Bus from Galway to Dublin airport

We returned yesterday from several weeks in Ireland and saw this coach on the motorways fairly regularly. We took an express bus to the airport yesterday but from a different location in Ireland. I will say that you have day of the week and time working in your favor as we saw a lot of traffic delays around the M1 and M50 intersection on week days but not weekends. It took us almost the full 3 hours to clear the normal security and then US pre clearance once we arrived. Lines were long yesterday for our 12:50 flight. I don’t know what time you are thinking of booking but in order to arrive 3 hours before their 11:30 flight I would take the 6am or earlier bus.

As long as there are no serious weather issues to slow the bus down this should be fine. CityLink is quite dependable. However, I would not have them on a bus leaving later than the 6AM bus arriving at the airport at 8:30. This is US pre-clearance, there are bunch of US bound flights leaving starting at 11, and the back-up is long. Drill at Dublin Airport is first you go through regular security on entering the airport, then the walk to the US pre-clearance line, which also includes US security. And I have not accounted for whether they will have their boarding passes in advance or have to get them at the airport, nor whether they then need to check bags. All three times I have flown out of Dublin I have spent an hour or more dealing with the pre-clearance.

Thank you - yes! Looking at the 6:00AM, scheduled to arrive at airport at 8:30.

Good info. Do you know if it helps time-wise to use Global entry and Mobile Passport Control?

Yesterday I was thrilled to see the Global Entry line and was one of 3 people who used the scanner and got my passport looked at. The regular lines were at least a 15 minute wait. Also, initially the checkin line would have been another 15+ minute wait but we had checked in online 24h ahead of time and had our boarding passes on our phones.

We took the Citylink bus in the oppidit direction in August — from Dublin Airport to Galway Coach Station (different from bus station but a few blocks away). We bought tickets on line and everything ran smoothly.

Thanks for the replies!

Go with Citylink. We did in September from Dublin to Galway. Dependable, clean, comfortable, toilet onboard and courteous and helpful driver.

Is there any reason why you can not travel to Dublin the day/night before the flight?
In a perfect world there are no traffic jams, buses don't break down, the alarm rings on time, the weather is perfect,...
An 11:30 flight means you have to be at the airport by 9:30, leave Galway by 7:30, get up by 6:00.
We took the bus airport to Galway with no incidents.
It can be done but I would prefer the peace of mind of being in Dublin the night before.