Mary Maguire got in touch about her family's stressful experience going through airport security
On Sunday, July 20th, we arrived at Dublin Airport at 7.30am to check in for a flight to New York. As we had checked in online we dropped off our luggage and went to the security area.
There were three of us: my husband, my 17-year-old son and myself. My husband was first through security. I had a large crystal vase in my hand luggage, so my bag was opened and checked: no problem. My son came through behind me, then we gathered our belongings from the X-ray trays and went on our way.
About 10 minutes later my son realised that he did not have his watch. Security staff had asked him to put it through the scanner with his hand luggage. We went back to the security desk, but they did not have it. We checked everywhere, but there was no sign of the watch.
My husband asked why our son had been asked to remove his watch even though we had not. If you are asked to take it off, we were told, you do so.
We checked all our hand luggage, just in case, and I asked about the lost-property procedure. The staff offered to take my name and said we could check with lost property on our way back from New York, which sounded unrealistic.
Then a garda arrived. While we were explaining what had happened, a woman coming through security asked who owned a watch in her tray.
This was my son's watch. We were so glad to get it back, as no one likes hassle at the start of their holidays.