Etihad Airways Etihad Guest - Inexperience traveler (Mom) - request info

Hello all - my mom who does not travel much at all on her own is flying DAC-AUH-ORD in Business. She has a 12 hour overnight layover in AUH and I believe EY is providing her hotel accommodation.

What would your advise be for a novice passenger once they land in AUH? Is there any help available? Thank you in advance.

Nothing in particular I can think of for the airport - it's a fairly straightforward airport and staff are usually helpful.

However, if she's traveling with any medications be triple sure she is carrying all prescriptions with her, and they are in their originally issued bottles. The UAE is notoriously tough on "drugs" - and they don't differentiate so much between street drugs and drugs carried for medical reasons. Carrying in a Panadol Cold and Flu with Codeine can land you in prison for 4 years - and unmarked items, if discovered, can land you in no end of hot water.

Also beware of "innocent" food products. Poppy seeds are banned and have been known to land people with a 4 year prison term - in once such case reported in the British media a Swiss man had a seed fall off a sandwich into his shirt pocket at Heathrow and was subsequently arrested in the UAE for opioid possession. Unbelievable, I know - google it though, you'll see it checks out.

That said, DXB is usually a lot more notorious for this than AUH, but I wouldn't take any risks, especially as she will have to cross customs for the hotel stay. I go to SriLanka 4-5 times a year and I'm sometimes asked to transport things back for family/friends (spices, Ayurvedic medicines, etc.) - however I don't take any risks with this and always politely decline. Make sure she knows the possible consequences and everything checks out.

Nothing in particular I can think of for the airport - it's a fairly straightforward airport and staff are usually helpful.

However, if she's traveling with any medications be triple sure she is carrying all prescriptions with her, and they are in their originally issued bottles. The UAE is notoriously tough on "drugs" - and they don't differentiate so much between street drugs and drugs carried for medical reasons. Carrying in a Panadol Cold and Flu with Codeine can land you in prison for 4 years - and unmarked items, if discovered, can land you in no end of hot water.

Also beware of "innocent" food products. Poppy seeds are banned and have been known to land people with a 4 year prison term - in once such case reported in the British media a Swiss man had a seed fall off a sandwich into his shirt pocket at Heathrow and was subsequently arrested in the UAE for opioid possession. Unbelievable, I know - google it though, you'll see it checks out.

That said, DXB is usually a lot more notorious for this than AUH, but I wouldn't take any risks, especially as she will have to cross customs for the hotel stay. I go to SriLanka 4-5 times a year and I'm sometimes asked to transport things back for family/friends (spices, Ayurvedic medicines, etc.) - however I don't take any risks with this and always politely decline. Make sure she knows the possible consequences and everything checks out.

Thank you for the tip - I had no idea the UAE was this stringent on folks carrying benign meds.

Thank you for the tip - I had no idea the UAE was this stringent on folks carrying benign meds.

Sure. Basically it boils down to draconian policy combined with lack of policy sophistication. A poppy seed will test positive on an opioid test, as will a drug with codeine in it. Never mind that you can't get high on a poppy seed - it tests positive for the same compounds as heroin does (obviously, I might add, as heroin is derived from the poppy plant), and the guys making the decisions don't care to see the difference.

People have likewise been imprisoned for entering DXB with a stubbed out joint sticking to the bottom of their shoe. Finally, note also that your bloodstream is counted under "possession". In other words, they can run a blood test and if you are showing traces of anything you will be done for importation.

I will also have an overnight stopover on my KWI-AUH-JFK flight in F (AA award). I got the impression from here that the limo service did not apply for transits.
Am I "entitled" for a hotel provided by EY for this overnight?