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Who doesn't want to get from point A to point B with as little fuss as possible? Alamy Stock Photo

Are you an 'airport dad'?

Most people know an ‘airport dad’ – and if you don’t, it’s probably you.

In yesterday’s Voices piece, Niamh O’Reilly explains the importance of ‘airport dads’ and suggests that everyone should have one in their life.

The term ‘airport dad’ has recently taken off on social media as clips, often filmed by the children of the ‘airport dad’, continue to appear on TikTok.

Some defining traits of an ‘airport dad’ include having suitcases lined up by the door the night before, arriving at the airport hours ahead of schedule (ideally before check-in opens), along with checking (and rechecking) travel documents. And, of course, they are in charge of keeping the passports safe.

You don’t have to be an actual father to assume the position of the ‘airport dad’. Anyone – regardless of age, gender, or relation to the travel group – can embrace the role.

So, tell us: Are you an ‘airport dad’?


Poll Results:

Yes – it's one of my main personality traits (1960)
I have a bit of an 'airport dad' streak in me (1887)
Not at all – I leave that all to someone else (997)
It depends who I'm travelling with (836)

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48 Comments
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    Mute Phuqaigh MacYu
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:46 PM

    Are you an ‘Airport Spa’?
    Do you wait until you’re at the electronic scanner to start looking for your boarding pass?
    Do you wait until you’re at the security checkpoint to start looking for your liquids/electronics/to take your belt off/empty your pockets?
    Do you stand in the aircraft aisle while other people are trying to board?

    329
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    Mute Alan Kennedy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:57 PM

    @Phuqaigh MacYu: Yeah that’s me! Meant to fly out to Tahiti for a month but forgot to book the hotel and the flights, and I’ve no passport! Silly me!

    20
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    Mute Alan OConnor
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:06 PM

    @Phuqaigh MacYu: the third group shouldn’t be let out on their own. Never mind on a plane.

    30
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    Mute S Suilleabhain
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:09 PM

    @Phuqaigh MacYu: a real airport spa does all that and holds people up every chance, not saying thanks when you let them pass you on narrow boeng 737s when English is obviously their first language. The rest are just amateurs

    17
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    Mute Rafa C
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:19 PM

    @Phuqaigh MacYu: Are you the one that lets the kid play baby shark for 4 hours without headphones. Or any sort of device for 4 hours without headphones.

    28
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    Mute Phuqaigh MacYu
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    Jul 15th 2025, 2:24 PM

    Do you start dressing yourself at the security equipment conveyor belt instead of grabbing the tray and going to one of the tables put there for that purpose?
    Eejits.

    19
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    Mute Donna Fallon
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    Jul 15th 2025, 3:07 PM

    @Phuqaigh MacYu: Don’t get me started… I read this article for a different reason which was basically ‘would you ever get a grip??’ However, your comment has just brought back some serious memories. I used to be a frequent flier for a previous career. It was incredulous how many people queue in security shocked being asked to remove their jewellery, cosmetics, belts etc. Like WTF have they never been in an airport before?! Almost missed flights due to the delays. I’d be seriously stressed (and probably arrested) working on those belts.

    8
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    Mute S Suilleabhain
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    Jul 15th 2025, 4:19 PM

    @Child of Drague -Dey\Dem: creatures. Loneliness can often be an explainer … With many others I’ve known over the years, they’re not just nice people.

    1
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    Mute S Suilleabhain
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:07 PM

    How many stabbings is that in Dublin city this year alone ?! It has to be a new record. Comments not allowed, can’t have people discussing it

    99
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    Mute John Paul
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:46 PM

    @S Suilleabhain: Plenty of stabbings and violence all across the country….but but but Dublin.

    13
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    Mute John Paul
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:47 PM

    @S Suilleabhain: Plenty of violent acts across the country but but but Dublin.

    6
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    Mute S Suilleabhain
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    Jul 15th 2025, 4:16 PM

    @John Paul: in case it wasn’t extremely obvious you borderline troll, the stabbing has TAKEN PLACE IN DUBLIN. Had it happened in Sligo like those two gay men a few years ago who were butchered (not stabbed), then I would have said that place.

    24
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    Mute Jonny Dun
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    Jul 15th 2025, 5:39 PM

    @S Suilleabhain: it’s a big city, stabbings happen, as they do elsewhere, and they are usually done by gurriers to other gurriers.

    1
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    Mute Rafa C
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:10 PM

    I’m a person that bring the family to the airport without making a song and dance about it.

    Go to airport. Get on plane. It’s not quantum physics.

    75
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    Mute AnthonyK
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:51 PM

    Being that organised is more a female thing. Most men, I suspect, are not so organised. My partner does this, everything organised to the nth degree. I just show.

    67
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    Mute Shivers
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:41 PM

    Hate the term but
    Fail to prepare….
    Prepare to fail.

    56
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    Mute William Tallon
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    Jul 15th 2025, 2:01 PM

    @Shivers: Ah, but no matter how much you prepare, you must always expect the unexpected! “No plan of operations extends with any certainty beyond the first encounter with the main enemy forces…” Helmuth von Moltke (1871) or to put it another way, as Murphy’s Law states, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong…” especially when it comes to travelling…

    5
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    Mute j m m
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:32 PM

    Genzer A: kinda need to abbreviate a term for someone who can pull all our ś#*t together to compensate for our generational complacency!
    Genzer B: uhhh… you mean like a “airport dad”?
    Genzer A: omg Lacey! You’ve nailed it… get this ś#*t up on tik toc now to make it …like, official n stuff!

    70
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    Mute honey badger
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:44 PM

    Can you run a poll on just how cringe the video of Mary Lou singing on screen opening for the Wolfe tones was?
    Thanks in advance.

    38
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    Mute Focal Cliste
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:53 PM

    @honey badger:
    Did you find MLMcD’s singing:
    A: Woeful
    B: Opportunistic
    C: Patronising
    D: All of the above.

    22
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    Mute Elliot Alderson
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:54 PM

    @honey badger: Can you run a poll to see how cringe Loyalists Bonfires are ?

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    Mute honey badger
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:55 PM

    @Focal Cliste: Perfect! Let’s hope they run with it.

    4
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 12:59 PM

    @honey badger: Could they do a poll on how many profiles Brendan O’Brien has?

    9
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    Mute Elliot Alderson
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:02 PM

    @Barry Murphy: Should run a poll why Zionists and Genocide supporter’s like Badger dislike Brendan !

    81
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    Mute Elliot Alderson
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:05 PM

    @honey badger: “Taoiseach calls Israel’s ‘humanitarian city’ plan for Gaza a ‘concentration camp idea’”.. now you’ll have to disagree with Michael Martin too.

    73
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:11 PM

    @Elliot Alderson: I’ve never saw a comment from Badger which suggests he supports genocide. I’ve read his comments which suggests he supports democracy in the middle east, he supports the right for Israel to defend itself but I have most importantly not witnessed any comment of his calling for the genocide of Gazans. Please prove me wrong if you can.

    11
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:15 PM

    @Elliot Alderson: I’d imagine most people that know Brendan tolerate him, and definitely dislike him.

    6
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    Mute Elliot Alderson
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:26 PM

    @Barry Murphy: I suppose you would. I don’t agree with everything Brendan says but I certainly don’t dislike him. Maga heads and the resident trolls dislike Bren, the pro Israel camp also dislike Brendan. I dislike Badger and his ilk big time.though.

    65
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:26 PM

    @Elliot Alderson: Maybe you should ask Michael Martin if the Irish taxpayer ever bailed out the banks after the recession? Are you sure it’s him you want speaking on behalf of this nation? A spoofer of the highest pedigree.

    8
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    Mute Elliot Alderson
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:30 PM

    @Barry Murphy: Doesn’t make him wrong about the facist far-right Gov of Israel though.
    Now I’m finished me smoke and going back to work.. enjoy your day on the Journal ..

    60
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    Mute Thomas O'Brien
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    Jul 15th 2025, 2:34 PM

    @Focal Cliste:
    All of the above.

    1
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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Jul 15th 2025, 2:39 PM

    @Barry Murphy: I’m happy to prove you wrong and prove Honey Badger supports genocide. Honey badger has stated more than once that those who sit in silence and fail to condemn Putin or Russia for their invasion of Ukraine are defacto pro Putin and support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. So by Honey badgers own logic by sitting in silence and not condemning Israel for killing tens of thousands of kids and slaughtering civilians at aid station he is defacto supporting Israelis genocide of the Palestinian people. He cannot have it both ways. Until he condemns Israel’s actions he is supporting them by his own logic.

    44
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    Mute Brendan O'Brien
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    Jul 15th 2025, 2:48 PM

    @Ger Whelan: He’s too coy to support Israel’s genocide explicitly: he just argues with any and every condemnation of it, which amounts to the same thing.

    He never answers a straight question about Israel’s misdeeds: he always deflects and tries to muddy the water.

    41
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 3:01 PM

    @Ger Whelan: I take your point on board Ger. I was simply replying to another poster that I’ve yet to read a comment of his supporting genocide in Gaza. Regarding your point on Ukraine, I would agree he is alot more vocal on Russias aggression. Personally I don’t think either war is comparable, Russia attacked a sovereign nation, I understand a great deal about the history of Israel and the troubles with its neighbours, the annexing of land etc..but hamas poked a sleeping bear and look at the end results. I’m anti war, anti genocide, I’m not an Israel or Trump advocate but some posters have to understand that everyone should be entitled to their opinion on a public forum without being labelled and subjected to abuse, especially from those that claim to be liberal and support free speech.

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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Jul 15th 2025, 3:27 PM

    @Barry Murphy: Hamas didn’t poke a “sleeping bear”. The “sleeping bear” army illegally entered Gaza on several occasions killing innocent men, women and children and taking hostages prior to the October 7th attack on Israel. Why is it for people like yourself when the IDF illegally enters Gaza and kills and takes hostages it’s ok, but when hamas illegally enter Israel to kill and take hostages it’s a declaration of war. Why does the IDF get a free pass to do as it wished. honey badger says this war will end when hamas surrender and releases the hostages, that’s despite the Israel government now saying the war will only end when it moves all Palestinians into a ” safe city”,

    33
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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Jul 15th 2025, 3:28 PM

    @Ger Whelan: sorry Humanitarian city not safe city

    29
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 4:51 PM

    @Ger Whelan: You’re taking my comment out of context, I am not defending the IDF in any way, shape or form, and I’m fully aware of the past regarding the IDF’s dealings with the Palestinian population, I am simply making the point that Hamas attacking and slaughtering over 1200 innocent civilians, babies included, was only ever going to result in one outcome which as we’ve witnessed, is a barrage of bombs and complete devastation on Gaza. You and I agreed a while back that we don’t agree with Russian sanctions, does that make us pro Russia? I’ve commented on numerous articles that I’m pro controlled immigration and I’ve been labelled far right and racist. Posters here constantly jump to conclusions without seeing the logic, it’s another form of censorship.

    1
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 5:02 PM

    @Ger Whelan: “Why is it for people like yourself….” What people is that Ger? Are you another person that has categorised me for sharing a different opinion than yours? Would that not be hypocritical of you considering your conversation with Brendan O’Brien earlier, as he labelled you a troll which obviously had an effect on you, as you have reminded him on multiple occasions (his words). You can’t debate with fools, which is a sizeable amount of posters here. Label, censor, then block is the tactic for dealing with critical thinking!

    1
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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Jul 15th 2025, 7:13 PM

    @Barry Murphy: yes people like you who ignore the fact that Israel were entering Gaza killing and taking hostages long before October the 7th attacks. You called Israel the “sleeping bear”, the fact is it wasn’t sleeping it was still killing innocent people. Can I ask you before the October 7th attacks would you have considered any of the illegal invasions into Gaza by the IDF where they killed innocent Palestine’s and took hostages a declaration of war by Israel on the people of Gaza?

    16
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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Jul 15th 2025, 7:16 PM

    @Ger Whelan: Also one more question. Let’s say hypothetically NATO didn’t back Ukraine and Russia took it over. Would you expect the Ukrainian people to accept Russia had conquered it and live in harmony with the russian invaders or would you expect them to fight back by any means necessary to defeat the invaders?

    8
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    Mute Barry Murphy
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    Jul 15th 2025, 9:54 PM

    @Ger Whelan: People like you ignore the fact that genocide is being carried out in numerous parts of the globe, there’s atrocities being carried out that you and your ilk willfully ignore. Let’s make an example of Israel and ignore Saudi Arabia! Why? Because inflation would sky rocket with sanctions on Saudi. How about the detention camps set up by the Chinese to convert their Muslim population, nothing to say about that? Yet again the world would come to a stand still without China’s products. All people like you do is virtue signal, you think you have the moral high ground because you bang on about Gaza. In reality all you are is a hypocrite. I made my views clear on numerous articles and I don’t need approval off the likes of you to submit them. Now trot along on your high horse.

    1
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    Mute Ger Whelan
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    Jul 15th 2025, 10:38 PM

    @Barry Murphy: I’ve never ignored Saudi Arabia. I’ve brought it up many times. Whe I have questioned why Ireland buys Saudi oil when the are committing the same crimes as Russia, I get told it’s whataboutry. So swing and miss pal. Also when have you ever mentioned, Saudi or china etc before now? Your only bringing them up now as you refuse to admit Israel was invading Gaza and killing people long before October 7th. I’ve never pretended to be on a high horse, but unlike yourself I don’t look away when a countrys commits atrocities. You carry on crying now lad. Feel free to change the subject of the conversation again before your afraid to call out Israel.

    1
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    Mute David Guiney
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    Jul 15th 2025, 3:10 PM

    I am an airport dad, and the missus id the complete opposite which always leads to tension before going to the airport

    13
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    Mute The Firestarter
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    Jul 15th 2025, 1:32 PM

    I do like to make sure we’re not rushing, although I do also like a few bevvies before takeoff.

    7
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    Mute David Guiney
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    Jul 15th 2025, 3:12 PM

    @The Firestarter: There are certain parts of the world where pints are extra yummy. Your local at the height of Christmas; A warm day by the sea; Preflight pints at the airport.

    15
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    Mute Ciaran Enright
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    Jul 16th 2025, 9:40 AM

    The last connecting flight we were due to take was boarding while we were still at 1500′. And we made it. Beat that!

    1
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