Aer Lingus Customs

Hi, Whether it's just immigration or also customs when you make your trip, do give yourself enough time to get through them. I went through Dublin last June with a four hour layover. Did some shopping for gifts, got something to eat, and thought I was being too early when going to my gate 2 hours before departure. Then I discovered I had immigration to do. It took more than an hour in line to get through the immigration queue.

False True.

This is from the Aer Lingus website: "Passengers departing Ireland up to 4:00PM can clear US immigration, prior to departure, at Dublin Airport."

....so still false true then.

To make things clear......You go through the US Immigration checkpoint at Dublin Airport (passport control). In Chicago you will be able to bypass the immigration hall, but you will have to pass through a customs check (the stuff you're bringing into the US).

"T2 will also house a new US preclearance facility that will allow passengers on US bound flights clear all customs, immigration, agriculture and security checks before leaving Ireland." If your plane is departing from Dublin Airport's Terminal 2, which is new, your U.S. preclearance will include customs as well as immigration.

True. Shannon has this now too.

Here's the inside scoop. Aer Lingus is not part of preclearance at Shannon or Dublin. The Irish airports have had what is called pre-inspection, which covers passport control only - you still had to go through customs and agriculture (normally passengers would see this as one stop although there are two processes going on). At Shannon AL said they won't participate in preclearance, something new that covers all three before you board your U.S. bound plane. At Dublin AL plans to join preclearance at some later date although it's unclear when that will be. Preclearance in Dublin is up and working for American based airlines as of Jan. 19th. Hopefully AL will have joined before your flight. Once you have been through preclearance you can gather your bags and leave the airport - with the caveat unless something comes up (e.g your name pops up on a naughty list during your flight). If you're carrying on, you're done. Ultimately, if enough travelers participate, preclearance could allow flights from Shannon/Dublin into smaller American airports because the clearance process is already completed. This could create more convenient flights and save on ticket prices (because the big airports charge big fees on your tickets).

Let's see if I understand the issue correctly: other than checking on exactly what you are bringing in for duties/legalities, the other entry work is done before boarding? If this is so it would amount to a major time saver. We use Philly International, and we have had huge waits after deplaning at the immigration hall, this is before we passed through bag check (1st time we had checked, now we do only carry-on). There has been almost no line at customs, and as we are bringing in essentially nothing of value, get waved right on through. On last year's flight back we lost close to 45 minutes in that immigration hall mess. Have i got it?
If this IS the case, what do you more experienced folk think is the likelihood this could get adopted in other overseas airports?

It's not exactly new, we have had this arrangement in Canadian airports for decades.

From the Irish Examiner newspaper: "Aer Lingus has confirmed that it will move into the new Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport when it opens in November.
The T2 building houses a new United States Customer and Border Protection facility. A similar facility is already operating in Shannon Airport. It allows passengers travelling to the United States to fully clear US immigration, customs and agriculture controls before leaving Ireland. Dublin and Shannon are the only locations outside North America to offer US CBP facilities, and Aer Lingus hopes it will increase the attractiveness of Ireland as a transfer point between Europe and the US."

They have had US immigration at Dublin airport for years (had it on our first trip in 2001). The same setup at Shannon is newer, but has still been that way for awhile. Adding US customs to the mix won't really change anything, since most people have nothing to declare and go right through without stopping on arrival in the US, anyway.

http://www.aerlingus.com/travelinformation/movetoterminal2atdublin/usimmigration/ Knowing Irish adherence to deadlines, I would assume this date is a bit fluid.

I have heard that Dublin can be slow for US Citizens?Residents because there are so many lights (compared to clearing in US), but Shannon is absolute time-saver for everybody. I have flown a few times. basically with Continental you check in 2 hours 15 minutes before flight (6-45am), stroll through security and can clear the friendly - but very thorough - full US Border control between 7-15am and 7-45am (Shannon still has a smoking area airside for those that do!) and purchase duty frees (must be done in airport as flight is then domestic).
Arrive in US, grab some fresh air and then collect bag (or walk directly to conecting domestic flight). Aer Lingus now uses it and they have a check-in and US Border control closer to departure time. I hope Dublin works as well.

I'll be flying Aer Lingus from CDG to Dublin and then on to Orlando in August. I bought a through ticket directly from AL. I have 1hr, 20 min between arrival and scheduled departure, Will I have enough time to get through Customs?

If it's one reservation and you don't make the second flight, Aer Lingus has to put you on their next available flight.

My major worry is that the next flight to Orlando is the following day. Will they put me up in a hotel or will I have to fend for myself?

Here's the latest. It looks like Aer Lingus will join the program in mid-Feb. If you are flying home from Dublin you will go through pre-clearance in Dublin. The biggest benefit is for foreign travelers who are treated like domestic flyers when they land in the U.S. If you don't have to wait for checked bags, you can head straight to transportation when you get off the plane. The other potential benefit is flights can go from Dublin to domestic airports because the clearance is already completed, you won't have to fly into the big crowded airports (that charge large gate fees). Of course that only happens if there are enough passengers to fill planes to different destinations. Aer Lingus still isn't participating at Shannon and there is no planned date for them to start. So Aer Lingus flights from Shannon are still only doing pre-inspection - which means immigration check only.

We flew on Aer Lingus from Dublin T2 earlier this week. At the moment US Customs preclearance is available only for flights to JFK. Our flight was to Chicago, so we got the usual cheery "welcome home" from our government when we arrived at ORD for the connection to PDX. The departures readerboards in the Dublin terminal direct JFK-bound passengers to the US preclearance area in T2, while all others are to proceed directly to the gates. Preclearance may be expanded to other US destinations in coming months.