I may be worrying about nothing but just read the thread about unaccompanied 'excess' baggage. I am flying out from the UK in april bringing a mountain bike amongst other simple belongings. Is there an issue with 'excess baggage'??

As the flights to Dubai from the UK are full I have found that most airlines will charge you for any excess baggage.
BA charges LON to Dubai (DXB) £17.48 per kg of excess over the standard 23 kgs. If you are moving to dubai permanantly i guess you will take up all this standard allowance.
For unaccompanied baggage rates check out
http://www.excessbaggage.co.uk/

FYI these are rates from the above:
Heathrow or Gatwick Airport to Dubai Un-cleared +25kg £3.63 per kg, Door to Door+25kg £5.25 per kg, Express +25kg £6.27 per kg
Delivery times Express: 3-5 days, Discount/City: 7-10 days, Door to Door: 7-14 days

hi on-one. Welcome to the site.

Depending on the airline u are using, u will have different allowances. Although Emirates airlines has a 20Kg limit for economy class passengers, but they allow you to have a maximum of 28Kg's and anything above that means you get charged 20 quid for each extra kilogram.

Hope that helps. Enjoy the site.

Thanks Vimto - Interesting name..

Thanks Face - feel quite honoured to get a reply from the oracle himself. Been following the site for a few months... is it your full time job!?

might have a jar at the leaky dhow sometime - (it took me a couple of months to realise it was 'virtual')