DL to Dubai Labor Day Weekend

Greetings Everybody!! After a long summer as a seasonal ready reserve I'm ready to jump on the plane again. After much hype from my fellow DL ground staff in PHL I would love to try and check out DXB. The loads look good leaving ATL September 2 and leaving DXB on September 5th. We're looking at aprox 68 seats going and 78 seats coming back. I know this flt is heavily affected by cargo and is often weight restricted. Anybody have any dealings in DXB in September or know how this flight has been leaving DXB? Seats open? Nonrevs left standing and waving? Also any advise about procedures for Nonrevs in DXB (wait outside security until cleared etc)? Some background...I want to take my compainion so DL metal is a must. Any advice would be much appareciated!!

Greetings DeltaNole
As I recall there have been some discussions about travel to Dubai and high loads and weight restrictions. Do a quick search, you should come up with some info.

it was last Oct early, but loads were good. We connected from JNB and flew DXB/ATL--everyone got on but I don't recall the #
We used S3 and I think most DL got up front--even retirees. We were cleared on cehcki-in and allowed planeside. Airport is nothing but shopping mall--same goods a few stores down repeat ad infinitum. Not easy to find a bar and tres $$ for drinks.
Check out Arabian Courtyard Hotel for deals.

I visited Dubai in November of 2009, I am not a DL employee so I flew out on EK and back on KLM. Dubai itself even in November has very high temperature, while there the temp was high and it was humid, at night the temp would go down. I stayed at the Four Points in Bur Dubai, it was quite convenient and right in front of a metro station. Dubai is known for it's mega malls and souks and as mentioned by mrs767 the airport itself is a big shopping mall (landside when you check in it might be calm but airside it usually is a zoo). I visited a couple of places but my fave was the Jumeirah mosque and while there you get good tips on were to visit in Dubai, we also did a desser safari (that was a bit too touristy). We visited for 3 days and thsat was more than enough. If you end up going enjoy the Emirates.

Regards,

Chepos

Thanks for all the info. I think if the numbers stay the way they are we're going to give it a shot. Looking like 62 seats leaving ATL (17 up front) and 75 leaving DXB (20 up front). There would have to be a crazy amount of cargo to leave with that many seats open....right? Knock on wood! Mrs767er and chepos, any must sees and or must do's? Also how were things priced over there? Thanks again for all your help!

Spice souk near the canal. We never made it out--too wiped out from the crappy flight on EK. I was thinking about going early Dec for a few days. I guess you have to see the Burj Al Arab--you can take a taxi to tour the waterfront.
They have an "unhappy hour" every day (around 3-5??) no alcohol..

Hello,

I thought Dubai was fairly reasonable, hotels are a bit on the expensive side (the chan hotels that is). We did the Sherator Four Points with hotel points,but the beachside hotels were prohibitive. We passed by the Burj, we did not go inside but I did not think it looked as impressive as I thought it would from the outside. We also visited the palm island and looked at the Atlantis and saw what that was all about. As a sidenote we bought a pass on one of those touristy double decker busses that you see in the major cities and did Dubai that way, it takes you around the city to see the major sights. We did a boat ride along the creek at night and that was quite the sight, especially when the call to prayer came about- quite special. Dont waste your money on SkiDubai, it's pricey and always half empty, just look at it from the outside (it's located inside one of the mega malls. I visited both the Gold souk and the spice souk, you meet some very interesting people from all corners of the world (particularly Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Banglasesh). If you have any other questions just let me know.

Regards,

Chepos