18-hour transit in Dubai airport
From the Dubai Airport Terminal Hotel: I landed in Dubai today morning morning from Kolkata. Surprisingly, there wasn’t any rush in the business class. After Lufthansa closed down its direct flight operations to Kolkata and with Qatar introducing smaller aircraft, normally there is always a rush in this Calcutta-Dubai sector. The business class seats in particular are more in demand and thus hard to get.
The Dubai-New York sector is also always full. I have to wait in Dubai for almost 18 hours and would take the 8:30 am New York flight tomorrow. I did not get a seat in any of the earlier flights and was not in a position to change my dates as WFUNA executive committee meeting is on the 7th of September and I must be there a day earlier.
I left Kolkata a little late because of the Chaltabagan Puja exhibition or else I could have worked out an itinerary with less time on the transit.
Instead of going out of the airport and visiting the city, I have chosen to be in a hotel at the Dubai airport itself simply because there is no visa immigration hassles and also the weather outside is 42 degree. This Hotel is as good as any basic five star hotel. There is, however, no laundry service inside this Hotel since it is based in the airport itself. I couldn’t understand the reason which the concierge gave me. In contrast, the Frankfurt airport has complimentary ironing service in the Lufthansa first class lounge.
Many other airports’ basic transit hotels also do have laundry facilities which I think is a must for all transit hotels. The good thing is that my tomorrow Emirates aircraft to New York is a A 380 which I really like.
ess bee