Emirates is rolling out self serve check-in and bag drop kiosks for most customers at its Dubai hub. They are designed to complement the desks manned by Emirates check-in agents to reduce waiting time for customers during peak periods. The self-serve facility is available to all passengers, except for those heading to the US, Canada, China, India, and Hong Kong.

All up, eight new self-serve check-in kiosks are up and running. In addition, there are now 16 new self-serve bag drop machines. Emirates plans to beef these numbers up over the following months.

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Dubai terminal beefed up as Emirates expands operations

Emirates staff will be circulating about the new kiosks and keeping them clean and sanitized. The airline says passengers can check-in, receive their boarding pass, choose seats onboard, and drop off their bags before hot-footing it through immigration and heading to the airside departure zones.

The initiative comes as Emirates gradually resumes its operations. The airline is now flying to 91 destinations after resuming flights to Entebbe, Harare, Johanessburg, and Capetown today.

Emirates deploys a suite of measures to keep passengers safe

Emirates offers a suite of measures to reassure passengers it's safe to jump back onboard. That starts with simple steps like sanitizing the new self-serve check-in kiosks and extends right through the journey.

Right now, only passengers are allowed into the terminals in Dubai. On entering the terminals, passengers will pass through a thermal scanner. You can choose whether to use the self-serve check-in kiosk or not. If you prefer not to, or are not eligible to use them, staffed check-in desks use protective antimicrobial screens to keep both passengers and staff safe.

In the terminal in Dubai, passengers will be offered complimentary hygiene kits containing masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, and antibacterial wipes. The same products are also freely available in-flight.

Onboard, cabin crew wear personal protective gear. Only small groups of people board at any one time. While in-flight service, especially on longer flights, runs as per usual, the crew are minimizing interactions. Between flights, planes and boarding areas get given deep cleans.

Emirates works to restore passenger confidence

At the moment, Emirates also allows passengers holding bookings to travel until March 31, 2021, the ability to change their travel dates, extend their ticket validity for two years, or convert their ticket into a travel voucher to use against any future flight-related purchase for themselves or their family and friends.

In addition, in an industry first, Emirates is offering to cover COVID-19 related medical expenses for passengers who are away from home for 31 days after flying onboard Emirates. The airline says it about instilling confidence. Emirates says,

"This cover is immediately effective for customers flying on Emirates until December 31, 2020, and is valid for 31 days from the moment they fly the first sector of their journey."

Not everybody loves self-serve check-in. Sometimes you do need to speak to a real check-in agent to resolve an issue an automated kiosk cannot. But from Emirates' point of view, the new self-serve check-in kiosks are about offering choice. If you're keen to keep person-to-person contact at a minimum while flying, this could be the perfect option for you.