I have a friend who needs a visa to enter Dubai, and who booked two separate tickets - an Emirates ticket into Dubai and a Royal Jordanian ticket for flights from Dubai to Amman. The intention was to stay in Dubai for 5 days on the return leg, but transit through Dubai to Amman on a tight 170 minute connection on the first leg (Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 transfer).

Since Royal Jordanian is an Emirates interline partner, Emirates customer service told my friend an interline transfer can simply be requested when checking into the Emirates flight and my friend's bags will be tagged and transferred automatically to Royal Jordanian. There should be no need to manually claim the bags and check them in again.

Emirates customer service also advised that if the interline transfer is requested, my friend will not have to clear immigration -- and will not need a transit visa -- for the first leg. My friend can apply for a single entry tourist visa which would be used in the return leg, not the connection on the first leg.

The issue is that my friend will not be able to exit the terminal to claim baggage if something goes wrong with the interline transfer, and there is no way of requesting the interline transfer ahead of checking into the flight.

Should my friend not worry and is the interline transfer near certain to go through properly in Dubai airport? The issue is, if she really wants to be sure, she should apply for a multiple entry visa (additional US$52 fees) in case she needs to go out and find her bag and rush to check in manually.

So would anyone advise that she simply apply for the multiple entry visa in case there is a small chance the interline transfer goes wrong?