UAE flights: Home Covid PCR testing, check-in services take off

Dubai - The service is available to passengers of the UAE's flagship airlines, including Emirates, flydubai and Etihad Airways.

By Rohma Sadaqqat

Published: Tue 25 May 2021, 1:08 PM

Last updated: Tue 25 May 2021, 7:42 PM

If you are stressed out about getting a PCR test done before your flight and standing in line to check in your luggage and get your boarding pass at the airport, then DUBZ’s home service is for you.

Powered by dnata, DUBZ can send over one of their iconic green vans that will not only conduct a PCR test at your home, but will also check in your luggage and print your boarding pass on the spot, so that all you have to do on the day of your flight is show up at the airport and head towards your departure gate.

The service is not entirely new, as DUBZ has been offering hassle-free flight check-in services in Dubai since 2018, according to Amine Oubrahim, marketing manager at DUBZ powered by dnata.

Right now, he said, it has become “more crucial than ever”, especially with passengers wanting to avoid long queues, wait times, and crowds at the airport.

“It is enabling travel from your doorstep; essentially, we bring the flight to your sofa,” he told Khaleej Times.

“There have been multiple studies done by Sita and Iata that have looked at what the most stressful touchpoints of travel are, and they have determined that it is the check-in, followed by baggage claim. We have decentralised both of these processes.”

Oubrahim explained that all passengers need to do is get in touch with DUBZ through their call centre and make a booking for their ‘Home Check-In service’.

They can also download the DUBZ mobile app on their iPhone or Android device and create an account, which will allow them to make a booking. On the DUBZ app, travellers can easily track, amend, or cancel their booking.

Once a booking has been made, DUBZ will arrive, check in bags, and print the traveller’s boarding passes for the flight. The service starts at Dh209 for four pieces of luggage, and varies depending on how many more luggage pieces a customer is checking in.

In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the company has launched a new service that includes medical testing, where PCR testing can now be bundled in with the Home Check-In service, allowing passengers to receive a medical fitness certificate. The PCR tests are priced at Dh250 per person, and results are delivered within 24 hours.

“We have teamed up with our medical partners to offer this service,” Oubrahim said. “What happens is that we come first to do the PCR test, and then, subsequently, we will come and check you in within 24 hours of your flight.”

Asked which travellers can book the service, he explained that DUBZ works with Dubai’s flagship airlines, including Emirates and flydubai, as well as many other carriers like Saudia and flynas. Most recently, the service has been expanded to Abu Dhabi, where travellers flying with Etihad Airways can make a booking.

“We have well over 20 vans in our fleet right now and we even offer full baggage disinfection with long-lasting protection from all microbes and viruses for more than 72 hours, ensuring that you don’t bring any unwanted microbes into your home at your destination,” he said.

“We are also very flexible and can offer you the service both at the office or at the hotel you are staying in.”

Last year, DUBZ announced that it has opened a new check-in station in The Dubai Mall. The station is located in the dnata Travel store on the lower ground level of the mall, where the DUBZ team checks in customers for their flights, prints their boarding passes, weighs and secures their baggage and ensures they are delivered to the airport and loaded onto the aircraft.

“At DUBZ, we have worked really hard to streamline travel for families and for different members of the public,” Oubrahim said. “We are looking forward to travel picking up again so that we can enable positive memories for families where they can reconnect with the places and people that they love. Hopefully, in the future, we will provide a door-to-door service in other countries as well, once our international footprint expands.”

rohma@khaleejtimes.com