• Jet Airways to Dubai: Introduction
• Allways VIP Meet & Assist, Delhi Airport Terminal 3
• Plaza Premium Lounge Delhi Airport, Terminal 3 International
• Jet Airways 9W546, Economy Class, Delhi to Dubai
• Dubai Visa on Arrival for Indians
• Ahlan Business Class Lounge, Dubai Airport Terminal 1
• Jet Airways 9W545, Economy Class, Dubai to Delhi

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Last November, Ajay had to make a dash to Dubai for the Dubai Airshow.  I’d never visited Dubai, so considering the pleasant November weather this seemed like an excellent opportunity to tag along with the husband for the Dubai trip.

Since this was a last minute trip, we didn’t have enough time to apply for our Dubai visa in India. We used the Dubai visa on arrival facility for Indians that was introduced in May 2017. It was hassle free, took about 30 minutes on arrival and the visa for each one of us cost AED 120 which is about 2,000 Indian rupees. This is much lesser than the time and fee required for processing the visa in India which usually takes a few days and costs about 6,000 rupees.

Even though it was last minute travel, we managed to get reasonable fares on Jet Airways. Plus using my JetPrivilege HDFC Bank Diners Club credit card to pay for these tickets helped us stack extra 5,000 bonus JP miles. It made sense to fly 9W as both of us are JetPrivilege Platinum members, and this would help us retain our tiers to a small extent and then travel always more comfortable with access to airport lounges. Additionally, we also wanted to try and use our Platinum upgrade vouchers and travel comfortably in Premiere.

I knew Ajay had a packed schedule for this Dubai trip, so this time we skipped booking a hotel. Instead, we stayed with friends. While Ajay was busy at the Airshow, I spent time exploring the city and enjoying long walks in the Marina area.

Bottomline:

This was more like a work trip for Ajay and vacation for me. My first time in Dubai, I am very impressed with the infrastructure although the city was a bit glitzy for my taste.

Getting the visa was smooth, the flights not the best, though thanks to our credit cards we did try two new lounges, one in Delhi on our departure and the second one in Dubai. We used the complimentary meet and assist service that comes with the Citi Prestige credit card.

Over the next few posts, I’ll be sharing various aspects of our Dubai trip that includes, airport experience with the meet and greet service, airport lounges and flights.

What areas would you like us to focus on in this trip report?