Arrested in Abu Dhabi for exposing a disabled park thief?

[UP4014]

Re: Do travel agents stop and say "By the way you can be imprisoned if you kiss your

Really does make you wonder.

Has anyone who has used a travel agent to fly through Dubai been warned by the travel agent or simply told;

"You can fly through Singapore to London or through Dubai with Qantas (BA from Sing) but you can't kiss your boyfriend while stopping over at Dubai?"

for example?

Given the PC world we are supposed to be living in - I wonder why Q does not have a mandatory 'health warning' before you accept a flight via Dubai?

Especially a Travel Agent, by definition is acting as your agent and owes you a duty of care. So they should warn female travellers especially of the risks of leaving the airport in Dubai. If a female is 'sexually' assaulted - she is guilty and prosecuted.

Does not seem too much to expect for the TA to warn before you make the choice, especially if a single female traveler.

Lucky my daughter is going via Singapore (intentional routing by the way). Unaccompanied that is...

QF should give a warning, they give a link to the US ESTA site so the precedent is there to assist with info on foreign destinations . But I guess giving a warning might make people change their mind on using QF via the Middle East highlighting QF's poor choice of partners in the first place.

Matt

 

[Bandicoot]

I have a different surname and address to my husband. Guess I will have to pack an apostilled copy of our marriage certificate.

 

[Bandicoot]

As some people noted in this discussion they didn't realise some of the implications. Even after reading DFAT I didn't realise the issue with medications and I am a doctor, who is also on a range of essential medications. There does though seem to be a randomness about who gets into strife.

 

[Bandicoot]

Re: Do travel agents stop and say "By the way you can be imprisoned if you kiss your

Perhaps the airlines should warn passengers. Qantas just glossed over the fact that passengers are now routed through the Middle East, denying the legal risks.

 

[DrA]

Re: Do travel agents stop and say "By the way you can be imprisoned if you kiss your

Really does make you wonder.

Has anyone who has used a travel agent to fly through Dubai been warned by the travel agent or simply told;

"You can fly through Singapore to London or through Dubai with Qantas (BA from Sing) but you can't kiss your boyfriend while stopping over at Dubai?"

for example?

Given the PC world we are supposed to be living in - I wonder why Q does not have a mandatory 'health warning' before you accept a flight via Dubai?

Especially a Travel Agent, by definition is acting as your agent and owes you a duty of care. So they should warn female travellers especially of the risks of leaving the airport in Dubai. If a female is 'sexually' assaulted - she is guilty and prosecuted.

Does not seem too much to expect for the TA to warn before you make the choice, especially if a single female traveler.

Lucky my daughter is going via Singapore (intentional routing by the way). Unaccompanied that is...

To a degree, yes. Our corporate travel agent sends us a link to a page with a ton of in-country information relating to each country we're visiting or transiting through on all of our international work trips. These pages are very comprehensive, and my employer pays a lot of money for this through our risk management division. We're then required to click a link that is basically us confirming we've read the information. Our travel is not approved until we've confirmed we've read it.

But that's in a big workplace where we have an entire risk management division, and they're obsessive about these things. Presumably a lot of smaller employers aren't going to have access to that.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Re: Do travel agents stop and say "By the way you can be imprisoned if you kiss your

Perhaps the airlines should warn passengers. Qantas just glossed over the fact that passengers are now routed through the Middle East, denying the legal risks.

I think there might be an obligation on an airline if there were any particularly unusual laws in application during a transit stop (purely airside) that passengers were not expecting. However if a passenger chooses a destination, they should be presumed to know the law at that destination.

 

[DrA]

Re: Do travel agents stop and say "By the way you can be imprisoned if you kiss your

I suppose it then becomes a case of "where do you draw the line?"...

Several people upthread mention UAE policy regarding travelling with medications - that's not exactly unusual though IME. That's an issue in a number countries, and I always keep a letter from my doctor in my travel wallet regarding any prescription drugs. I've been asked for it, never in UAE, but several times in South America and Africa.

It may sound silly, but I'm just waiting for the case where some kid from Colorado (or another state that's recently legalized pot) to go overseas and say "...but it's legal at home! Nobody told me it wasn't legal in [insert country here]! Imma sue you guys for not telling me!"

Things that you and I might consider common sense or "usual", may not be obvious to someone else. So again, where do you draw the line with regards to what obligation the airline might have to inform their pax?

 

[RooFlyer]

Re: Do travel agents stop and say "By the way you can be imprisoned if you kiss your

I don't think it needs to be that detailed, but it should be prominent; for instance, a BP sized card or slip of paper given when a pax checks in.

First of all, point out that even though pax are only transiting, they are subject to the laws of the country they are transiting.

Second highlight the areas of behaviour etc that pax need to be especially careful to observe in the countries concerned (in Gulf states, it might say# something like 'expressions of affection between males and females and any overt affection between adult members of the same sex may cause offence to individuals or the law in [country]; some non prescription =drugs are not allowed, for instance [A],

Third, say where pax can get detailed info - eg web site, or 'a card on board that a flight attendant will bring to you on request'


That is, just give a prominent warning that there could be issues ... then its up to the pax to satisfy themselves of their obligations. If the pax chucks the card away, or doesn't follow up - that's their problem.

# just giving an example, folks.

 

[romney]

I've been to Dubai twice, and my husband and I have different surnames. Didn't give it a second thought, and didn't have an issue.

 

[amaroo]

View attachment 52144

Ah yes... free speech. A wonderful thing.
Here is the same woman in her classy "F#*k Tony Abbott" tee shirt. Multiple levels of irony here.

How funny is that! What a silly duffer...

 

[RAM]

I've been to Dubai twice, and my husband and I have different surnames. Didn't give it a second thought, and didn't have an issue.

I hope it does not become a case of;

"Third time unlucky!"

 

[romney]

I hope it does not become a case of;

"Third time unlucky!"

Heading there again in April, so we will see

(Will have to remember to take our marriage certificate just in case)

 

[Buzzard]

As the saying goes, everything is OK whilst it's OK, but when it goes wrong......

 

[Deleted member 29185]

As the saying goes, everything is OK whilst it's OK, but when it goes wrong......

Another one I used to hear frequently on caravanning forums was "rules and laws are only there for idiots. Common sense can be used by "normal" people". I was absolutely amazed at the number of times comments like that would crop up, especially from grey nomads who believe they have a God given right to do all manner of handy work regardless of engineering design practices, standards and yes, legislation! Loading vans far beyond their safe (and legal) load ratings, modifying gas and electrical systems with no license and often no knowledge, parking up and camping in violation of local laws etc etc.

If those kind of people take their perceived "rights of common sense" to some countries like the UAE, it's no wonder people get in strife.

 

[JohnK]

As some people noted in this discussion they didn't realise some of the implications. Even after reading DFAT I didn't realise the issue with medications and I am a doctor, who is also on a range of essential medications. There does though seem to be a randomness about who gets into strife.

I have Xanax with me. I also take lots of other medication. I can probably get a letter from doctor.

If something goes wrong and I am separated from that letter I don't want to go through the trouble of explaining to anyone why I need Xanax. I carry it with me at all times. I have some in my checked luggage, in the golf bag and on my person. Anxiety attacks are not fun. The one time where I forgot the Xanax in recent memory was golf trip to Calderwood for the day and you guessed right I had anxiety attack after game. Couldn't participate in BBQ and missed out on a few drinks. Luckily someond had something similar and looked it up on Internet and it helped.

And yes I know that I could potentially bave the same issue in Thailand but they are not as strict and a lot more reasonable.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

I have Xanax with me. I also take lots of other medication. I can probably get a letter from doctor.

If something goes wrong and I am separated from that letter I don't want to go through the trouble of explaining to anyone why I need Xanax. I carry it with me at all times. I have some in my checked luggage, in the golf bag and on my person. Anxiety attacks are not fun. The one time where I forgot the Xanax in recent memory was golf trip to Calderwood for the day and you guessed right I had anxiety attack after game. Couldn't participate in BBQ and missed out on a few drinks. Luckily someond had something similar and looked it up on Internet and it helped.

And yes I know that I could potentially bave the same issue in Thailand but they are not as strict and a lot more reasonable.

You'd need a prescription to bring the Xanax into Australia anyway - and also have to declare it on your incoming passenger card.

It was easy to get Xanax (or Thanax or Chanax) over the counter in Thailand - but they supposedly changed the law a couple years ago to now require a prescription. Not sure how that affected OTC sales.

 

[JohnK]

You'd need a prescription to bring the Xanax into Australia anyway - and also have to declare it on your incoming passenger card.

It was easy to get Xanax (or Thanax or Chanax) over the counter in Thailand - but they supposedly changed the law a couple years ago to now require a prescription. Not sure how that affected OTC sales.

I have not been able to get it over the counter in Thailand for ages. Can get it from the man doing the rounds of the bars selling cough/Kamagra etc.

Xanax is gone anyway. Only generic brands now such as Kalma in Australia and they are cheap.

I always declare I am bringing back my own presrciption medicine. Never had an issue.