Dubai overtakes Heathrow to become world’s biggest international airport

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• Robbo says:

  2 Jan2 January 04:52

  That stupid, over-the-top excessive and totally unfair incoming passenger tax the stupid UK government charges will do it. I never fly through LHR or any UK airport anymore. Easier, quicker and CHEAPER from CDG, AMS, BRU. When will these stupid politicians realise the tax is an insidious tax and now it’s affecting the numbers. Good on you DXB.

  • Choco says:

    2 Jan2 January 05:09

    I love your comment… Agree totally!

  • Dave says:

    2 Jan2 January 06:50

    Flying THROUGH a UK airport doesn’t subject you to these taxes (just the airport fees and the ‘taxes’ the airline makes up). Starting from the UK makes you subject to APD but is based on your final destination so EDI-LHR-JFK would cost the same in APD as EDI-AMS-JFK.

    • JQ says:

      2 Jan2 January 07:08

      Relax buddy. You flew F from Sydney to London? If it was one-way, you didn’t pay a cent or penny of tax to the UK government. If you flew back from London to Sydney, then you paid about £190 tax to the UK government.

      You probably think the AIrAsia crash was caused by pilots using the metric system.

    • Will says:

      2 Jan2 January 07:32

      If you flew BA then what you think was “tax” was in fact mostly BA’s fuel surcharge. £1200 would be about right for 2 people, of which £380 is tax and the rest is fuel surcharge (which is again a nonsense but that’s BA not the chancellor). Even so £380 is bonkers.

      • Lady London says:

        2 Jan2 January 23:11

        Speaking of taxes, did anyone get the email from Miles & More saying they are halving their “taxes” on award bookingsfor flights within Europe for January and February? I was deeply impressed by one quote that tax on one intra-Europe award flight booked on Miles&More would be only 76 euros instead of 150 euros tax for this period.

        Thank you BA for RFS..

    • JohnG says:

      2 Jan2 January 08:37

      “whatever know-all” always a clear sign of mature and considered reasoning. Just because you’re too ignorant to understand his point doesn’t mean there wasn’t one.

    • TimS says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:51

      You seem to be assuming that Dave and JQ are American…even though they are trying to explain a UK tax to you on a UK website? Now I don’t know if either of them are indeed Americans (or “Seppos” as you derisorily call them), British or maybe even Australian as, unlike you, I don’t simply assume.

      As JohnG says, your “Whatever know-all” comment smacks of an immature, childish mentality and hardly adds weight to your argument!

      Thankfully, I know that not all Australians are as ignorant as you and don’t judge your entire country based on pre-concieved xenophobic views. I know this as my wife is Australian…and for the record, I’m British, before you assume I am an American too simply because I don’t agree with your international myopia.

    • RIcatti says:

      2 Jan2 January 19:56

      Just check the service charge for Heathrow, mate.

  • Froggitt says:

    2 Jan2 January 10:22

    Its called The Laffer Curve.

• sandgrounder says:

  2 Jan2 January 06:15

  I believe they say that when you die, it doesn’t matter if you go to heaven or hell, you will still go via Atlanta.

  • Robbo says:

    2 Jan2 January 06:56

    Very nice mate. Funny.

• Adam W says:

  2 Jan2 January 06:31

  Small typo in there – Atlanta’s the world’s busiest airport rather than the world’s business airport.

  • KvT says:

    2 Jan2 January 12:23

    And shouldn’t it be either
    – Dubai overtakes Heathrow to become world’s biggest international airport
    or
    – Dubai overtakes Heathrow and becomes world’s biggest international airport
    ?

    • Worzel says:

      2 Jan2 January 12:59

      Irrelevant.

      If you’ve time, look at the comments at:

      https://headforpoints.com/2015/01/01/open-forum-any-suggestions-for-tweaking-the-site-2/

    • Raffles says:

      2 Jan2 January 15:11

      Sorry, fixed. Was working off an iPad last night as currently on holiday and somehow I missed this.

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 15:18

    Autocorrect!

• Patrick says:

  2 Jan2 January 07:34

  Slightly OT but related to DXB.

  I’ve booked two Avios redemptions, HKG-DXB on CX and DXB-HEL on AY. Booked on BA.com so obviously separate tickets as I booked on BA.com. No availability on AY directly, or via LHR (not that I care much for CE or even CW).

  I do have some business to conduct in DXB during my 23-hour stopover in DXB. I am BA Gold and flying J. Will CX be able to check my bags all the way to HEL and can they issue my boarding pass for the second segment? I need to transport 50 kg of checked bags and want to avoid booking a hotel or paying for luggage storage if I can.

  My checked bags have spent 23 hours at ZRH and LHR before, but these were on one ticket with both segments on LX and BA respectively.

  • Waribai says:

    2 Jan2 January 09:58

    I think they will definitely check your bags thru but you might have to pick up a new boarding pass but that’s no big deal

  • Richie says:

    2 Jan2 January 10:51

    I did something similar flying with qantas then changing to a ba flight 20h later. The bags were tagged right through

• Phillip says:

  2 Jan2 January 07:41

  You only need to look at the network of Atlanta’s biggest airline stakeholder, and you get an idea.

  It’s all about the frequencies not the big planes!

  • tony says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:29

    Transited in ATL a few months back and the crowds were akin to the shopping plaza underneath Canary Wharf between 12pm & 2pm on a weekday. The transit train was like the underground in rush hour, too. Absolutely mobbed. But in fairness it seemed to work well – no aimless holding to land (LHR) or 60 mins until we can start our engines (JFK)…

• Waribai says:

  2 Jan2 January 09:54

  Looks like one or two people have got out the wrong side of bed!

  • Worzel says:

    2 Jan2 January 10:19

    Looks like just the one to me.

    • xcalx says:

      2 Jan2 January 12:11

      Me too and that one person could have been heading TO bed. Maybe a few too many tinnies at the barbie.

  • Nick says:

    2 Jan2 January 10:29

    I agree

  • Richie says:

    2 Jan2 January 10:54

    Yes someone made a comment, someone then tried to explain a few facts. The first guy took offence. Had a hissy fit and spat the dummy out. -all while insulting people because he simply didn’t understand the facts. Happy new year

• flyforfun says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:42

  Apart from air fan boys, does it make much difference which airport is the busiest? It might float some statistician’s boat, but does it provide and kudos these days? A line in the Guinness Book of Records perhaps? Does it encourage you or discourage you to fly through Dubai? I went through for the first time this year and didn’t find it to be that great. Much less impressive than the hype lead me to believe.

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 18:01

    It would be less interesting if it was, say, Mumbai losing the title to Dubai. The fact that it is a UK airport losing the title – and one which is making a big song and dance about its desperate need to expand – makes its relevant.

    And whilst Dubai is a dump (except on the new Emirates concourse) Heathrow T1, T3 and T4 are not up to much either! At least Heathrow doesn’t make sure that non-British airlines are given the smallest, most out-of-the-way positions for their lounges though …..

    • Lady London says:

      2 Jan2 January 23:07

      I’d be happy for Heathrow to expand provided it’s on condition that BAA and BA get their heads together to sort out the black hole that is luggage transiting at T5.

    • Andy says:

      3 Jan3 January 11:21

      Hmmm, bit harsh to call DXB a dump, it is an extremely busy airport running at close to capacity, with diverse range of travellers.
      T1 is a bit smaller and older than the rest, but has been tidied up over the years and still a far sight better than most western european airports I have been through,
      I have flown through DXB regularly over the past decade, and have seen first hand the remarkable growth it has gone through, I doubt many airports elsewhere would have coped as well. You cna only look at nearby DOH And AUH both have only recently upgraded or moved to new sites to keep pace.

  • Lady London says:

    2 Jan2 January 23:05

    I’ve detested Dubai airport on my very little experience of it. But then I’ve never flown through it as other than an ordinary passenger in Y.

    Perhaps it’s a better experience if you’re someone important or can exercise frequent flyer privileges.

• callum says:

  2 Jan2 January 11:59

  It’s hardly surprising that Atlanta is busiest when taking domestic flights into account. Heathrow, Amsterdam, Dubai etc are all in small countries that are near many other countries – the vast majority of their flights are therefore going to be international. Atlanta is in a huge country that is only near a handful of others, it’s domestic operation will therefore be a much higher proportion of flights.

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