Chaos at Dubai airport with services still impacted by insane storm
A passenger has described inside one of the world’s busiest airport’s as “absolute mayhem” as she showed the painfully long lost luggage line.
Air travel is still severely affected in one of the world’s biggest travel hubs, as the United Arab Emirates recovers from what has been described as a weather event “unlike anything we have ever seen”.
Earlier this week, a freak storm dumped a year and half’s rain in just a few hours, flooding streets, damaging buildings and forcing businesses to close.
The storm first hit Oman at the weekend, killing at least 20 people, before pounding the UAE on Tuesday with its heaviest rains in 75 years of records.
Dubai’s airports have suffered badly with flight cancellations and delays expected to continue into the weekend.
Dubai International Airport, the world’s second busiest air hub and the home of Emirates, which has multiple daily departures to Australia, declared it was facing “very challenging conditions” with some passengers reportedly stranded for days.
At 9.30am AEST it shared a statement on X it was forced to divert more flights.
“31 flights were diverted to Dubai World Central (DWC) due to the unprecedented weather conditions this week,” the post read.
“All guests at DWC have since been successfully supported and have continued onwards to complete their travel plans.”
More than 1200 flights have been cancelled and 40 diverted in Dubai since the immense flash flood wreaked havoc across Dubai.
“Our team and partners are working relentlessly, going above and beyond to prioritise your welfare and recover operations to their normal schedule as quickly as possible.”
It comes as images show thousands of passengers who are transiting through the world’s second busiest airport, lining up at the connections desk in the hopes their delayed or cancelled connecting flight will resume.
On Friday, one woman said her elderly parents have been stuck at the airport for more than 30 hours.
“There is no food or water provided, and there is no one to guide or provide service from Emirates please help them they are in dire need,” she wrote on the airport’s X page.
The airport responded one hour later to the tweet asking for the woman’s parents’ contact details.
31 flights were diverted to Dubai World Central (DWC) due to the unprecedented weather conditions this week. All guests at DWC have since been successfully supported and have continued onwards to complete their travel plans ✈ï¸
— DXB (@DXB) April 19, 2024
Our team and partners are working relentlessly,… pic.twitter.com/rFJsStuHCy
“Please share their full names and flight number with us and our team will check on them as soon as possible.”
Others also shared of their struggle with one woman from New Zealand describing the chaos inside the airport as “absolute mayhem”.
The woman who was flying with Emirates warned fellow travellers flying through Dubai to plan alternate luggage solutions after showing a very long queue for the lost luggage line.
“Change your flights if you can or plan your holiday to not have your luggage for a few days,” she said in a TikTok. “It is absolute mayhem here.”
A passenger who wished to remain anonymous told news.com.au they spent 25 hours on an Emirates flight from Brisbane to Dubai from boarding to disembarking.
The plane circled the city for two hours before having to land at Al Maktoum (Dubai’s second airport) where passengers allegedly spent four hours on the tarmac before being transferred to Dubai international airport for another four hours.
After making it to the front of the connections desk line after 15 hours, the man said staff had finished their shift and passengers were told to go to another desk.
“No food was offered during this time, only small cups of water and soft drinks and there were no food stalls open to purchase food if you were brave enough to start the queuing process again,” he said.
His flight faced further delays as the airline was frantically trying to organise food for the flight.
“Spoke to the Emirates staff on the plane who had informed us that the staff had been on the plane since 7am and management had decided to delay the plane until food was on-board – at that point people had been awake for 35+ hours and just wanted to get home, food was the last thing they wanted.”
The man said he got to London a day after he was expected to land with none of his luggage – something many passengers are facing.
“I’m now in England for five days before flying back to Brisbane with no clothes.” He said he expected better from the “world’s transit hub”, however praised Emirates staff on-board his flight who were very accommodating and helpful.
“I’m looking to book a new flight and forfeit my flight back just so I don’t have to go through Dubai to get back.”
The airport said on X there is a backlog of baggage due to “resource constraints” and advised passengers to contact their airline.
Seeking compensation
Those seeking compensation may not be in luck with comparetravelinsurance.com.au director Natalie Ball saying under the current circumstances, airlines are not necessarily obliged to compensate affected travellers.
“According to Emirates airlines, travellers are entitled to compensation for flight delays over three hours,” Ms Ball said in a statement.
“However, this does not apply to delays caused by ‘extraordinary circumstances’.”
Ms Ball said that natural disasters, such as flash flooding, could fall under this category.
“When delays or cancellations are caused by circumstances outside of an airline’s control, they are usually not responsible for your out-of-pocket expenses,” she said.
“They may try to get you on the next flight available or offer you a flight credit, but in many scenarios this may not be sufficient.”
Ms Ball said this is where travel insurance benefits would kick in.
“When unforeseen events like bad weather or natural disasters strike, you’d likely be eligible to claim for cancellation and flight delay costs, including additional accommodation if required,” she said.
Ms Ball said more often than not, cover for natural disasters and major weather are an overlooked aspect of travel insurance.
“Natural disasters point to the unpredictable nature of travel. If you are unable to proceed with your trip plans due to a major weather event, travel insurance would provide you with cancellation benefits and cover for lost deposits,” she said.
“It’s important to consider a policy that covers trip cancellation and delays. As well, insurance only covers unforeseen events; the Dubai floods are now a known incident, so if you buy a policy now, it won’t protect you from cancellations related to this incident.”
Dubai airport CEO Paul Friday told local radio on Friday: “We’re in a position now where the airport is 100 per cent per cent operational with a focus on getting the flight schedule back to normality. It’s going to be quite a while until we’re back at normal schedule levels. We’re on the right trajectory.”
He said it was a “very challenging time”, adding that the sheer volume of people displaced is significant.
“We’ve never seen anything like it.”
The airport said in a statement on Saturday travellers should arrive at their terminal three hours before departure time and no earlier.
“Please do NOT arrive too early as this leads to further overcrowding at the airport,” it begged.
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