Hi Dubai friends,

Welcome to Week 14, Edition 127

Here’s your latest edition of Dubai news, deals & tips, every Friday, in 10 mins or less.

🎗Keep updated on FCDO Travel Advice

📆 Emirates extend refund waiver to 30 April

💸 Etihad limited-time deals (great prices for long-haul Business Class)

😎 My Emirates (Summer) Pass is out now

📈 Package holidays may face up to 8% extra charges

PS. You can always email me here also.

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Gentle reminder to keep checking FCDO Travel Advice. Although the advice is still against ‘non essential travel’, the updates can be informative about other aspects - e.g. the last update on 01 Apr was to ‘Warnings and Insurance’.

Top tip - sign up for the email alerts, then you will be notified when anything changes.

🔗 FCDO Travel Advice (UAE)

With the (relative) absence of tourists in Dubai, there continue to be allsorts of incentives, deals, discounts etc. to help keep things ticking over in their absence.

Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism (DET) has introduced a 1 billion AED economic incentive package, part of which is aimed at helping hotels.

In a way, it’s like the pandemic, where hotels have to look for ‘ancillary revenue’ (which is when the day pass industry really took off) - such as offering ‘workcation’ packages.

Similarly, JW Marriott Marquis Dubai is offering a membership programme for residents with up to 55% discount.

Depending on if you watch Sky News or read the BBC, you may have seen the comments from Tashas Group about the challenges they are facing.

The Coca-Cola Arena is turning to shopping festivals to replace cancelled concerts.

As mentioned in previous editions, don’t think it’s just the Gulf carriers and hubs affected by the conflict. Even UK cancellations have started as concerns over jet fuel costs and supply rise.

Even with ‘do not travel’ warnings, Australians continue to transit through the Middle East - mainly due to low price points (see the Etihad Airways deals further down the page 😉).

UAE airlines have updated their entry and transit rules for Iranian nationals.

Here’s a roundup of schedules and suspensions.

Royal Air Maroc has suspended all Doha and Dubai flights until 15 April.

Air Canada has extended its suspension of Dubai flights until 07 September.

Last Monday, Emirates extended their travel waiver by another two weeks.

That is, passengers booked on flights up to 30 April can rebook or request a refund.

✅ Rebooking: You can rebook for alternative travel dates up to June 15, 2026.

✅ Manage Online: If your flight is within the next 72 hours, use 'Manage My Booking' on the Emirates website to change your flight instantly.

✅ Refunds: If you prefer a refund, you must submit a request via the official online travel form.

Important Links:

Latest Travel Updates 👉 https://www.emirates.com/uk/english/help/travel-updates/

Refund Request Form 👉 https://www.emirates.com/english/help/forms/refund-request/

Emirates has made planspotters in Cornwall happy, as they relocated an A380 to Newquay, although it’s not clear if it’s for storage or maintenance.

An interesting article from The Financial Times about insurance costs for airlines such as Emirates, and how it has resumed more than 50% of its pre-conflict schedule. (Archived page here).

Etihad Airways currently have ’limited time deals*’ offer. Prices may may be enticing, especially for Business Class, though there’s the obvious caveat of transitting through Abu Dhabi.

Example Business Class return fares from UK (LHR) to Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Taipei, Jakarta for around £1,200-£1,500 or Melbourne for around £2,500.

Whilst there are many great fares, the cheaper ones are in the next few weeks (clearly looking to build up load factors).

Note - these are ‘Business Value’ fares, which do not include lounge access, wifi or seat selection

🔗 Etihad Airways Limited Time Deals*

Emirates has launched My Emirates Pass (Summer), which runs from 01 April to 30 September.

I’ll update the ‘cheatsheet’ in the coming days to include the merchants and offers of note, but At.mosphere is in there for the Summer (lounge and restaurant) so it shows how much value there is to be had around Dubai.

Note that some venues that are temporarily closed have been removed, yet others (e.g. Ain Dubai) are still listed, so do check operations directly with the merchant beforehand.

Here’s a quick teaser Short ⤵️

On the video side of things, I’m adding more content onto the YouTube channel, including playlists for Entertainer explainers, My Emirates Pass, and any ‘hot’ travel updates eg. the Emirates waivers for refunds.

Please check them out, like, comment, subscribe etc. - you know the score ! 🙏

🔗 My Emirates Pass (Summer)

Dubai continues to offer heaps of deals and promotions, so be sure to check local and social media to keep abreast of them (I can’t list them all here!).

If you have a package holiday booked, you could face up to an 8% surcharge due to uncertainty in the market regarding jet fuel prices and supply.

Lastminute report over 17,000 holidays have been affected, with destinations such as Sardinia and the Canary Islands benefitting as alternatives.

There’s always a lot of talk in the ‘points game’ about the value of points and miles relative to cash rates - most of which I tend to ignore!

However, John from Loyalty Lobby makes good points in this article about Marriott Bonvoy points rates compared to cash for Dubai properties.

It’s interesting to see the cash rates and variance across the Marriott hotels in Dubai, though I do feel those prices listed are higher than what’s currently ‘gettable’ based on my own research (e.g. Marriott Marquis Dubai Creek I’ve seen around £60!). And this is why we say, ‘Your Mileage May Vary’!

The latest Etihad Airways waiver is here, and covers up to 15 April.

This article covers the waiver in greater detail.