How do I arrange for an extended stopover in Dubai?

ProfanityURL

I'm planning on flying to Ho Chi Minh city in Vietnam on the 1st of July, but on the way I would like to have a stopover in Dubai as I have friends there who could put me up for two or three days. How do I arrange my flight so that I can achieve this. Obviously I need to book a flight which is stopping over in Dubai already, which most flights going to this part of the world do, but should I book the flight for the 29th of June and then request a two day stopover with the airline or what?

Meathlass

Yes, just tell your travel agent or type it in your self online booking the dates you want to arrive in Dubai and the dates you want to leave. Make sure you don't need a visa to enter Dubai and it will cost more to break your flight like this as you have to pay a fee to the airport as you're not just transiting through. It added €100 on to my flight when I stopped off in Malaysia.

killbillvol2

Meathlass wrote: »

Yes, just tell your travel agent or type it in your self online booking the dates you want to arrive in Dubai and the dates you want to leave. Make sure you don't need a visa to enter Dubai and it will cost more to break your flight like this as you have to pay a fee to the airport as you're not just transiting through. It added €100 on to my flight when I stopped off in Malaysia.

How?

conor_ie

If your booking through Emirates there is a multi city option you can choose to achieve this, I did it a few months ago Dublin-Dubai-Bangkok then 10 days later Bangkok-Sydney all on the same ticket!

Meathlass

killbillvol2 wrote: »

How?

I may have some of the terminology wrong but basically there are different fees imposed by airports for passengers when you are departing/arriving from an airport as opposed to just transiting through it.

endofrainbow

do a multi city option on the airline's website

killbillvol2

Meathlass wrote: »

I may have some of the terminology wrong but basically there are different fees imposed by airports for passengers when you are departing/arriving from an airport as opposed to just transiting through it.

I'm aware of that, we even had it here. I've been into and out of Malaysia many times. It's never cost me €100?

Meathlass

killbillvol2 wrote: »

I'm aware of that, we even had it here. I've been into and out of Malaysia many times. It's never cost me €100?

Well I got a quote for Crk-Ldn-KL-Yangon and it was €610 return. When I asked to stopover in KL for a few days on the way home it increased to €690. I queried the increase and was told it was airport taxes. I suppose normally it's subsumed into your flight cost and not broken down but as I got two separate quotes it was obvious.

Just had a quick look online and these taxes are the norm for every airport - a fee for using immigration/customs services if you will.

sarkozy

OP, I think this is easy to do. Years ago, my OH and I booked a return flight to Bangkok with Trailfinders.

We decided to 'break' the journey by staying one night in Abu Dhabi there and back. No extra cost, we literally set up the itinerary so there was a day between the arrival of our outbound flight and departure of our connecting flight.

In some countries, you may have to do a little extra work given visa rules, but not in the UAE.

Easy peasy.

killbillvol2

Meathlass wrote: »

Well I got a quote for Crk-Ldn-KL-Yangon and it was €610 return. When I asked to stopover in KL for a few days on the way home it increased to €690. I queried the increase and was told it was airport taxes. I suppose normally it's subsumed into your flight cost and not broken down but as I got two separate quotes it was obvious.

Just had a quick look online and these taxes are the norm for every airport - a fee for using immigration/customs services if you will.

Every airport has them but you were being ripped off at that price. Adding it to a single ticket was your issue.

I'm flying into KL from Vientiane next month and then out to Kunming. The total cost of the two flights is less than €100.

BTW sorry OP for hijacking your thread but curiosity got the better of me.

sarkozy

When in Kunming, think about eating in 1910 La Gare, at least we had a good time, though I see it gets very mixed reviews on Tripadvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g298558-d1905628-Reviews-1910_la_gare_du_sud-Kunming_Yunnan.html). Decent eats around the lovely park, too. Actually, 1910's ranking looks ridiculous. It's all coffee houses and pizzas higher up the list.

killbillvol2

sarkozy wrote: »

When in Kunming, think about eating in 1910 La Gare, at least we had a good time, though I see it gets very mixed reviews on Tripadvisor (http://www.tripadvisor.ie/Restaurant_Review-g298558-d1905628-Reviews-1910_la_gare_du_sud-Kunming_Yunnan.html). Decent eats around the lovely park, too. Actually, 1910's ranking looks ridiculous. It's all coffee houses and pizzas higher up the list.

I ate there a couple of years ago and wasn't impressed - a friend living there brought me and I don't think she's been back since.

As for Tripadvisor ratings for restaurants - just look at Dublin to see how ridiculous they are. Bad Bob's is the 5th best restaurant in Dublin :rolleyes:

ProfanityURL

Hey guys thanks for the advice. I managed to get it cheaper by booking through a travel agent, looking on the emirates website was costing me 1200 and similar on other airlines, and booking through skyscanner etc wouldnt let me book my return flight from a diff location. The travel agent got me a departure flight from dublin to ho chi minh in vietnam with a 3 night stopover in dubai and a return flight from bangkok 3 weeks later with full travel insurace for 900, hard to do better than that id say.

sarkozy

killbillvol2 wrote: »

I ate there a couple of years ago and wasn't impressed - a friend living there brought me and I don't think she's been back since.

As for Tripadvisor ratings for restaurants - just look at Dublin to see how ridiculous they are. Bad Bob's is the 5th best restaurant in Dublin :rolleyes:

I'm sure there are many unknown better places in Kunming. We were happy with the place, as I said, but interesting how mixed the reviews are. I do find many TripAdvisor reviews perplexing until I think of the type of people generally posting: high expectations, culturally unadventurous/arrogant.

Sorry to hijack the thread. Carry on!

Glad the OP's journey worked out.

Lima Golf

ProfanityURL wrote: »

Hey guys thanks for the advice. I managed to get it cheaper by booking through a travel agent, looking on the emirates website was costing me 1200 and similar on other airlines, and booking through skyscanner etc wouldnt let me book my return flight from a diff location. The travel agent got me a departure flight from dublin to ho chi minh in vietnam with a 3 night stopover in dubai and a return flight from bangkok 3 weeks later with full travel insurace for 900, hard to do better than that id say.

Who was the travel agent? I'm looking at flights with emirates at the mo. Thanks

ProfanityURL

I just popped into Limerick Travel on Thomas street in Limerick city. I spoke to USIT on the phone the day before and they were offering something similar, but i think it was around 915 without travel insurance. I think if you're flexible with your dates by a day or two either side of the journey the travel agent is a good option since they can find you the cheapest deals. I know its possible to find these deals yourself and sometimes even better but what takes them two seconds can take you hours, saves a lot of hassle.