Dubai Airport

Clearly Dubai International has been planned as a gigantic money spinner rather than a facility for passengers. The strong emphasis is on duty free shopping so glitzy shops dominate the concourses. It is easier to buy a watch than to find a toilet. There are certainly not enough of them to serve the massive number of passengers. Also the disembarkation and bussing to terminal from my Hamburg-Singapore Emirates flight was primitive to say the least. It added to weariness after a long flight. My main complaint though concerns the total lack of free drinking water in the entire airport. Instead you must convert money into dinars or try to use your credit card to buy a bottle of water. This can only be described as a huge inconvenience for thirsty passengers. In future I'll be using Singapore Airlines and fly through Changi. A pity because the flight itself and the quality of the aircraft were very good.

Used DXB Intl last week for departure and arrival I understand it can be a nightmare for those who don't live in Dubai specially in the morning my flight was at 8.30am which is the busiest time of the day. Thankfully did online check in however still had to queue for luggage drop off which wasn't very long the line to enter passport control was endless but used e-gate. Had some time to spend in the massive duty free and to have breakfast it feels like a massive shopping mall at the busiest hour of the weekend clean spotless toilets though busy. On the way back was hassle free 4 minutes from the plane touching down until the door was open aircraft parked at the new concourse A which is dedicated to Emirates A380 planes. Had to take the underground train to passport control and after another 4 minutes I was at the belt waiting for my luggage which took a bit of time. Massive clean arrivals hall nice decent duty free and money exchange facilities the only concern is the taxi lines specially at night it was endless long queue. I understand that Dubai airport would be very frustrating for those who are not living in Dubai and don't have the e-gate but I find it the most modern clean airport.

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.

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.