Dublin Airport makes a vital save through power of social media

Richard Delaney of Dublin Airport Police handed the three lost tickets to Ronan Davis (centre) who delivered them to his friend Damian Coughlan in Poland

EUROPE. An unfortunate Irish football fan’s blushes were spared last Friday thanks to the action of staff at Dublin Airport and the power of social media.

The Moodie Report yesterday unveiled the world’s first airport-specific digital, mobile and social media awards, dubbed “˜The Moodies’. They will cover airports overall, airport travel retail and airport food & beverage.

Ireland football supporter Damian Coughlan from Dublin was on his way to the Euro 2012 finals in Poland on Friday morning when he inadvertently left his match tickets in the Champion Sports outlet in Dublin Airport’s Terminal 1.

Coughlan was buying an Irish flag at the time and mistakenly left his tickets for Ireland’s three group games – against Croatia, Spain and Italy – on the counter. A Champion Sports employee found the tickets and contacted Dublin Airport police.

The tickets had the name Oliver Coughlan on them, as Damian had purchased them on his father’s credit card. Oliver Coughlan’s name was called over the Dublin Airport PA system several times but there was no response. Unaware, Damian Coughlan boarded his flight for the Polish city of Szczecin.

Details of the lost tickets were put on Champion Sports’ Facebook page and were tweeted by Dublin Airport, which has more than 21,000 followers on Twitter. The story went viral and Oliver Coughlan was soon trending on Twitter. Media outlets quickly picked up on the story and it was broadcast on national television and radio in Ireland.

Fortunately, Damian’s mother was alerted to her son’s missing tickets and contacted Dublin Airport police on Friday afternoon. Damian’s friend Ronan Davis, who was flying to Poland later on Friday, collected the tickets from Dublin Airport and returned them to Damian later that day.

“Dublin Airport Authority was delighted to have been able to help re-unite Damian with his missing tickets,” said DAA Public Affairs Director Paul O’Kane.

“This story shows the power of social media and we’d like to thank everyone who tweeted and re-tweeted information about the missing tickets, and the media who helped publicise the hunt for their rightful owner. I talked to Damian on Friday afternoon and he was thrilled that we had managed to get his tickets back to him.”

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