Summer Travel: Emirates Rolls Out Tips and Tricks for Families

As Emirates flags a significant peak travel period starting on Saturday 6 July as many families leave for summer holidays, customers are advised to take note of key timings at the airport, grab a complimentary Emirates ice-cream and enjoy the many options for families to fly better.

Emirates is a family-friendly airline that flies more than one million children around the world every year and offers multiple bespoke services for families. This peak travel period, customers departing Dubai with Emirates are advised to plan for extra traffic on the roads approaching the airport, more people at the airport going through Immigration, and the time it may take to travel between Concourses and reach Boarding Gates.

Stick to these handy timelines for stress- free family travel:

• In peak travel times, arrive to the Airport: 3 hours before departure

• Ensure you pass through Immigration: 1.5 hours before departure

• Ensure you reach your correct Boarding Gate: 1 hour before departure

Quicker Ways for Families to Check In

Check in at home: Emirates customers can opt to use the Emirates Home Check In service in Dubai and Sharjah. Agents complete the check-in process at the customers' home, hotel, or office, and take the bags on to the flight so that they can arrive a later time with hand luggage. The service needs to be booked at least 24 hours before a flight. The Home Check-In service is complimentary for First Class passengers and Platinum Skywards members.

Use the app or website: Download the Emirates app to book and change flights, download a digital boarding pass for most destinations, get notifications about your flight and even check the menu for your flight.

Customers can also purchase preferred seats and an excess baggage allowance in advance, book a chauffeur drive service and pre-select movies to watch via ice inflight entertainment. Customers can also check in on Emirates.com. Online check-in and app check-in are both open 48 hours ahead of flight departure time.

Drop off luggage early: Emirates customers can drop off luggage at the airport the night before travel at no charge. Passengers who are departing from Dubai can check-in early and drop off their bags 24 hours before departure, or 12 hours before departure if flying to the US. Then closer to departure time, customers can proceed directly to the immigration area in the airport. 

Check in at Emirates City Check In’s

DIFC: Save time at airport and check in at the Emirates City Check‑in and Travel Store in ICD Brookfield Place, Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) instead. Conveniently located in the heart of the business district, Emirates customers can check in and drop off luggage as early as 24 hours and up to 4 hours before a flight. Customers can check in anytime from 8:00am to 10:00pm daily.

Ajman: If you are travelling from the northern Emirates, you can also check-in at Ajman Central Bus Terminal from 24 hours up to 4 hours before your flight. Customers can check in anytime, 24 hours a day.

Pre-order Duty-Free shopping: Customers who wish to save even more time can pre-order Duty-Free Shopping on EmiratesRED.com and get access to exclusive Duty-Free products, which are then delivered to their seat in the air.

The pre-order service is available on most flights, and customers can shop from 21 days up to 40 hours before their flight, providing their flight details during checkout. Emirates cabin crew then deliver the order directly to the customer’s seat inflight.