Dubai Terminal 1

[voyager70]

Any first hand experiences from Arrival/Departures from T1 ATL-DXB if it matters.

[FlyerTalker]

Long flight, followed by long walks in the terminal.

[Zach1213]

It's a fine terminal but nothing amazing. It's often incredibly packed, and depending on the time of day can be uncomfortably packed. I also agree that it's a long, long walk between immigration and departure.

[voyager70]

Thanks for the information. I understand DXB is a huge airport so expecting a lot of walking. We're scheduled to land at 8:10 PM local time. As US citizens I believe we will need to get a point of entry visa before we go through customs. Is this correct? We will be staying at a nearby hotel for the night before boarding Brilliance of the Seas the following morning. If we land at 8:10 as scheduled any ideas about what time we should be at our hotel? Thanks for any information. This will be our first time in this part of the world and are really looking forward to it!

[Globaliser]

As US citizens I believe we will need to get a point of entry visa before we go through customs. Is this correct? We will be staying at a nearby hotel for the night before boarding Brilliance of the Seas the following morning. If we land at 8:10 as scheduled any ideas about what time we should be at our hotel?

The visa is simply issued at the immigration desk - you don't have to do anything special beforehand.

 

If your hotel is near the airport, I expect it'll probably take you about 1½ hours from arrival time (aircraft stopping at gate, not landing).

 

T1 on arrival is a pretty unmemorable "big airport" terminal.

 

The departures area is a little snazzier, but only a little. What passes for glamour (= glitz) is mostly in T3, not that I would go out of my way to go there. The departures (gate) areas of T1 and T3 are linked once you get that far.

[voyager70]

The visa is simply issued at the immigration desk - you don't have to do anything special beforehand.

 

If your hotel is near the airport, I expect it'll probably take you about 1½ hours from arrival time (aircraft stopping at gate, not landing).

 

T1 on arrival is a pretty unmemorable "big airport" terminal.

 

The departures area is a little snazzier, but only a little. What passes for glamour (= glitz) is mostly in T3, not that I would go out of my way to go there. The departures (gate) areas of T1 and T3 are linked once you get that far.

 

Thanks for this information Globaliser.

[Zach1213]

The visa is simply issued at the immigration desk - you don't have to do anything special beforehand.

 

If your hotel is near the airport, I expect it'll probably take you about 1½ hours from arrival time (aircraft stopping at gate, not landing).

 

T1 on arrival is a pretty unmemorable "big airport" terminal.

 

The departures area is a little snazzier, but only a little. What passes for glamour (= glitz) is mostly in T3, not that I would go out of my way to go there. The departures (gate) areas of T1 and T3 are linked once you get that far.

Maybe I've been lucky on the two times I have been there, but both times - one morning arrival and one evening arrival - It took me right around one hour even to get from plane door to hotel door (near Burj Khalifa) by taxi, including immigration, baggage, customs, and taxi ride. However, 1.5 sounds pretty fair.

[Globaliser]

If it's faster, it'll be a bonus.

 

Some of the immigration people can be very slow - nay, positively indolent. So if you get there at a busy time and you're in a slow queue full of "difficult to process" passengers (of which there are as many at DXB as there would have been at the Mos Eisley spaceport), it could be a while.

 

Last time, baggage delivery was even slower than usual: I arrived at the baggage belt exactly as fajr was called, so that was another 20 minutes to wait - until then, I had thought that I'd got lucky as about 90% of the A380 on which I'd arrived were simply connecting.

[greatam]

Just an FYI:

 

If this cruise is in the VERY near future (like before Jan 30), the Dubai airport will be even more congested.

 

The US Military ran into a BIG snag getting US government contractors leaving both Iraq and going home for regular R & R processed out of Kuwait Friday. So they are sending almost all of them from Kuwait City to Dubai for final out processing.

 

Too many US Military at Camp Virginia and Camp Arifjan who have first priority getting out of Kuwait (most have just come from Iraq). And then you have the normal US Military processing for those going home for R & R for Xmas from Afghanistan and Kuwait. So it has overburdened both the Military and the Kuwait airport for the few US flights available.

 

Contractors going home from end of contract (Iraq) and those going home for R & R for the holidays will be leaving and going back to their jobs through the Dubai airport.

[AmoMondo]

Just an FYI:

 

If this cruise is in the VERY near future (like before Jan 30), the Dubai airport will be even more congested.

 

The US Military ran into a BIG snag getting US government contractors leaving both Iraq and going home for regular R & R processed out of Kuwait Friday. So they are sending almost all of them from Kuwait City to Dubai for final out processing.

 

Too many US Military at Camp Virginia and Camp Arifjan who have first priority getting out of Kuwait (most have just come from Iraq). And then you have the normal US Military processing for those going home for R & R for Xmas from Afghanistan and Kuwait. So it has overburdened both the Military and the Kuwait airport for the few US flights available.

 

Contractors going home from end of contract (Iraq) and those going home for R & R for the holidays will be leaving and going back to their jobs through the Dubai airport.

Yikes...thanks for the warning. I'll be landing late on 30 Dec and departing very early on 7 Jan, somlooks like it's going to be busy.

[voyager70]

greatam we're not going until March so hopefully things at DXB will have settled down a bit, although I understand it is almost always a very, very busy airport.

 

Globaliser what does "fajr " mean?

[Zach1213]

greatam we're not going until March so hopefully things at DXB will have settled down a bit, although I understand it is almost always a very, very busy airport.

 

Globaliser what does "fajr " mean?

Dubai is often very, very busy, yes. However, Dubai also has blocks of arrivals and departures that are easy to predict and are largely dictated by Emirates Airlines. Even if you aren't flying Emirates, you can get stuck in these blocks where immigration can be slow. However, they do these blocks so that connections are easy, and many times it's people simply connecting rather than going through immigration of any kind.

 

Last time I arrived Dubai around 9am from London and it was pretty quiet. Last time I left Dubai around 7 or 8pm to Hong Kong and again it was pretty quiet.

[ab0si]

greatam we're not going until March so hopefully things at DXB will have settled down a bit, although I understand it is almost always a very, very busy airport.

 

Globaliser what does "fajr " mean?

 

Fajr is the first (of five) daily prayers. Everything stops.

[ab0si]

If it's faster, it'll be a bonus.

 

Some of the immigration people can be very slow - nay, positively indolent. So if you get there at a busy time and you're in a slow queue full of "difficult to process" passengers (of which there are as many at DXB as there would have been at the Mos Eisley spaceport), it could be a while.

 

Last time, baggage delivery was even slower than usual: I arrived at the baggage belt exactly as fajr was called, so that was another 20 minutes to wait - until then, I had thought that I'd got lucky as about 90% of the A380 on which I'd arrived were simply connecting.

 

Mos Eisley, eh? wow, you DO get around, don't you? :)