Why I chose to, or choose not to, transit Dubai on the way to/from Europe

[greenfish]

Have transitted DXB many times prior to the QF/EK alliance - no issues. For stopovers, much prefer routing via Asia.

Be interesting to know how much revenue it is costing QF - I know this year's family trip for 5 to the UK was on QF to SIN and then AY to LHR/PRG rather than QF all the way.

 

[Kefci2000]

It's no different to transiting anywhere else; you hop off, go through screening, then get back on 90 minutes later.

Depends if in Emirates First lounge or not

 

[blackcat20]

Depends if in Emirates First lounge or not

Haha that is true! But even without I don't think 90 minutes would be too bad. 4 hours on the other hand...

 

[Nizar]

The flight from DBX to LHR was on a QF A380. The difference between the Emirates flight and the Qantas flight was marked. As a QF WP, Emirates gave me the first row in economy and blocked out the other two seats. I was personally greeted on board by the CSM and offered wine at least 20 min before the normal service started.

The QF flight - well Qantas just ignored me!

This should be concerning to QF

 

[TonyHancock]

This should be concerning to QF

Had a similar experience, as a P1, back in March. It is a little hit and miss with the CSM's/CSS'.

 

[Nizar]

Had a similar experience, as a P1, back in March. It is a little hit and miss with the CSM's/CSS'.

Similar experience as in you were treated MUCH better by EK than by QF ?
I personally think EK is getting the lions share of the benefit from this "alliance" to be honest, taking away Qantas' already dwindling market share.

 

[get me outta here]

Stopping off for 3 nights in early Oct on my way to IST as I'm always up fror a stopover, anywhere really.

I plan to spend my 2 leisurely days walking around the historical Bur Dubai and the Deira across the creek. mostly on foot, and hope to stay completely away from the glitz.

I have got my letter from my doctor on meds and have kept tablets in the original script box. I will not eat a poppy seed roll before departing HKG, as you may have heard of the guy who was jailed for 2 weeks as he had a few poppy seeds on his clothes.

 

[TonyHancock]

Similar experience as in you were treated MUCH better by EK than by QF ?

No, sorry I wasn't clear. I was basically ignored by QF on both sectors on QF10. I had to practically beg for an express card on the second leg.

I think QF is learning a little about customer service, but still has a way to go. Still very hit and miss I'm afraid.

 

[Nizar]

No, sorry I wasn't clear. I was basically ignored by QF on both sectors on QF10. I had to practically beg for an express card on the second leg.

I think QF is learning a little about customer service, but still has a way to go. Still very hit and miss I'm afraid.

Wow. This is appalling. Don't they know who you are lol I would never tolerate such disrespect.
Yes a very long way to go. Still they are happy to charge the same as other carriers despite a much inferior soft product and, compared to the top tier carriers, most of the time an inferior hard product too.

 

[sinophile888]

I travelled to Europe in 2011 via DXB and hope to again in 2015.

I don’t fly at night, so I planned a trip which was all daytime flights and included two-night stopovers in Dubai in both directions and one-night stopovers in Singapore.

PER ->SIN on QF and SIN -> DXB -> FCO on EK and return LHR -> DXB -> SIN on EK and SIN -> PER on QF. This amounted to 4 days in transit, with three nights sleep and no jetlag. We would probably only stay one night in Dubai on the way to Europe next time, but possibly two nights on the way home. This itinerary was cheaper than flying EK all the way, even though the PER -> SIN return fare was $1200.

EK is one of the few airlines which have a morning departure from LHR or LGW. This seems the critical flight for an all day time flights itinerary. I could possibly also combine MH and QR with stopovers in Doha and Kuala Lumpur.

My daughter and I felt very free to move about Dubai, catching the metro to the different malls etc. We also hired a car and driver for a day. The only place my daughter felt uncomfortable was the gold souk, as we were the only women in sight.

We found the bag drop time in DXB to be very long, with a number of disgruntled passengers for some human drama. There was a new terminal (5?) being built, so that may have improved things. We did manage to get exit row seats for 3 of the 4 EK flights by checking in the previous day when in Dubai and very early at LHR.

Our trip was mostly in January, so the weather was perfect.