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Hello,

Please rank these airlines for flying to and from Dubai.

Gulf Air
Emirates
Ithad
Qatar Airways

I'm aware that Ithad only flys to Abu Dhabi. To get to Dubai one has to use a coach (or is it a bus) which, supposedly, takes 1 hr 30 minutes. Can someone who has flown with Ithad please confirm if it's really takes that long.

Bruce, I flew with BA this summer from Manchester to AUH. I didn't get the coach to Dubai, I got a taxi. Before I got in the taxi I asked 'How much to Jumeirah', the driver said meter madam meter, so I said fine and we all got in, there was me, Beth and her friend, (who I later named the one that doesn't eat, but that's another story) As we pulled out of the airport the driver announced that the meter was broken and it would cost AED300 to Jumeirah. I said 'take me back', he then reduced the fare to AED250, I said 'take me back'. He then reduced it to AED200. This wasn't too far away from the price I had in my mind so we continued. Now me being the observent type, I noticed the meter was working. We arrived at JBR after taking the scenic route and stopped in the car park. The meter annonced that the journey would cost AED150. The driver got our cases out and I gave him AED150 and AED30 tip. He was not amused and he swore at me in what I presume was his best Pakistani and demanded in English that I gave him a further AED20 and a tip. It was the principle here, not the cash, as what's AED50?. I can do a fair imitation of Cheryl Cole when I want and he didn't seem to have a clue what I was saying in me best geordie accent. I then reverted to English and told him that if he liked I would get the Police as they are always lurking in Murjan car park somewhere on a skive, and I'm sure he wouldn't be returing to AUH if I had a say in it. He swore at me again, very loudly in a foreign language and drove off at high speed. Morale of this story is know what the journey costs first before getting into a taxi, if that's the mode of transport you decide on. BTW I think it took about 45 mins by taxi.
Getting back to the airlines, I haven't flown Gulf Air or Etihad so can't comment on them, all the others are fine and there's nothing to choose between them. Air France are good to but my favourite is BA. My best friend works at T5 and she always upgrades me to Business Class on the way out, but I'm afraid it's cattle on the return.

Bruce, are you writing a "Guide Book to Dubai"????

Bora, I never thought of that! If Bruce uses any of the info gained at DF, I hope he gives us a cut of the royalties.

FYI, it's Etihad!

And the standard cost of a taxi from AD to DXB is 200 Dhs.

DUH to JBR was 150 on a meter.

I meant from AD proper, and that's the price they'll quote you.

I usually use Emirates because their flight times are generally better. I am biased though as I get free tickets lol

Don't tell me, daddy was a pilot.

NO actually! (I love the way everyone automatically ASSUMES all airline workers are pilots - er scheduling, ops, ATC, engineering etc etc all count too) Crew scheduling manager and even though he's retired I still get 5 tickets a year - nah nah nah. Plus I am the 'voice' of Emirates AVR system for crew. Take the perks where you can get them I say.

Emirates has gone downhill though in regards to service standards in recent years, but they don't seem t6o care that much, given they're still raking in huge profits every year - that's also the reason they don't get into price wars with other airlines, people still pay their fares and flights are always full, so why should they.

My best friends ex boss is something big in Emirates airlines. I will ask him if he knows you.

Bethsmum wrote:My best friends ex boss is something big in Emirates airlines. I will ask him if he knows you.

LOL he won't 'know' me! But I am EVITA! But my father was very well known and well respected within the company, they all wish he'd come back - no flippin' chance.

I've heard nothing but good things about Etihad.

Choc - The rumours of Ethihad taking over Emirates following the economic fallout - all rubbish?

I find ethihad considerably more expensive whenever I have looked and have flown with them only once. The one time I did it was on a staff ticket (my friend works for them) but it was a nightmare as they were insisting that I could only board on that ticket if I wore trousers and not jeans. I had zero clothes with me and the shops sold nada. I had to cry like a baby in order for the women to let me pass.

FYI - I also find emirates more expensive - cheapest has been virgin and british airways for flights to the UK and Europe. But for some reason whenever I take the 1am flight from DXB to LHR they are oversold and they give me a free ticket + rebook me on the 6.30am - its happened to me 3 times - so in reality they are the cheapest for me.

Well nothing to do with Etihad, but apparently Abu Dhabi did inject some cash into Emirates following the financial crash - AD owns most of DXB these days.

It's all airline politics. DXB wanted to buy into Air Arabia, Sharjah said 'no way dude, take a hike', so DXB started Fly Dubai as competition.

JoeTGF wrote:Choc - The rumours of Ethihad taking over Emirates following the economic fallout - all rubbish?

I find ethihad considerably more expensive whenever I have looked and have flown with them only once. The one time I did it was on a staff ticket (my friend works for them) but it was a nightmare as they were insisting that I could only board on that ticket if I wore trousers and not jeans. I had zero clothes with me and the shops sold nada. I had to cry like a baby in order for the women to let me pass.

FYI - I also find emirates more expensive - cheapest has been virgin and british airways for flights to the UK and Europe. But for some reason whenever I take the 1am flight from DXB to LHR they are oversold and they give me a free ticket + rebook me on the 6.30am - its happened to me 3 times - so in reality they are the cheapest for me.

Joe, you can really work the airlines if you know what to do, see you've discovered it with BA. I tried to play a blinder with them in the summer but it backfired, just unlucky this time. I booked LHR (well Manchester really) to DUH, as it was much cheaper than DXB for some reason, there were 3 of us. The plan was that when I got to LHR my friend (a customer services manager at T5) would swop me to the DXB flight at no extra cost to me. The DXB flight was over booked so that went pear shaped. There was only 1 free seat in Business to DUH so I took that and left the kids in economy. At 15 they can look after themselves I think! (i'm not very maternal)
I missed a connection with Air France in Paris once, and went for a wonder around Paris as I had 12 hours to wait. When I got back to Charles De Gaulle they offered me £350.00 to be off loaded, a hotel room and a flight the next morning. As I was only coming to Dubai for the weekend I declined, I may have reconsidered if they agreed to upgrade me but they wouldn't. CDG is the most unfriendly airport in the world I have found, the staff never crack a smile.

Yeah I hate CDG - I won't make any assessment on french people. I stopped taking the 1am with emirates - I got an extra ticket each time but waiting at the airport for 5 hours until the later flight did my head in. Will need to find a few extra tricks. Common Chocs - any airline secrets you can share?

What's the baggage allowance like on these carriers? I used Virgin recently and I was given

One suit case: max 23kg
One hand luggage: 7kg.

Last time I flew with Gulf Air (to Abu Dhabi) the allowance was higher, on the the return flight I went over the allowance by a considerable amount and they simply allowed it.

Emirates is 30Kg in economy and the usual carry on, which is 7kg I think.

Would depend on the destination if you can take one or two pieces of luggage. I fly Emirates to the States and get two pieces, 30 kg each, but since I have a gold frequent flyer card I get an allowance for overage.

Over age ? You mean senior citizen discount ?

Now now DD2, don't poke the stick through the bars of the cage!

Have flown all the airlines mentioned except Etihad. Planning to take it in a couple of weeks to Hanoi, will be interesting as I know someone who works for them and she says they are better than Emirates. Well, she would!



Knight