Tight connection in DXB
 

I booked a flight AMS-DXB-SYD with a layover of only 1 hour in DXB (EK150/EK418). I realized, would this be sufficient ? I booked it on the EK website directly, not at a broker or travel agent.

Should I contact EK customer service before departure ?

A 1 hour connection is very doable at DXB. If your inbound is late they may even have ground staff waiting to escort you to the next flight and even if you do miss your connection there are so many options for rerouting on EK/QF as they have flights through BKK/MEL/PER/BNE

doable, as long as you don't get remote stands for both flights or are 20 mins late on the inbound. however lots of flights so wouldn't worry about it.

I thought 75 minutes was the minimum allowed? Isn't 60 minutes an illegal connection? 75 should be fine - I've done that without too much headache.

The only risk is if you arrive in A and depart from C (or vice versa). That's quite a long haul.

It changed from 75 to 60 minutes a few months back.

Not trying to scaremonger, but just a reminder, make your way to the next gate straight away. We have had a recent story of someone being made to pay for a new flight as EK deemed they were late for boarding therefore were offloaded and claimed that they should have made the next flight despite the incoming one being late.

Once at the gate, you can determine after speaking to gate staff if you have any time to do anything in the terminal before you have to board.

S

Agreed. It's doable but tight and I'd go for it in the basis of many additional flights to the destination in case of a missed connection.

Definitely, if the airline (direct) sell that connection then they should be protected (as long as they make every effort to get to the gate without dilly dallying :o)

S

It's the not dilly dallying that's important. There are several stories about mothers wanting to change or feed their babies etc who missed the connection (not saying that changing nappies is dilly dallying :rolleyes:). Make sure you have been to the toilet before landing (the queues for these conveniences at DXB can be terrifying) and move briskly to the new gate. If you still miss the connection, you should be protected. And look for Emirates people at the arrival gate holding a sign with either your name or your destination. They will whisk you through 'the system' quickly.

I once ran through the airport as if my life depended on it (connection would have been 1:20 but we were 20 minutes late and got a bus gate). Got to my seat, made myself comfortable and heard the captain announce that we were going to wait a bit more for connecting passengers.....:(

(By the way: I came in on EK150 last Sunday morning. Landed early, but we parked at the far end of the airport. Then a looooong busied to the terminal. But would still have made a 1 hour connection)

I still think that 60 minute transit is a little bit risky.
You may get onto your onward leg by running through the airport, but your luggage may not make it, and that's another set of trouble.

Definitely doable in my experience. EK staff will almost certainly be waiting for you at the gate, particularly if your inbound is late, plus lots of onward options as already highlighted. I had a 75-minute onward connection through DXB to BOM 12 months ago, where the inbound EK flight from DOH was 65 minutes late. Gate staff even told me not to rush as I had plenty of time! There were 35-40 connecting PAX and DXB-BOM eventually departed 50 mins late with everyone onboard.

It is tight but if I find emirates brilliant in those situations. I flew back to CPT a few weeks ago from MAN on EK20 connecting to EK770 (85 minute connection)

EK20 was late leaving Manchester, and before I had even left the lounge, the guy comes over to tell me I had already been moved on to flight EK778 which departed to Cape Town 2 hours later than my original EK770. They even changed my chauffeur booking etc in Cape town.

no need to worry :)

Missed connection, but excellent EK service
 

Finally I got the EK150 on time and it arrived on time at 7:50, but it did not arrive at the gate, but at a remote location and pax had to be transported by buses which took an extra half hour, so goodbye connecting EK418.
Finally at the gate there was EK staff waiting before security check for all pax having tight / missed connections. One staff member shouted 'Bangkok' whom we joined (my destination was SYD via BKK). Within a few minutes they arranged EK406 to MEL with a connecting QF418 (same flight number as the missed flight...) to SYD, which was just one hour later in SYD than expected when we made the missed flight. We got emergency exit seats, but not together, but cabin crew swapped a single pax with one of us. Our luggage arrived in MEL, where we also cleared customs, and we checked again in for the domestic QF flight to SYD.
Finally, all went well.

But one hour overlay is not a good idea anyway.

Nice to hear it all worked out and that when one takes the right bus and pays attention to signs and staff members EK takes care of pax in an efficient manner!

Let's not bring up the other thread...there was already too much effort spent on that saga