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Original poster

Women detained in Dubai ‘after glass of wine on plane’

260 replies

Aridane · 11/08/2018 13:50

Reading today’s Guardian and came across this.

Swedish dentist travelling with four year old daughter from London to Dubai had a glass of wine on the flight. Taken into custody as had an invalid visa and pending return to UK. Blood test then administered to test for alcohol. As a result of which apparently she and daughter detained for three days and made to clean toilets.

Released on bail, passport confiscated, remaining in Dubai pending hearing in a year.

Can’t do a link as reading a physical newspaper.

Anyone know any more about this? Is there more to it than a glass of wine on the flight and an invalid visa?

Just seems quite odd.

OP posts:

PollyFlinderz · 13/08/2018 08:36

I have. Got stopped in immigration at Sheffield. Was only supposed to be transiting through to Heathrow and continuing on. They were very curious as to why I had Chinese and Vietnamese visas and a stamp from the North Korean border, and was on my way to Qatar. (I'm in my early 20's and adventurous was not a good enough answer)

They held me so long I missed my flight and had to rearrange tickets out of my own pocket. Jerks.

I see what my lot can experience when we travel together and its not nice at times.

in fact I had one situation myself in the UK as a British person and it was so humiliation I made and official complaint and the outcome was that my experience is now used in training sessions. Or so I was told when I received official feedback from the Border Patrol Agency I think it was.

On the other hand Ive never had a problem entering Dubai and Im there a couple of times a month. I find a polite Salam Alaikum is very warmly received and people respond in kind. Not that Im saying for a minute that all of the officials are as friendly or as polite as each other. But thats the whole point - its the same the world over.

Did I think the womans story was as printed in the press? No not for a minute. In fact not even as long as it took to read the article.

TheHulksPurplePanties · 13/08/2018 08:46

On the other hand Ive never had a problem entering Dubai and Im there a couple of times a month.

DH speaks enough Arabic to say Hi, how are you today, I'm fine, God Bless, and I speak a little bit of Arabic, and it NEVER fails to make even the crankiest looking immigration official crack a smile and turn super friendly.

motherlondon · 13/08/2018 09:50

I've landed back in the UAE covered in red wine thanks to hostie who kept pouring it into a glass with a hole in it.
I smelt and looked like a wino.
I didn't even raise a manicured eyebrow at immi, because I had a valid visa and did not kick off.

Interested in this thread?

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Children's health General health

bevelino · 13/08/2018 09:56

I wonder how she has she spent £30,000 in fees, when she was detained for just 3 days.

PollyFlinderz · 13/08/2018 09:59

I wonder how she has she spent £30,000 in fees, when she was detained for just 3 days

I very doubt she has. Not that she'd have been expecting people to question or down right disbelieve her in the first place.

LuckyDiamond · 13/08/2018 10:03

Last time I passed through Dubai on a 2 hour stopover, I’d consumed so many gin miniatures served to me on the Emirates plane that I barely remember it. Not proud of that but would have had zero if I’d heard of this. I drank about 6 litres of plain water on the second leg

PollyFlinderz · 13/08/2018 10:11

Not proud of that but would have had zero if I’d heard of this. I drank about 6 litres of plain water on the second leg smile

Why when it’s been made very clear the wine she’d had wasn’t the problem.

LuckyDiamond · 13/08/2018 10:41

Ah just read the rest of the thread.

I’ve bought and consumed alcohol (2 x Budweiser) at Dubai airport as a 19 year old lone traveller, thinking about it.

AviatorShades · 13/08/2018 11:36

Nah, it was all a non-story wasn't it, with the wine thing thrown in as a decoy to mask the true fact that her Visa wasn't going to be valid for the length of her stay and then she got confrontational. Mistake. BIG mistake

I used to be a Frequent Flier with Emirates and they're still my fave long-haul carrier. Years ago I was transitting through Dubai, supposedly for 2 hrs, but strikes with their Alliance partners resulted in planes not being in the right place at the right time, displaced passengers being dumped in Dubai and stranded for days etc., violence breaking out.Truly scary.
At the Emirates desk, I was found a room at one of their hotels in Dubai, transported there in a strettttttch limo, huge basket of fruit in my room and told that I was entitled to a free alcoholic drink of choice at the rooftop bar. Nice, but I'd already heard the raucous noise of stranded expat workers emanating from the basement bar - so I headed south
Emerged,possibly unsteadily, in time to freshen my makeup, grab some more fruit from the basket for my bag, and report at check in once my flight was called.
And you know what I really liked about Emirates in Dubai? Unaccompanied women staying over were sent right in the hotel, men sent left. Purdah to some, perhaps, but after 3 months of not being able to feel safe in my room at night, I really welcomed this

TheStoic · 13/08/2018 12:31

Could see this happening to me when I was in Dubai with my 11yo son last year. Just thinking about our experience makes me incredibly anxious.

I wouldn’t go anywhere near the place again if you paid me.

BathroomLights · 13/08/2018 12:41

Well as long as you don't turn up with an out of date passport, out of date visa, demand they give you a visa that your passport deems you ineligible for, refuse to get on a plane home then start filming in a restricted area then theres no reason any of us would be treated like that.

Sweetsongbird1 · 13/08/2018 12:44

We go to Dubai every February. We love it.

We drink alcahol around the pool and in the restaurants.

Obviously there is way more to this.

TheStoic · 13/08/2018 12:45

Oh there’s plenty of other reasons you might be treated like that. Whatever reason they feel like. But your blind faith is endearing.

What a hideous shit-hole that place is.

Sweetsongbird1 · 13/08/2018 12:45

@TheStoic what happened ?

TheStoic · 13/08/2018 12:50

To cut a (very) long story short, they took our passports away, separated me from my 11yo son, took us to separate rooms and ‘searched’ us (not strip searched). My son was terrified and so was I, but I managed not to react in any way so I couldn’t give them any ‘reason’ to detain us longer. And this was when we were leaving Dubai.

That’s the abridged version.

Sweetsongbird1 · 13/08/2018 12:53

Bloody hell why did they take your passports and do that ? @TheStoic

TheStoic · 13/08/2018 12:55

No idea. Everything was in order.

And I certainly wasn’t going to ask.

Want2bSupermum · 13/08/2018 13:02

I am horrified that she got through security checks at Gatwick with an expired passport. There are normally 2 checks, sometimes 3 when going through the check in and security process at any airport.

It won't have helped that she was a woman on her own with a child. I travel with my 3DC on their own and the discrimination I've faced when on my own has been eye opening. I have been given a hard time by UK border officials too. US immigration at Newark airport have been great even when the airline didn't put DD on the flight manifest. It took them 45mins to sort it out and I was pregnant with morning sickness. The officer called for help and they came with a chair, some water, a puck bag and some crackers

TheHodgeoftheHedge · 13/08/2018 13:35

How on earth did she actually manage to get on her flight in the first place with an expired passport? I'm surprised she was even able to check in!!!

M3lon · 13/08/2018 13:42

I wouldn't go to Dubai if you paid me the 30k.

I also wouldn't attempt to travel on an expired visa.

PollyFlinderz · 13/08/2018 14:51

Strangely enough that’s very near to the situation I had in the UK that I mentioned earlier.

PollyFlinderz · 13/08/2018 14:56

How on earth did she actually manage to get on her flight in the first place with an expired passport? I'm surprised she was even able to check in!!!

I think somewhere along the line I heard mention of a second passport so what she would have done is exit on one then enter on the other. People do it all the time in order to avoid having to apply for visas online or in person if theyre not entitled to a visa on arrival because your passport isnt one of the ones that have this facility.

tickingthebox · 13/08/2018 15:05

She had two passports

Swedish with Visa - Expired
Iranian without visa - not expired

The Iranian visa was entitled to a 96 hour visa, but she kicked off as it would have meant going home early / rearranging return flights.

nipersvest · 13/08/2018 15:21

I’m familiar with her on Instagram and was surprised when they said she was a dentist. She has a well known cosmetic surgery clinic (Instagram profile now disabled)
She does the Botox of some of the fashion Instagrammers. I doubt she does any dentistry any more...

I posted about that on the other thread, I suspect it speaks volumes that this was mostly down to the way she behaved rather than a glass of wine, I didn't see any instagrammers jumping to her defense and some of the fashion grammers are (supposedly) really good friends with her.

Want2bSupermum · 13/08/2018 16:35

ticking If she was checking in with her Iranian passport they should have checked that she had a valid visa for the length of her stay. That clearly didn't happen. I have 3 passports and travel on all 3. When going to Cuba I entered on my British passport and left on my American passport. When I was departing DR they asked to see my American passport to make sure I was able to get back into America.

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