UAE flight delays: a guide for business travellers and passengers

Flight delays are part of modern aviation, but in a market as busy as the UAE, disruption can ripple quickly through business schedules, supply chains, and customer commitments. Whether you’re a corporate traveller connecting through Dubai or Abu Dhabi, or a travel manager responsible for moving teams, knowing the rules—and the smartest steps to take—turns a bad day at the airport into a manageable incident.

First principles: know the UAE rulebook

The UAE’s General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) requires airlines and airports operating in the country to maintain a Passenger Welfare Program (PWP). In plain terms, this is the UAE’s baseline for how passengers should be looked after during major disruption at UAE airports. The regulation applies to delays, cancellations, diversions and denied boarding at UAE airports, and obliges both airlines and airports to coordinate “care and assistance” such as information updates, meals and refreshments, hotel accommodation when necessary, local transport between airport and hotel, and means of communication. The PWP also requires airlines and airports to have service-level agreements with ground transport providers and hotels, and to be able to facilitate visas if required for temporary entry during an extended delay.

Practically, that means if you’re stuck at Dubai (DXB) or Abu Dhabi (AUH) for several hours, you should expect regular updates and, beyond a threshold, meal vouchers, hotel rooms if an overnight stay is unavoidable, and help with rebooking. Abu Dhabi Airports’ own policy reinforces this, stating that airlines or their handlers must provide communication, meals and refreshments during significant disruption and adequately man transfer and check-in desks to support rebooking, refunds and changes.

When EU/UK rules apply (and when they don’t)

Many UAE-bound trips touch Europe. If your flight departs from an EU or UK airport, you may fall under EU261/UK261 compensation rules for long delays, cancellations or denied boarding, subject to the usual exclusions (e.g., extraordinary circumstances such as severe weather or air-traffic control restrictions). Emirates and Etihad outline these entitlements on their websites, reflecting EU/UK law: compensation can be due when the delay on arrival exceeds three hours and is within the airline’s control; fixed amounts vary by distance band.

If you depart outside the EU/UK and arrive in the EU/UK on a non-EU carrier, EU261 typically doesn’t apply; compensation regimes then depend on local law and the operating carrier’s policies. (EU261 always applies when you depart an EU state, regardless of airline nationality.)

Read: Airspace closure: UAE airlines announce flight cancellations

What to do the moment a delay hits

1) Anchor yourself in the official status. Confirm your flight’s status on the airline’s app and airport screens, and check whether the inbound aircraft has arrived—this is often a leading indicator of realistic departure times. At DXB and AUH, peak periods and seasonal surges can compound knock-on effects, so treat provisional departure times cautiously during busy windows.

2) Engage the airline early—digitally and in person. Use the chat function, call centres, and service desks in parallel. Airlines serving the UAE state they will attempt to rebook you on the first available connection and, where schedules necessitate, provide hotel accommodation, meals/refreshments and ground transport to/from the hotel. If you have onward travel on a separate ticket, tell the agent immediately so they can advise on options; protections are stronger when your journey is on a single ticket.

3) Ask for your “duty of care.” Under the UAE PWP, once delays cross certain thresholds, care should be provided—information updates first, then meals/refreshments, communications access, and if needed, hotel accommodation and transport. If these aren’t proactively offered, request them, referencing the airline’s and airport’s Passenger Welfare obligations. Keep receipts for any out-of-pocket spend if you are instructed to self-arrange.

4) Check if EU/UK261 applies to your itinerary. If you’re departing the EU/UK, ask the agent to annotate your record with the cause of delay and whether it’s within the airline’s control; this matters for eligibility. Airline pages summarise thresholds and amounts; if re-routed and you arrive within the reduction windows, compensation can be halved. File claims directly with the airline before turning to third parties, which often take fees.

5) Protect the business trip. Notify your corporate travel management company (TMC) or travel administrator so they can secure backup options, restructure meetings, and inform stakeholders. If you booked independently, escalate within your company to authorise necessary spend (hotels, day rooms, new tickets) and to ensure compliance with policy.

Smart rebooking tactics (especially for connections)

When a delay jeopardises a connection, prioritise earliest arrival over same-airline loyalty, especially if you must be in-market for a client meeting or live event. In disruption, many carriers will endorse you to a partner airline or even a competitor if they cannot deliver a timely alternative; ask explicitly what interline options exist. If an overnight is inevitable, request a protected connection next day with confirmed seats rather than standby. For itineraries built on separate tickets, consider paying to re-issue onto one ticket if the airline offers it; this can restore missed-connection protections for the remainder of the trip.

Documentation and claims: the compliance playbook

Business travellers should treat disruption like an expense and compliance exercise:

• Collect evidence: screenshots of flight status changes, gate notices, boarding passes, baggage tags, hotel invoices and meal receipts. This package supports airline claims and corporate reimbursement.

• Capture the root cause: ask staff to note “weather,” “ATC,” “technical,” or “operational” on your record—cause determines eligibility under EU/UK261 and informs insurer decisions.

• File with the airline first: both UAE airports and the GCAA framework steer passengers to the operating carrier for rebooking, care and any applicable compensation; regulators and airports generally step in for oversight or unresolved complaints, not first-line claims.

Insurance, cards and corporate policy

Even where a fixed-sum legal compensation doesn’t apply, travel insurance and premium credit cards can cover delay-related costs (meals, hotels, essentials) once a delay threshold is met. For multinational programmes, check that your insurer recognises UAE PWP documentation and airline letters confirming delay cause and duration. If a checked bag is delayed while you’re on a business trip, most international journeys fall under the Montreal Convention liability regime for baggage, which sets compensation limits (often quoted in Special Drawing Rights). Airlines publish these limits and processes in their notices and customer service plans.

Corporate travel managers should also verify that policies allow reasonable self-help; for example, purchasing a day room or switching to the first viable flight—when approved channels are overwhelmed. After large-scale events, airlines may face extended call wait times and crowded desks; the fastest path to normal operations is often a mix of app rebooking plus TMC escalation.

Special cases: visas, families, and accessibility

Long delays sometimes require a temporary entry into the UAE for hoteling. The UAE PWP anticipates this and requires coordination between airports, airlines and authorities to facilitate entry/temporary entry when necessary. If you know you’ll need to enter the UAE (e.g., to reach an off-airport hotel), ask the airline to organise the formalities. Families and travellers requiring special assistance should request priority handling early; both the airline and airport have obligations to plan resources for welfare and accessibility during disruption.

After the trip: follow through

Submit airline claims promptly, attaching your documentation bundle and quoting relevant regimes (UAE PWP for care; EU/UK261 if the journey departed the EU/UK and the cause was within airline control). If you’re a travel manager, run a brief post-incident review: did staff know how to trigger care? Did your TMC act quickly? Were policy limits sufficient for hotel and ground transport? Use the findings to update traveller briefings before the next peak period.

Bottom line

In the UAE, the rules are clear: airlines and airports must look after passengers during disruption at DXB, AUH and other UAE airports. Your job is to activate those rights early, decide on the fastest route to your destination, and keep immaculate records. If your journey originates in the EU/UK, check whether EU/UK261 adds a compensation layer. For businesses, disruption management is a process; codify it with your TMC, insurance and finance teams so the next delay is a controlled deviation, not a crisis.