Dubai Airport

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.

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.

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.

This airport is huge! However, the instructions to get around were usually good. We found our way to the departure lounge easy but the only thing we found difficult was that every section looks the same. You think you have just done a big circle and it did become a bit confusing. Also, there was a lack of departure and arrival boards. The bathrooms were constantly busy so you would have to wait a while. Other than that, the airport was clean, well communicated and the staff usually pretty helpful.

This has to be the worst airport! After arriving from a 7 hour flight we had to endure a 30min bus ride back to the terminal. For some reason our bus driver just stayed parked by the plane for 15 min while we stood up in a overly crowded bus. Once you arrive at the terminal you are forced to go through security which is unorganized to say the least. Once through security we had to take a train to another terminal. Someone really needs to do a better job designing this airport. Once we made it to our gate we realized the lack of seating. We ended up walking back to the middle of the terminal to find a seat. I usually fly business class but this time I brought my family with so we got to enjoy Emirates economy treatment. What a joke. I will never fly Emirates again.

After a long flight in an elderly Emirates 777-200 from Perth Australia I was looking forward to some comfort in transit. The first impression was "sterile". It became clear that persons without access to the lounges were not well catered for. The cost of a cup of coffee and a small cakes was outrageous. The signage was inadequate and it was not obvious without asking that to board the next flight to Rome involved a train ride to another part of this vast impersonal airport. I will not fly Emirates again.

Dubai is basking in glowing reports about how enjoyable and comfortable their facilities are. Where there is lots of sun there is shade. The first one is the parking policy of EK. Why are dozens of a/c parked far from the terminal with long bus journeys back to where you should be? Why is the security check so chaotic for the massive numbers of passengers at peak times? Transiting with EK can be a pleasure even given the previous concerns. Please note, never change to a non EK carrier, first you will not find the transfer facility and when you do, it is a small window in the wall with no comfort around. It seems that EK wants to discourage changing to any other airline.

I had the opportunity to arrive and also to depart from this huge airport. The airport is quite big and this terminal was totally reserved for Emirates. You always have the sensation of open space and of lots natural light. I was just a bit disappointed with queues at check-in, security and passport control. In the waiting area for all Economy passengers there are lots of shops and cafes. The arrival experience was also good. We proceed very fast through passport control and soon received our luggage (it all took about 20-30 minutes).

This airport has an extra security check for transfer passengers. At two consecutive times (at Fri 1.15am and Sat 5.45am) we found the checkpoints to be badly organized. The first time the fast lane was missing for first/business class passengers. The second time (with crowd management missing and a lack of crowd barriers) we had to go with the crowd for 10 minutes before we could reach the fast lane (see picture). Employees didn't appear to been trained for customer friendliness. On one check my luggage was kept separate because of a deodorant can (complying with all safety rules, 75ml in a transparent releasable bag, separately placed in the tray), which was confiscated. Because there was quite a backlog of 'not-ok luggage items' I had to wait 10 minutes in a cramped space with too many people. I had to struggle to stay there. No-one was apparently in charge and the employees were too busy chatting with each other. Signage at this airport is confusing and inadequate. Flight information on the screens is presented in a confusing way. There is a large amount of shops, but sales employees don't appear to be motivated. It's impressive, the sheer size and the amount of glass and marble in terminal 3, but it's sterile. With money you just can't buy quality and a nice atmosphere. But because of my bad experience and because of the rude behaviour of the employees, I prefer to avoid this airport in the future.

We flew to Dubai on our way to Abu Dhabi and I was quite excited to see Dubai airport, after all the episodes that I saw of Ultimate Airports. To begin with, it is very huge and spans acres. The three elongated concourses see multiple airlines from across the world vying for a gate. Unfortunately, our Emirates flight arrived late at Dubai airport and was allocated a remote gate at the far end of the airport. The bus ride from the aircraft to the main terminal, zig-zagging through internal roads took us almost 15 minutes. The immigration clearance was quite smooth, but the officers seemed to be enjoying chatting amongst themselves. What really set the temperatures soaring was the amount of time the luggage took to come to the conveyor belt. We werent actually surprised, since we ourselves took some time to reach the terminal. Thanks to all this mess, we ended up missing our connecting bus to Abu Dhabi. While departing Dubai airport, since we ended up arriving quite early (and had checked in online) we had an ample time to loiter around. The formalities took us not more than 30 minutes and we were off to explore Concourse B of Terminal 3. The duty free shopping is something to look out for. The terminal itself is very big and walking through all the gates will give you a good exercise before boarding the flight. The boarding happens at the lower floor than the main departures floor. A little confusion did happen during boarding, but was sorted out pretty fast. Luckily, our flight this time took off on time, but not before taxing across half the terminal and the main runway.