Passengers furious as bags delayed for three hours at Dublin Airport

Flyers who arrived into Dublin on a WestJet flight from Calgary yesterday whizzed through passport control quickly but were left in the baggage hall waiting for their luggage for hours with no communication from the airport or airline.

Fuming flyers chanted “We want our bags!” while they waited for their suitcases.

Donegal native David McGinley, who was a passenger on the flight, said it took him almost 4 hours to leave Dublin Airport as a result of the delay.

“We arrived into Dublin Airport at around 11.15am and it was very speedy through the passport check, but we got to baggage claim, it was taking quite a long time. We would have got there at around 12pm at the latest and we left the airport at around 3.30pm," he told RTÉ News.

“There were a lot of disgruntled, tired passengers who were complaining, which was quite understandable. It was the longest baggage delay I've ever had.”

Mr McGinley added that there "didn't seem to be anyone at any desk to lodge a complaint to” about the inconvenience.

WestJet confirmed that there were “significant baggage and security screening delays” at Dublin Airport yesterday.

“We understand Dublin Airport Authority is working with the appropriate stakeholders to resolve these issues urgently and we are optimistic immediate improvement will promptly follow,” a spokesperson added.

Airport management daa said that it “does not handle baggage on behalf of any of our airline customers” but added that it was “sorry to hear reports” of this kind of delay in Dublin Airport.

It comes after Dublin Airport estimated that at least 1,000 people missed flights on Sunday due to massive queues outside Terminal 1 and 2.

Communications chief at the airport Kevin Cullinane admitted they had let the country down yesterday amid chaotic scenes, and vowed they will compensate those affected.

Transport Minister Eamon Ryan branded the debacle as “completely unacceptable” and laid the blame squarely at the feet of airport bosses.

“The Dublin Airport Authority must pull out all the stops from today to ensure this cannot ever happen again. We will provide every reasonable assistance to support their efforts – but it is primarily a task for them,” he told Independent.ie.

He said he was disappointed at the weekend scenes at the airport after extensive efforts by his department to develop remedies with airport management over the past two months.