What is the 51st and Green lounge at Dublin Airport for US flights like?

When flying out of Dublin, transatlantic passengers pass through US Preclearance, which is US security and immigration. After that, those with lounge access use the 51st and Green lounge to relax before flying.

I have only been here once before, as I tend to always have to fly via London to get across the pond. I’m happy to report that not much has changed in the intervening four years.

Entry and Seating

You need to walk all the way to the end of the terminal past all the gates to reach the lounge. On arrival, you are greeted at a desk by an attendant who scans you in. Business class passengers have access as part of their ticket, or you can pay €39 on arrival or €35 online in advance, according to the Dublin Airport website.

When I arrived, the lounge was absolutely heaving. That included a lady doing literally that, unobtrusively into a paper bag. With people everywhere I eventually found a seat at a table along the windows. Comfortable enough except for the sun shining in my face, but it was a small price to pay, really.

51st And Green Food And Drink

A barista slash bartender serves up coffee and alcoholic drinks. Alas, the cocktail menu has shrunk considerably since I was last here, to about five or six items that are simple and quick to make. You are ostensibly restricted to two alcoholic drinks here, but I don’t see how they can enforce it. Food, on the other hand, is self-service buffet style.

It was interesting to have not one but two Indian style dishes as the hot options, in Ireland at a lounge for predominantly Irish and American passengers. What I didn’t love was seeing one of them being replenished from a plastic measuring jug at one point.

The salad selection is quite good. For example, there was Roasted Italian penne pasta, grilled vegetables and Feta as one option, with another being Quinoa, roasted butternut squash, herb, lemon salad. Both were lovely as were the pitted black olives.

Those wanting sweets are not left out either. The Double chocolate fudge bake and the Chocolate Jaffa marble cake were both great, as of course were the donuts. All in all, it was a quite satisfactory offering food wise, I thought – and I did try a bit of virtually every single thing!

Overall Thoughts

This is one of the best lounges in Dublin Airport, if not the best. Having decent coffee, cocktails and drinks, fast Wi-Fi and a really nice outlook over the airport, not to mention the food, makes it all very pleasant. Cocktail wise I had a Mimosa, which is Prosecco and juice and keeping with the juice theme, a Screwdriver, which is a Vodka and orange.

The only downside is that the lounge was exceptionally busy. That meant not too many seats were free, people everywhere, plenty of dishes waiting for collection, crumbs on the floors and all the usual detritus of the well heeled messy passengers of the world. It did subside towards the end of my visit and to be fair, the people working there were doing their best.

Ultimately, I think it’s worth the €35 I paid to get in there. The alternative is sitting at the gates and in that part of the airport it’s also busy, quite cramped and not particularly welcoming. Buy access to this lounge when travelling if you don’t get in free, it’s worth it.

What do you think of the 51st and Green Lounge at Dublin Airport? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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