked bags just as you would if you were just connecting.

On Canada to US flights you do the full customs and immigration in Canada so one arrives in the US as any other domestic passenger.

etch5895

Thanks.

I'm surprised they close so early. There can't be that many flights to the US from Dublin before 11:00. Doing a dummy booking on US Airways, it indicated a pre-clearance fee among the myriad of other fees. It almost seems not worth the trouble of the pre-clearance.

OrlandoFlyer

Went through DUB pre-clearance yesterday on the CO flight to EWR. It took an hour from entering the terminal to get to the departure gate having to go through check-in, security clearance and finally INS pre-clearance without stopping anywhere else in the Terminal. That was on a day when DUB was not very busy! The airlines insist you clearance INS at the latest, an hour before the flight, otherwise they can refuse to board you. Not sure they would but they can.

Overall, I have found that DUB preclearance is very crowded and does not save anytime, unless you did not check bags, as you have to wait at your first destination in the USA to collect your checked baggage to clear customs. Also, I have found numerous times in DUB over the years that many of the INS agents are not at all friendly which is surprising when you compare it somewhere like EWR or ATL where I actually find them more pleasant. Not sure why.

Hope that this helps.