Dubai International Airport Passenger Reviews and Dubai Airport Customer opinions

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Emirates are scheduling tighter and tighter connections through DXB. 1 hr 20 mins is simply not doable with traffic delays in the early mornings, bussing from remote stands, chronically slow transit security, rail connections between terminals, horrendous walking distances to remote gates and a requirement by Emirates to be at the gate 30 minutes before departure - it's just not possible. Transiting though DXB a few years ago just involved long walks, now it's an exhausting and highly stressful undertaking which in future I shall endeavour to avoid by choosing another airline. If Emirates were handling livestock instead of passengers, they'd probably lose their licence.

I have transited through DXB several times with Emirates in the last 5 years. The airport is generally clean and well laid out during the most part of they day however past mid night it does become quite busy which results in aircraft having to park far from the terminal, bus travel, long queues at security and practically no space to sit and toilets are choc-a-block. The most annoying part of travelling through Dubai is probably the rude and unprofessional staff they have manning their duty free shops, lounges and security gates. I often make use of the emirates business class lounge while travelling and almost every time I have had to encounter rude staff who make passengers feel unwelcome. After 5 years of having Emirates as my airline of choice, I have now moved over to Singapore Airlines & Changi as the transit hub. Emirates is a great airline and its a pity that all the effort put into building the great brand gets tarnished as a result of rude ground staff.

Dubai is a massive airport and it takes a long time to get from one end to the other. The airport is very crowded with bodies lying everywhere in the main passageways. More seating areas are needed away from the main passageways. Toilets and showers are inadequate for the volume of passengers using the airport. When in transit, the security procedure after getting off your plane is frustrating and can be very time-consuming after a long and tiring flight. It always seems difficult to find trolleys for carrying hand baggage. For transit passengers, the trolleys need to be located after the security check. Many of my friends in New Zealand avoid Dubai, preferring to fly via Singapore (Changi Airport) which seems to be spotlessly clean, well organised and with friendly and helpful assistants.

I come in and out of Dubai T3 often and my experience thru customs is always the same - utter misery. Why don't they have the common sense to create queues for EU visitors only who can go thru far quicker than most Asians who have all sorts of issues with paperwork etc?

I have experienced T3 as most other reviewers. I agree that it is very crowded. However I must say the worst thing for me was the unhelpful, unpleasant, unfriendly and unprofessional attitude of the local staff. This was particularly frustrating as meaningful signage is hard to come by and one has to rely for directions from the airport staff. I have travelled a fair bit but have not experienced such lack of care towards travellers anywhere else. It was a very disappointing experience for me. Like most others I liked Emirates but would try to avoid Dubai as a transit destination in the future.

I flew last week from and to Dubai Airport T3 with Emirates flights, leaving in a morning flight were airport was so crowded as most of flights to Europe leave at the same time, however I benefit from the online check in, and e-gate so didn't have to queue for check-in or for passport control, as always love to scroll around the airport and a lot of choices in the huge duty free options. On the arrival, also arrived at midnight which is a very busy period for most flights arrive around same time, plane parked in T1 and we had to walk all the way inside the terminal to T3 for the passport control, also long queues for passport control, but I have my e- gate, I pity those who don't have it. Luggage wasn't late at all, well organized taxi queue which didn't take more than 5 minutes, and I live in the Dubai marina side which is far from the airport, however I was at home just after 1 hour from the plane landed.

On arrival the brand new automatic passport gates did not work and every passenger in the queue with me was rejected from the gate (roughly 40 people with European passports). The queue to see the immigration officer was not too bad - about 15 minutes but they clearly have teething issues with this system. On departure the passport control hall was filled to capacity at 8am in the morning and despite every desk being in operation it took one hour to get through control. Totally unacceptable service and Emirates Airlines must be spitting teeth about this experience. Never mind the airport retailers who lost an hour of shopping trade as a result. Commercially it makes no sense.

The terminal is clearly nowhere near big enough to handle the volume of passengers passing through. This seems bizarre considering it is relatively new, and Dubai's reputation for building big! It always seems hectic and overcrowded even at 2 or 3 in the morning. There is a general shortage of restaurants and bars and seating is limited at those available. Shopping is also limited and expensive. One plus point is that it is possible to sleep on the lounge seats between gates if you can find an empty one. Take your blanket off your flight if you are transiting and have a long lay over.

Used Terminal 2, because of my FlyDubai flight. I was shocked, the terminal doesn't represent Dubai well. I arrived on an early morning flight, everything went smoothly. I would recommend for those travelling through terminal 2, it is not the best place to stay for long time.

Arrived from Dublin to Dubai airport near midnight on business class. The signs were all over the place, send you to turn left then turn right, all it needed to say was keep going straight. The airport is very badly air conditioned with temperatures near 28 deg c. A nice 24 deg c would be suffice if you are trying to save energy. When we got to customs there was a huge line, even though we had business class tickets. We ended waiting 40 minute in line to clear customs. The only bonus is that at least our bags were ready at the carousel as it took so long. Business class all had chauffeurs to drive you to your hotel. Had to wait another 15 min for this. All in all in took 1 hr 30min to leave the airport to the time we touch down. It's not really world class is it?

Long lines and the outside of terminal 1 is total chaos. Always crowed and one runway is always shut down. Horrible place to land, takeoff or transit. I have been an airline captain for 33 years and never seen such incompetent management at an airport of this size. Daily nightmare of long waits, insufficient toilets, rude and surly employees.

On arrival, we had a one hour wait at customs passport control (with infant). 19 Feb 2013 - Flight from LHR - EK008. On departure, Emirates flight to Durban. (21 Feb 2013). The terminal experience was not good. After clearing passport control, there was nowhere to sit, and very limited shops to explore in the terminal.

Although good to break a longer journey I would avoid this airport at all costs if you have an alternative! The staff are rude and very slow at security/immigration but worst of all is the shortage of toilet facilities. Not so much a shortage as such but the people who use them spend ages in them and long queues build up. This even occurs in the business class area!

Just through the new A380 terminal in Dubai which opened fully a couple of weeks ago. Really good idea having the Business Class Lounge as a linked series of lounges grouped to the Gates. So, we arrived in to the terminal and walked through the general concourse of shops, easily found the signs to follow to find the Business Class Lounge which is on the top floor. Once admitted to the Lounge the thing is to go to your Gate Number and use the lounge area there. You can wander all over and sit anywhere you like but it makes sense to park yourself near your departure gate. Boarding then is easy, just put down the champagne glass (in my case!) and go through to the lift which takes you down 3 floors to your aircraft door. The lounge is well set out, well appointed, good shower rooms (for women, can't say about the men) and a series of hot and cold food and drink counters throughout. Very comfortable chairs, the usual magazines etc (happy to find a locally printed copy of The Australian). I like the concept and the execution of it. At last a lounge big enough to take the volume of passengers going through in comfort. Well decorated. Staff were the most helpful and friendliest I have encountered, even to helping me lift my cabin bag onto the belt for inspection. Happy to use Dubai as my hub.

My Air india flight landed at 4 pm, after some 15 minutes of walking I reached passport control. There are around 34 counters for it. I was disappointed to see even though there were so many counters not all were functioning, those who were functioning were really at a snail's space - even the queue management was terrible. There is one counter for one queue and three counters for another - we were in a queue with 15 people in front of us, that immigration officer took 2.5 hours to process them. Duty free at departure terminal 1 seems limited. I think most duty free shops are in terminal 3. Later I was told that passengers arriving on late night flights face more problems at immigration. I will try and avoid it even for transit.

We flew to Dubai on January 31st 2013, from London Gatwick, and faced long queues at passport controls, a 2 hour wait. Many desks were not open although there did seem to be staff wandering around doing nothing - why couldn't they have helped? The staff were extremely slow, taking at least 5-10 minutes with each person, they were extremely unfriendly and obviously have no idea whatsoever about customer care. This really did spoil the start of our holiday, we were using Dubai as a stopover for a couple of days. These queues were totally unacceptable, and I doubt whether we would ever use Dubai as a stopover again!

Passed through terminal 1 on 8th Feb, long walk to Immigration where there was already a queue and only 3 desks open, why don't they operate a single feeder queue. Seemed like it was going to take ages to get through, there was no sense of urgency, but we did get through within 30mins. Dubai is another City where for some reason they scan your hand luggage. The arrivals hall has a very small waiting area and meeter's/greeters are not allowed inside so the only way is to go out and stand around. On the way back we encountered another slow moving Immigration queue. Terminal 1 generally looks old and tired, shops in departures have a limited range of goods. Nothing special.

Generally a good airport though rather uneven, very good in certain aspects and with serious shortcomings in others. At one end if you fly Emirates on business, this is a fantastic airport with huge lounges, minimal or non-existent lines for check-in, immigration and boarding. At the other extreme, if you are using Terminal 2, you are stuck in a small crowded space with a couple of restaurants, not entirely clean bathrooms, and a very long transfer from other terminals in minibuses with space so limited that you cannot even stow carry-on luggage. Most experiences in Terminals 1 & 3 fall somewhere in between. Excellent shops and a wide range of restaurants, but not much space to sit if you just want to wait for your flight without spending money.

Wednesday, January 23. I spent 13 hours trying to get a connection flight out that day. No staff available to explain what was going on except that many planes were left in the air or grounded because of fog. Rumour had it that their whole ticket booking system had crashed so their ability to give new tickets to the hundreds of passengers who had missed flights was minimal. People arriving from long flights were arriving and standing in lines that weren't moving and were unsupervised, no water, no food, no information, no assistance. Lines were vague and people started yelling. I was in a line for 6 hours and when I got close to the counter, the employee left the line with no replacement. I had already been on two long flights from Los Angeles before I got there. You had to walk a long way to find food, no directions, and you would loose your space in the line. Waited in new lines for another 6 hours and the same thing happened. At about 10.30 that night I found British Airways in another terminal who gave me food and water in their lounge and quickly found me a flight to where I was going and I left a few hours later.

Excellent airport for departures but a nightmare or arrivals, because of immigration indeed. Especially frustrating because some lines move 3x faster than other lines. Better do as in the US airports: one queue only, but being serviced by multiple desks. Easy to implement and would already make a big difference. Still need to train immigration staff.

I would imagine, especially immigration would have done something about the long queues and long hours (1 hour) in my case. To get an eye scan then collect your suitcase on arrival is a nightmare, departure is overcrowded and immigration staff take too long with one passenger (5 minutes at one time I noticed) and can stop to chat even when it's noticeable that only 3 counters are open and they have too many passengers waiting. Dubai Airport needs reoriented staff.

The following issues were encountered. 1) 2 hours to get through immigration. 2) Immigration staff talking to each other throughout the processing of entry. 3) After leaving immigration a poor standard of security screening with officers not looking at the scanning outcomes, again engaged in discussion. It was a farce. Could not be described as an efficient airport or workforce.

This is the second time I've travelled through Dubai and hopefully the last. My main complaint is that immigration takes absolutely forever (1 hour +). They never have enough desks open and the queues move so slowly because the staff spend so long with each passenger. It's very chaotic with everyone getting impatient and stressed and then desperately running to new desks when they are opened. Departure is much smoother though although the airport does feel quite crowded all the time.

Immigration takes two to five minutes to process each passenger, why? Lengthy queues that take ages, no organisation. Gates are miles away. Emirates staff seem disinterested.

Unfriendly staff at Emirates terminal, horrible queues without any organization, totally crowded airport and business lounges without any silent room or corner. At the gates almost no seating possibility. Small amount of finger docks, long bus transfer times to and from the terminal and airplane up to 25 minutes.

Arrived in Dubai airport after midnight to face a human congestion at the immigration where counter staff took their time to chat with one another. Upon leaving terminal 3, with its rows of spanking new but empty counters, only 3 counters were open. For our two families, the counter staff decided to split us all up, citing full flight although we were checking in at 2200 for our 0300 flight. Only on our insistence to see the seating plan did they give us seats together. Half of the passengers had not checked in yet then. It was our first and will be our last time we will use Dubai if we can help it. Duty-free is also bogus. More expensive than most airports.

The single most important priority of any large building besides safety, is circulation, and effective signage. The current Dubai airport fails miserably on both counts. The building is obviously planned and executed outside in, rather than inside out, with many baffling transfer, signages and poorly designed partitions. Why was it not thought out at design stage one wonders. Admittedly, the expansion of any airport will pose problems as we can all see in Heathrow, but one would imagine Dubai, and Emirates, with its world class ambitions should have learned from the problems of dysfunctional airports and adopt the merits of successful ones. Staff at the transfer counters look overwhelmed and tired from the late arrival and departure of many flights into Dubai. Overall, we expected a lot more from Dubai airport and Emirates after all the commercial hype.

Stopped over at this airport twice en route from London to Singapore. Terminal 3 was very busy, on my return leg all the ladies toilets in the terminal had queues! On my London to Dubai leg, the plane stopped far away from the terminal and we had to take a 20 minute bus to the terminal. The queue to board the Dubai - Singapore Emirates flight was also very messy and chaotic. I would avoid this airport in future.

SIN-CMB-DXB-ZRH, CDG-DXB-CMB-SIN. Experiencing Dubai Airport for the first time was horrible. The main sticking point was long queues at immigration. The officers were doing their duty so slowly that all counters had many people queuing. Some counters were not open. Terrible! Terminal was average but toilets were not up to standard, very poor compared to Changi Airport. Never again!

After getting off a 14-hour flight, myself and the boyfriend got stuck in the passport control queue for an hour and a half. We noticed that half the desks were unmanned, and the attendants that were working took their time, having 5-minute conversations with each passenger. The service was terrible - our attendant decided he didn't like a couple of guys in the queue and kept them waiting while he let others behind them through, with no explanation. It took so long for us to get through that when we finally got to the baggage carousel, it had stopped and our bags had been taken off. It was an exhausting experience after a long flight, the least they could do is staff their desks.

This airport is huge and bustling. Thank goodness and at long last they seem to have purchased baby strollers so these are actually available now. Avoid buying gold at the duty free its a rip off and u are paying at least 10% over spot. I guess they just try and trap the captive client base they have.

DOH-DXB: Arrived at a gate far away at terminal 1. Once in the hall the usual (regular traveller) chaos of Dubai ensued, queues building up then lanes opened up with a mad dash of desperate travellers looking to beat the rush. Unfriendly immigration staff spending as much time talking to each other as actually serving travellers. The only sure way of beating the rush is to book the Marhaba meet and great service, I'm suspicious they make immigration so bad that you are forced to use the Marhaba service!. A lovely 65 minutes in the queue then off to find the bags as they had been taken off the belt as normal.

MRU-DXB-MUC with stopover in Dubai. Arrival in the early morning (5.40am), short way to immigration counters. Only half of counters were open, each queue of about 20 people. Waiting time 65 minutes! Officers unfriendly and without any kind of motivation. Poor English knowledge. Baggage claim has already finished, suitcases were left next to the belt. Quick exit to taxis, which are easily accessible and enough in numbers. Check-In (online), so baggage-drop was quick. Efficient security checks but again terrible conditions at the immigration. No problems to spend your waiting time at the shops and cafes.

MUC-DXB-MRU. Transfer from the plane with busses to crowded Terminal 3. 3 hours connecting time in DXB at not a problem with shops and restaurants, but too many people. Toilets clean but queues everywhere. Departure from B38 - a terrible small, dirty and old part between B and C gates. Again transfer with busses to the plane.

Flew into DXB on 06/11/12. Getting off the plane was fine and had a bit of a walk to Immigration. Then it was a nightmare from then on in. The queues for immigration where horrendous and the whole area was full to the brim. We think nearly every desk was open but you could not see it was that far back, every now and then a new line would form and a scramble ensued. We decided to stick with our original line. They took between 3-10 minutes to process 1 passenger. 3 hours later we got through! With no apology or anything, we would avoid this airport in future. It is quite appalling and they need to sort this out. The knock on effect is that your bags have been taken off the carousel and stored, so more time added. Avoid DXB at all costs, fly somewhere else until they sort it out!

GLA-DXB-SYD return (with EK). Have used this airport in the past, and have concluded that as long as your aircraft does not end up at a remote stand, the airport works fine. Incoming, the transfer arrangements in Concourse 2 were OK - not sure that yet another security screen is needed. Outgoing, some stellar service from the EK airport staff allowed a group of transit passengers to get off a late-running flight from Sydney at one end of Concourse 2, and onto an outgoing service to GLA - at the other end of Concourse 1 - within 45 minutes; and have our luggage make it as well. Am prepared to go through DXB again, as it can work well if they try.

Although it is a very modern impressive airport, each time I use Dubai airport I get the feeling that the security level though the hand luggage and body scanners is a bit shambolic. A few days ago on leaving Dubai I forgot that I had a 500ml bottle of water, clearly on show in a mesh pocket on my back pack type bag, this was not picked out either in the scanner or by the security staff. If the 100ml limit of liquids is very much a safety limit this should be a worry.

Arrival - fine, bit of a long taxi and long walk from ramp to get to terminal building, Passport Control busy even at 5am but moved quite quickly, staff reasonable helpful, no real problem. Depart - Terminal 1 was dirty, over crowded, full of rude people, full and full of shops (can't remember seeing any food spaces) taking up all space, toilets not nice, check in ok but pre security / normal security rowdy chaotic experience. Long queues through passport area to be stamped out of country. Would not recommend as awful experience, LHR terminal 3 is better! Future flight to Australia being planned now through Asia rather than Dubai to avoid the airport.

We arrived for the weekend and spent as long trying to get through the immigration process as we had on our flight. The staff were inadequate in numbers, badly trained and rude. Our return experience was much the same, thank goodness we arrived early. We spent an hour getting through the process. We experienced an extremely rude and unhelpful policeman/security person. An immigration lady who was unable to smile, greet, and could only grunt! The airport is one long bottle neck with not enough facilities. Our experience has left us in no doubt that next time we shall travel by car. All the staff need retraining. What a truly dismal experience. Rating 0/10!

The other comments are exactly right - was expecting a modern, clean world-class airport, instead arrived at 2am into an overcrowded, chaotic and grubby 3km-long shopping centre.

Grim experience transiting in both directions between Gatwick and Male with bus transfers to the terminal, one in the middle of the night and one in baking heat early afternoon. Have deemed this "queuing time". Terminal horribly crowded outbound but only about a quarter as many people on return journey, so hard to see that both times this could be down to too many planes competing for the piers. Have done the same journey smoothly twice previously, but would avoid Dubai in future and have ruled out transit there for a planned trip to Australia.

Had an hour transit on our way to Barcelona. We were also bussed to the building from a long way off. We just made our connecting flight. I agree that the airport is hectic. On our return flight we had a 3 hour layover. Having flown business class, we fortunately did not experience the lack of seating and facilities that seems to be a problem; although the business class lounge is also very busy - we noticed that the food stations' quality and selection has deteriorated since last year. Even though we left the business class lounge well before time to get to our gate, fighting our way against the streaming tide of shoppers to get to our gate. As a family of four, it took concentration to stay together; we just held onto each others' belts and let my husband lead the way! However, we still only arrived as they were doing 'last call'. I really needed that glass of champagne, I tell you - 9 in the morning or not! We find Doha airport far better, but Emirates flights were more suitable to us this time.

Dreadful Transit on Emirates. Remote parking and bussing to and from remote stands (10 mins to deplane and 20 mins each way on both Arrival and Departure flights) turned my 2 hour comfortable connection into a mad scrabble to get through the dreadful transit security (15 mins) and the full length of the terminal (10mins) to my connecting flight, which if you're not at the gate 35 mins before departure you will not be allowed to board - crazy. Emirates have simply too many flights in and out of DXB which despite Terminal 3 being only 2 or 3 years old is now well over capacity.

Not impressed with the increasing amount of bussing going on in DXB, predominantly with Emirates flights - 10 mins taxi-ing to get to some remote stand, 10-15 mins to deplane, a further 20 mins in a freezing bus and another 15 mins to get through transit security. So that's the thick end of an hour just to get into the Departures Concourse, where Emirates expect you to turn up at the gate 35 minutes before departure time and do another 20 minute bus ride back to where you came from. You can just about make a 2 hour transit connection - IF the flight's on time, and IF you don't need to go a toilet in the Terminal. Any shorter, forget it. The reason for all this? Well it's because DXB has more flight slots than they have gates to service them. And who ends up with all the bussing nonsense? Well Emirates, the home carrier of course, because if they bussed Cathay Pacific passengers, then Cathay Pacific probably wouldn't bother flying to DXB next year. Main Tip - if you have an Emirates connection through DXB, make sure it's longer than 2 hours and go to the toilet before landing.

Transited twice through DXB to/from Europe flying Emirates. DXB is a massive let down. I was expecting a shiny, new, spacious airport, only to be confronted by an overcrowded Westfield with some planes attached. The worst part of it is that I will probably fly through here again due to the excellent connection provided from Aus to Europe, but not happily.

This airport is geared towards the business / first class traveller with limited concession made for transit passengers on economy. Long queues for toilets, limited cafes, not enough seating & sporadic signage. With the long & narrow layout making it busier than Oxford St (London) time spent here makes for an unpleasant break from the overall Emirates journey.

First time we have used Dubai for many years as a stopover between UK and Australia and it really has become an unpleasant terminal. Overcrowded, no seating and 15 min wait to use very unhygienic toilets. We were on the transfer bus for 25 mins on departure with most people standing. No seating available in the cafes. The terminal is greatly over subscribed and will certainly stop us using Emirates again on this route.

The passenger terminal is insanely overcrowded but the airfield is even worst. After landing from Madrid we spent one hour taxing around the field because there were no ramps available. It's a shame because it offers very good connections between Europe, Australia and far east.

I travelled to DXB in Aug-Sep of 2012 and had a very bad experience. I travelled from JFK-DXB for 13 hrs and had to wait at Dubai Immigration lines for another 2 hours. What are those officers thinking. Then comes the over crowded airport - had to wait more than 15 minutes just to use the toilet. Too much shopping. Next time I will travel through Europe.

One of the worst airports I've ever visited. I was exhausted by the time I arrived here at one in the morning after a decidedly uncomfortable flight and was therefore looking forward to what I had thought would be a swanky modern airport befitting a gulf state famous for the emphasis it places on customer service. I was obviously wrong. With its endless rows of Duty Free shops, the airport functions more like a shopping mall than a travel terminal, and lacks the sort of facilities other less wealthy places have. Sweated like a pig wandering around trying to find a restaurant or café that wasn't besieged by swarms of equally thirsty passengers. Not only were the crowds nigh impossible to navigate through, but throughout my entire four- hour long ordeal here I never managed to find a seat; like many others I was instead forced to squat it out on the floor some distance away from my gate. The inexcusable lack of toilets is further compounded by their filthiness - although there were attendants inside the three which I visited, none had any opportunity to actually clean the place due to the queues. As much as I like flying Emirates, I'd rather spend my money on Qatar, who does transcontinental stopovers at Doha, an indisputably nicer place.

Arrived 2am from Australia to be faced with thousands of people in the arrivals hall! Took two hours to get to the immigration control desk to be greeted by the official who's only word was "hotel"? A disgraceful way to treat visitors to the country. The unprofessional conduct of the staff manning the desks had to be seen to be believed as they showed total disinterest with the job at hand and spent most of their time shaking hands and greeting or saying goodbye to fellow workers arriving at or leaving the desks. As a result of the 2hour delay our arranged transfer to the hotel via private vehicle thought we had not arrived and left the airport without us. Finally got to the hotel via taxi at 5.30 am! While I was impressed with the service and standard of food on Emirates, the airport experience means I would not fly via Dubai on my next trip. Lift your game DBX or more of us will decide to go via Singapore or other airports where they treat you like a real person.

I am an expatriate resident of UAE and been using DXB International Airport as the gateway to my travels. It is very good to know that the airport has the modern technologies, biggest duty free, and one of the largest airports in the world. Recently, I travelled to Istanbul, Turkey via KU and departed and arrived in terminal 1. Unfortunately, I am so appalled by the Immigration officers of DXB. Regardless of your nationality or visa status in UAE they will treat you with rudeness, impoliteness and arrogance. I highly suggest their quality assurance department to educate and give extensive training to these officers. It is so sad to know that UAE is highly depending on tourism and foreign workers and yet they cannot treat us with respect.

Overcrowding of basic facilities has become a real problem. The last 10 years I've transited or stayed in Dubai over 60 times and the conditions have rapidly deteriorated to the point where I am only using it on my next visit to use the last of my air points. I'd rather face Heathrow and LA now than Dubai. Get rid of some of the shops and put in more of what travellers need - toilet facilities and travelators as the distance from 3 to 1 is horrendous unless young and fit. While we understand the need for security and accept that - at least make it practical and pleasant - and as for everyone having to remove shoes before going through a scanner - buy some decent scanners and check those that come up with a problem - not everyone. I'm sadly disappointed at how bad it has become.

One of the best airports in the world totally let down by the incompetent system at immigration. 2 hours in line and still only half way. Pathetic.

This airport is seriously overcrowded. There are long queues for security checks when transiting, once through, it is like walking an obstacle course due to sheer number of people in the airport. The ventilation is inadequate making it feel warm most of the time. The furthest gates are 30 minutes walk and there are too many shops to tempt the weary passenger? The number of wash rooms are inadequate resulting in queues for everything!

In short been through Dubai airport 6 times in 4 months and the queues for immigration are ridiculous. If you are a gcc national you get through in ten minutes as for the rest of the world well can wait up to an hour or more to be met by a sour faced officer. Serious training needed here and this from a country that relies so heavily on tourism.

Can only agree with everything said here. I found the airport overcrowded and with little area to get out of everyone's way when you have a long transit time and want to rest: seating is along the walkways and bigger spaces are filled with fast food outlets. Even the gate areas are too small once waiting for boarding. There are insufficient toilet facilities and they are clearly overworked, with several urinals and nearly all washbasins out of service in the one I tried. Enormous queues for security check in transit - which is perhaps lucky because signage is very poor and the crowd is about the only way to tell that something, probably important, is going on here. I could go on - it is very difficult to think of anything good to say about this airport.

I was at the Dubai Airport twice last year on my way to and from London while flying Emirates. Both times I had long transits. On landing, I had to face quite a long queue but I didn't have to wait too long to get through. There are lot of shops and restaurants to choose from and overall its quite clean. But the airport is quite crowded and at one time I even had to queue for a long time outside the washroom. Its probably not the ideal airport to take a few hours of rest after a long flight. And the airport Wi-Fi is really poor, so using the Internet was difficult.

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