Dubai Airport

I am a regular business class traveller on Emirates. I flew to Perth via Dubai recently. On my return journey picking up the London Heathrow connection at 7.45 AM I was apalled to see that Emirates had a very limited number of X- ray machines for passengers in transit. The huge queue resulted in almost missing the flight and certainly very little time to enjoy the business class lounge facilities. This has become a common reoccurance with all of the flights from Asia and Australia arriving at the same time at Emirates dedicated terminal 3. It is only after complaining to the X ray machine operators about our urgent departure for London that we were advised that the dedicated First/business class X ray and body scan machine could have been used. Emirates really need to sort out the huge passenger backlog and security scan issue for passenger in transit or the airport staff must organise the scan more efficiently and quickly. Either way why do we need a further X ray scan whilst this has already occurred at departure point?

My family and I have just returned from 3 days in Dubai. We got held on arrival for 4hrs at the airport by customs because my husband had a telescopic lens in his suitcase. It was a very expensive gift given to him and it was confiscated. They just said "not allowed". I have yet to find anywhere that it says it was a banned item! This was not a weapon but somehow they thought it was! No we won't be returning and be very careful on what you take in!

I have always been critical of Dubai as a transit passenger because of the rather soulless lounge and the security queue length and lack of priority lane. I was amazed at the dedicated first and business class check in at terminal three - smooth and efficient and security screening was swift and professional. No change with the lounge though.

T3 in Dubai and T3 in Singapore are what you would call polar opposites. Dubai is a noisy poorly organised poorly laid out horrible experience. As a frequent flyer in business class I have access to the huge business lounge which boasts uncomfortable seating open air layout so you get all the noise from the levels below overcrowding at peak times queues for toilets unhelpful staff and a twenty minute walk to a connecting flight depending on where you are flying. Well done Emirates you have actually created a business lounge more uncomfortable inside than out! Must save you millions.

As long as you are not being bussed from aircraft to terminal or vv T3 is ok. Fair enough the personnel at the various security check points are not the brightest - but then are they elsewhere? The main architectural gripe is the linear layout of the building which makes for sheer endless walks from one end to the other. Also there is no post office in T3 - you have to go to T1 for that.

I transited through T3 for Bangkok at the new year. My first impression is that it is full already! The facilities are not improved at all - shopping is uninspiring the bars are not for me toilets not enough. The business class lounge is just a cafe! I took the long walk through to T1 which was a cheerless experience but I did reflect that when it was opened it was a great improvement on its predecessor - which is not repeated in its present incarnation.

Beware of this airport. Travelling Business Class Emirates transiting through Dubai Airport. Security confiscated my laser pointer! This was in my hand baggage. No explanation - and very rude. I requested to see a senior after some discussion he passed me on to some one else - again a rude "not allowed". A lot of people travelling to/from a meeting or conference carry a pointer - clearly passengers travelling to a meeting/conference should avoid going through Dubai if possible.

Had the misfortune to transit through Dubai T3 on a couple of occasions in both instances flying Emirates on all legs. Both transits involved a long bus trip from aircraft to the terminal security checking (whilst necessary) was incredibly slow - far worse than other hubs such as AMS & SIN. Signage is very poor - although the terminal layout is relatively simple Main problems however are overcrowding and poor provision of facilities. As mentioned by other reviewers - the T1 problems were meant to be solved by T3 - maybe now T1 is OK but T3 is chaos. It appears that there are only around 4 sets of WCs for the main transit level with queues for the gents as well as ladies - possibly better to wait until you get through into the gate holding area before using the WC if possible although I'm not sure if there is WC provision in all of these. Very few seats available for the number of people wanting to use them and in general staff were unhelpful. Lots of bling shops if that's your bag but no focus on providing a quality service for passengers just wanting to transit. Had hoped T3 would make the 'Emirates' experience rival SIA etc but no way. Goodness knows what it will be like when load levels get back to full capacity and over the longer term when flight volumes increase. Somewhat amazingly it would appear that the architects have a long track record of airport terminal design - so maybe this was a 'Friday afternoon' terminal. It certainly is a sufficiently grim travelling experience to strongly consider paying a premium to travel with another carrier whenever possible.

Three hour wait in Terminal 3 in the early hours of the morning. Terribly crowded with all sorts of shops wanting to get their hands on your cash. If you're looking for something to eat and think you might find some interesting Middle Eastern food forget it - Macdonalds and Starbucks is about it unless you want to spend lots of money on seafood and champagne. Toilet provision is terrible - maybe about two or three sets of facilities per gender all with long queues and water sloshing around the cubicle floors. I suppose you have to endure it in order to take advantage of Emirates flights but it's not an enjoyable experience.

The new terminal at Dubai is great very modern and easy to find things. The restaurants and bars are a bit on the expensive side but what airport is not. The toilets are clean and the airport did not seem crowded at all. The only problem is the long walk from Terminal three (the new one) to the old terminal. I found the sign posting hard to follow and it is a lot of walking up and down. This would be the drawback for the new terminal as I personally found the old Emirates terminal crowded and unpleasant but this one is much better.