With Emirates' home check-in service, customers don't need to queue at the airport to drop their bags and collect their boarding passes. Image Credit: Supplied

Dubai: Emirates is lowering the cost of its home check-in service as it prepares to cope with a huge travel rush during the upcoming holidays.

The UAE-based carrier said on Sunday that it is cutting the price of its recently launched facility by Dh100 less, to encourage more passengers to complete all check-in procedures before arriving at the airport.

The more people opt to complete check-in procedures at home, the lesser crowds there will be at airline counters.

“This will leave customers travelling during the busy December period free to make their way to the airport at their convenience, skipping the check-in desks, so they can go straight to passport control,” the airline said in a statement.

The announcement was made just a few weeks before the busy travel period begins. Crowds are expected to surge at Dubai International in December, when UAE expatriates and transient passengers catch a flight back to their home countries or holiday hotspots for Christmas and New Year.

The busiest travel season of the year usually kicks off around the second week of December until the first week of January.

Around the same period last year, some 420,000 travellers passed through Emirates Terminal 3 in three days.

Customers can book home check-in on the airline’s website two days or 12 hours before departure. Once booked, airline representatives will come to the customer’s chosen location in Dubai to complete the security check, weigh and collect the bags and issue boarding passes.

When it rolled out in April, the service cost Dh350, but this time around, it will cost flyers Dh250 for up to seven pieces of luggage. The airline will collect Dh25 for every additional piece of luggage.

For UAE residents who will be travelling in December, especially those who don’t have any budget for the home check-in, here are a few tips to keep in mind,

  • Arrive at the airport at least three hours before departure. Some airlines, including Emirates, allow flyers to physically check in as early as six hours prior to take-off.
  • Arrive at the boarding gate on time. Airlines strictly follow the schedule for gate closure to minimise flight delays and don’t accept flyers who turn up late.
  • Check in online to avoid long queues at the airport.
  • Make sure your luggage does not exceed weight limits.