Self Connecting in Dublin Airport - Is 5 hours enough?

The process is this. You will likely arrive in T1 but you go home from T2. They are separated by almost no distance, but you might be gated far enough out in T1 to have some walking. When you enter T2, once you are checked in you will go through a long line for Dublin Airport security. This was reasonably quick. But you then will go to the US section. There will be a very long line as they feed you into the US area, where you first go through security again. After you clear, you then go through US passport control, and you are now in the US as you go to your gate. On a Tuesday morning last month it was roughly 20 minutes from entering T2 (we were checked in online and were carry-on only) to pass through the first security check, but then another hour to be allowed to go to the gates- even though the TSA security was X-ray of bags only, no body screening or X-ray, and passport control was the camera compared your photo to your passport. It was all volume. But you have luggage, and retrieval in T1 may be slow because of the current understaffing problems, and you will also have to go to a check-in desk in T2 even if you have your passes because you have to drop luggage.

No easy answer - 5+hours (4 1/2 to boarding) would have been enough normally. I would recommend checking Dublin airport on the internet for the next several Sundays and see what the delays look like.

One additional wrinkle. I believe you will go through passport control upon your arrival in Dublin from Paris. Ireland is not a member of Schengen. As a result, I believe you will arrive in Terminal 2. But if you are checking luggage that isn't much comfort since you will still need to leave the secure area, get your bags, recheck your bags, etc. Here's the Dublin Airport Flowchart on how to connect: https://www.dublinairport.com/docs/default-source/flight-timetables-and-schedules/dublin-airport-flight-connection-guide3b5fbdcccf5e4d34858f630d86795513.pdf?sfvrsn=e983b36f_4. Here's the Airport's home page: https://www.dublinairportguide.com/.

Probably. But, things can always happen and a flight can be delayed or cancelled for a number of reasons. If that happens you are stuck with buying a one way ticket across the atlantic at last minute price. Are you willing to take that risk? That is the big question.

Can you condense your packing to carry-on only and eliminate the time consuming step of retrieving the bags and rechecking them?

If not, perhaps check with the airline to see if you can check your bags through to the US when you leave Paris?

No personal experience, but I find it hard to think 5 hrs would not be enough time.

Badger,
I don't see that I have a choice at this point unless I want to cancel the trip. I've already asked the airline if it was possible to change the tickets and it's not.

Joe32F,
Carry-ons only is a great idea to save time. I always worry they'll say there's no room and check it at the gate. I guess it's worth a try.

Carrying on your bags would definitely make life easier since I think you would not have to go through passport control upon arrival in Dublin nor would you go through Irish Security. You would go straight to US Preclearance. However, if you are flying a discount airline meeting the carry on limits may be a problem. So double check the carry on restrictions for your airline. You may also want to start monitoring the on-time arrivals for your Paris-Dublin flight. You can check here: https://www.flightstats.com/v2/. Finally, you could look into an earlier flight. That might be the safest route to go. In theory 5 hours should be enough time. The recommended arrival time for a US bound flight from Dublin is 3 hours ahead of departure. So that should give you 2 hours to transfer from the inbound flight.

Depending on your fare class, there may be a fee ( ~6 euro) to bring a 10kg carry-on.

In my relatively infrequent journeys to the US from the UK via Ireland I've always found the US preclearance security check to be shorter than the general Dublin Airport check. I arrived from the UK three hours in advance and cleared both with about an hour to spare.