The airport is where the FCDO puts its named warnings. Book the car before you land, refuse help with your bags, and keep the passport on you.
The three named risks
- The FCDO names theft, including passport theft, harassment, and overcharging of taxi fees at Dhaka and Sylhet airports specifically. Not the city, the airport.
- Avoid touts offering to carry your bags. That is the FCDO's own first countermeasure and it removes most of the problem.
- Arrange the taxi in advance. Canada's version is to use only registered taxis booked through a hotel.
- Keep documents on your person. A passport in a side pocket of a bag on a trolley is the thing that goes.
What the walk out actually looks like
- Terminals 1 and 2 are both international and in the same building. Arrivals come out on the ground floor concourse via canopy 1 and canopy 2; departures check in on the second floor.
- The domestic terminal is a separate single storey building to the left, with arrivals and departures on the same floor. A domestic connection is a walk outside, not a transfer inside.
- Foreign passport holders use the foreign counter at immigration, which is where a visa on arrival is dealt with if you are taking that chance.
- By the baggage belts there are two help desks, free wifi, free telephone booths, drinking water and money exchange. The lost and found desk is by belt 1.
- In front of the customs green channel, by exit gates 1 and 2, you will find car rental desks, banks for currency exchange and a shop selling Bangladeshi SIM cards. That is the one spot where all three errands are in the same place.
Getting into the city
- Traffic in Dhaka is severe. Whatever the map says, double it, and treat an early flight out as a night-before problem.
- Ride-hailing apps work, and Uber drivers generally take cash only. Wait somewhere safe rather than on the street, match the registration plate, make and model, ask the driver to say your name, and check the photo.
- Cycle rickshaws on main roads are not safe, and thieves target rickshaw, CNG and taxi passengers particularly around dusk.
Flights
- Air travel is frequently disrupted at short notice because of the security situation, and airport security checks can be slow. Stay in touch with the airline and leave margin.
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