DUBLIN AIRPORT:THE NEW terminal at Dublin airport may have won plaudits for its sophisticated design, but the downside of having a building with a slanting roof became all too apparent yesterday.
Motorists and pedestrians were forced to keep moving on arrival at Terminal 2 due to the risk of falling snow from the rooftop.
Inside the airport, chaos was the order of the day as passengers struggled to work out alternative travel plans.
With operations suspended from 12.45pm more than 100 flights had to be cancelled, leaving many passengers stranded.
While many travellers were resigned to the fact that they might not be moving anytime soon, others were angry about the lack of information from airlines.
Attracta Wheelehan from Co Meath and her daughter Sarah found themselves sitting onboard an aircraft on the runway set for Heathrow when they discovered their flight would not be leaving.
“We were set to leave at 10.20am but found ourselves sitting on the plane for an hour and a half. We realised no flights were leaving by looking up on the internet but it was still an hour later before we were officially informed by the pilot and told to leave the plane,” she said.
Paul Carew (30) from Tipperary was due to fly to Amsterdam in the early afternoon but had not only seen that flight cancelled but also an alternative transfer to Brussels that he had booked.
“We were told that we should rebook flights online but the websites keep crashing and we’re unsure if we’ll get out of the country at all,” he said. “Passengers who have had their flights cancelled are also being asked to leave the airport so we don’t even know where we’ll sleep right now.”
Queues formed around internet terminals as passengers sought to change flights and in some cases book hotels rooms for the night.
Horst Feichtenschlager (49) from Munich was due to fly home after visiting his son in Dublin. However, he had been forced to stay an extra night in the capital on Wednesday after his flight was cancelled and was now looking for a hotel room again after hearing of another cancellation.
“It was my first time in Dublin and I’ve enjoyed it but now I would really like to be home,” he said.
Mr Feichtenschlager was less than impressed by the updates he was receiving from his airline. “If you ask for the information you may get it but it is difficult to get hold of people. It is also not easy to get online to change your schedule,” he added.
Emma Mallon (22) from Co Monaghan and her mother were expecting to fly to Frankfurt and then onwards to Kenya. “Given that the flight is cancelled rather than just delayed we don’t know if we’ll make the Kenyan flight tomorrow,” she said.
Some passengers had turned to social networking sites in order to keep abreast of travel changes.
David Fitzgerald (22) from Ringsend in Dublin who was due to fly out to Luton was still hopeful that his flight would go and was checking in on Twitter to find out what was going on.
“I’m not checking in my bag yet until I know for sure the flight is going,” he said. “Websites are not providing information quick enough and it is impossible to hear what is being said over the Tannoy but my Twitter feed is keeping me in the know,” he said.
