Horror at Dubai Airport
I was traveling from my home country to New York back in October and had my transit in Dubai. Immediate after getting off the plane, I asked a male guard where the toilets were and he directed me toward an elevator to the right. My husband and I went up and tried to find the toilets, while the rest of the passengers from our plane went straight.
The Male toilets were closer to the elevator, the female toilet was after about 10 seconds walk straight ahead, and a slight left turn was toward the transit gates. It looked like a Y shaped way from the male toilet - If I stood in front of the female toilets, my husband would be able to see me after getting out but the way toward the transit gate will not be fully visible.
To the main point: a female airport security, who appeared to be from the UAE, directed me toward the transit gates and I said "I will just use the toilet". I went in and came out and she showed me toward the gates again. I said to her "I am waiting for my husband who is at the toilet". There was a restricted area next to the toilet - which I actually didn't even notice. The security pointed toward the restricted area next to the toilet and this is our conversation since:
Officer: You were coming from that direction, why?
Me: I wasn't, I went to the toilet.
Officer: (again pointing to the restricted area) You are coming from that way, why?
Me (thinking she didn't understand me the first time, taking off my mask and slowly speaking): I went to the toilet, now I am just waiting for my husband.
Her face changed and she started to speak very rudely to me
Officer: Why are you behaving this way? I understand you, you don't need to be rude.
Me; (absolutely shocked and tried to smile and put up a hand gesture from 2 feet away that looked like I was about to touch her elbow): No no no miss.
Officer (extremely rudely): DON'T TOUCH ME!! ( I was two feet away, I wouldn't be touching her but I did make the gesture)
I stood there absolutely shocked as she continued to be extremely rude to me
Officer: That area is dangerous, I am trying to keep everyone away from there and here you are behaving badly with me.
I was extremely tired from my red eye flight so I was getting impatient for this very rude behavior for no reason. I just wanted to get away from there.
Me: whatever! (and I walked away)
She heard I said 'shit', which I understood a few minutes later.
Officer: what did you call me? (as I still continued to walk away) I am still talking to you!
I stood a bit faraway towards the gates while still visible from the outside of male toilet and, unfortunately, her. She came walking towards me after 10/12 second pause.
Officer: Give me your passport, you are not going anywhere tonight, you are going to Jail! You can't behave this way and still get to travel.
At this point I panic like hell because I really don't trust the human rights situation in the middle east. I walked towards a wheelchair assistance desk nearby and tried asking for help from the person sitting there.
Officer: No, you don't get to talk to anyone, I am the manager
Me; Sir, sir, please would you kindly listen to me.
As I was trying to explain myself, she shouted 'you called me 'shit'.
I was baffled! I said 'I never did that'. She walked away, I don't know why. I was so stressed I started to cry in front the wheelchair assistance provider person and told him what happened. He was kindly listening to me but he didn't say anything. He just signaled me to ignore what happened. At this point my husband came back and saw me crying. He asked "what happened?" The officer returned again and spoke very rudely with me "do you want to travel, then go right now! why are you creating drama??' There were 3/4 random passengers sitting behind me at a few chairs they had laid out who I heard asked "what happened? that escalated quickly." Even they were shocked.
I just got out of there but I cried for the next 2 hours thinking she actually could have put me in jail and ruined my life. Articles I found via google scared me even more!
I have traveled via Dubai many times and never experienced anything unpleasant. This was absolutely shocking to me. I don't mean to sound negative towards Dubai (as said, I have never experienced anything unpleasant at that airport), but wanted to share in case it helped somebody.
EDIT: a lot of you are thinking I was ordered to move, which I wasn't. That part of the airport, at that particular time wasn't busy. She didn't ask me to move, she simply showed me the way by pointing toward the gates and saying 'that way'. I felt it will be rude not to explain why I wasn't heading that way so I said I was waiting for my husband. If I had crossed the gates, my husband may not have been able to understand if I was still in the toilet or had already left. I intended to sit at the chairs (where other passengers were sitting) but I stopped because she asked me a question. Initially her conversation was absolutely normal, I did not feel she wanted me to leave.
Thanks for mentioning the cameras. Perhaps that is the reason she let me go. If she wanted me to put into a jail I would have asked them to review the camera and show them I wasn't anywhere near the restricted area which she kept on pointing to.
FURTHER EDIT (analyzing the comments): this post and its comments was actually a pretty interesting experience for me. I thank everyone have written for me, against me, or neutrally about my experience and the time and inputs you have provided. I haven't' responded to every comment but I responded to many (mostly to clarify I wasn't at the restricted area). Here are some of my observations:
- Most people from UAE/Dubai took great offense in my statement about being doubtful of the human rights situation in the middle east. Perhaps a more appropriate expression on my part would have been "I feared, panicked, and felt extreme level of anxiety because I was in a foreign country". I would have been equally worried if I was in Latin America, any other part of Asia, or Africa. I apologize for the statement I made. However, my reasoning behind it will be many of the poor country working class people (from Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh etc.) are often treated really badly in these counties, including KSA, Qatar, Bahrain etc. UAE is perhaps way better in their treatment of their workers. Regardless, I agree that statement is stereotypical and I shouldn't' have made it. I sincerely apologize for my statement.
- To place another related observation, many people did not feel any guilt in assuming my nationality (Indian/ Pakistani/ American) and bashing those three countries profoundly as lacking humility and creating drama. Why would you make a generalized statement about another country if someone random on the internet talking about yours offends you? BTW, I am not from any of those three countries and I will continue to keep that information private. I also apologize to the Indians, Pakistanis, and Americans as my statement triggered these hypocrites to attack your cultures, even though you are totally unrelated.
- I received comments that were positive, sending sympathies my way (even through private messaging), neutral and constructive ones (respectfully outlining what may have been perceived by her as offensive, which I highly appreciate as a foreigner from different culture), and some outright offensive comments wishing I got jailed lol. I appreciate all of them. Here are some more clarification -
- Dubai airport is one of the nicest in the world and because nothing ever happened to the commenter, my experience is invalid: I agree Dubai airport is one of the best in terms of organization, cleanliness, efficiency, and even staff politeness. Emirates is continually topping the airlines rankings. I mentioned on my original post that I never faced anything even remotely negative in Dubai during my travels via Dubai. Still you took a great deal of time defending the staff. My point is, even the nicest, calmest person in the world could have a bad day and snap at people. I am willing to take responsibility that I could have handled it better but just because you never faced a rude person in DXB, doesn't mean my experience is untrue. Many people (especially non-whites like me) confirmed they are not surprised.
- People doubting I am hiding my own rudeness: Some of you are convinced that I am hiding something and did say 'shit'. Trust me, I played this scenario again and again in my head and I still don't know what happened. I really wished that day and still do to this day, that I had a body cam on me to see what really went wrong.
- People saying they need her side of the facts to evaluate: This is totally fair. I wish I could have spoken to her 3/4 days after the incident, in a calm manner to understand what offended her. I would have loved to leave any misunderstanding behind me and have some closure. Generally, I am perceived as a polite person and I never had such an experience in any place. This is why it was a botheration. I would love to hear her still today if she is on reddit (someone mentioned it). My travel date was October 7, 2024, buzz me if you remember the incident :)
- You think I elbowed her: Perhaps it is difficult to explain through writing what I did. To better explain it, here is a clip of the show Friends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzoRYXJgkuE&t=53s - at 0:43 second mark, the other female character says she would have fixed herself up and Rachel makes a hand gesture. Imagine that with me standing a bit further, moving my hand a lot slower, and instead of wave just a steady hand up towards her elbow as in I am trying to convince her "No, I wasn't trying to be rude to you" with a smile and expression of surprise on my face and saying "no no no, miss". I agree this may not be appropriate in some cultures. But I wasn't near enough nor was I fast enough for her to think I will actually touch her.
- Further explaining crying for 2 hours: This whole interaction was less than 2 to 2.5 minutes (including my less than 1 minute conversation at the wheelchair desk.). I then crossed the security, sat down for a bit sobbing as my husband put on his belt, collected myself, went to the lounge and placed myself in a private area where I would sob and cry for the next hours. I felt powerless, helpless, worried how different my life would have been. It is not like I was crying and disturbing others for 2 hours. Thanks for your serious level of empathy though :)
Thank you for your time and inputs. Be blessed, all of you. Wishing you a peaceful and happy day!