Yachtman

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...ccusation.html

Interesting article, if it's true.

I think it is often forgotten that even in transit you are bound by local laws and for instance carrying sleeping tablets could see you jailed for several years...

DYKWIA

She seems to be in an F class suite at some point, although I guess this could have been another flight.

skywardhunter

Very odd. She has two photos, one in J and one in F, though if she has miles to upgrade one of the photos or both may be from earlier flights on Emirates that she has taken.

She used her "air miles" to upgrade, one would think a frequent flier would call them Skywards miles or miles. No excuse on the sleeping pills, it's common knowledge you're not allowed anything strong in DXB, incl anything containing codeine which is commonly available as OTC medication in other countries.

m3red

You'd do well to get drugs through a uk airport

GUWonder

They are photos from different flights.

I do have to wonder how much sexism has to do with having been "reported" by the flight crew to the police for suspected "cocaine" use.

There is noting all that unusual about referring to frequent flyer miles as air miles.

skywardhunter

Of course they're different flights but since she seems to be booked into Y originally it seems like it's a different trip entirely. Probably grabbed from her Instagram.

There's absolutely no indication or implication of her sex being relevant and not sure why you bring that up? Lots of men use Cocaine, too.

GUWonder

Ok.

Do you think "attractive" females traveling alone in the premium cabins to DXB are viewed the same as males traveling alone in the premium cabins to DXB?

I have no doubt that men use cocaine too, and that situation is something I had already taken as a given when posting what I did.

There is absolutely an indication that UAE authorities are more likely to consider "attractive" women traveling alone into DXB in a way that is considerably different than how they consider men from the same country. It shouldn't be a surprise that some such biases are also represented in how a national carrier's flight crew behave differently toward some passengers compared to other passengers.

skywardhunter

Given that a vast majority of EK crew are not from the middle East, are probably largely not Muslim, and often themselves female, and given that the crew are the ones who alerted authorities, in this case I think you're just trying to turn a discussion about crew mistakenly accusing a pax of using cocaine into a political discussion about the merits of the UAE's approach to life.

DYKWIA

Bizarre... You think a lone female would be falsely accused of taking cocaine because she was attractive?

As usual with these stories, I suspect there's something missing from the report.

Arctic Troll

She'd taken alprazolam, also known as Xanax, apparently without prescription.

I can only assume that the cabin crew saw the effects of the Xanax, saw her sniffing a lot, put two and two together and got 476,990. Easy done if you don't know what the effects are; it's hard to imagine confusing the effects of cocaine and a sedative, but there we are.

Yachtman

Airside transit is an obscure grey area, especially when you have no intention of entering the country. Of course you need to abide by UAE law once on a UAE registered aircraft and whilst transiting though.
When the Qantas/Emirates partnership/tie up occurred there was a lot of effort made to assure people it would be safe and reasonable to transit via the UAE, particularly those from the Jewish communities, but where do homosexuals fit in to the mix as technically that is illegal in the UAE?
The biggest concern is that the UAE's legal system is certainly not as predictable as for instance the UK's, at times some of the rulings and sentences can seem completely unreasonable for those of us from Western countries.

Whilst if she was carrying cocaine then that would be a completely reckless act, what is slightly more troubling is the alleged threats over the sleeping tablets that she carried. I suspect an awful lot of travellers carry such items and wouldn't expect to be threatened or arrested during a transit for those.

I lived in the Middle East for many years and whilst the UAE likes to market its relaxed, holiday, beach, bikinis, party, fun, glitzy and glam lifestyle in much of the official tourist marketing, along with the modern and awesome Emirates Airlines, its important not to forget you aren't in Kansas anymore and the laws and regulations are different.

That said, for my regular shuttling between the UK and Australia I will continue to use Emirates/Qantas as I go in with my eyes open and follow the UAE rules. But perhaps the naive tourists and irregular travellers need a reminder...

Arctic Troll

Homosexuality is not illegal, it's homosexual sexual contact, including some public displays of affection.

I don't agree with it one little bit, and it does put me off the UAE. But if you are sensible in the airport, there won't be an issue.

As I'm sure you know, the UAE rules are that you must have a prescription for things like this. It appears she didn't have a prescription for the Xanax, for whatever reason. It is fairly clear advice that you need a copy of a valid prescription for certain medication, including the SSRI and beta-blocker I take. I didn't interpret it as a threat, more a reminder that she'd technically broken the law. If they were really out to ruin her holiday, they could have cheerfully arrested her for it.

Flame3601

Not sure where to stand on this one , but if the CD does not show up then let me and i will be more then happy to take her to the airport

kq747

If we have most of the story here then to me it seems like they thought she had been using cocaine and when they figured out she had not been they used the technically correct but pretty sad excuse of the sleeping pills to justify themselves and the way she was treated. People have often asked about taking these kinds of pills into Dubai on FT but no one has ever thought that transit passengers are subjected to same scrutiny to the best of my knowledge.

RooseveltL

Not sure if sarcasm in your response. The following list of people would be accused of transporting something on any flight:
attractive lone young female (either sex trade or transporter or both)
person of color (not athletic)
young adult types (which are decoy attention grabbers or fall person for someone else on the aircraft with the big load)
anyone checking in a bunch of bags OR anyone not checking in any bags (just a backpack)
anyone on manifest who has never traveled prior on the airline but splurged last minute at Y/F service at full fare