The couple are still awaiting a €11,862 holiday refund after the chaos at Dublin Airport

Excessive security queues resulted in passengers queuing outside both terminals and the couple missing their Aer Lingus flight from Dublin.

It meant they failed to board a cruise ship waiting for them in Barcelona and missed the £10,000 holiday.

“On June 1, we sent our vacation records and proof that we were at the airport, but we haven’t heard anything,” Ms McNeice explained.

“We didn’t even get anything back to say they received them.

“But we have the document tracker because we paid for signed delivery.”

The car service’s driver, Brendan, previously recalled arriving at 2:30 a.m. to beat the check-in line.

“It took us forever to get to the front of the line, then it took the girl another 40 minutes to attend to us,” he said.

“We then went straight to security and the queues between check-in and security were terrible.

“It took four hours. After that, we got stuck in an elevator for another 15 minutes when the doors would not open.”

The couple made it to the departure gate just in time to see the plane back up and take off without them.

They spent hours in another queue to see if another flight was available but eventually had to return home “with four kids crying their eyes out”.

“The whole airport was a joke,” Mr Kavanagh said.

Ms McNeice said she and her partner had no choice but to take the time off from work.

Now the qualified childminder fears that she will have to wait another year before she can enjoy a break.

“I had to take time off: I’m self-employed and had planned my work around the planned vacation,” explained Ms. McNeice.

“I ended up coming home and sitting in the house for a week.

“We haven’t rebooked anything, we’re just waiting to see what happens next. There is no other choice.

“Until then, we’ll have to wait until next summer for better weather.”

“We still don’t know if we’ll get any of the money back. We’re concerned,” Ms. McNeice said.

Mr Kavanagh said he had sent numerous emails to the airport.

“If we had the proverbial crystal ball, we would have waited until next year to travel,” he said.

“Any future vacation depends on us getting our money back.”

A Dublin Airport spokesman confirmed that the claim has been received and is currently under review.

“Dublin Airport recognizes this family’s bad experiences and struggles and confirmed this in our first correspondence on May 31,” she said.

“In order for us to further investigate your specific experience, we have requested that an investigation report form be completed and returned to us along with receipts for expenses incurred. We have received details of this claim.”

She said it is subject to due process and must be reviewed and approved before any payment is made.

“Sometimes this requires additional information or clarification, which increases the time required to resolve the claim,” she explained.

“However, Dublin Airport has put significant effort into this process to be as efficient as possible for affected passengers and as a result we will have resolved and closed 75 per cent of all claims by the middle of this month.

“Dublin Airport will be in touch again this week with the family concerned and will endeavor to complete the claim as soon as possible.”

Even if the couple manage to get their money back, they’ll be wary of using Dublin Airport for their next family vacation.

“If there was another option I wouldn’t fly from there,” Mr Kavanagh said.

“But it’s just bad at other airports.”