Terminal 3 to Terminal 2, separate tickets
From the Emirates terminal to flydubai’s home terminal, once you have your bags and have cleared customs.
Dubai · DXB · Terminal to terminal
DXB terminal to terminal booked, not improvised.
A pre-booked car between DXB terminals, or on to Al Maktoum, for connections on separate tickets, with a named chauffeur and a full quote before you pay.
Nothing is charged until you accept the quote.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC)
At a glance
What a DXB terminal transfer includes
On one ticket, stay airside and follow the Connections signs: the airline and the airport handle the move to your next gate. On separate tickets, you clear passport control, collect your bags and check in again at the terminal on your onward booking. That second case is the one Universal Airport Transfer books ahead, with a named chauffeur and a full quote before you pay.
- Your chauffeur waits 30 minutes from your flight’s actual arrival time.
- The desk needs your onward departure when you book, so the connection window is protected.
- Your luggage goes with you from one terminal’s kerb to the next.
- A full quote before you pay, usually within two hours, reflecting distance, vehicle class, add-ons and any late-night, public holiday or short-notice charges.
- Nothing is charged until you accept the quote. Any toll is either included in it or shown as an extra, and waiting beyond the included time may carry a charge.
- Changes and cancellations up to 48 hours before your flight under the standard policy; a few airports and services differ.
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One ticket or two: what a terminal change at DXB involves
Find your row from the terminals printed on your bookings and whether both flights are on one ticket, with your bags checked through to the end. Only the separate-ticket rows, and any change to Al Maktoum, take you out to the road.
| Connection | Ticket | What you do | When a pre-booked car helps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 (Concourse D), or back | One ticket | Stay airside and follow the Connections signs. Concourse D is reached by airport train from Terminal 1, and Emirates lists shuttle buses to the D gates from Concourse B. | It does not. You never reach the kerb. |
| Terminal 1 or 3 to Terminal 2, or back | One ticket | Stay airside, where the Connections signs lead to the transfer desks. Emirates lists shuttle buses from Terminal 3’s concourses to the F gates; from Terminal 1, ask your airline or the airport’s Guest Experience Ambassadors. | It does not. The airline and the airport handle the transfer. |
| Both flights from the same terminal | Separate tickets | Clear passport control, collect your bags, go through customs, then check in again in the same building’s departures hall. | Seldom, as there is no road journey. A long gap spent in the city is the exception. |
| Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, or back | Separate tickets | Clear passport control, collect your bags, go through customs, cross landside to the other terminal and check in again. | With children, heavy luggage or a late flight. The metro’s Red Line stops at both terminals and takes up to two pieces of luggage per passenger, hand luggage included, and taxis wait at the ranks around the clock. |
| Terminal 1 or 3 to Terminal 2, or back | Separate tickets | Clear passport control, collect your bags, go through customs, then go by road to Terminal 2’s separate entrance and check in again. | This is the case the service is built for. The metro does not reach Terminal 2, and every bag rides in the car with you. |
| Dubai International to Al Maktoum (DWC) | One ticket or two | Enter the UAE, collect your bags and cross the city to an airport roughly 60 km away. | With luggage, a group or a flight after the metro has closed. The public route is the metro to Ibn Battuta station, then a dedicated bus to DWC. |
Checked on 23 September 2026 against Dubai Airports and Emirates. Airlines move between terminals, and Dubai Airports lists flydubai at Terminal 2, Terminal 3 and Al Maktoum (DWC), so go by the airport and terminal on each booking. Late at night the choice narrows: taxis run around the clock, while the metro does not run overnight.
Price
What your quote depends on
Every journey is quoted on its own rather than sold from a price list, so the figure you receive is for your booking. These are the things that move it. Nothing is charged until you accept the quote. Tolls, where they apply, are either included in it or shown in it as an additional charge, and heavy traffic does not change the quoted price.
Which two terminals
Every separate-ticket move is quoted from the two terminals on your bookings, and Terminal 2 has its own road entrance. Give us the airport and terminal exactly as your bookings show them: Dubai Airports lists flydubai alone at Terminal 2, Terminal 3 and Al Maktoum.
Or which two airports
Dubai International to Al Maktoum is a cross-city journey rather than a terminal change, and the longest move on this page.
The hour you connect
A late-night connection, one on a public holiday or one booked at short notice can carry a charge, which the quote names before you pay.
Passengers and bags
On a separate-ticket connection every case travels in the car, so the vehicle is chosen for the full load: a sedan takes about 2 to 3 bags, a van about 6 to 8, in whichever class you book.
Separate tickets
A self-transfer at DXB, from the aircraft door to the next check-in
Five stages, and the drive is only one of them. This is the order they come in when your two flights were booked separately.
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01
Before you book the second flight
Check whether you can enter the UAE, because a separate-ticket connection takes you out through passport control. Then read the terminal on both bookings: Dubai Airports lists flydubai at Terminal 2, Terminal 3 and Al Maktoum (DWC), so the terminal can differ from one flydubai flight to the next.
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02
Passport control, the belt and customs
You collect every checked bag from the carousel and pass through customs before you reach the arrivals hall. Your flight is tracked and the 30 minutes of waiting runs from its actual arrival time, so a long queue is worth a message to the booking desk.
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03
Meeting your chauffeur
Your chauffeur is named before pickup, and the booking desk tells you where to meet. Keep your phone on: if you have not reached the meeting point within the waiting time and cannot be contacted, the Terms treat the booking as a no-show.
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04
The move by road
Outside, Emirates’ own advice for a separate-ticket connection is a taxi or a bus to the departure terminal. A pre-booked car is the third option: your bags are loaded once, and heavy traffic does not change the quoted price.
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05
Checking in again
You are dropped at departures for the terminal on your onward ticket, and from there it is that airline’s check-in deadline that counts. Airlines publish their own, so look it up before you fly.
Which DXB terminal is which
Terminal 1
Dozens of international airlines, with their gates at Concourse D, a short airport-train ride away. The Dubai Metro Red Line has a station here.
Terminal 2
A separate building north of Terminal 1, with its own entrance from Al Twar Road and Rashidiya. Home to flydubai and a range of regional and international airlines. The metro does not stop here.
Terminal 3
The Emirates terminal, with Concourses A, B and C; selected flydubai flights, United Airlines and Air Canada use it too. The metro stops here as well.
If you cannot enter the UAE, no car can help, because a road transfer starts on the far side of passport control. Ask your airline first; Dubai Airports also lists a paid baggage transfer service at the transfer desk for separate-ticket passengers without a Dubai visa.
DXB
Dubai International Airport (DXB)
Dubai International has three passenger terminals, and Terminal 2 is the one that stands apart: a separate building north of Terminal 1, entered from Al Twar Road and Rashidiya. On separate tickets, a move to or from it is a road journey between two terminal entrances, not a walk through a hall.
Terminals Terminal 1 with Concourse D, Terminal 2 with the F gates, and Terminal 3 with Concourses A, B and C. Tell us the terminal on each booking and both go in the quote
More about transfers at Dubai International Airport
Get a DXB quoteDWC
Al Maktoum International Airport (DWC)
Al Maktoum International is Dubai’s second airport, and Dubai Airports gives the distance from Dubai International as approximately 60 km. Changing between the two always means entering the UAE and collecting your bags first, so it is booked as an airport-to-airport transfer rather than a terminal change.
More about transfers at Al Maktoum International Airport
Get a DWC quoteServices
Terminal moves we book at Dubai
Terminal 1 to Terminal 2, separate tickets
From Terminal 1’s international carriers to Terminal 2, a separate building with its own kerb, with your cases in the boot.
Terminal 1 to Terminal 3, separate tickets
A landside move the metro also makes, worth booking with a family, a lot of luggage or a flight after the metro has stopped.
Airport to airport: DXB and DWC
Between Dubai International and Al Maktoum, with the whole party and its bags in one vehicle across the city.
Hourly chauffeur on a long layover
If you can enter the UAE and the gap is long, a car held by the hour takes you into the city and back to departures.
How it works
How to book a terminal transfer
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Send both flights
Your arriving flight, your onward departure and the terminal on each ticket, using the form below. The onward flight can go in the notes.
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Receive a full quote
Usually within two hours, with any late-night, public holiday or short-notice charges shown. Nothing is charged until you accept it.
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Pay online
By secure payment link or bank transfer. Card details never reach this website.
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Booking confirmed
Confirmed once paid, with a voucher showing your travel details and the vehicle booked. Your chauffeur is named before pickup.
Questions
Changing terminals at Dubai airport: questions
Are Dubai Terminal 1 and Terminal 2 connected?
Not by a walkway or the metro: on one ticket the airline and the airport move you across airside, and on separate tickets you go by road. Terminal 2 is a separate building north of Terminal 1, with its own road entrance from Al Twar Road and Rashidiya. On one ticket, follow the Connections signs and ask your airline or Dubai Airports’ Guest Experience Ambassadors for the transfer; on separate tickets you leave through arrivals first.
Can you walk between T1 and T2 at Dubai airport?
No. Even airside, Emirates lists shuttle buses for passengers heading to Terminal 2’s F gates, and on separate tickets the move is a drive between two terminal entrances. Between Terminal 3 and Terminal 1’s D gates on one ticket, Emirates lists a shuttle bus from Concourse B instead.
How do I get from Terminal 1 to Terminal 2 in Dubai?
Airside with your airline on one ticket, or by road on separate tickets. On one booking, stay airside and let the airline and the airport’s transfer staff take you across. On separate bookings, clear passport control, collect your bags and go through customs, then take a taxi from the rank, a bus from the arrivals stands or a chauffeur booked ahead; the metro does not serve Terminal 2.
How long should I allow to change terminals at Dubai airport?
Allow for the whole chain, not only the drive: passport control, the baggage belt and customs, the move by road and the check-in deadline on your onward ticket, plus a margin for queues. The airline sets that deadline; Emirates, for example, asks passengers who collect their bags and check in again to be through passport control and security 90 minutes before the flight. On one ticket, your airline’s own connection rules apply instead.
Do I have to enter the UAE to change terminals?
Usually only on separate tickets. On one ticket the connection stays airside. On separate tickets you normally pass through passport control, collect your bags and check in again, so check whether you can enter the UAE before you book the second flight; if you cannot, ask your airline first, as Dubai Airports lists a paid baggage transfer service at the transfer desk.
What if my first flight lands late?
The pickup moves with it: the inbound flight is tracked, and the 30-minute wait starts from your flight’s actual arrival time. The desk has your onward departure, so the connection window is protected; the check-in deadline, though, stays the airline’s. If the connection starts to look tight, call the booking desk, which answers 24 hours a day.
Can you take me between Dubai International and Al Maktoum?
Yes, as an airport-to-airport transfer, quoted the same way as a terminal move. Dubai Airports puts the two airports about 60 km apart, and you enter the UAE and collect your bags before you leave; the public alternative is the metro to Ibn Battuta and a dedicated bus from there.
What if one of my flights changes after I book?
Tell the booking desk as soon as it does. Changes and cancellations are accepted up to 48 hours before your flight under the standard policy, and if you cancel earlier than that, any costs already incurred are deducted from the refund; a few airports and services differ. Within 48 hours, or on a no-show, full charges apply.
Waiting time, changes, cancellations and refunds are set out in full in our Terms & Conditions.
Request a transfer
Tell us the flight. We hold the car.
Under five minutes to complete. We come back with a full quote, usually within two hours. Nothing is charged until you accept the quote.