Mmmmm! BAcon! – Off to Denver and Beyond with Aer Lingus and British Airways
A Dublin transit and the DAA Lounge
Index:
- A Conference… why not?
- Early morning New New Street, Aer Lingus EI263 London to Dublin
- A Dublin transit, DAA Lounge – THIS SECTION
- BA827 Dublin to London Heathrow
- The Hell of A Heathrow Transit, BA F Lounge
- BA219 – London Heathrow to Denver
- Staybridge Suites, Denver Tech Center and a road trip
- The Cheyenne Mountain Resort, Colorado Springs
- A road trip back to Denver, Crowne Plaza Downtown Denver
- Photographic Interlude: Downtown Denver
- Denver Airport, American Airlines AAdmirals Club
- BA218 Denver to Heathrow
- Heading Homeward
- Interesting times
After exiting the plane, I headed through the 400 gates at Dublin T2 and towards Irish Immigration. Clearance through immigration involved a quick handover of the passport, inspection by an agent and handed back to me, allowing me to entering the Irish Republic.
In luggage claim – a sign promoting this years Visit Ireland them – The Gathering
As I didn’t have any hold luggage at this point, I cleared the customs formalities and entered into the modern architectural wonder that is Dublin Airport T2.
Well it’s art. But what is it?
However, British Airways departs from T1… and that mean a short hike over from the nice shiny terminal to the older not so shiny terminal. That means following from the signs from T2, through a covered indoor walkway to a semi-covered outdoor (yet nice and cool) section, dropping me near the main security checkpoint for T1.
T1-T2 Connector.
Check-in area
At this point – and if I’m completely honest, I had enough of my wheelie bag at this point. Sorry, I just can’t handle the way they can completely go out of control… or being wheeled incorrectly, or just plain maddening.
Yes. I travel like student still. You can file an objection if you choose, but at heart – I still travel to the comfort level I prefer. And that’s an important part of travel in my book.
With the tech dumped in my black Etnies rucksack, and everything else in the in the suitcase, whilst hanging onto the Pan Am messenger baggie, it was off to the check in desks – with the British Airways desks conveniently located opposite where I was repacking.
I headed to the check in desks, with Euro Traveller looked rather busy, but Club Europe/Gold/Silver/Bronze desk only had a couple of people in line – so a short 5 minute wait and I was seen to. As I had completed API and initial check in online already, all that was left was to tag my suitcase. In addition I was given information about the lounge and transit at Heathrow.
One of these is a will become a bone of contention later on. I’m sure you can guess which one.
Not a lot in the bag… (in fact.. too little as I found out later on…)
I was directed to Fast track security, and whilst most of the lanes were busy, the lane only had one person in it. As a result, I was cleared within minutes. This is a good thing as my mood was still “bouncy” at this point.
Fast Track Entrance – nice and empty.
Now, there are some traditions I do at certain airports – for example, I tend to compete with my parents in the title of “tackiest snow-globe ever” (trust me – it’s war right now), or buy certain things. One of the small traditions I have when I go through Dublin Airport is (and don’t laugh) is to get a new Guinness Mug each time I go through the place. Call it force of habit, but I like large mugs that I can actually drink coffee out of as opposed to thimbles – so a large Guinness Mug is good for drinking the black stuff that sometimes resembles coffee in the morning when trapped at the office.
I’m a creature of habit.
One that formality was completed; it was off to the lounge. Now the hunt for the lounge is yet another challenge in life that you don’t expect – thankfully there was a guide to show you where it was.
If one was to describe it best – it’s in the 300 gates area (or what was in the olde days the “B” gate satellite where most of the “legacy” airlines have their departures in Dublin Airport – or the octagon looking building.
The DAA Shared lounge is above the 300 gates – though you’ve got to be careful which way you go – one way will lead you to the DAA lounge… the other – leads you to an Aer Lingus Operations office.
An almost hidden entrance…
Lounge Stop: DAA Lounge
I was welcomed into the lounge, and my details were taken from my boarding pass so I could enter. No calls were being made for the BA flight, so I fired up FlightAware to track the progress of my fight.
The lounge itself is the old Aer Lingus lounge that they used to use. How can you tell? Well the Aer Lingus Glass print and the Aer Lingus green carpet as slight giveaways…
It is… green.
This also looks like something out of an Aer Lingus Lounge…
Another thing that was lacking too were the amount of power points – thus relegating me to the business area of the lounge – it’s not perfect as I prefer big chairs to relax in, but I did need to give my laptop a quick recharge (suffice to say I haven’t got around to replacing the battery in the MacBook Pro – but then I think £109 to replace a battery is a bit of a liberty), as well as top up the power in the phone for the journey ahead.
Work area “bar”
At least Dublin Airport has done one important thing – made WiFi free through the terminals. It’s not a big thing, but it makes life for a traveller easier – with one less thing to pay for, whilst feeling they’re getting something for those airport fees.
I took the time to have a look at the food offerings. Whilst it was between 10:30 and 11:45, breakfast offerings were out… and they weren’t overly impressive.
Papers and magazines
Snacks and drinks
Optics
Breakfast items
What’s this? Limit two drinks? With some frequent flyers I know – that could end… badly.
Saying that, most of the other offerings fell into that category. Very generic – but better than a poke in the eye, or the noise of the terminal.
Conditions improved during the morning with the weather turning from wet to gray. Still it made for some interesting movements as planes took off into the not great conditions.
Meanwhile, I was keeping an eye out for my plane, which still had not arrived from London. By the time it pulled in, it was down on departure time already. This did not bode well for later on. Nether the less, once it pulled in, I gave it 10 minutes – enough time to gather my stuff together and head to the gate. I thanked the staff and exited the lounge.
After almost getting lost in the maze that seems to be that upper deck of the 300 gates, I found my way downstairs, where the queues had built up for boarding of the flight. As I pulled up to the gate to grab a photo, boarding was announced.
Excellent timing.
My boarding pass was scanned – and I was allowed through to board a familiar friend… and ex BMI A319 now in BA colours…
Next: BA827 Dublin – London
