We asked readers if they were fearing or looking forward to their holidays this summer. Here is an edited selection of the responses submitted.
‘We are apprehensive about the queuing’
We are booked to go to France on a campsite holiday. We are flying from Dublin Airport, so we are apprehensive about the queuing and wait times, given the recent problems. We are bringing a cabin bag each and have paid extra to bring it on board (we’ve never had to pay extra to do this before and don’t agree with this due to all the baggage problems; they should be encouraging people to bring them on board). We would prefer to know our bags are with us and it speeds up the process as there will be no bags to check in or collect at the other end. We’ve hired a car in France, but luckily did so in February and got a good rate. As Covid numbers go up, I am worried about picking it up before or on our travels, so we will be wearing masks in crowded areas. Helen O’Sullivan, Co Kildare
‘It’s a nightmare out there’
I have to get out to Gran Canaria soon, but I need help as I have arthritis and suffer chronic pain and fibromyalgia. I normally get this help from OCS. But the last time I went was at the end of April. I was there 3½ hours early and they would not help me check in. Anyone that looked at me could see the state I was in. A young girl practically ran all the way with me in a wheelchair to security. And then the treatment I got from one new daa recruit was totally deplorable. I am terrified of another horror journey through Dublin Airport. I’m terrified I won’t get the assistance and if I don’t, that means I’m not allowed travel. And if I get there and I’m turned away, how do I manage that? It’s a nightmare out there. Tina Donnelly, Co Dublin
‘We are looking forward to getting home’
We have a flight booked from Chicago to Dublin. After three years absent from Ireland, we are looking forward to getting home, but the stories we hear from family in Ireland are concerning. We have three small kids and have to drive three hours for an 8pm flight, so we hope the flight takes off as planned, our bags make it to Dublin and we can get out of the airport intact. We are less concerned about going home — we will get there early and hope the baggage check, security and US customs queues won’t drive us insane, Come on daa, we can do better than this. Conor Kelly, Michigan, US
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‘The list of worries is endless’
I am travelling from Dublin Airport. I have restricted mobility and although I have booked assistance, what will greet me when I arrive at the airport is extremely worrying. I worry if my flight will be cancelled, will I still have to stand with my crutch waiting to get to the assistance desk, will I be able to get a coffee and be able to relax before boarding my flight. The list of worries is endless. Paula Reynolds-Geerinck, Co Mayo
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‘I witnessed hundreds of unclaimed bags’
The return flight for my wife and I from Munich airport on Friday, July 1st, after a great holiday in Austria was cancelled and we were rebooked for Monday, July 4th. Luckily, we were able to rent our apartment for a further three nights and rebook our train tickets from Seefeld to Munich. (The Aer Lingus local helpline number from their website for tourists in Austria had a recorded voicemail informing me that the number was out of service.) We arrived back in Dublin Airport at 11:30pm on Monday night. I waited until close to 1am in the baggage hall for my bag to come off the ramp, to no avail. My wife’s bag came through, but unfortunately my bag was “lost”.
I completed the automated lost baggage form at the airport, but have heard nothing since. I witnessed hundreds of unclaimed bags in the terminal (Terminal 2). I am convinced that my bag is likely to be up at the terminal today, but I can’t access it and there appears to be no one in Aer Lingus tasked with matching the missing bags with the lost baggage reports. It looks to me like a complete breakdown in the senior operations management at Aer Lingus and the daa, rather than the overworked frontline staff that I witnessed at the airport. Richard Egan, Co Dublin
‘We can afford only a week this year’
We are a family of six and for the last 10 years we have holidayed in Ireland with extended family. Our children now age from 11-16 and this annual holiday in Rosslare is bigger than Christmas day. We were never financially in a position to leave Ireland and where we go in Rosslare, the beach is a stone’s throw away from our accommodation and we seem to have found a little sun trap, as the weather is always amazing. Personally, I cannot wait. The countdown for the kids begins on Stephen’s Day, and with four kids I get informed at least twice a day that we have only X amount of sleeps left. We are staying for a week this year as the prices have skyrocketed. Our usual holiday home has been placed on the market, and in previous years we paid €1,100 for a fortnight. However, this year, after much searching, we are paying €1,600 for seven days. Gwen Loughman, Co Kildare
Holidays are now ‘an endurance test’
My partner and I are a week away from a trip to Copenhagen for a concert that has been delayed for two years. We are simultaneously excited for this long-awaited trip, while also dreading the Sisyphean task of knowing what time to get to the airport, how long we might have to kill in an overcrowded and unclean biodome, and if we will make it back without any additional delays. We previously travelled when gaps in the pandemic allowed and that was no joyous affair either. The better half was a nervous wreck with all of the antigen requirements pre-arrival and pre-departure back to Ireland that we were on heightened alert to avoid Covid before the trip and couldn’t relax and enjoy once we were at our points of arrival owing to fears of being stuck. In summation, travel used to be a way to unwind and get away from it all. Covid and the feeling that it will all soon be unaffordable have turned holiday planning and execution into an endurance test. John Larson
‘People will die because of this mess’
We went on a four-night trip to Paris to visit our son and the baggage did not arrive. I have liver cancer and use a medical device daily, which were in the baggage. I had to stay in hospital for two days in Paris, and then five more days in hospital when we arrived home. Our baggage turned up 17 days after we arrived in Paris and 13 days after we got home. This is simply not good enough. People will die because of this mess. It’s bad enough having no clothes, but it’s for some people far more serious than that. No one is accountable, no one answered the phone or replied to emails. Brian Monahan, Co Meath