Travel Editor Pól Ó Conghaile shares his Christmas travel tips ahead of a busy and emotional time at airports
Christmas travel tips: Don’t wrap presents carried through airport security, says Pól Ó Conghaile’
Flying home or abroad for Christmas?
Airports can be busy and emotional experiences during the holidays, with Dublin Airport expecting 90,000 passengers on its busiest day this year (Friday, December 20).
Here are a few tips to help your trip go smoothly.
1. Plan your journey
Have you got the parking or lift sorted? Do you know which terminal your airline is flying from, and when check-in opens?
Plan your journey, make sure you have the correct baggage allowances, and always pre-book parking at Dublin Airport.
Ireland’s main airport is advising arriving two hours before short-haul flights and three before long-haul departures. You may want to allow extra if checking in bags.
2. Don’t wrap that present!
If you are taking gifts through security, don’t wrap them. Staff may need to open them, undoing your imaginative and painstaking handiwork.
3. Skip the snow globes
Don’t carry snow globes as hand luggage, which rarely state the volume of liquid inside.
Or crackers, for that matter – which some airlines can deem a dangerous item.
4. Don’t be that passenger…
Christmas is a unique time for travel. It’s busy, people are wearing more layers, coats and scarves, and many are making emotional journeys.
Prepare for security as instructed, and be patient with passengers who take longer, and security staff just doing their jobs.
5. Remember the 100ml rule
You’ve got your toiletries sorted into little travel containers and transparent plastic bags. But those gifts?
It’s easy to carry perfumes, bathroom products, sauces and so on through security lanes without making the same connection. But these also need to measure less than 100ml, or they will be confiscated.
