Flight Review: Air Arabia A320 (KWI to AUH)
Flight#3L21
From: Kuwait International Airport (KWI)
To: Abu Dhabi International (AUH)
Flight time: 1h 30min
Aircraft: Airbus A320-200
I had long wanted to try out Air Arabia, an airline that has built a rather impressive multi-country operation stretching from Morocco to Pakistan and from Sudan to Armenia, although its main base is in Sharjah, just a few kilometres from Dubai international airport, but already in the neighbouring emirate of the same name.
So, Air Arabia has grown and developed pretty much in the shadow of the large Middle Eastern airlines that it has as next door neighbours, but, as we shall soon see, with a rather different business model.
Pre-flight experience
I bought my ticket on the airline website and it was pretty straightforward.
Air Arabia offers essentially three bundled fares and I found remarkable that it seems rather well designed to make the one in the middle comparatively more attractive.
In fact, the price difference between the basic and very limited fare and the middle one is not huge, to the point that, in most cases, possibly makes sense to pay to enjoy most of the frills.
In fact, the price difference with the option with everything included is also not huge, although it all depends on how much you value the meal and the seat (perhaps not so valuable in a short flight). This snapshot is from a random example, not the flight of this review, by the way.
Since I was travelling alone and light, I still took the most basic one, but otherwise it would have been a no brainer given the added benefits it brings for a relatively small price difference.
Customer Service: a week spot for Air Arabia!
Although it was not the case this time, I had to interact with Air Arabia’s customer service a few months earlier in connection to another booking. The experience, at that time, was simply very disappointing, to the point that it led me to cancel a booking.
The problem was, essentially, that the information about vaccination requirements on Air Arabia’s website did not match the one published in other UAE official websites.
I tried to reach Air Arabia via email, then via social media channels and it all ended up in a loop in which they ended redirecting me to the same website advisory that had prompted my query. In the face of this inability to confirm, I cancel the booking and booked another flight to neighbouring Dubai, where the guidance was more clear.
If it was so complicated to sort out a rather simple query, I wonder how it must be if you have a real issue!
The cabin
This was actually a positive surprise. The look and feel of the cabin is much more upmarket than I expected.
I was expecting a harder, more spartan type of seat, like the ones on many European low cost (and even some theoretically full service) airlines, but to my surprise it was this rather more “softy” type of seat. Even if this is not my favourite material for an aircraft seat, it was rather cushy.
The seat pitch was ok for lcc standards and, at the moment of boarding, the cabin was impecably clean and tidy. I also liked the colour palette, which is rather neutral and soothing.
Food, drink and amenities
Air Arabia is a no frills airline, therefore, what you eat depends on what you are willing to pay.
This was a short flight, so I didn’t feel the need to eat or drink anything (the guy next too me did and it looked pretty ok).
I guess, since the best value fares include some light food (sandwich or pastry and a drink), that most passengers pre-book their food, but you can do so also onboard and the menu is available both in paper (Air Arabia has kept its paper magazine) and digital forms (through the inflight digital platform that I will now comment about).
All passengers have access to a free digital content streaming service, called SkyTime, which is provided by Dutch company AirFi.
It is important to remark that this is not internet connectivity (it won’t let you browse sites or check email), but an internal network that delivers pre-packaged content on demand to the passengers’ personal electronic devices (what is called “BYOD”, bring your own device).
To access you just need to follow the instructions that are found in every seat and connect to the digital platform.
There is a pretty decent selection of movies, series and other content. In fact, this flight was too short to enjoy most of them fully!
Our take:
Air Arabia offers a good value product. In many ways, the experience didn’t feel like flying a budget carrier at all. There may be some things to polish, like customer service, but overall it compares favourably with many European low cost airlines.