A time before security checks at Dublin airport!

[quodec]

I've been travelling in and out of Dublin airport periodically since the 1980s, and like most other people am appalled at the mess the DAA are currently making at the security section. But here's my question. Was there a time, before 9/11, when you could simply check in with your ticket, have your case taken and walk through Duty Free to your departure gate - without security? Or was there always a security check in situ. For the life of me I can't remember back this far!

[765489]

I remember there was security before you walked into the terminal. Not sure if it was related to the troubles in the North? Was only a nipper at the time but remember my mother when she'd bring myself and brother with her someone used to scan her hand bag.

I can't for the life of me remember pre 9/11 but them years were a bit if a blur for me anyway.

I was up in T1 today actually and everything seemed normal with regard to foot traffic.

[Frank]

Maybe Eamon Ryan got everything fixed

[CelticRambler]

I took my first flight in 1979, and the x-ray machine was definitely in service then. I have a particular memory of it as, though not even a teenager at that time, I knew that x-rays as a rule were bad for film, and I had film in my camera ready to take pictures on the plane. There were a fair few hijackings of international flights back then, so I think the security checks were already well established by the late 70s.

[95438756]

Went to London in May 2001, by dublin airport.
Doddle. No queues. The plane over was grand, not empty either.When I returned, the same process in reverse.
That will never be the case again. Ever.

[marhay70]

Dulin Airport bar was a favourite haunt for me and my buddies in the mid 1960s. Couldn't have been different. Only one terminal. no security except Airport Police, Duty Free hadn't opened yet as most of the transatlantic flights went to Shannon. Aer Lingus and British Airways were the two main airlines and jet aitcraft were few and far between, even the Beatles came on a turbo prop Viscount.
You could go out on the balcony of the terminal and watch the planes take off and land although you might be waiting a while and you could actually converse with the passengers as they passed below you. Only a ticket and a boarding pass was needed to fly, I can't remember whether there were weight restrictions on luggage but I only owned one suitcase and on the one flight I took in those years, I took that, whatever the weight.
There were no car parks, there were very few cars anyway and parking was just outside the terminal, only the 41a bus actually came into the airport, anything else left you on the Swords Road and you walked up Collinstown Road with the stud horses in fields on either side. that was another great source of entertainment, when they brought the stallions in.

Ah, progress. We need it I'm told but I've yet to be convinced.

[765489]

Dulin Airport bar was a favourite haunt for me and my buddies in the mid 1960s. Couldn't have been different. Only one terminal. no security except Airport Police, Duty Free hadn't opened yet as most of the transatlantic flights went to Shannon. Aer Lingus and British Airways were the two main airlines and jet aitcraft were few and far between, even the Beatles came on a turbo prop Viscount.
You could go out on the balcony of the terminal and watch the planes take off and land although you might be waiting a while and you could actually converse with the passengers as they passed below you. Only a ticket and a boarding pass was needed to fly, I can't remember whether there were weight restrictions on luggage but I only owned one suitcase and on the one flight I took in those years, I took that, whatever the weight.
There were no car parks, there were very few cars anyway and parking was just outside the terminal, only the 41a bus actually came into the airport, anything else left you on the Swords Road and you walked up Collinstown Road with the stud horses in fields on either side. that was another great source of entertainment, when they brought the stallions in.

Ah, progress. We need it I'm told but I've yet to be convinced.

The stallions were part of the 3000 acre Cloghran Stud. One of the best and most prolific studs of the British Isles in its day.. Now lying in tatters, the house is boarded up, a couple of DAA bee hives around the back of it with the odd pieball pony dotted around the place.

[Del.Monte]

I had to laugh this morning when I heard a report on RTE say that staff from all across the DAA were being redeployed to security duties - including the CEO! What training does he or any of the other redeployed staff have in these matters? Only in Ireland.

This at an airport who at one time employed a person with a criminal conviction to look after security at the Control Tower: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/h ... 33941.html

[Cyclepath]

According to a friend that manages a duty free shop at the airport, the current most important issue they have is absenteeism and/or reluctance to work shifts. This applies right across the board (retail, admin, facilities, security, etc). As many of the 'old guard' took redundancy during Covid (even in the retail sections), the newer hires that replaced them just don't want to start work at 4am.

You could argue strongly that the reason is salary/contract conditions - they're going to have to put a bit more money in the pot to get folks up that early

[765489]

I had to laugh this morning when I heard a report on RTE say that staff from all across the DAA were being redeployed to security duties - including the CEO! What training does he or any of the other redeployed staff have in these matters? Only in Ireland.

This at an airport who at one time employed a person with a criminal conviction to look after security at the Control Tower: https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/h ... 33941.html

The office staff are probably out directing foot traffic. Good to see them out of their cubicles for a change. Might do them good.

Dublin Airport used to be a great place to work. But you'd be nearly be as well working for Keelings up the road picking fruit, at least your guaranteed some overtime.

[CelticRambler]

You could argue strongly that the reason is salary/contract conditions - they're going to have to put a bit more money in the pot to get folks up that early

And the travelling public is going to have to realise that they can't have both a cheap fare and a guaranteed hassle-free travel experience.

Given that these idiotic non-security measures are only in force because the USA suffered one terrorist attack, I reckon we could see the EU decide to review and revise the precautions needed for flights/airports that only serve our own local destinations. There's many a regional airport that'd be only too happy to steal a bit of Dublin's (or Paris' or Amsterdam's) traffic with the promise of a simpler, saner passage through the airport.

[nlgbbbblth]

I can't remember who it was but there was a suggestion before about "no security" flights

Cheaper tickets on basis that there were no security checks whatsoever and you took your chances.

[marhay70]

I can't remember who it was but there was a suggestion before about "no security" flights

Cheaper tickets on basis that there were no security checks whatsoever and you took your chances.

Well whoever it was needed to come and live in the real world. There is no way a flight would be allowed to take off under those terms. What about the people on the ground, defence facilities, nuclear plants etc. etc? Try getting pilots or cabin staff. Sounds like the sort of shite a Trumpite would come out with while canvassing for votes.

[CelticRambler]

Well whoever it was needed to come and live in the real world. There is no way a flight would be allowed to take off under those terms.

In the real world, there are plenty of flights that take off under exactly those terms. They're called private charters, and they're a thriving sector of the aviation industry, not least because the people who take them appreciate - and are prepared to pay for - the luxury of turning up at the airport fifteen or thirty minutes before departure, walking out to the plane with their tube of toothpaste and a pot of jam in their carry-on luggage, and no-one asks them to take their shoes off.

On the flip side, the over-the-top mainstream so-called security measures prevent the pilots from taking their own yoghurt or Leatherman knife on board because they may present a threat to ... the aircraft they're flying.

There's a good reason to not allow unaccompanied baggage on a flight (Lockerbie) but all that shoes/belts/laptops/bottles of water stupidity at "security" does nothing, absolutely nothing to reduce the risk of an in-flight incident. Especially when everything any terrorist needs to cause such an incident is provided in generous amounts in the air-side shopping centre.

[marhay70]

In the real world, there are plenty of flights that take off under exactly those terms. They're called private charters, and they're a thriving sector of the aviation industry, not least because the people who take them appreciate - and are prepared to pay for - the luxury of turning up at the airport fifteen or thirty minutes before departure, walking out to the plane with their tube of toothpaste and a pot of jam in their carry-on luggage, and no-one asks them to take their shoes off.

On the flip side, the over-the-top mainstream so-called security measures prevent the pilots from taking their own yoghurt or Leatherman knife on board because they may present a threat to ... the aircraft they're flying.

There's a good reason to not allow unaccompanied baggage on a flight (Lockerbie) but all that shoes/belts/laptops/bottles of water stupidity at "security" does nothing, absolutely nothing to reduce the risk of an in-flight incident. Especially when everything any terrorist needs to cause such an incident is provided in generous amounts in the air-side shopping centre.

I'm pretty sure private charter aircraft operators have their own security arrangements, including body scanners etc. It would be pure madness to allow passengers to board a plane without some checks on luggage, just in case Osama decides to pack a case full of dirty bombs to flick out the window when sightseeing over New York. Obviously these measures will not be as onerous as flying through a public terminal, with dozens of airlines and destinations being catered for.
I agree that a lot of the security measures seem petty but usually they had justification when imposed . I have heard that there are plans afoot to lift or at least ease restrictions on liquids, creams etc, but like all things that require international agreement, the wheels turn slowly.

[CelticRambler]

I'm pretty sure private charter aircraft operators have their own security arrangements, including body scanners etc.

They don't.

Well, individual companies may have certain procedures that they apply to certain flights/passengers/destinations, but as a rule, if you're the one managing the flight (i.e. paying for the charter), you decide everything. I know this because I spent about five years working on a hybrid charter-scheduled airline project (post 9/11) and it provided me with an insight into just how much stupidity and nonsense the gullible flying public put up with, and they often think they're getting a great deal.

Apart from the "security? what security?" advantage, what surprised me most was how cheap it is to arrange a private charter. Obviously there's still a question of economies of scale, but the scale doesn't have to be that big. If wanted to organise a family event here in the middle of France and bring all my family and +1s, 2s, 3s, etc over from Dublin, it'd work out at about 130€ pp each way including 20kg hold baggage, delivered direct to my local airport (45 mins away) at a time of my choosing, instead of them having to endure the trek via Roissy-CdG -> RER - > metro -> first train change to local train -> get picked up from the station (25 mins away). Bring all the toothpaste, knives and 2-litre bottles of Club Lemon you want.