Air Freight to Dubai: Why Some Shipments Get Bumped and How to Avoid It
Saleh was in a panic. He had a batch of creative cultural furniture that needed to be shipped urgently via air freight to Dubai. His client had suddenly changed plans and demanded delivery within five days. However, it was peak summer, and flight capacity to Dubai was severely limited due to high temperatures. Saleh couldn’t find a reliable freight forwarder and was growing increasingly anxious.
Here’s something you should know: overbooking is very common in the air freight to Dubai market. For example, if a flight can carry 45 tons, airlines often accept 50 or even 55 tons of cargo. Why? Because they know from years of experience that some goods won’t make it onto the plane for various reasons. During the cooler seasons, this practice doesn’t cause many issues. But in summer, when high temperatures lead to strict weight limits, more shipments get bumped. This creates delays, warehouse backlogs, and frustrated customers.
I explained to Saleh that not all cargo is treated equally. Some shipments are less likely to be bumped than others. Here’s the inside scoop:
- The least likely to be bumped are shipments from major agents like us. We have strong relationships with airlines and move large volumes, so airlines prioritize our cargo.
- Next comes high-value goods, such as semiconductors or medical equipment. These bring higher profits, so airlines have an incentive to take care of them.
- The most likely to be bumped are shipments from smaller agents with weaker airline relationships and lower cargo volume.
When it comes to air freight to Dubai, we are a primary agent on this route. But be careful—many freight forwarders claim to be primary agents. Not all are equal. 90% of so-called primary agents only have a few fixed pallet spaces per week. We, on the other hand, have 30 pallet spaces weekly. That’s a huge difference.
We operate two dedicated air freight to Dubai routes:
- One is a direct China Southern Airlines flight to Dubai, with 6 fixed pallet spaces from Monday to Friday.
- The other is an Air China flight that transits through Beijing to Dubai. This one operates daily, including weekends.
This means every single day, there’s a flight to Dubai with reserved space for our cargo. Dual routes maximize both timeliness and stability—making our service top-tier.
Saleh was worried that a freight forwarder like us must be expensive. I told him the reason he struggled to find a suitable partner earlier was because many forwarders have limited space, especially during summer weight restrictions. We’re different. We ship large volumes to Dubai daily, which actually lowers our operating costs. The more you ship with us, the better the rates we can offer. Plus, batch processing means faster handling.
We’re ideal for large-volume, long-term project cargo. Many of our major clients started by testing us with a couple of small orders. Once they experienced our reliability, they gradually entrusted us with their entire project shipments. For example, we once handled electronics worth 40 million CNY for Huawei—a company known for being extremely strict when choosing freight partners.
Best of all, we have full control over our air freight to UAE pallet spaces. We decide which cargo gets on which flight. Urgent shipments get priority. For Saleh’s cultural furniture, I booked the earliest available flight. His goods arrived at the designated warehouse within five days after handover.