Immigration stamps for Dublin, Ireland and Aer Lingus

I love the Irish. I'm 100% Irish myself. I grew up in Boston. I love Guinness. I love St. Patrick's Day. I love leprechauns. But I HATE going through Irish immigration in Dublin - they take up an entire page of your passport with their two-stamps required. I typically visit Dublin for work, and only for a day or two at a time. So I dread going through immigration, and always keep my fingers crossed that they'll stamp over the previous ones (which I so innocently have my pasport open to). No such luck this time. Again.

In any case, I thought I'd better complain about it, because I always seem to feel better after complaining. Not sure what that says about me, but that's okay. Speaking of complaining, I have some comments about Aer Lingus. Or maybe it's Heathrow's BAA, not sure. In any case, last week I printed out my Aer Lingus boarding pass at home (using their website clearly designed by a 12-year-old-contest-winner). I wasn't even going overnight to Dublin, so I followed the signs for Ireland departures, which brings you into the bowels of Heathrow and to a small security checkpoint. I hand the woman my boarding card, and she says that I need to go get a boarding card from the Aer Lingus counter. I pointed out that I actually had a boarding card printed out from their online check-in process. She said that her computer didn't work, so she couldn't validate the home-printed card, so I had to go back. I stood with disbelief - it so happened I was plenty early, but if I wasn't, it could have taken a long time. But then she added that I could either do that, or just wait for another agent to come along. When I inquired how long that might take, she said "oh, only a minute." So I waited, nice woman number 2 arrived, and I proceeded fine. Other than my flight being a bit late, the rest of the flight to Dublin was fine.

We won't talk about the immigration experience, because I'm sure you know how I feel. The day passed quickly and I printed out my return boarding pass from the office. I go to the security line, they scan the boarding card, and my name comes up like it's supposed to, but it's blinking red. She says, "oh, you'll need to go get a boarding card from Aer Lingus." I pointed out that I had a boarding card. She said that "you'll need one from the DESK though. Tell them your name is red." So I see a million Aer Lingus desks nearby, so not a big deal I think to myself. I leave line, and discover all the desks are unoccupied. I tried a self-service kiosk, but it tells me to see an agent once it finds out my name. So I'm thinking that clearly I've been bumped off the flight or something else has gone wrong. I see a sign pointing for Aer Lingus assistance to the other end of the terminal, so I start walking. And walking and walking and eventually see another sign that says to go downstairs for the ticket desk. So I go down two levels and wait in line for the Aer Lingus guy to re-print my boarding pass and say "thanks." When I asked what the problem was, he said that probably the barcode from my boarding pass just couldn't be read properly. When I pointed out that it came up with my name fine, he wasn't sure. "But just use this new one and you'll have no problem." There's no way he's getting off this easily. "But how can I make sure this won't happen again? What should I do differently next time?" He had no idea and didn't know what "your name is red" might indicate. Just to be safe, I went through a different line this time. Where they didn't even scan my boarding pass. Grrr.

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