Shannon Airport (SNN)

Shannon Airport permits smoking only in designated outdoor areas. Smoking is completely banned inside the terminal building, including all lounges, gates, restaurants, and shops, in line with Irish national law. That said, smokers are not entirely out of luck: there are outdoor spots both before and after security.

Before Security

Landside, smoking is allowed in designated outdoor areas outside the front of the terminal building. These are standard outdoor zones with ashtrays or smoking bins, open to anyone before they pass through security. No specific signage or named area is documented in available sources, but they are located at the terminal entrance.

After Security

This is the more interesting detail for departing passengers. There is a designated smoking area airside, past security, located near the departures lounge and Duty Free area. You reach it by heading down a number of flights of stairs from the main departures floor. The area is outside but fenced off and reportedly covered, so you get some shelter from the elements. One traveler described it as feeling "a bit like a prison exercise yard" but confirmed it was functional and easy to find as of late 2017. An earlier report from October 2016 also confirmed the area was open and accessible.

The floor plan (image 1) shows the airside area with a circled zone near Gates 1-6, adjacent to the Duty Free shop and Sheridan Bar and Restaurant, which aligns with where the staircase access to the smoking area is located.

Vaping Rules

No specific information about vaping or e-cigarette rules at Shannon Airport is available from current sources. Irish law generally treats vaping in public enclosed spaces similarly to smoking, so it is safest to assume vaping is also restricted to the designated outdoor smoking areas.

Transit and Layovers

Passengers flying to the United States clear US preclearance at Shannon before boarding, which means they pass through a separate security and customs process. It is not confirmed whether the airside smoking area is accessible to US-bound passengers after preclearance, so plan to smoke before entering that zone if you are on a transatlantic departure.

Lounges

Two pay-per-use lounges operate airside at Shannon: the Burren Suite (adjacent to Gate 6, non-transatlantic passengers only) and the Boru Lounge (adjacent to Gate 7, departures lounge). Both accept walk-in payment and lounge membership programs such as Priority Pass. Neither source confirms a dedicated smoking area inside these lounges, so do not assume smoking access comes with lounge entry.

Bottom Line

You can smoke airside at Shannon by heading down the stairs near the Duty Free, but confirm the area is still open when you arrive, as traveler reports are from 2016-2017 and conditions may have changed.