UAE | Tourism
Briton trapped in transit for four days
A woman stranded at Dubai International Airport for four days hoping to catch a connecting flight to Bangkok faced living in the transit lounge with little help from ground staff and nowhere to sleep.
- By Emmanuelle Landais, Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:34 December 1, 2008
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Dubai: A woman stranded at Dubai International Airport for four days hoping to catch a connecting flight to Bangkok faced living in the transit lounge with little help from ground staff and nowhere to sleep.
Her story emulates the Hollywood movie The Terminal as she was left to roam in the airport lounge waiting for a connecting flight.
Hester Dowtall, a Briton was in transit through Dubai from Cyprus bound for Thailand where she is a resident, but due to the seige of Bangkok airport last week after at least 2,000 anti-government protesters jammed Thailand's main airport on Saturday, her Emirates flight EK 384 was cancelled.
Dowtall finally flew out early on Sunday morning bound for Singapore after Emirates officials were alerted by Gulf News's request for comment regarding her predicament.
Dowtall said she had been allowed into the Emirates First Class lounge to shower but on her second visit to freshen up, staff asked her to prove that she had not already used up her daily access. "It was very humiliating. I am here just wandering around, I don't have my suitcase and very little money on me. I've gotten very little sleep," she said.
A spokesperson for Emirates confirmed Dowtall chose to travel from Larnaca to Bangkok despite being informed of the cancellation of Bangkok-bound flights by staff at Larnaca International Airport.
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