I choose not to fly via Dubai. OK, but why ???

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Ok Dubai is a horrible city, but its probably the best city in the area, Riyadh anyone?!? But the airport is great and if you are just in transit I thought most people would chose airline over transit point. I would much rather take a QF flight via Dubai than a BA flight via Singapore, because QF is a better airline with better service.

Anyway all this talk about the gay scene in Dubai there are gay friendly nights in Dubai and everybody knows that they are gay nights an nobody cares. Its not like the cops go around asking everyone if they are gay and if they say yes throw them in the slammer. If anything it works better I know loads of gay guys who are always allowed into hotel rooms with other men, where its against the law for a woman to be a hotel with a room with any other man except for her husband. Ive had to sneak girls into my room in Dubai because the hotel will not let a man have any female guests in his room.

In the end Dubai is rubbish if you are straight or gay so to transit is fine but if you want to stop over Asia will probably be more fun!

Never been to Dubai but it is also my understanding that you can only stay in a hotel room with a female if she is your wife. As Mrs Buzzard & I are not actually married one of us could get into trouble (most likely her). If this country wants to be draconian & not respect my culture, as I am always expected to respect other cultures, then I will avoid it as much as possible. If the UAE wants to partner with the western world then they need to lighten up. I wonder how long before we hear of a stopover passenger getting into trouble for something that we wouldn't even blink at. Heaven help you if you hold your wife's hand or kiss her goodbye in public. Or do I just hear fake horror stories?
 
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Never been to Dubai but it is also my understanding that you can only stay in a hotel room with a female if she is your wife. As Mrs Buzzard & I are not actually married one of us could get into trouble (most likely her). If this country wants to be draconian & not respect my culture, as I am always to respect other cultures, then I will avoid it as much as possible. If the UAE wants to partner with the western world then they need to lighten up. I wonder how long before we hear of a stopover passenger getting into trouble for something that we wouldn't even blink at. Heaven help you if you hold your wife's hand or kiss her goodbye in public. Or do I just hear fake horror stories?

Ok. I'm calling it early but this is the winner.
 
It is interesting to read about the smart e-gates in Dubai of which I was unaware until now.

Attached is the Fast Track pass given out to F, J pax as well as Skywards Gold / Plat members.

The FAs certainly did not mention about the e-gates to me.


TWDfoEm.jpg



As you can see, there is no mentioning of the Smart e-gates.

Upon arrival, all Fast Track people incl. yours truly went to the Fast Track queue - counter 8-10 IIRC

There was no signage of the e-gates that I could see - unlike SYD where it was quite clearly signposted.

Well, clearly I did not see well enough.

True, my 2003 vintage passport would not cope with the e-gates in any case.

But it is a piece of information worth knowing about.

In case I could only read English, here is the Arabic side of the Fast Track Pass.

Is there any mentioning of the e-gates there by any chance ?


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A couple of published articles on Dubai - the (generally) well-known A.A. Gill article in Vanity Fair and a recent one from someone who writes a regular column on life in Dubai for the U.K.'s Daily Telegraph.

Dubai on Empty | Vanity Fair

Booming Dubai seeks to reclaim its soul - Telegraph

As one might imagine, I subscribe to the A.A. Gill point of view. The obvious comeback is to say "well, what does any of this matter if all you're doing is transiting there?" For me at least, there's a principle (of sorts) at stake - I don't like the place and see no reason to support it and therefore have voted with my wallet ("hah! big deal...." I hear you say) and have taken my business elsewhere.
 
Neither article is particularly good. Both have an axe to grind and they do it.

Dubai is an interesting place. Not just as a random transit point, but also in the strange promotion of excess. I really couldn't do more than 3 or 4 days per year there, but that's not unlike many other cities I have visited.
 
In case I could only read English, here is the Arabic side of the Fast Track Pass.

Is there any mentioning of the e-gates there by any chance ?

The e-gates have nothing to do with fast track, anyone can use them with a biometric passport so long as you are over the age of 7 and are from a visa free requirement country.
 
The e-gates have nothing to do with fast track, anyone can use them with a biometric passport so long as you are over the age of 7 and are from a visa free requirement country.

Are they actually available to anyone yet? There was a post on FT (http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/emirates-skywards/1439740-smart-gate-update.html) that suggested the rollout was initially to UAE passport holders, then to GCC passports then to visa waiver countries - this was dated Feb this year. I searched but could not find anything else to back that up.

Also, they appear to have two types of electronic gates, the older e-gates which required pre-enrolment (only available to UAE residents) and a separate card (been in place for 10yrs it so) and the new Smart gate (I have seen referred to as Smart e-gate also) which is based on your passport rather than a separate card. Australian non residents would only be able to use the newer Smart gates.
 
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Route planners obviously never sit on the window in Y with two large strangers beside them. A 14+ hour killer leg followed by a 7- hour leg is only OK if you are young or in J or F.
I know zippo about flying planes but real sad the shared BA kangaroo route via Singapore with a much closer integration with CX for Euro connections would have been far better.
 
Route planners obviously never sit on the window in Y with two large strangers beside them. A 14+ hour killer leg followed by a 7- hour leg is only OK if you are young or in J or F.
I know zippo about flying planes but real sad the shared BA kangaroo route via Singapore with a much closer integration with CX for Euro connections would have been far better.
Don't really think it makes much difference really. London via Singapore is short leg followed by long. Via Dubai is long followed by short. I think via dubai the "long" leg is 1 hour more though overall travel time to London is around 30 mins quicker via Dubai.

Having said that I would prefer short followed by long. The reason being I could stay awake to Singapore or bangkok then sleep to London. But long followed by short I found I couldn't stat awake to Dubai then was wide awake Dubai to London. So not my ideal way to get over jet lag.
 
Don't really think it makes much difference really. London via Singapore is short leg followed by long. Via Dubai is long followed by short. I think via dubai the "long" leg is 1 hour more though overall travel time to London is around 30 mins quicker via Dubai.

Having said that I would prefer short followed by long. The reason being I could stay awake to Singapore or bangkok then sleep to London. But long followed by short I found I couldn't stat awake to Dubai then was wide awake Dubai to London. So not my ideal way to get over jet lag.

A very valid point.

The timing of the QF flights is such that you are arriving in LHR early AM, and considering the flight time DXB-LHR is 6 hours, that means a maximum unbroken sleep of 4 hours prior to arrival. I can easily get 7-8 hours unbroken sleep in J/F via Asia.

It is far easier to wake up refreshed for business or pleasure when the long leg is last - you can settle in for a nice sleep prior to early morning arrival. I'm a light sleeper on an aircraft at the best of times.

Apparently the EK flight timings are better for this with evening AU departures, but I don't care to fly EK.

Considering this is the Asian century, a closer tie up with CX would have been far more preferable, however as they aren't a corrupt dictatorship presiding over large oil reserves, they have less routes.
 
For me the timings make the difference. What I mentioned above about staying awake to Singapore was valid for the afternoon departure. It didn't work for me back when Qantas had the late flight out of Sydney that got to LHR late morning. Nothing I could do helped me with that flight I just wanted to sleep to Singapore then was awake to London then wanted to sleep again!
 
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You do realise Hong Kong is part of China now, don't you? Are we to conclude that you do not consider China to be a "corrupt dictatorship"?

Regarding flight times and not arriving refreshed - the old Kangaroo route via Singapore had exactly the same problem on the homeward leg.
 
You do realise Hong Kong is part of China now, don't you? Are we to conclude that you do not consider China to be a "corrupt dictatorship"?

Regarding flight times and not arriving refreshed - the old Kangaroo route via Singapore had exactly the same problem on the homeward leg.

While China effectively rule HK, I wouldn't put them in the same category, so no. I can share a hotel with whomever I like in HK, as with holding hands, kissing in public, etc etc.

You are right, but at least on the 8 hour SIN-SYD you could get a reasonable 6 hours. 2 hours makes a big difference to me, as I often get off the plane and go directly to work in SYD.

A bigger issue is having to wait up to 1.5 hours to get food in J/F. Often I'll just not eat onboard that leg to get more sleep.
 
Don't really think it makes much difference really. London via Singapore is short leg followed by long. Via Dubai is long followed by short. I think via dubai the "long" leg is 1 hour more though overall travel time to London is around 30 mins quicker via Dubai.

Having said that I would prefer short followed by long. The reason being I could stay awake to Singapore or bangkok then sleep to London. But long followed by short I found I couldn't stat awake to Dubai then was wide awake Dubai to London. So not my ideal way to get over jet lag.

I hope you are right that the flight times. Our June EY family A346 flight to Milan via Abu Dhabi has a 14:50 flight time, considerably longer than the last QF/BA combo we did via HK which had the overnight LHR leg under 11 hours from memory. When in J+ though, an hour or two more flight time is a nice problem to have.
I would though be minimising flight times if I had to go in Y. Stuck in a window seat, it is difficult to get out more than a few times each flight and the shorter flight the better.
 
am I right so say that Jewish passengers who have Israeli passport stamps will not be allowed to leave the airport and have to stay in transit? If this is true, as a Jew I find this discriminatory and why would I possibly ever want to go to a place like this?
 
am I right so say that Jewish passengers who have Israeli passport stamps will not be allowed to leave the airport and have to stay in transit? If this is true, as a Jew I find this discriminatory and why would I possibly ever want to go to a place like this?

You will have an issue if you have an Israeli passport, not Israeli stamps, the origin of this being the Arab leagues boycott of Israel. You will have the same problem in Malaysia unless you seek special permission from the Internal Security Ministry.
 
You will have an issue if you have an Israeli passport, not Israeli stamps, the origin of this being the Arab leagues boycott of Israel. You will have the same problem in Malaysia unless you seek special permission from the Internal Security Ministry.

Thanks markis10- well in that case in response to the original question posed (I choose not to fly via Dubai. OK, but why ???), I choose not fly via Dubai because of it anti-gay and anti-semitic policies.
 
am I right so say that Jewish passengers who have Israeli passport stamps will not be allowed to leave the airport and have to stay in transit? If this is true, as a Jew I find this discriminatory and why would I possibly ever want to go to a place like this?
No, it's not right.

The UAE (like all Arab League nations) do not recognise Israel as a country and therefore do not recognise the validity of an Israeli passport. A Jew with Israeli stamps in a non-Israeli passport will be fine to enter the UAE.

If your hypothetical Jew tried to go to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Yemen it would be a different story. The UAE is a very open and liberal country in comparison and cannot be thought of in the same way.
 
No, it's not right.

The UAE (like all Arab League nations) do not recognise Israel as a country and therefore do not recognise the validity of an Israeli passport. A Jew with Israeli stamps in a non-Israeli passport will be fine to enter the UAE.

If your hypothetical Jew tried to go to Iran, Saudi Arabia, Iraq or Yemen it would be a different story. The UAE is a very open and liberal country in comparison and cannot be thought of in the same way.

Saying the UAE is very open and liberal in comparison to some of the other countries mentioned does not mean anything. The country is just as bad as all the others mentioned when it comes to Jewish passengers. The UAE and Saudi Arabia are similar (SA being slightly more conservative) but Delta Airlines is about to add Saudi Arabian Airlines to its SkyTeam Alliance of partnering companies and would require Delta to ban Jews and holders of Israeli passports from boarding flights to Saudi Arabia (Rabbi Jason Miller: Delta Adopts Saudi Arabian Airlines' No Jew Policy).

Again in response to the original question posed, why would any Jew willingly fly through Dubai which is openly anti-semitic.
 
Thanks markis10- well in that case in response to the original question posed (I choose not to fly via Dubai. OK, but why ???), I choose not fly via Dubai because of it anti-gay and anti-semitic policies.

??:confused:

From Wikipedia:

"Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. A person who holds such positions is called an "antisemite"."
 
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