Stuck in Dubai airport airside....for a friend...
 

Hope one of you can give a useful advise. Not for me, but for a friend who had a bad surprised. Saturday night, flight from Seychelles to Hong Kong via Dubai. Air Seychelles is operating the flight on behalf of EK. Friend (Hong Kong national) is let on the flight to Dubai...just to find out in Dubai that his flight to HKG has been cancelled. I guess this is due to the current crew policy changes from HK side. Sadly, he won't bet let back in Seychelles as he is not a national.

He is told that he cannot leave the airport. Also, on Sunday morning, told him next flight is on Tuesday morning. This morning was told, sorry, no flight on Tuesday. On EK site, next flight is only on Sunday, and he is stuck in transit...Emirates doesn't seem to help much.

I may myself be a frequent traveler, Gold with EK, I'm not sure what is the best advise right now. Camp into Dubai airport till Sunday...if that flight even happen! Thanks for the ideas!

Why can he not enter Dubai as a tourist? They provide free covid test for tourist so he can book himself a hotel until the next available flight to HKG

EK or HM as the case may be, ought to take care of him. Facilitate a visa, deal with hotel and meals. This sounds like an ordinary flight disruption with a bit of testing in the middle.

The Terminal 2 has been a long time coming, cant wait!

Would really know why the passenger cannot clear immigration in Dubai 1st.

With the flight cancellation - assuming all on one ticket - then the airline should be sorting out accommodation/meals for the passenger - what has the airline said?

If it was booked as one ticket by a carrier ie Air Seychelles or EK then whoever booked and added the connecting segment should be able to assist with food and a hotel until either EK resume the flight or they can look to reroute.

If they booked through a TA or a diy then they may be stuck inbetween as Air Seychelles may say it's done it's job and may not be willing to return and EK may say until we can resume flights we can't do much.

They can try going into DXB as a tourist but not sure if Seychelles is a free visa on arrival location. If they can't leave and assuming they have travel insurance I would suggest trying to claim but staying in the airport hotel in T3. Not exacally cheap but atleast they get a better bed. It would be good to know the reason they have been told can't leave airport, sometimes your nationality may have an influence with the UAE and they may think your not able to support or abscond. The longer he camps the more pressure they will put on either EK or someone to either move on or assist on returning to origin,

I guess questions is what nationality is he and was he visiting as a tourist or national returning home.

OP’s friend appears to be a Hong Kong citizen. According to the EK website he would qualify for a 30 day visa on arrival.
See https://www.emirates.com/za/english/...destination=ae

Of course there is also now a requirement for health insurance, which may derail his admissibility.

get into dubai, just simply have test foc found some hotel enojy a week delay. do he have insurance? try to claim back the airline for this case, no need to be painful

I'm a little confused. I don't know of any partnership between Air Seychelles and Emirates, neither as codeshare or as a frequent flyer partner. Nor can I find any Air Seychelles flight history to DXB over the last week. Perhaps I am mistaken.

maisondubonheur, do you have any more information? Original flight numbers? How was the ticket purchased? Is it on one PNR or two separate bookings?

Thanks for the help! It's 2 PNR...so I'm sure both airlines will try to avoid the bills, even if it's a collaboration between the 2. Air Seychelles doesn't normally fly to Dubai, but as they have smaller airplanes, they have a current agreement with EK to evacuate foreigners from Seychelles. Just found out he has already paid the airside hotel till the "announced" next flight on the 19th. Let's hope this one will happen. To the question...why they don't let him into town...no answer...I'm sure they just try to avoid to have people roaming around and he was not aware of the rules, so little more difficult therefore to argue with it.

Well, let's hope he can get on the plane on the 19th...July! Thanks for all your replies!

2 separate tickets, then the passenger is on his or her own to deal with it. Air Seychelles fully completed its part of the deal in getting the passenger to Dubai

That there is an issue with the onward flight is simply a delay/cancellation at origin , rather than a connection gone awry

Has the passenger tried to clear immigration as a tourist entry into Dubai? Since Air Seychelles accepted the passenger for transport, then assumedly the passenger is eligible to enter Dubai

Interesting. If it is 2 PNR, perhaps they are covered by some sort of travel insurance policy? Most cover your hotel stays etc in case of delay/cancellation?

Thank you Mits10 :)

maisondubonheur, my fingers are crossed for your friend that the flight will take place!

At the moment it's still available for booking on the system, so looking good!