Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Travel through Dubai?

Putting together travel plans for next June to Africa and found very good prices on tickets on Emirates Air. Wondering how much of a problem travelling with guns through Dubai. Anyone with experience?
Thanks, Les

I've been there a few times and it is a fairly reasonable place. Wasn't sure about guns though, so a quick search turned up the following on the Emirates Air website:

Sporting weapons and ammunition
Firearms designed for sporting purposes, such as target pistols and rifles, air guns, safari rifles, hunting rifles, etc., may be carried as checked baggage on Emirates flights under the following conditions:
The firearm must be completely unloaded and, if possible, dismantled and packed inside a suitcase or standard gun case.
The carriage of any type of firearms, ammunition and explosives, including items containing explosives, must be approved by Emirates no less than three days before your flight. Please contact your nearest Emirates office to start the approval process. Please allow extra time for public holidays and weekends in your country of residence and the UAE.
Ammunition must be securely stored in a strong, sealed box packed inside a suitcase and surrounded by other contents. The suitcase must not bear an �Explosive� label.

The maximum gross weight of the ammunition carried by any single passenger is 5 kg (11 lb). Passengers traveling in groups must carry ammunition in their own separate bags, with no single bag carrying more than the 5 kg (11 lb) limit.

The following special conditions apply to passengers wishing to carry firearms on flights into or through Dubai:
Passengers who wish to bring firearms and ammunition into the UAE must obtain prior clearance from UAE Customs and the UAE Ministry of Defence. To obtain this clearance, passengers must contact these government departments directly.

For transfer and transit passengers who are connecting to onward flights, prior clearance to travel with firearms and ammunition must be obtained from the Dubai Airport Police Department and the Department of Civil Aviation.

Edit: link. http://www.emirates.com/us/english/help/faqs/FAQDetails.aspx?faqCategory=214913#faq16

thanks prm. I wonder how bad the hoops are to gain this permission.

Are you flying from the US? Going through Dubai would seem to be the long way. I know it's 14-15hrs to Doha, Qatar and that's relatively close to Dubai. Africa would still be a long ways away. I believe Emirates goes to Africa direct from the US rather than via Dubai.

Edit: or maybe through London.

I'm fairly certain ALL Emirate Airline flights departing from the US route through Dubai. Where is your destination Les? Emirates is an absolutely fantastic airline and I would bet getting the permission would not be difficult at all. Good luck!

Thanks everyone,
After doing a little more checking on some other sites, it looks like it will take a little paperwork preparation but nothing too bad. I am travelling from KC to Joburg, then on to Durbin, up to Kimberley for hunt, then down to the Cape before coming home. A 26 day trip with about 8 or 9 for hunting. My wife and I are excited. My 18 year old son is going but has not really caught the bug yet.
Les

Sounds like a great trip. Have not flown Emirates, but it's along the same theme as Gulf Air and Qatar Airlines and they are great to fly with. Just to save time, I still think I'd look for good fares on South African or something more direct. That's a long flight to the Gulf, and then you'd still have a long flight to S. Africa.

Tankerjockey: just checked and the distance from Dubai to Johannesburg, RSA is just about 4,000 miles. That's 60% further than a direct flight. Would take the better part of a whole day to do it. Especially, if any layover. There are a lot of flights direct from USA airports to Johannesburg, that are pretty cheap. When I went over in May, paid like $1,600 maybe $1,800, don't recall, R/T airfare on SAA, from DC to Joburg an back. Believe me, 15-16 hours enough flying time. Fly to Dubai would have to be about the same amount of time, and then fly 4k miles back to Joburg. Dubai is N and East of Joburg..

I just checked, and the time to fly from DC, to Dubai is 13 and another 12 to Johannesburg. From DC to Johannesburg is 15 hrs, direct, on SAA.. I personally don't think any monetary savings is going to offset the additional flight time, and layover in Dubai, etc.

Unless you already have a layover place in Johannesburg, I recommend the Africa Sky. It's reasonable, and has good food, etc, and they will pick you up at the airport and return you to it.

Emirates gets very high marks from a lot of people, but some do have problems in Dubai with their guns. According to Saeed over on AR, the problem is not with Emirates Air, but rather with the Dubai police and has to do with proper (improper, as the case may be) paperwork for the hunter.

If I were you, before I booked a flight through Dubai on Emirates, I log on over on AR and I'd send Saeed a Private Message asking for some advice. He's a good fellow, will gladly answer your questions.

Flew to the US in January with Emirates. The staff are really great and service is tops. From Joburg to Dubai is about 8 hrs and then you have a sad 3 hr lay-over in a very busy terminal. If you smoke you can basically only smoke in a restaurant and then you have to buy something for a minimum of 30 Dirhams ('bout 4 - 6 bucks).

The connecting flight was to Houston was full, no FULL of people who smell, scratch and fart all of the 15 hours and then they occupy the throne for looong periods of time. It felt like being somewhere between a hot place and about 15 ft from hell. The flight back was great as I had a whole row to myself.

I had no rifles with me but the dingbat twit at Dubai airport who frisked me must have been batting for the other team as he twice yanked my nipple. When angry my English is not too good so I gave him some well-meant advice in Afrikaans that seemed to work as he waved me through.

I cannot fly that route again because of the passengers, not the airline. I'd fly Emirates any time again on a different route.

Forget the Emirates. You want to fly on Delta non-stop from Atlanta to Joburg.

+1

One advantage to flying a U.S. carrier (e.g., Delta) directly to South Africa is that you can pack your ammo in your gun case, thus insuring that your ammo makes it to Africa if your rifle does. That would be particularly important if you are wanting to use a cartridge that isn't common in Africa or if your rifle is particularly finicky about what ammo it likes.