With another work trip to Chicago on the books, I recently had a chance to visit the newly spruced-up 51st & Green Lounge, Dublin Airport’s sole transatlantic premium lounge offering, available to all premium passengers (except JetBlue) after completing US immigration formalities in the preclearance area.

The lounge is also available to pre-purchase access to, via the Dublin Airport website from €45, or if space is available, from €55 at the counter in person.

Thanks to needing a trip to Lost & Found in Terminal 1 beforehand, I ultimately made use of the ‘new’ Dublin Airport Terminal 1 Fast Track – all regular US passengers would go through Terminal 2 security instead, but this did give me a quick insight into the new fast track facility; and I’d have to say I wasn’t completely gone on it over the previous Departures-level service.

Consider for a moment that the primary benefit of ‘fast track’ security is speed, convenience and reliability. The new facility sure seems reliable, but in terms of speed and convenience, I’m not so sure; the regular security lane maintains its previous position on the Departures floor, right near the check-in desks – while the new fast track requires a lift or escalator up a level, across a bridge, boarding pass scan, into the (one) lane that was open, and then another few minutes walk back downstairs and along a set of corridors that seem to be to the back of the retail units on the Departures level.

Why would you choose to add walking distance and time to people either paying for the service or for airlines’ most important premium passengers? I didn’t get it – if anything, it seemed like regular security would be better suited to using the new upstairs space in full, and leaving fast track back on the Departures floor. The only major argument I could see in favour was proximity to the new Phoenix lounge, which is entered from the end of the fast track security lane.

I had also received the coveted (by no one) SSSS on my boarding pass, so suffice to say I was sufficiently flustered by the time I reached what turned out to be a lengthy queue for admission at the 51st & Green Lounge. In fact, I took the picture below because the queue began from there, right at the entrance, with the admission desk a good 15 – 20 feet away.

To their credit, staff were doing their best, but the queue showed just how severely overcrowded and busy this lounge gets during the hectic morning peak of US departures; at times we went nowhere for a few minutes, passenger moods rapidly went downhill after a few groups breezed in on the left-hand side unchallenged, and a supervisor seemed animated calling gates to ask were their respective flights close to, or actually, boarding – presumably so as to attempt to evict those passengers.

Thankfully, after a few minutes’ wait at the top of the queue, a seat for exactly one person was found and a host very kindly escorted me to the sole reserved seat, with some chat along the way about how despite the renovation the lounge was as swamped as ever, and consistently made worse by any flight delay – as was the case that morning, with a United flight to Chicago running an hour behind (and it would turn out, more as the morning wore on, thanks to a NATS UK air traffic failure).

Inside, the space at first glance feels remarkably unchanged – on comparing pictures from this year and last year however, I realise more of the seating has been turned into counter chairs around the large windows and booth-style seating, and fewer of the individual seats and tables that dotted the area last year.

There has also been the addition of a lovely centrepiece bar that really does light the space up; only in this case, the sheer volume of people somewhat detracted from the grandeur of the centrepiece. For what it’s worth, I broke all kinds of personal records, and absconded from an early morning adult beverage for one of the few times in my adult life. It won’t happen again, I promise.

For what it’s worth, the two-alcoholic-drink limit is still, apparently, in force. As I’ve said before, I can understand if this is merely an attempt to put off stag- and hen-parties from gaming the system, or prevent people going all out, but in somewhere like the US preclearance lounge, it all just feels very cheap and un-premium.

A full hot breakfast buffet selection was available, including beans, scrambled eggs, mushrooms, hash browns, pancakes, toast from one buffet counter; and sausages, bacon and pudding from another.

There were also cold food options, such as cold meats and cheeses, as well as muffins in a few varieties.

Then, of course, soft drinks, tea and coffee machines – and after the long bus ride up from Limerick, that was where I ended up, for two double espressos.

The bathrooms at least feel like they’ve very slightly expanded, which was one of my complaints last year. There were no queues and it definitely seemed like an improvement.

Nevertheless, the crowding, the heat in the lounge, and the walk back upstairs and backtracking along the Terminal 2 concourse to get to my gate, ultimately meant I left much earlier than I normally would – a good 25 minutes before boarding.

The 51st & Green lounge, freshly renovated, is bright, sharp-looking, with a lovely centrepiece bar and at least based on my interactions with the lounge host who let me in, and the other who showed me to my seat and was bubbly and full of conversation, staff were proactive, friendly, and welcoming.

But the key problem on this visit was simply, both pre- and post-renovation, the consistent, biggest hurdle; the available space for a premium lounge that can serve the quantity of eligible passengers in the preclearance area is just not there, especially if any flight delay causes a backup in passengers leaving when they’re supposed to.

Have you visited the 51st & Green Lounge since its refurbishment? I’d love to hear what others think!