Heading over soon to hunt and visit family in Limpopo. This will be my first time flying Emirates and so far have been impressed. Easy booking and I received my approval to travel with firearms within 3 days of submittal. Saeed I will wave hello as I land in Dubai for a layover. This is the beginning of the season so best of luck to everyone!

Flew Emirates to JNB with the wife last May for a SA trip. Just make sure you allow plenty of time at connections because Emirates made me open my TuffPak and inspect my rifles at every stop (including Dubai each way. Having said that, they were the most polite folks I have ever dealt with flying and the planes were the absolute cleanest.

6 hour layover going over and back

Safe travels Dave! Keep us posted, looking into traveling via Emirates for my next trip over.

Also flying DFW-Dubai-JNB end of this month. Gracy handled it for us. So far so good.

You all will find your flights on Emirates to be better than whoever you flown to Africa with before. If you have time during your layover, Dubai is an interesting place to visit.

Yep

quote:

Originally posted by DLS:
You all will find your flights on Emirates to be better than whoever you flown to Africa with before. If you have time during your layover, Dubai is an interesting place to visit.

Back home now. My travel involved driving to Washington DC on 2/28/19 an overnight at the Hyatt in Herndon. Good place to stay and they have long term parking for less than the airport and a free shuttle service to and from Dulles. Maybe a 5-10 minute ride to the airport.

On 3/1/19 I left for J’burg via Emirates. I had zero issues getting Emirates approval on the firearms and ammo and no issues checking the guns at Dulles.

I flew economy and the seats in Emirates economy appear to be a little wider and more comfortable than SAA or Delta. I found the staff to be pleasant and the food and service to be about the same as Delta and slightly better than SAA that I have experienced.

Once in Dubai I found the airport to be comparable to all other major airports. The terminal for my connecting flight they were doing some construction work close to where my connecting gate was and it was very loud with jack hammering etc. I just went and hung out somewhere else. I had a 6 hour layover. When I checked in they only asked if I was traveling with firearms and what baggage number it was. The lady made a phone call and said all was good. I boarded the plane and off to J’burg with no issues. Collected my bags and went through SAPs with no issues.

Pretty much the same upon return, everything went well with no issues.

Sniper,

It's very good to hear about your experience with Emirates.

I too will be flying to Jo'burg with Emirates for the first time on June 28th , also out of Dulles.

I was a bit leary about booking going through Dubai but from others comments on here I decided to go for it. Couldn't beat their price either.

One question: did you actually have to contact the Dubai Airport Police and Civil Aviation about transiting through with firearms or was that covered by the permit from Emirates?

Thanks for the response.

Regards,
Jack

quote:

Originally posted by longfeather1:
Sniper,

It's very good to hear about your experience with Emirates.

I too will be flying to Jo'burg with Emirates for the first time on June 28th , also out of Dulles.

I was a bit leary about booking going through Dubai but from others comments on here I decided to go for it. Couldn't beat their price either.

One question: did you actually have to contact the Dubai Airport Police and Civil Aviation about transiting through with firearms or was that covered by the permit from Emirates?

Thanks for the response.

Regards,
Jack

I think Emirates cover everything as long as you fill out their Firearm form in advance.

Yes like Saeed said, just make sure you complete the online Emirates firearms approval form. You can submit it 30 days prior to your flight. I received the approval in about 3 days. I did not have to make any notifications to anyone in the Dubai airport and they did not ask me to open my rifle case.

On initial check in at Dulles and J’burg they will weigh your ammo so be sure it is easily accessible.

.

And the hunt report is WIP ????

Ps glad Emirates worked well for you.


.

I don't post any of my hunt reports as my wife’s family owns the business so I would be biased in my reporting. Also I represent their interest here in the US. All I will say is we have great areas in South Africa and also a great private area in the Tuli block in Botswana. I would be glad to book you into any of those areas and then you can provide a detailed report.