Britishaussie

Hi, my family (hubby, me, child and infant) are thinking of travelling to Brisbane on 4 August with Emirates, via Dubai from Birmingham. Unfortunately, the only flight available gets into Dubai at 11.50 p.m. and doesn't leave till 8.45 a.m. the following morning. That's the best part of a night.
What on earth are we going to do at Dubai airport till then? I wouldn't mind so much but we have a 5 year old and a baby who will be 4 months old and need to be in a buggy so he can sleep. Do they give us the buggy back when we disembark at Dubai or do they transfer it over with the rest of the luggage without us seeing it??? Are there facilities for us to rest or do we have to go 1st/business class to get that?
Sorry for the panicky questions but this transfer time does seem a little ridiculous. Even if we went from Manchester, the transfer times are better on the way out but the same 8 hour wait coming back in. Any help would be appreciated before we book anything.
PS: We have to go in August because (a) it's school holiday time and (b) we need to go before 1 September because it's a condition of hubby's visa.

swissfabs

Hey there, didnt Emirates set u up a hotel for the nite? they usually do that. my friend flew to Dubai on his way back to OZ and he had a hotel for the nite. It was all organised with his ticket...

fabie

Pollyana

I spent 10 hours stuck in Dubai airport when our aircraft had tech problems. They left the whole plane-load to fend for themselves as a scheduled 2 hour stop grew longer and longer.
I believe Dubai airport is better now, but at that time, in 2000, there were only hard seats, no restaurants open over night, no bars at all. I spent an uncomfortable night huddled in a corner clutching a bottle of duty-free Martini (cheap and alcoholic!) and my luggage tied to my legs after some git with a towel round hiw head tried to swipe my rucksack. Being a white woman trvaelling alone I was made to feel very inferior and very vulnerable by all the airport and airline staff.
.....and some people ask why i'll never fly Emirates again......

(oops, hope I haven't paniked you, they tell me the airport really is much better now, but I don't intend to find out.)

marco121068

Have you thought about checking into a hotel?

Dubai Airport Hotels

Haven't looked into the costs - but it would certainly beat staying overnight at the airport (and then cooped up on a plance for another 10 hours or so).

OzTennis

We've changed at Dubai 10 or 12 times (5 or 6 flights x both ways) flying from Manchester and Glasgow to Melbourne. Each time we have had just over a 4 hours wait. Granted we haven't had children in tow but we haven't had a problem filling in this amount of time - best duty free I've come across, plus a bit of a walk around and a freshen up etc.

We've been using Emirates since before 2000 and not had a problem at all in Dubai airport or with Emirates but others may have had different experiences!

For this amount of time and with young children I would agree with the book into a hotel at the airport suggestion.

OzTennis

MarkO'G

Hi,

We just passed through Dubai Airport a couple of weeks ago on our validation trip. I do not think you will be able to retreive your own buggy. However, Emirates have a customer serice area that has loads of buggies which you can use and then just leave them with the Airline staff as you board the Plane.

Also, check the Emirates website, I am sure there are details of a transit hotel you can book into.

Hope this helps


Mark

Britishaussie

Thanks everyone - we haven't booked the tickets yet so will ask then if they can do the hotel thing. If they have buggies for hire that's great.
Pollyanna - I knew about your bad experience already so no, you haven't frightened me unnecessarily! From what others say it's much improved now, but I can't believe it was so bad so recently.

NAC

My parents flew via Dubai last year and they said it was very very busy. They struggled to find any seats to sit on! we were going to go via Dubai with emirates and found that you can rent a room in the airport hotel and pay per hour that you need it.

Carolyn

chaval

Think you'll find that if your connections are 7hrs apart Emirates give you a free hotel for the night...We went last year and the agent didnt tell us this. When we we're at brum airport I asked the emirates desk what I could do in dubia airport for 8 hrs and they said "oh...didnt you know you get a hotel"...they sorted it there an then...hotel room was excellent

Pollyana

Back in the days of my horrednous flight they couldn't give us coffee, never mind a room!

Having posted my Emirates/Dubai experience so often, I am used to people saying its better now. Tonight I was browsing another site, looking for info for someone, and came across this - dated 23/5/05

"Transited DXB on flight from Manchester to Perth W.A.. Aircraft unloaded apparently miles from anywhere. Coach transfer to terminal held up in a series of ground-traffic queues (inexplicable as it was the middle of the night) which resulted in a 20-minute journey, most passengers standing tightly-packed, and thus pretty uncomfortable after a 7 1/2 hour flight. Surely it can't be that difficult to find a conventional pier for a large, inter-continental aircraft (A330) in the middle of the night. Large queues at the X-ray machine with a scowling, curt individual who seemed to be running things. He required the removal of shoes and belts from so many people in front of me, I actually removed mine in anticipation and to save time. We all understand (and welcome) the need for security but transit passengers have already been comprehensively screened and there needs to be a balance. A spot of cheerfulness and a friendly face also would not go amiss in order to mitigate the worst effects of the inevitable delays caused in these circumstances. My visit to DXB was a disappointment. First, I found signing poor ( I eventually asked a shopkeeper which terminal I was in). The toilets seemed few in number with such long queues in the ladies' that we sought out McDonald's to see if they might have a separate ladies' toilet (they did not). The Costa coffee outlet was the most obvious place to get a drink but it was full, often with people not drinking but compensating for the fact that seating seems in short supply at DXB. There did not seem to be other outlets specifically devoted to the service of a hot drink. The food hall was small and not a patch on many other international airports. There were sleeping bodies on the floor everywhere along the route to the gates which I thought gave the place a squalid feel. The Terminal was light and cheerful with a good selection of duty-free shops, etc. (Singapore is infinitely better though). But what is the large, flying-saucer thing hanging from the ceiling? It looks cheap, dated and irrelevant. I know that DXB is undergoing a major expansion programme but it needs to think carefully about its existing service, standards and facilities at the same time. MAN-PER is a route I fly once or twice a year. I shall try to make my future stops at Singapore. "

Sounds familiar..................


http://www.airlinequality.com/Airports/Airport_forum/

HugoB

Hi, we flew with Emirates via Dubain in April with a 2 yr old - from Heathrow we took the night flight (departs about 20.30) and arrived in Dubai around 06.30, therabouts, it was only an hour or so wait to reboard, but we were going to Brisbane. We wre able to collect our buggy as we got off and the airport was really quiet. However, coming back the other way (from Perth) our buggy was taken and did not get it back until Heathrow! No idea why they couldn't do the same that way! Again, only an hour wait to reboard at the same time in the morning, but this time the airport was really really bunged, with long queues in the tiolets and not many seats to sit on!
Haven't decided who to fly with or route next time we do it (and will have a baby then too), but seriously considering a night or two in a hotel en route to break it up.
Hope it goes well for you!
HB x

bjbrian

Well, as for the 8 hours this is unfortunate. I think you may be able to get a room, and you need to check the options direct with the VERY helpful people at Emirates. Their staff are the best..
As for Emirates themselves I think they are one of THE best airlines in the world, and I say this even though I was on a failed flight on the way back which had an aborted take off out of Singapore, and resulting long delay.
Whilst the delay was very anoying, when they realised the plane was not going anywhere they put us up in a nice hotel including meals and all before putting on a new flight the following morning to Dubai where (naturally) everybodys connections had been missed. However they had this organised as well, and whilst this meant another 8 hours in a hotel it was all seamless.
Having had problems with other airlines before I was impressed.
Maybe I was lucky but this thread was starting to sound like a slag Emirates, so this should even things up a bit.

Brian.