Dubai Airport

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.