Awful experience going through Dublin border patrol

[TomG76]

I wrote a long post and then the page crashed and I lost it

So basically we go 2 or 3 times a year since getting married at the Grand Floridian in 2007. We went over in April, flying with Aer Lingus though Dublin, to celebrate my wife's 40th birthday. Her birthday was 1 day before we flew. Agent asked us the purpose of our visit. I said ''to celebrate my wife's big birthday''. WRONG ANSWER. We were interrogated as to whether we had family in the US celebrating with us. She asked so many ways and so often I felt like saying yes just to make it stop. My passport is up Nov 2019 so I have lots of US stamps in it, 2 on some pages. She went through each stamp making me give her purpose of visit, who I was with and length of visit. Got lots of sighs, mumbles and eye rolls as I repeatedly said ''Disney, 1 week with my wife''. She sarcastically said ''Call centers must pay well in England''. My wife has a cake decorating business and she grilled her on if she was planning to run her business while on holiday. She went through my wife's passport, stopping at every US stamp then looked up at wife but not saying anything, just staring intimidatingly. When she saw a Canadian stamp she said ''you don't try to go to Canada as often huh?'' We were insulted for being adults going to Disney. Her exact words were ''Don't you feel weird in Disneyland''. She asked where we were staying, wife said ''Disney's Coronado Springs'' and she said ''what is that ma'am, a condo, a hotel, what?''. Wife explained it was a hotel on Disney property but she cut her off before she could finish and muttered what I am 99% sure was morons under her breath. Asked if we had any food, I said we had Robinson's squash in our checked luggage. That was met with ''what part of no food don't you understand Sir'' and a tut. We were moved over and back to the camera with an index finger and a glare. Finally, she stamped our passports so loud they must have heard it in baggage claim and then flung them across the desk in my direction. I stayed polite and said ''Thank you ma'am'' to which she shook her head, gave a big sigh and started furiously typing into her computer 18 minutes we were in front of her. The poor woman queuing up behind us for her turn looked as white as a sheet as we were walking away. Going since 1988 with my parents, entered by plane, train from Canada and bus from Mexico and never witnessed such rudeness and disrespect. Just horrible. My wife burst into tears as soon as we got onto the plane.

Then a right argy bargy broke out when an English family came on last from a connecting flight and found the overhead bins full. They tried to shove their cases in on top of others and were first challenged by other passengers before the air hostess came down and had a right go at him and vice versa. He stood on the seat to show her there was space at the back of the bins and *snap* off came a piece of the base of the chair. On came the yellow vests to do a report on the damage and down came security with the head stewardess. Those of us who were witnesses to the argy bargy got a free bottle of prosecco but we just thought this isn't our day. Never as glad to hear the wheels hit the tarmac at MCO.

Otherwise, Aer Lingus was fine. Seats are comfortable, IFE is good and food edible but I don't think we will chance Dublin immigration again. Give me a wait at MCO anyday. Knowing our luck we'd get the same agent in October! We bought into DVC on our trip so we'll be keeping up the frequency of trips but it's back to BA.

[landandword17]

Had a similar experience in February. Made a thread here about it at the time. Before that I had gone through Dublin probably 8-10 times without issue. We had booked our summer tickets back in January so I have to cross my fingers going through in August.

Incidentally that purpose of your visit question always panics me a bit. I always seem to get it wrong. If I say we’re on a vacation they ask our plans but if I give them the plan they wave at me to stop because they don’t want more detail. Last summer in Phoenix I said we were doing a road trip through the National parks and the officer said why? Er, because we like the outdoors and think we’d enjoy the national parks. luckily that satisfied him and we were straight through but you never know.

[Leia77]

Originally Posted by TomG76

I wrote a long post and then the page crashed and I lost it

So basically we go 2 or 3 times a year since getting married at the Grand Floridian in 2007. We went over in April, flying with Aer Lingus though Dublin, to celebrate my wife's 40th birthday. Her birthday was 1 day before we flew. Agent asked us the purpose of our visit. I said ''to celebrate my wife's big birthday''. WRONG ANSWER. We were interrogated as to whether we had family in the US celebrating with us. She asked so many ways and so often I felt like saying yes just to make it stop. My passport is up Nov 2019 so I have lots of US stamps in it, 2 on some pages. She went through each stamp making me give her purpose of visit, who I was with and length of visit. Got lots of sighs, mumbles and eye rolls as I repeatedly said ''Disney, 1 week with my wife''. She sarcastically said ''Call centers must pay well in England''. My wife has a cake decorating business and she grilled her on if she was planning to run her business while on holiday. She went through my wife's passport, stopping at every US stamp then looked up at wife but not saying anything, just staring intimidatingly. When she saw a Canadian stamp she said ''you don't try to go to Canada as often huh?'' We were insulted for being adults going to Disney. Her exact words were ''Don't you feel weird in Disneyland''. She asked where we were staying, wife said ''Disney's Coronado Springs'' and she said ''what is that ma'am, a condo, a hotel, what?''. Wife explained it was a hotel on Disney property but she cut her off before she could finish and muttered what I am 99% sure was morons under her breath. Asked if we had any food, I said we had Robinson's squash in our checked luggage. That was met with ''what part of no food don't you understand Sir'' and a tut. We were moved over and back to the camera with an index finger and a glare. Finally, she stamped our passports so loud they must have heard it in baggage claim and then flung them across the desk in my direction. I stayed polite and said ''Thank you ma'am'' to which she shook her head, gave a big sigh and started furiously typing into her computer 18 minutes we were in front of her. The poor woman queuing up behind us for her turn looked as white as a sheet as we were walking away. Going since 1988 with my parents, entered by plane, train from Canada and bus from Mexico and never witnessed such rudeness and disrespect. Just horrible. My wife burst into tears as soon as we got onto the plane.

Then a right argy bargy broke out when an English family came on last from a connecting flight and found the overhead bins full. They tried to shove their cases in on top of others and were first challenged by other passengers before the air hostess came down and had a right go at him and vice versa. He stood on the seat to show her there was space at the back of the bins and *snap* off came a piece of the base of the chair. On came the yellow vests to do a report on the damage and down came security with the head stewardess. Those of us who were witnesses to the argy bargy got a free bottle of prosecco but we just thought this isn't our day. Never as glad to hear the wheels hit the tarmac at MCO.

Otherwise, Aer Lingus was fine. Seats are comfortable, IFE is good and food edible but I don't think we will chance Dublin immigration again. Give me a wait at MCO anyday. Knowing our luck we'd get the same agent in October! We bought into DVC on our trip so we'll be keeping up the frequency of trips but it's back to BA.

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That sounds awful! Hopefully, you can now relax and thoroughly enjoy your holiday 😊

[Gill H]

Goodness, I would put in a complaint when you get home. Completely unprofessional.

[Br'er Bear]

Originally Posted by TomG76

I wrote a long post and then the page crashed and I lost it

So basically we go 2 or 3 times a year since getting married at the Grand Floridian in 2007. We went over in April, flying with Aer Lingus though Dublin, to celebrate my wife's 40th birthday. Her birthday was 1 day before we flew. Agent asked us the purpose of our visit. I said ''to celebrate my wife's big birthday''. WRONG ANSWER. We were interrogated as to whether we had family in the US celebrating with us. She asked so many ways and so often I felt like saying yes just to make it stop. My passport is up Nov 2019 so I have lots of US stamps in it, 2 on some pages. She went through each stamp making me give her purpose of visit, who I was with and length of visit. Got lots of sighs, mumbles and eye rolls as I repeatedly said ''Disney, 1 week with my wife''. She sarcastically said ''Call centers must pay well in England''. My wife has a cake decorating business and she grilled her on if she was planning to run her business while on holiday. She went through my wife's passport, stopping at every US stamp then looked up at wife but not saying anything, just staring intimidatingly. When she saw a Canadian stamp she said ''you don't try to go to Canada as often huh?'' We were insulted for being adults going to Disney. Her exact words were ''Don't you feel weird in Disneyland''. She asked where we were staying, wife said ''Disney's Coronado Springs'' and she said ''what is that ma'am, a condo, a hotel, what?''. Wife explained it was a hotel on Disney property but she cut her off before she could finish and muttered what I am 99% sure was morons under her breath. Asked if we had any food, I said we had Robinson's squash in our checked luggage. That was met with ''what part of no food don't you understand Sir'' and a tut. We were moved over and back to the camera with an index finger and a glare. Finally, she stamped our passports so loud they must have heard it in baggage claim and then flung them across the desk in my direction. I stayed polite and said ''Thank you ma'am'' to which she shook her head, gave a big sigh and started furiously typing into her computer 18 minutes we were in front of her. The poor woman queuing up behind us for her turn looked as white as a sheet as we were walking away. Going since 1988 with my parents, entered by plane, train from Canada and bus from Mexico and never witnessed such rudeness and disrespect. Just horrible. My wife burst into tears as soon as we got onto the plane.

Then a right argy bargy broke out when an English family came on last from a connecting flight and found the overhead bins full. They tried to shove their cases in on top of others and were first challenged by other passengers before the air hostess came down and had a right go at him and vice versa. He stood on the seat to show her there was space at the back of the bins and *snap* off came a piece of the base of the chair. On came the yellow vests to do a report on the damage and down came security with the head stewardess. Those of us who were witnesses to the argy bargy got a free bottle of prosecco but we just thought this isn't our day. Never as glad to hear the wheels hit the tarmac at MCO.

Otherwise, Aer Lingus was fine. Seats are comfortable, IFE is good and food edible but I don't think we will chance Dublin immigration again. Give me a wait at MCO anyday. Knowing our luck we'd get the same agent in October! We bought into DVC on our trip so we'll be keeping up the frequency of trips but it's back to BA.

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So sorry that your first post on TheDibb was about a bad experience and hope all your following posts are about positive experiences and Welcome Home as new DVC members.

We've gone through Dublin a few times and all have been positive with immigration but lately we've been flying Delta/KLM due to their lower prices.

[Andybear]

You've just described the experience I had in MCO last year except for the fact that I was on a solo trip and it wasn't my birthday. I came close to cancelling this year's trip because of the experience but decided to go ahead with it.

[Michyloulou]

Oh my goodness, what an awful start to your holiday - I really feel for both of you. I wonder if its the same agent as poster Landandword17. Her sarcastic remark re call centres paying well makes my blood boil - none of her business how you fund your trips! She sounds like an old bitter, jealous crow to me.
Definitely put in a complaint - that is totally out of order and unprofessional.
Have a fabulous holiday, and try not to let it ruin it for you.

[Minnie18]

Jeezooo sounds like a day of fun you have had 😫 I really hope thats it all over and you both have a fantastic holiday 😊

[katy341]

Is it not all recorded? I'd be complaining formally!

[Lola]

I’ve been asked why I am vacationing alone, which is a bit odd as there’s a lot of single people who have to travel by themselves. I usually answer that my daughter is on the later London flight which is the case and that seems to suit. Questions do seem random at times.