Experience with Dhaka Airport

golam · #1 January 18, 2011, 09:23 AM

Will be traveling to Bangladesh after 10 years with a baby. How will the airport treat us? I am hoping it is following international standard. No genjam inside or outside the airport, easy to find luggage's, friendly people, taxi availability. Or, I am dreaming too much? Last time I visited Dhaka, back in 2000, it was completely opposite. Did the recent government take any initiative to make the airport more peaceful, or simply thought changing the name would be sufficient.

Trigger_Tiger · #2 January 18, 2011, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by golam
Will be traveling to Bangladesh after 10 years with a baby. How will the airport treat us? I am hoping it is following international standard. No genjam inside or outside the airport, easy to find luggage's, friendly people, taxi availability. Or, I am dreaming too much? Last time I visited Dhaka, back in 2000, it was completely opposite. Did the recent government take any initiative to make the airport more peaceful, or simply thought changing the name would be sufficient.

Not much change, except that the traffic flow inside is very strict and less of a genjam...Taxi you should find quite easily...the journey in the Taxi is a whole different story however.

The last I went was a little over a year ago, but my cousin came back yesterday and he had no complaints. Where are you traveling from?

**Zunaid** · #3 January 18, 2011, 09:44 AM

I was just there two weeks ago. The chaos inside has diminished to almost zero. Things over, albeit slowly - the slowest being immigration control. Took us over an hour to pass through. Our luggage was all at the carousel and getting out to the exit was easy. We had family pick us up so no problem there. But the traffic (this was around midnight) to town was horrendous - we were going to Dhanmondi and took over an hour. It might make your life simpler if you actually use the services of one of the skycabs - pass him a $20 not in advance and he will ensure that you don't get bothered by touts and will make sure your luggage stays safe. Unlike the 2000s, there were actually many shops and restaurants at the airport.

Equinox · #4 January 18, 2011, 09:45 AM

The airport has changed a lot for the better. You will be pleasantly surprised. However once you step out of the airport it's a whole different story.

*reverse_swing* · #5 January 18, 2011, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunaid
I was just there two weeks ago. The chaos inside has diminished to almost zero. Things over, albeit slowly - the slowest being immigration control. Took us over an hour to pass through. Our luggage was all at the carousel and getting out to the exit was easy. We had family pick us up so no problem there. But the traffic (this was around midnight) to town was horrendous - we were going to Dhanmondi and took over an hour. It might make your life simpler if you actually use the services of one of the skycabs - pass him a $20 not in advance and he will ensure that you don't get bothered by touts and will make sure your luggage stays safe. Unlike the 2000s, there were actually many shops and restaurants at the airport.

You need a British passport with "No Visa Required stamp.

golam · #6 January 18, 2011, 10:16 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trigger_Tiger
Not much change, except that the traffic flow inside is very strict and less of a genjam...Taxi you should find quite easily...the journey in the Taxi is a whole different story however.

The last I went was a little over a year ago, but my cousin came back yesterday and he had no complaints. Where are you traveling from?

Thanks for your input. I'll be traveling from Montreal, Canada.

golam · #7 January 18, 2011, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reverse_swing
You need a British passport with "No Visa Required stamp.

Got a Canadian passport with no visa required.

golam · #8 January 18, 2011, 10:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunaid
I was just there two weeks ago. The chaos inside has diminished to almost zero. Things over, albeit slowly - the slowest being immigration control. Took us over an hour to pass through. Our luggage was all at the carousel and getting out to the exit was easy. We had family pick us up so no problem there. But the traffic (this was around midnight) to town was horrendous - we were going to Dhanmondi and took over an hour. It might make your life simplerif you actually use the services of one of the skycabs - pass him a $20 not in advance and he will ensure that you don't get bothered by touts and will make sure your luggage stays safe. Unlike the 2000s, there were actually many shops and restaurants at the airport.

Will be looking for the Skycabs at the airport. Thanks.

view360 · #9 January 18, 2011, 11:36 AM

I have been frequently travelling though DAC ever since that airport turned operational. I never had any issue neither during embarkation/disembarkation process nor at the customs. I must be a god damn lucky guy!

ialbd · #10 January 18, 2011, 12:13 PM

Yea, Dhaka airport is no longer the 'problem'.

If you are traveling with Canadian passport, you have to lineup at the international passport queue which tends to be much shorter and hence faster (zunaid bhai i thought u traveled with amrikan passport, it took an hour on the international passport queue??).

ground crew's dui numberi with luggages has reduced to almost zero, but just be patient while claiming your luggages....

Good to hear about the skycabs (first time hearing abt these), something organized and reliable is what ppl look for (so its absolutely fine if it costs a bit more)...

Best of luck and enjoy your stay.....

golam · #11 January 18, 2011, 12:33 PM

it's really good to hear some positive feedback.

akabir77 · #12 January 18, 2011, 01:15 PM

btw it was not done during this govt... lol

MohammedC · #13 January 18, 2011, 01:35 PM

People travelling to Bangladesh will not have any difficulty if your destination is Dhaka but if you are transiting to any other city then you will have nightmare of your life. Both to and from your desired destination.

Mahir · #14 January 18, 2011, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by akabir77
btw it was not done during this govt... lol

and why is that relevant?

ammark · #15 January 18, 2011, 03:14 PM

Considering that I've been doing airport duty for the past 2 weeks for my cousin's engagement guests, here's my take:

The queues for immigration in the evening and at the morning rush hours are horrendous. So run out from the airplane as fast as you can to get ahead of the line buildup at immigration. This is mostly because the immigration police is soooo slow doing one-finger-hunt-and-peck on their keyboards for all the passengers. And it doesnt matter if your passport is deshi or foreign, the immigration police will inevitably have deshis in the foreign passport line for the sake of queue management. If its the first time you're entering Dhaka on NVR stamp, then trust me, the cop will take his sweet arsed time filling in all your details into their database.

However, I was there at 10pm one night and the airport was totally empty since most evening flights arrive between 6:00 and 8:30- not a soul after 10 pm remained at arrivals!

The baggage carousels get moving pretty soon after the flight lands, so luggage isnt a problem.

There are 2 arrivals passenger pickup zones, one on right (t-1) and the other on the left (t-2) as you go out of the glass door from baggage area. The easiest way to get access to someone picking you up is if you coordinate with them in advance. Frankly paying Tk.50 for the 2 story parking lot and leaving my car there unattended while I paid Tk.200 to get inside and receive the guests wasnt so bad... its secure enough.

CAAB men in yellow coveralls will want to handle your luggage for a hefty tip ($20 = Tk.1500) now. I'm young and I'm fit, so I always tell them to f*ck off when they become too insistent and start grabbing my luggage.

golam · #16 January 18, 2011, 03:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MohammedC
People travelling to Bangladesh will not have any difficulty if your destination is Dhaka but if you are transiting to any other city then you will have nightmare of your life. Both to and from your desired destination.

why so? I was actually planing to go to Norshingdi....but might stay in Dhaka for the first night or so.

akabir77 · #17 January 18, 2011, 03:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mahir
and why is that relevant?

because the thread starter said what changes were made by recent government...

Banglatiger84 · #18 January 19, 2011, 12:23 AM

Just to echo what Ammark said, DAC has 2 peak arrival times;

Morning, i.e. anytime from 6 am to 11 am when QR, KU, SR, EK, EY, and possibly Gulf Air all have landings.

If you arrive during this period, whether that Saudia 747 is a few feet faster than your carrier to the terminal will make a difference of up to 1 hour to the time that you get out of the airport....

Evening, when (I think) many of the Far Eastern carriers land, and to top it off, if you have to leave the airport before 8 pm, you can look forward to up to 2 hours travelling time to South Dhaka.

Etihad had a treasonably good landing time of 1655 that will last to 14th February, and as yours truly is travelling on the 15th, the landing time alone (EY lands at 4am after 15th feb) was enough to make me pay more to travel emirates....

However the key thing is that you are travelling after 10 years; you will definitely find the new South Immigration area much more pleasant than the dreary old area in the north side of the terminal (that area is nwo solely used for baggage claims)

Zeeshan · #19 January 19, 2011, 12:25 AM

tomra vip loungey jau na?

*peering over monocle*

Ajfar · #20 January 19, 2011, 12:38 AM

I dont get it, Why would you have to pay to go inside the airport?

Posted via BC Mobile Edition (iPhone)

**Zunaid** · #21 January 19, 2011, 12:43 AM

I have to echo Ammark re -immigration lines. My both recent trips to Dhaka (Feb 2009 and Dec 2010) had been via Singapore Air arriving quite late at night. There is a higher fraction of foreign passport holders for some reason SIA and the the immigration lines for the foreign passport holders were long and both times it took us an hour or so to make it through. Since I traveled en famille both instances, couldn't quite make the 100m sprint to be first in the line.

During the 2009 trip, I think they had just finished computerizing and the immigration cop was painfully slow, hunting and pecking word per minute. The Bangladeshi citizens line was quickly emptied and thankfully some senior dude had those officers take the furriners.

The 2010 trip was a bit worse. The officers in the deshi line just sat around even when there were no lines and I could also see them sneak in processing for relatives of immigration officers or other "preferred" guest while processing the people in the queue. Some immigration officer would walk in with a pile of passports and pass it to the the guy at the booth and he would interleave those - making things even slower.

There is nothing much you can do except for pulling in your contacts if you wish. Whatever you do, do NOT get in the line for foreigners AND SAARC passport holders. You'll get a bunch of queue jumping folks whose passports always seem to get an extra scrutiny. I had to yell at some idiots who tried to cut in.

**Zunaid** · #22 January 19, 2011, 12:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bangladesh_sy
I dont get it, Why would you have to pay to go inside the airport?

Posted via BC Mobile Edition (iPhone)

You know how we Bangalis travel. For each departing or arriving deshi we used to have the entire village or town in tow.

Zeeshan · #23 January 19, 2011, 12:46 AM

how many gram of sour can you legally bring?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zunaid
You know how we Bangalis travel. For each departing or arriving deshi we used to have the entire village or town in tow.

So true! Tarpor kadar part ache na?

bujhee kom · #24 January 19, 2011, 01:39 AM

Ami kintoo airporte gelei mati-te (floor/sidewalk-e) poira kanna-kati shuru kori, Dhaka hoke aar Abu-dhabi hoke!

golam · #25 January 19, 2011, 11:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Banglatiger84
Just to echo what Ammark said, DAC has 2 peak arrival times;

Morning, i.e. anytime from 6 am to 11 am when QR, KU, SR, EK, EY, and possibly Gulf Air all have landings.

If you arrive during this period, whether that Saudia 747 is a few feet faster than your carrier to the terminal will make a difference of up to 1 hour to the time that you get out of the airport....

Evening, when (I think) many of the Far Eastern carriers land, and to top it off, if you have to leave the airport before 8 pm, you can look forward to up to 2 hours travelling time to South Dhaka.

Etihad had a treasonably good landing time of 1655 that will last to 14th February, and as yours truly is travelling on the 15th, the landing time alone (EY lands at 4am after 15th feb) was enough to make me pay more to travel emirates....

However the key thing is that you are travelling after 10 years; you will definitely find the new South Immigration area much more pleasant than the dreary old area in the north side of the terminal (that area is nwo solely used for baggage claims)

Thanks for the heads up. I'll be arriving at 10:45 am with Kuwait Air. With wife and baby...don't think we can run to get to the front line. i guess a long line up will be waiting for us.