An East Belfast man has issued a warning about using Dublin Airport after queues stretched out of the terminal doors from 2.30am.
Dave Given and his wife, from Dundonald, flew out of the airport at 6.30am on Thursday morning and say they were very lucky to make their flight due to the length of the queues at the airport.
He said that if it wasn't for disability assistance they received the couple would have never made it through security.
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Speaking to Belfast Live, Dave said that he went to the airport the night before on the 10.30pm bus from Belfast and set an alarm to wake up at 2.30am in order to get prepared to go through security.
However as soon as the pair woke up they saw that there were already huge queues inside Terminal Two and ones stretching out of the door of Terminal One.
He said: "We had seen prior to going to the airport how bad the queuing situation had been, but never expected it to be as bad as it was.
"When we got up at 2.30am there was already an enormous queue inside Terminal Two and when I looked out the window at Terminal One, you could see people queing out the doors and down the street.
"I first joined the queue to leave off our bags at the self-service kiosk, but none of the machines would work after waiting for over an hour, so I had to join another queue for an hour to make sure my bags were checked in.
"From there we went to security at around 4.40am, where there were even more large queues. My wife needed disability assistance so thankfully we were able to skip this, but it still took close to an hour to get through and that is without being in the queue.
"We managed to get to our gate around 35 minutes before our flight took off, but if we didn't have that assistance to get through security there wouldn't have been a hope in us getting there on time."
Dave had a warning to other passengers attempting to get a flight from Dublin Airport.
He said: "Don't listen to what the airlines are telling you about arriving two or three hours before your flight, because you won't have a hope in getting it.
"You are going to have to get their early and be prepared to wait because it will be impossible for some people to get their flights on time going by their guidelines."
Dublin Airport has said that this morning departures have gonve much smoother as a result of extra staff and security being made available.
A DAA spokesperson said: "Anyone travelling through Dublin Airport in need of assistance can contact our partner OCS who provides a full assistance service for those with reduced mobility. Dublin Airport is committed to helping those passengers who may require further assistance on our campus. We are glad to hear this passenger availed of this assistance.
"The first early morning wave of departures has run very efficiently at Dublin Airport this morning as a result of extra staff, the maximum number of security lanes open and an improvement in queue management for passengers entering the terminals for check-in, bag drop and security.
"By six o’clock this morning queue times under 10 minutes were being experienced by early morning travellers in both terminal one and two. Today is the start of a very busy bank holiday weekend of air travel with up to 50,000 passengers a day departing from Dublin Airport. The series of additional mitigations taken and contingency plans put in place this week are all designed to ensure no passenger misses a flight this weekend due to lengthy security queues."
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