Barely hours after the New Year fireworks fade, Emirates Airline expects its next passenger surge. In a statement released on 1 January, the carrier projects outbound and inbound traffic to crest between 2 and 5 January as residents return from holidays and tourists arrive for the month-long Dubai Shopping Festival.
To smooth the rush, Emirates is dangling a carrot: any customer who deposits luggage at the City Check-In & Travel Store in DIFC or at the Ajman City Check-In up to four hours before departure will earn 2,500 Skywards miles per booking until 15 January. First-class travellers and Platinum Skywards members continue to enjoy complimentary home check-in across Dubai and Sharjah.
Operationally, the airline has coordinated with Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority to maintain 24-hour Metro services to Terminal 3, expanded dedicated family lanes at immigration and rostered volunteers to fast-track tight connections. Even so, customers are being asked to reach the airport at least four hours before flight time and to ensure passports have a minimum six-month validity—a reminder aimed squarely at expatriates returning from year-end leave.
![Emirates flags 2–5 January peak-travel window, offers bonus miles for remote check-in]()
If you are among those travellers suddenly realising you might also need a visa, VisaHQ can take the guesswork out of the process. The platform offers quick, online applications for UAE tourist and business visas, real-time tracking and optional courier services for passport collection and delivery—streamlining one more step on the way to your Emirates flight. Find full details at https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/.
For corporate travel managers the bulletin is a timely heads-up. Assignment start dates scheduled for the first week of January should factor in longer dwell times at DXB and, where possible, leverage remote check-in to avoid missed flights. The bonus-mile incentive can also offset costs when companies redirect staff to off-airport facilities.
Frequent-flyer analysts view the promotion as a strategic nudge to habituate passengers to Emirates’ growing network of city check-in points—a trend that reduces terminal congestion and could become permanent as the airline eyes further passenger-volume records in 2026.
To smooth the rush, Emirates is dangling a carrot: any customer who deposits luggage at the City Check-In & Travel Store in DIFC or at the Ajman City Check-In up to four hours before departure will earn 2,500 Skywards miles per booking until 15 January. First-class travellers and Platinum Skywards members continue to enjoy complimentary home check-in across Dubai and Sharjah.
Operationally, the airline has coordinated with Dubai’s Roads & Transport Authority to maintain 24-hour Metro services to Terminal 3, expanded dedicated family lanes at immigration and rostered volunteers to fast-track tight connections. Even so, customers are being asked to reach the airport at least four hours before flight time and to ensure passports have a minimum six-month validity—a reminder aimed squarely at expatriates returning from year-end leave.
If you are among those travellers suddenly realising you might also need a visa, VisaHQ can take the guesswork out of the process. The platform offers quick, online applications for UAE tourist and business visas, real-time tracking and optional courier services for passport collection and delivery—streamlining one more step on the way to your Emirates flight. Find full details at https://www.visahq.com/united-arab-emirates/.
For corporate travel managers the bulletin is a timely heads-up. Assignment start dates scheduled for the first week of January should factor in longer dwell times at DXB and, where possible, leverage remote check-in to avoid missed flights. The bonus-mile incentive can also offset costs when companies redirect staff to off-airport facilities.
Frequent-flyer analysts view the promotion as a strategic nudge to habituate passengers to Emirates’ growing network of city check-in points—a trend that reduces terminal congestion and could become permanent as the airline eyes further passenger-volume records in 2026.
