- Introduction: The 25,000 Mile Journey To Greece
- Review: Aer Lingus A321LR Business Class
- Review: Aer Lingus Arrivals Lounge Dublin Airport
- Review: Platinum Services Dublin Airport
- Flying Around Europe With TAPered Expectations
- Review: TAP Air Portugal A321LR Business Class
- Review: United 787-10 Polaris Business Class
- Review: Diamond Lounge Brussels Airport
- Review: EVA Air 787-9 Business Class
- Review: Waldorf Astoria Bangkok
- Review: Thai Airways Business Lounge Bangkok Airport
- Review: Turkish Airlines Lounge Bangkok Airport
- Review: Miracle First Class Lounge Bangkok Airport
- Review: Thai Airways A350 Business Class
- My EasyJet Flight Cost How Much?!?
- Review: Santa Marina, Luxury Collection, Mykonos
- Review: British Airways A320 Business Class
- Review: British Airways 777 First Class
- Review: Delta Air Lines 737 First Class
Last year I wrote about Dublin Airport’s VIP service, known as Platinum Services.
With a few hours to kill before my connecting flight, I figured it was worth checking this out for a different kind of “lounge” review. After all, many of you expressed that you’d be curious to see what it was like.
Dublin Airport Platinum Services booking cost
Here’s the Platinum Services price list:
As you can see, the service costs 225EUR for one person including the 23% VAT. That includes the suite, food and drinks, and private transfer. The terms suggest you can spend at most 2.5 hours in the suite, not that many people who would use this service would show up much earlier than that.
You get a discount per person the more people you add to your party. That pricing is available either on arrival or departure, though only for one or the other — so if you’re connecting you don’t get picked up and dropped off, for example.
Obviously that’s a lot of money to spend on a layover, and this isn’t something I’d always do. But I did figure it was worth it for the review. Furthermore, it’s worth acknowledging that this is one of the more reasonably priced airport VIP services out there, and the facility can’t be cheap to run.
For example, The Private Suite at LAX charges thousands of dollars for a similar service, though they do frequently offer discounts.
Dublin Airport Platinum Services booking process
You can book Platinum Services either by phone (+ 353 1 814 4895), email ([email protected]), or directly online.
I booked directly online, and the process was really easy. You just needed to enter some personal information (including passport details), as well as flight information.
Each booking needs to be manually approved, and within a couple of hours I received an email confirming my booking.
I should note that on my credit card this didn’t show up as a travel purchase (for the purpose of maximizing points), but rather showed up as “shopping.”
Getting to Platinum Services Dublin Airport
When my booking was confirmed, I was sent the following directions for getting to the Platinum Services terminal:
It was indeed pretty easy to find. I walked along the outside roadway, and when I got to the exterior of Terminal 1, I walked inside. The trick is that this isn’t actually the terminal, but rather is a building that leads to the terminal.
Dublin Airport Terminal 1
Then on the other side of that I saw the “real” entrance to Terminal 1, and to the side of that was a sign for Platinum Services.
Dublin Airport Terminal 1 exterior
Dublin Airport Platinum Services entrance
I simply walked right up to the door.
Dublin Airport Platinum Services entrance
Platinum Services Dublin Airport review
I pressed the buzzer at the entrance to the facility, and someone quickly ran up and opened the door for me. I love good Irish service, which to me consists of genuine hospitality from people who don’t take themselves too seriously (I mean that in a positive way, just to be clear). That perfectly sums up this place.
For example, at The Private Suite LAX they sort of act like your security detail rather than people who are welcoming you to their home. That’s fair enough, of course (they also have a different clientele), but it’s just interesting to note the difference in approach.
At the reception desk they just confirmed my booking, and within a few seconds I was escorted to my private room.
Dublin Airport Platinum Services reception
Platinum Services has a total of five private rooms, plus the “Presidential Suite.” All the rooms are along a corridor, and each room has frosted glass windows.
Dublin Airport Platinum Services private suites
I was assigned room #2, and as I was brought in, the sign was flipped to “occupied.”
Dublin Airport Platinum Services private suites
Platinum Services Dublin Airport my private suite
Wow, this is actually really nice! I had what looked like a huge living room all to myself, with four seats and a couch.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite seating
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite
Then there was a desk and TV along the wall.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite desk
The facility didn’t face much at all in the way of views.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite view
There was a selection of self serve food and drinks. This included a Nespresso machine, a tea selection, and a fridge with all kinds of drinks.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite coffee machine
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite tea selection
Drinks in the fridge included water, soft drinks, juice, and beer.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite drinks
Next to that was an area with magazines and newspapers, as well as a snack basket.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite newspapers & magazines
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private suite snacks
The friendly gentleman who greeted me asked for my passport so that he could handle check-in for me. I already had boarding passes, but they seem to get paper boarding passes for their guests, due to the logistics involved (you never see a gate agent, for example, so they need a paper boarding pass when they get you loaded onto the flight). If you have luggage to check they’ll take care of that as well, but I didn’t have any.
He also asked if he could get me anything to drink, and I ordered a coffee.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport coffee
I was presented with a menu with complimentary food.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport menu
The menu read as follows:
I decided to order the “Bee Keepers Breakfast” and a fruit plate, both of which were served within 10 minutes, and were tasty.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport breakfast
Service was extremely friendly. They checked on me about three times total, but otherwise left me alone and said “if you need anything at all, just press the buzzer.” There was free Wi-Fi in my room, so I spent my time working and making a couple of phone calls.
The one downside to these suites is that they don’t have private bathrooms. However, there are very clean bathrooms just down the hall, and they didn’t seem to be utilized much.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport bathrooms
Platinum Services Dublin Airport bathrooms
Platinum Services Dublin Airport bathrooms
My flight was at 10:40AM, and at around 9:30AM Brendan came by my suite to introduce himself and to say that he’d be driving me to my plane. He had gotten my boarding passes from the airline, and asked if I preferred to board first or last. He said that he’d probably pick me up at around 10:10AM, but would have an exact time closer to departure.
Sure enough, at around 10:10AM he told me it was time to go. I was escorted down the hall through a door, where there was a private security checkpoint. The security staff were friendly.
Interestingly we were then in a corridor in the terminal, but crossed to yet another door, to a Platinum Services room. I was asked if I wanted some water to go, and then was brought to the waiting car.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport escort to plane
Not a bad way to get to the plane, eh?
Platinum Services Dublin Airport private transfer
Platinum Services private transfer
Unfortunately I was flying TAP Air Portugal, and my A319 was one of the closest planes to the facility, so the drive was only about a minute.
When we pulled up to the plane he asked me to just sit there for a moment. This is because he had to run into the terminal to have my boarding pass scanned.
My TAP plane departing Dublin
My TAP plane departing Dublin
A minute later he said they were all ready to go, and he helped me with my bags and escorted me to the plane.
Platinum Services private transfer
Bye, Platinum Services (and hi, Etihad!).
Bye, car!
By the way, I should probably mention that if you use this service and are flying to the US, you’ll only be driven to the US Pre-Clearance facility. Due to the unique nature of that situation (you “enter” the US once you get through immigration), they can’t drive you to the plane.
Platinum Services Dublin Airport bottom line
Obviously this was a real treat, and I did this primarily for the review, as this would otherwise be tough to justify.
That being said, the Platinum Services experience exceeded my expectations. I had a huge private suite, the staff working there were incredibly friendly and unpretentious, the food selection was pretty good, and being driven to the plane in a BMW was cool as well (I’m just sad I wasn’t flying Ryanair — that would have been an even better contrast).
Obviously this is still a lot of money to spend, but if you’re either loaded or looking to splurge, I really recommend this. It’s the most reasonably priced airport private terminal with chauffeur service that I know of (taking out of the equation the services that are included with some first class tickets, like the Lufthansa First Class Terminal).
I should also mention that Dublin Airport Terminal 1 in summer is an absolute sh*t show given that it’s all leisure travelers going on holiday, so the fact that I got to avoid that hustle-and-bustle was another perk.
FYI, those menu items marked with ‘Dublin Airport honey’, Dublin Airport has its own beehives that produce this honey so the name is literal. They also have a bug hotel to help with pollination and pest control.
https://www.dublinairport.com/latest-news/2019/05/31/dublin-airport-bees-produce-their-first-crop-of-honey
Ben - what are the tipping procedures, if any?
Very similar to AMS Schiphol VIP service. Schipol is somwhere around €400 after tax if I remember correct. Thats for transfer service with pick up and delivery from/to aircraft. They use Audi A8 if I remember correct.
Expensive but saves hassle and walking. Worth it if you have the bucks. You made a comment about LH's F Terminal at FRA. You said only some LH F ticket holders can use it. Could you expound on it please.
I used the service a couple years ago when I was in for an event in Dublin. They offered a discount and I think I only paid 125 Euro inclusive of VAT. I was in room #1. ;->
@Tom you can order alcohol from the server and, in fact, they were quite insistent that I try the local whiskey even though it was barely 6am.
I agree that it's a great service and since...
I used the service a couple years ago when I was in for an event in Dublin. They offered a discount and I think I only paid 125 Euro inclusive of VAT. I was in room #1. ;->
@Tom you can order alcohol from the server and, in fact, they were quite insistent that I try the local whiskey even though it was barely 6am.
I agree that it's a great service and since I was not flying an airline with an arrival facility in Dublin, it was perfect to have a shower and breakfast knowing my hotel room wouldn't be available for hours. On arrival I think it's WELL worth the service. For departure, it is a nice perk, but harder to justify the money.
They were pretty funny when they learned that I hadn't pre-booked a car. I think they thought a taxi was pretty low rent, but they called one anyway.
I am looking forward to trying this! @Ben, I recently flew home from Prague via the private terminal to board a Ryan Air flight. We had a 3 hour delay which meant bonus time in the terminal.
We were last arrive at the plane on a far remote stand (typical Ryan Air), boarding was only half complete. You don't half get some odd looks, probably of disappointment when it turns out it was a pair...
I am looking forward to trying this! @Ben, I recently flew home from Prague via the private terminal to board a Ryan Air flight. We had a 3 hour delay which meant bonus time in the terminal.
We were last arrive at the plane on a far remote stand (typical Ryan Air), boarding was only half complete. You don't half get some odd looks, probably of disappointment when it turns out it was a pair of mere mortals who just have a massive dislike for airports.
FYI, in Prague the cost also includes collection from your hotel which is a bonus.
Were those cans of beer in the fridge the only alcohol available?
Try VIP club Continental at PRG. Much nicer and you get free transfer from/to the airport as well
@DXB
Ben (Lucky) rarely swears so he must feel very strongly about T1.
I last used T1 in April, it has improved massively but the gates for BA flights are dreadful (the 200 gates now, and I think Pier A back in the days of just one terminal at DUB)., long walk and nothing to do if you're delayed.
Bit unfair calling T1 a shitshow!
Consistently exceptionally quick security times, I went through over the weekend, the busiest of the year and was through security in 5 mins at peak time, had a minimal queue for food and found a restaurant table with an airside view without hassle.
It is busy, but that doesn't make it a shitshow!
@ Hepworth
Ha! But no underwear and socks clearly
Sounds similar to the VIP Terminal service at Abu Dhabi Airport.
@theluxurytraveler - we’re all also dying to know whose belt you were wearing.
I'm confused. The thing labeled as "Trout" on the breakfast menu says it is made with smoked salmon? This seems a bit fishy.
I’ve used this service upon arrival in Dublin from the US. It’s hard to beat. They pick you up at the gate, drive you over to Terminal 1 (all flights from the US arrive at T2), use a private immigration lane, and then escort you to your suite. The service is outstanding - familiar yet somewhat formal. On arrival at the suite, they had Hertz bring my rental car to their private parking area, while...
I’ve used this service upon arrival in Dublin from the US. It’s hard to beat. They pick you up at the gate, drive you over to Terminal 1 (all flights from the US arrive at T2), use a private immigration lane, and then escort you to your suite. The service is outstanding - familiar yet somewhat formal. On arrival at the suite, they had Hertz bring my rental car to their private parking area, while I sipped a latte and contemplated munching on some Tayto’s. Their team retrieved my bags from baggage claim and loaded them into the car and - get this! - refused a tip because, in their own words, “ah, sure, it’s all part of the service!”
For the price, this service is impossible to beat.
This seems ideal for actual VIP's who need privacy.... not your typical business or leisure traveler IMO. Enjoy the rest of your trip.
All Irish airports are pretty rubbish in summer. I try to avoid going to see my folks in Cork in the peak of summer as the trip back through ORK is unpleasant due to the crowds of once a year travellers, who don’t understand you have to take liquids out of your bag.
I mean, ORK isn’t that big so it may only be a 20 minute wait through security as opposed to 2 minutes,...
All Irish airports are pretty rubbish in summer. I try to avoid going to see my folks in Cork in the peak of summer as the trip back through ORK is unpleasant due to the crowds of once a year travellers, who don’t understand you have to take liquids out of your bag.
I mean, ORK isn’t that big so it may only be a 20 minute wait through security as opposed to 2 minutes, but still...it frustrates me when people who don’t have a clue slow everything down.
One question- if there was a Nespresso machine in the room why did you order a coffee to be brought to the room?
That is a tiny couch for such a big room.
Hi Ben, great review, thanks! I assume this is not available for flights to the US due to preclearance?
@ Eric -- It is available, but you just get driven to the US Pre-Clearance facility, rather than being driven to the plane.
Do you know if they have a dedicated line for the US pre clearance. Seems expensive just to be dumped into the regular pre clearance zoo