In recent days, some Instagram pages have been advertising routes under the phrase “transit flights from Dubai to Tehran” that do not, in practice, constitute seamless transit journeys.

Under these arrangements, passengers first fly from Dubai to an intermediary country such as Turkey, Armenia or Iraq, then continue to Iran on a separate ticket. In many cases, the two flights are operated by different airlines, requiring passengers to collect their baggage in the intermediary country, check in again and complete separate procedures for the second flight.

This differs from a genuine connecting flight, where the entire journey is typically issued under a single booking and ticket, and baggage is often checked through to the final destination.

Crucially, routes sold on two separate tickets involving two different airlines—one Iranian and the other foreign—usually do not have an interline agreement allowing baggage to be transferred automatically between the carriers. Passengers must therefore collect their baggage in the intermediary country and, after completing the required procedures, check it in again with the second airline.

Passengers are advised to confirm before making payment whether the journey is covered by one ticket or two separate tickets, whether baggage will be checked through to Tehran or must be collected in the intermediary country, whether the second flight departs from the same airport, and who will be responsible if a delay to the first flight causes them to miss the second.

The use of the word “transit” in an advertisement does not necessarily mean that passengers will travel to Tehran seamlessly on a single ticket. Full details of the itinerary, tickets, baggage arrangements and flight connection conditions should therefore be carefully reviewed before purchase.