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I'm a dumb, naive 20-something year old Australian travelling to the US just after Christmas. My most affordable ticket options include a short stopover in Dubai International airport. I have no idea what to expect, and my girlfriend is vehement that I should book a more expensive flight that bypasses non-American stopovers (ie. Australia to Los Angeles or Houston). I really don't see a problem with Dubai, but I don't want to spend 3 weeks with an angry girlfriend during what should be an amazing trip. Basically, any insight into the airport itself, yes/no opinions on whether or not to change the stopover?
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Sep 13, 2016 03:37
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 22:06 |
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Tell your girlfriend to pump her brakes. Dubai is a great airport. Everything is ultra modern and clean. Probably one of my favorite airports in the world to get stuck on a layover at.
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Sep 13, 2016 04:09
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It is a surreal experience worth having at least once. That's going to be a crazy long trip though, see if you can manage an overnight layover so Emirates will put you in a free hotel.
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Sep 13, 2016 04:54
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Alpenglow posted:It is a surreal experience worth having at least once. That's going to be a crazy long trip though, see if you can manage an overnight layover so Emirates will put you in a free hotel. Depends on which side of the US he's going to. Since he mentions stopping in LAX or IAH for a possible layover I assume he's traveling to the East Coast. It's still a long flight but kind of a six of one, half dozen of the other thing. Emirates is a really nice airline, so I wouldn't worry about opting for a long layover. Certainly not by choice. However if you get stuck there for a bit, so be it. The terminal hotel is quite nice. With that said, there's plenty of lounges and sitting areas that can be used as beds and I've never felt unsafe there traveling by myself. Take the cheap flight through DXB and enjoy the vacation with your girlfriend.
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Sep 13, 2016 06:02
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Yeah, spending New Year's in Massachusetts with my girlfriend and the in-laws. I'm looking at 30-odd hours of travel each way so an overnight probably wouldn't be too bad, but my girlfriend's almost certain that I'm going to get stolen because it's a huge place and I am a 120 pound white girl travelling across the world, on my own for the first time
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Sep 13, 2016 07:12
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Everything there will be in English, and everyone working there will speak fluent English, for what it's worth.
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Sep 13, 2016 08:13
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Everything will be fine with connecting in Dubai, Emirates have built up an entire business based on connecting people in their Dubai hub and deal with people from all over the world on a daily basis. A 120lb white girl is as normal as it gets for them.
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Sep 15, 2016 00:10
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Yeah, I'm late to the party here but honestly you will be 100% fine in Dubai airport, even as a first-time female solo traveller. All the announcements are in English and French, and all of the signs are in English and Arabic, so you'll have absolutely no trouble getting around. And since Emirates fly to pretty much everywhere in the world, it feels like you're at a UN conference or something - standing in line for coffee with fat Americans, bogan Aussies, Afghans in robes, Africans in traditional dress. I remember at one point Emirates would offer a free night in an airport hotel if you had an overnight layover of more than 8 hours, but I'm not sure if that's still the case. Though if it's only an 8 hour layover, I wouldn't bother since by the time you clear customs, immigration, wait for the shuttle, check in etc you're only going to get a couple of hours sleep before getting back up to go back to the airport. So yeah, go for Dubai. I've only been to a smattering of US airports but Dubai is nicer and more modern than all of them.
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Sep 15, 2016 04:19
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What exactly does your girlfriend think is going to happen to you in an ultra-modern, extremely safe airport like Dubai? Is it because there might be ~Arabs~ there or something?
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Sep 15, 2016 09:23
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I think it's worth a few hundred dollars to shave 10 or so hours off of what would otherwise be a 30-hour trip if you can. If there's not much of a time difference between the routes, then by all means go through Dubai. But when you're traveling so far, cost isn't the only thing to take into consideration. I've traveled from the US and Canada to Australia and its neighbors many times, and long trips with 2+ layovers really aren't pleasant. If the routes with American-only layovers are substantially shorter, they're worth considering.
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Sep 15, 2016 15:16
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Bardeh posted:What exactly does your girlfriend think is going to happen to you in an ultra-modern, extremely safe airport like Dubai? Is it because there might be ~Arabs~ there or something? I kinda think a woman might be concerned about her girlfriend spending any extended period of time in a country where homosexuality is punished by jail time or the death penalty. That said, the Dubai airport is great and for transit you don't have anything to worry about.
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Sep 16, 2016 22:05
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Notahippie posted:I kinda think a woman might be concerned about her girlfriend spending any extended period of time in a country where homosexuality is punished by jail time or the death penalty. Yeah that's fair enough, although if the OP is on her own and presumably not hooking up with strangers how would anyone know? But agreed that you will have no problems at Dubai airport.
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Sep 17, 2016 04:30
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Notahippie posted:I kinda think a woman might be concerned about her girlfriend spending any extended period of time in a country where homosexuality is punished by jail time or the death penalty. This exactly. Anyways, plans have changed and I'm no longer going through Dubai but thank you all for you input.
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Sep 17, 2016 07:39
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A bunch of my colleagues just flew Emirates through Dubai and got screwed by Emirates being assholes in their Dubai hub. A typhoon at their destination kept them from taking off out of Dubai for 10 hours, but Emirates kept telling them it was a 4 hour delay every hour for the first 6 hours (since their policy is to give you a hotel room for a 5+ hour delay). Also most of them weren't able to leave the airport as they didn't have visas for the UAE. I don't think any of them will fly Emirates again when work is paying for the ticket.
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Sep 27, 2016 15:00
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| # ? Apr 24, 2024 22:06 |
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Not that it helps any (and I'm way late on this), but Emirates' transit hotel is actually outside of the airport - you have to go through immigration to get there. Assuming Emirates knew they wouldn't have been allowed into the UAE, that may have been why they kept refusing to put them up in a hotel?
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Oct 6, 2016 05:31
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