Dubai Airport at night
 

Hi! I suddenly find myself faced with the prospect of a 7 hour stop-over in transit at Dubai Airport starting at 1.15 am as I change planes enroute from Rome to Auckland in a few months time.
My query is.... Is Dubai Airport relatively safe to sit in or sleep in at night? No gangs of theives operating in the terminals etc? Please advise.

Hi Zavier
I spend a lot of time in Dubai waiting for that flight to Auckland. Yes, the airport is extremely safe and well lit. In fact you may find the shops and restaurants are open. It is a true airport hub destination.
If you are travelling with the same airline in/out, you are entitled to a layover voucher in an airport hotel, providing your wait is a certain number of hours. Unfortunately I think your stop is too short to qualify; mine is usually over 10 hours. :-(
Cheers, Alison

Hi, yes I am booked with Emirates all the way. Originally I was flying non-stop Dubai - Sydney and the transit was over 8 hours so I qualified for the hotel, but today my agent called to say they have moved the departure forward an hour so no free hotel! :( Fortunately :) he offered me a $500 discount on another emirates flight to Auckland via Singapore and Brisbane, which I accepted, hence the 7.5 hour wait. Glad to hear there will be some life at the airport. Emirates have a guest lounge don't they?

Hi,
The guest lounges are for business and first class passengers only. I don't know how you get in to one if you are on economy.
There are areas in the public area with loungers where you can stretch out - providing you can find one free.
Alison

Dubai Airport is totally safe without question. It is a good airport and you will find it quite busy during the night, you can take a shower which is refreshing and passes some time, I would take a change of light clothing in your carry-on as nothing beats a shower and a change on such a long journey. You will also find Dubai Airport fascinating as a true meeting of East and West ( plus North and South ), a very interesting and well organised place. Enjoy.

Thanks Alison and James - sounds like I will have a great stop-over! Just saw my travel agent today and he advised he's booked me a window seat in the last row of each 777 flight - he reccommends it. I've never sat at the very back on a flight before, so that should be interesting!

Does the last row seat recline? - on some aircraft it does not. Also, check to see if Emirates allows smoking - EgyptAir does in last few rows - so you might be in an uncomfortable seat in a cloud of smoke.

Hi Gail. Emirates imposed a complete smoking ban on 01/08/04. My travel agent accessed the seating map on his computer and some of the rear seats were marked "limited comfort" and some were not. He said the limited comfort ones didnt recline but the others did. I plan to ask on check-in anyway. Luckily each leg is no more than 7.5 hours and 7 of my 8 flights are in the daytime anyway. For the night flight from Rome to Dubai I have booked the very front row of economy so I can try to sleep (should be quieter ahead of the engines)

Emitares manages to get in 10 seats across on a 777, almost all others only put in 9 across. If you are on a night flight you will see almost nothing, personaly I always go for an Aisle seat, it gives you a less cramped feeling, also easy to get up and down if going to the washroom. The Seatback TV also shows vision from cameras that shows ouside the plane, not that yuou can see much but seeing the landing on the screen is pretty amazing stuff.