Dubai Airport

Customer Reviews

No Skytrax Rating
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Queuing Times 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Staff 12345
Customer rating from 564 reviews
4/10
No Skytrax Rating
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3/10

"it was a nightmare"

(Singapore)

One of the worst airports if you have a long transit here. Unable to take boarding pass to enter to business lounge. All information and directions given by the information counter was different each time I approached them. When I found the the transfer desk after searching for more than half an hour, the transfer desk staff member simply said that the counter would only open 3 hours before departure time. I had to walk half an hour back to another lounge and then return again two hours before departure. There were no signs of a trolley and directions of A,B and C are misleading. Since it is such a big airport they should consider having an internal train since it is a 20-30 mins walk between shops and gates. It was my second long transit at Dubai and it was a nightmare.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitFebruary 2016
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
5/10

"certainly not the best"

(Netherlands)

Used this airport several times for transit between Europe and Asia. Up to 30 minutes of complex ways to go between terminal buildings: staircase/elevator/train and a lot of walking. Useless and chaotic security check between terminals with long queues. Airport staff shouting at passengers treating people like cattle. Despite all promotions about visiting Dubai, the airport management should reconsider the behaviour of staff towards passengers. Nice duty free shops but the usual stuff you see at all airports. Restaurant facilities are poor and not prepared for a lot of passenger traffic during the night. It may be the biggest transit airport in the world but certainly not the best.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"bathrooms are ridiculous"

(Australia)

Overcrowded and shabby. Transit to Europe from Sydney. Transit passengers have to pass through a pointless security check. Why? Very long distance to walk to connecting flight. For such a large airport, the bathrooms are ridiculous. I waited in a line to use the dirty smelly bathroom with only 5 cubicles, and the bathroom cleaner seemed to be enjoying running his own private little bathroom business. Even though smoking is allegedly banned in Dubai airport, there were people smoking in the food courts. Will avoid Dubai in future.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Airport Staff 12345
no
4/10

"unfriendly airport staff"

(Switzerland)

Dubai airport for economy passengers is a poor experience. Queuing for toilets and an unpleasant free recreational area with not enough space, long walks to change planes, unfriendly airport staff, even mineral water bought after the security check was not allowed to take on the plane to Sydney (Emirates/Qantas code share flight) because there was an unexpected second manual check directly at the gate. For what was the first security check for? We will avoid Dubai airport in the future if possible.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
9/10

"airport was very well organized"

(France)

Last December while flying from Paris to Johannesburg I made stopover at Dubai (DXB) airport. I found that the airport was very well organized and that it was almost impossible to get lost. The cleanliness of the airport is incredible, the staff were friendly and smiley. In brief a very good airport.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitDecember 2015
Type Of TravellerSolo Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes
10/10

"a very nice, clean premises"

(United Arab Emirates)

T2 in Dubai a few years back used to be quite dirty and unpleasant. In the last three years it has been totally refurbished into a completely new premises and the current one is a very nice, clean premises. Good thing is that it is functional, hospitable, yet short walks to access and to exit which for short trip is a gift which makes it my preferred terminal when flying for short trips.
Experience At AirportDeparture Only
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerBusiness
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
yes
5/10

"it was very busy"

(United Arab Emirates)

Arrived in Terminal 1 on a busy Thursday night, with plenty of long-haul arrivals from the Far East and Europe, two Saudi Arabia flights, a full Boeing 777-300ER from Doha (my flight), plus the usual India/Pakistan flights. It was very busy, with thousands of passengers walking towards passport control via the underground tunnel. Passport control was a huge mess, which has been the case for several years now. There are 2 different types of queues-a few for 'GCC Nationals', and 'Other Nationalities.' Given that 90% of the population are not GCC citizens, not a very efficient allocation of resources. Lumping the 'others' together is big mistake, as there are no lines for UAE Residents (who are fastest to process), UAE visitors, and those entering for work/residence (each category needs to be processed differently). Ridiculous thing is, lines for E-Gate were very, very long. Having just a few machines may have worked back in 2003 when only a few savvy frequent travellers signed up for them, but the reality is any Dubai resident 18 and above who travels more than twice a year probably has E-gate now. Was a 15/20 minute wait to go through. Saw a Lebanese family (mother had E-gate but husband and infant did not) try to go through the adjacent immigration booth, but were rudely turned away by the officer and told to join the back of the very long regular queues. As a courtesy E-gate card holders' dependents are usually let through. Very impolite and shows how there is no system in place for young/elderly/infirm travellers. This is in contrast to Terminal 3, where there is Smart Gate, and E-Gate, and dedicated lines for UAE residents. Baggage claim hall was very busy and no monitors displaying which flight was assigned to which belt. T1's chaos has become normal and management seems somewhat complacent. In short, avoid arriving in Terminal 1, as unless your flight happens to land outside a busy arrival bank, you could be waiting for 90 minutes just to pass through passport control.
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
2/10

"staff were in no hurry"

(Australia)

I had great expectations for this airport which were not met. We flew in from Paris in business class on Emirates on an A380 and departed on Singapore Airlines also in business. Arrived around midnight and it took us about 1 hour to get to our chauffeur. Lines were long and staff did not appear to be in a hurry. Luggage still had not arrived by the time we cleared immigration. Only positive is that Terminal 3 is new and clean. By contrast Terminal 1 is old and not well lit. There is no express line for business class passengers and at 5.00pm the lines were long. Again the staff were in no hurry. From the time we arrived took over an hour to get to the Lufthansa lounge which Singapore Airlines used. After this experience could not be bothered to do any duty free shopping and waited till Changi.
Experience At AirportArrival and Departure
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerCouple Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages N/A
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
3/10

"will avoid in the future"

(United States)

We landed in a remote parking bay after a 10 hour long haul flight. The bus ride to the terminal took 25 min. The bus dropped us in a secondary screening area that seemed infrequently used. After exiting we had to make a choice as to which terminal to go to B or C. Despite waiting for the tv screens to cycle through multiple screens, because our transit waiting time (4 hours) was longer than the number of flights they could display, they did not indicate which way we should walk. Although well advertised the stroller facility was empty. We had two toddlers so wanted to be sure we walked to the correct terminal. We then tried the interactive kiosk, but it also did not have our connecting flight details. We then tried to find a staff member - unlike other airports they are hard to locate at the transit connections point. When we did the advice was "sit on the floor and wait an hour until the details are available - as there were no chairs." We eventually flipped a coin and went one way. We were flying business class and went to the lounge. There were long queues for the men's toilets on the lounge and the facilities were dirty despite there being a person there to arrange the towels. In an odd choice of spatial planning, the kids play area in the lounge in only accessible by walking through the smoking lounge. On a separate point there is no separation of air between the smoking or non smoking area. I have travelled through many airports, but I will go out of my way to avoid this one in the future.
Experience At AirportTransit
Date VisitJanuary 2016
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no
4/10

"chaotic queue management system"

(United Arab Emirates)

As a resident of Dubai, I am a frequent user of Dubai International airport which regrettably is now beginning to suffer from the same issues that London Heathrow used to be known for. I arrived back from our Christmas holiday in the UK via Heathrow (which incidentally was great) to experience a 2 hour queue for immigration on arrival at Dubai Airport's Terminal 1. Unable to use the e gate facility as we had a 3 year old with us, we had to stand and watch the relatively chaotic queue management system cope with the hordes of arriving passengers. I accept that this may have been one of the busiest periods for the airport but what was difficult to fathom was the lack of any other processing facilities for those of us who are resident in the country outside of e gates. There was only one man in a military uniform who seemed to be involved in queue management and there were so many people around no one could make out what he was saying. As the airport has become busier, its ability to organize passengers effectively seems to have dipped whilst paradoxically London Heathrow has now become a pleasure to pass through. Come on Dubai - lets get back to poll position.
Experience At AirportArrival Only
Date VisitDecember 2015
Type Of TravellerFamily Leisure
Queuing Times 12345
Terminal Cleanliness 12345
Terminal Seating 12345
Terminal Signs 12345
Food Beverages 12345
Airport Shopping 12345
Wifi Connectivity 12345
Airport Staff 12345
no