NI couple still awaiting £10k holiday refund following Dublin Airport chaos

Excessive queues at security resulted in passengers being lined up outside both terminals and caused the couple to miss their Aer Lingus flight from Dublin.

It meant they failed to embark a cruise ship which was waiting for them in Barcelona.

“On June 1, we sent documents of our holiday and proof that we were in the airport but we haven’t heard a thing,” Ms McNeice explained.

“We didn’t even get anything back to say they have received them.

“But we have the document tracker, because we paid for signed delivery.”

Car valet driver Brendan previously recalled arriving at 2.30am to beat the check-in queue.

“It took forever to get to the front of the queue, then the girl took another 40 minutes to get us seen to,” he said.

“We then went straight to security and the queues where horrendous between check-in and security.

“It took four hours. After that we then got stuck in a lift for another 15 minutes when the doors wouldn’t open.”

The despairing couple made it to the departure gate just in time to see the plane push back and take off without them.

They spent hours in another queue to see if another flight was available but ended up having to return home “with four kids crying their eyes out”.

“The whole airport was a joke,” Mr Kavanagh said.

Ms McNeice said she and her partner had no choice but to take the time off work.

The registered child minder now fears having to wait another year before she can enjoy a break.

“I had to take the time off: I’m self-employed and had scheduled my work around the planned holiday,” Ms McNeice explained.

“I ended up coming home and sitting in the house for a week.

“We haven’t rebooked anything, we’re just waiting to see what happens next. There’s no other choice.

“By the time it is sorted we will probably have to wait until next summer for the better weather.”

Last month, air passengers’ missing suitcases were discovered dumped in a bin at Dublin Airport.

Airlines and ground handlers are dealing with more than 4,000 missing or mislaid bags as the industry struggles to deal with post-Covid travel.

The airport said some items needed destroyed for health and safety reasons and records were kept to allow owners to make compensation claims.

“My partner has been emailing to get updates on our claim, but there has been no reply at all,” Ms McNeice said.

“We still don’t know if we are getting any of the money back. We are worried.

“When you see suitcases in dumpsters you start to think, ‘What’s going on?’”

Mr Kavanagh said he has sent numerous emails to the airport, which have been ignored. 

“If we had the proverbial crystal ball we would have just waited until next year before taking any trips,” he said. 

“Any future holiday depends on us getting our money back.” 

A Dublin Airport spokesperson confirmed that the claim has been received and is currently being assessed.

“Dublin Airport acknowledges the poor experience and issues experienced by this family and acknowledged this in our initial correspondence on May 31 last,” she said.

“To enable us to investigate their specific experience further, we requested an investigation report form to be completed and returned to us, along with receipts for out-of-pocket expenses that were incurred. We have received details of this claim.”

She said it is subject to due process and must be reviewed and approved before any payment is made.

“Sometimes this requires additional information or clarification, which adds to the time needed to clear the claim,” she explained.

“However, Dublin Airport has put significant effort into this process to be as efficient as possible for affected passengers and as a result we will have cleared and completed 75% of all claims by the middle of this month.

“Dublin Airport will be in touch with the family concerned again this week and will endeavour to close the claim as quickly as practicable.” 

Even if the couple manage to claw back their cash, they’ll be wary about using Dublin Airport for their next family holiday. 

“If there was another option, I wouldn’t fly from there,” Mr Kavanagh said. 

“But things are just bad in other airports.”