Dubai, Airport

Dubai Airport

Prior to our trip to Dubai in January 2011 I have only ever been to Dubai as a transit passenger and you cannot fail to be impressed with the opulence and grandeur of the place. However our recent experience at arrivals has dimmed this view somewhat.

ARRIVING:
We arrived on time and prepared to disembark down the stairs and onto buses. I am sure there were walkways before but maybe I was wrong. The buses were waiting and went off pretty quickly once full but there were no seats so disabled passengers or those with any mobility issues would struggle a bit as the bus ride was a good fifteen minutes across the airport.

We finally arrived at the airport and arrivals to Dubai went left while those in transit went right. As soon as we got into the airport there was a large number of strollers available for those with babies which was very handy as it was a VERY long walk and a even longer wait before you got to collect your luggage and probably your own stroller. There were plenty of huge lifts around or two long escalators which took us down into the arrivals hall and passport control. Some nationalities need a visa before they get to passport control and that can be bought at the airport but this is not made clear and plenty of people spent time in one queue to be sent to another to get their visa. If you have a UK passport then you don’t need a special visa you just get a visa stamp at passport control.

Anyway we came down the second escalator to see about 6 huge queues filing this hall and so we joined one of these. An hour or so later we made it though passport control and went on to collect our luggage. Luckily both our cases were there so that was one stress we didn’t have to deal with as by this time we were feeling pretty fed up. Standing in a queue for over an hour after an all night flight does not really make you feel full of the joys of travel!

We hadn’t been able to buy any water and we had not had a lot on the flight so I had a headache and we were both feeling tired and parched. Cases collected then though customs to see if we could find the person who was meant to meet us and take us to our hotel. We walked past the huge number of ‘meeters’ with names on boards and ours was not there. So my husband went back to have another look and this time a man leapt out and asked him if we were going to the Al Hamra Golf Resort. Yes! Great at least we were on the list.

We were sent to join a large group of people already waiting. We waited about another half hour while this man met others and moved us around and counted us then finally took 20 of us to a bus with our luggage leaving others behind for the next bus. It was total chaos but we got on the bus with the cases in a trailer behind and off we went to Ras Al Khaimah to our hotel which was about an hour away. On the way cars were hooting at us and the driver had to leap pout as the doors to the trailer had come open, luckily no cases had fallen out!

First impressions were not good and it had taken us just over two hours to get from the plane to the bus. The fact that the airport was huge, clean and state of the art is irrelevant when you have to stand in queues that long after a flight. All they needed was to put a few more staff on the desks and everyone would have been through in half the time.

DEPARTING

We arrived at the airport and were able to easily find the Emirates check in area. You had to use the self service check in machines and then take your printed boarding pass to the counter to check in your bags. As I had checked in on line on my iphone the day before it decided it would not print a boarding pass so we went to the desk anyway. No problems here and the lady checking us in was very pleasant.

Once checked in you then make your way to security which was also quite slick and neither of us set off any alarms so we moved into the huge departure area.

Once again I was quite disappointed. I remember palm trees and orchids on previous visits in the transit area but in the departure area they have split the airport horizontally so all the departure gates are on one side of a wall and all the shops on the other. This means that you either wander round the shops or sit in the departure area near your gate. You can’t easily get back and forth as there are not many breaks in the wall. So we sat looking at the planes or the blank wall once we had both had a quick look around.

Luckily there was free wifi so I got out my laptop and read a few reviews while my husband explored the options on the other side of the wall. The toilets were about 200yards down from our gate so it required quite a walk if you needed them but they were lovely and clean which is always a bonus. In fact throughout the tour we had pretty clean toilets and some were excellent in the malls.

About a hour before the time to depart they started moving people down to another departure gate down stairs. The announcements were very confusing but suffice to say we managed to cope and board the plane.

I was very disappointed with the parts of the airport we experienced this time. Entering Dubai was a real hassle with passport security taking hours. The physical building is lovely, big, bright and airy but they need more staff to cut down the queuing time. Leaving was easier but I was really looking forward to spending time in nice shops and sitting in an area with something to see other than the other people on our flight or planes and the only way I to go around the huge wall and walk for miles up and down the area on the other side. We seemed to only have jewelers and toys around our area and I wanted the perfumes and local stuff to look at but I suppose it did save me spending any money.

So I am not sure if we were in a different part of the airport or if they have changed things but it certainly does not compare to Singapore, Bangkok or Hong Kong for interest in the areas we were in most recently. Things were more efficient on departure than on arrival but as it was awful on arrival it wouldn’t take much to better the experience.

A large airy airport with smart lists and lots of glossy pillars etc but they need more staff and leave seating areas amongst the shops rather than separating them.

Once again ignore the criteria as they are largely irrelevant for an airport.

Thanks for reading and this review may be posted on other sites under my same user name.

©Catsholiday