I wanted to travel from Pakistan to Central Asia on a visit to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In looking for options, online searches came back with FlyDubai but there was a really long layover in Dubai which did not seem appealing so I continued to look. That is when I looked into FlyJinnah and AirArabia - FlyJinnah is a new Pakistani-based airline which was started in partnership with AirArabia. They use AirArabia planes and their branding is in the AirArabia style, and recently FlyJinnah started flying to Sharjah which is the hub for AirArabia. Because FlyJinnah is part of AirArabia, you can book connecting flights for both airlines on each other websites. I booked mine on AirArabia website and selected the flight in which the Pakistan to Sharjah and Sharjah to Pakistan flights were to be operated by FlyJinnah and the Sharjah to Central Asia flights operated by AirArabia. I will focus on the FlyJinnah portion here as I will have a separate post for the AirArabia portion (found
here).
Because they are both part of the same AirArabia organization, you can book the FlyJinnah portioneither on FlyJinnah's site or AirArabia's site. Both sites look similar and you can book the same itinerary, including connecting portions, on both sites. I choose to book my travel on the AirArabia site because of trust of sites as well as currency conversions (AirArabia charges in Dirhams while FlyJinnah charges in Pakistan Rupees). In booking my journey, the portion from Pakistan to Sharjah and from Sharjah to Pakistan was to be operated by FlyJinnah. Both are low-cost carriers so the base ticket includes a personal pack plus a carry-on, everything else needs to be charged for. I choose to pay for my seats as I prefer certain seats on the plane and I paid for luggage. The seat costs were not bad and I was able to get an aisle seat near the front of the plane for not a high cost; the luggage charge was also not that high and included a checked bag of 30kg which is a generous portion. Once I booked my ticket, I could use the same confirmation code on either FlyJinnah and/or AirArabia to manage my booking.
This review will be a compilation of my two flights on FlyJinnah - from Pakistan to Sharjah and from Sharjah to Pakistan. Both were operated by the same aircraft and both had a similar experience. For the check-in experience, I only experienced FlyJinnah check-in on the outbound as for the return I connected to FlyJinnah. For the outbound, I could check-in either on the FlyJinnah or the AirArabia site, but after check-in I was only able to get the AirArabia boarding pass and I would need to check-in at the counter for the FlyJinnah portion. I proceeded to the airport and was able to check-in, receive my boarding pass, and get my bags tagged all the way to my final destination. At the check-in counter, I saw a lot of passengers being 'upgraded' for free even though they did not pay for the seats; this does not seem like a good practice for a low-cost airline and it was the first of many issues that I noticed throughout my flights with FlyJinnah.
Boarding for both FlyJinnah sectors were chaotic. Boarding was supposed to be in groups starting with the rear of the aircraft but for both sectors this was only mildly adhered to as once the plane got halfway full everyone was allowed to board to ensure an on-time departure. Both operating aircraft was an Airbus A320 which had a cabin laid in a 3-3 seat layout. Both the outside and inside of the plane resembled AirArabia; the only markings of FlyJinnah were the seat covers and the boarding pass. Both flights were not completely full so the chaotic boarding ended, manual safety demonstrations commenced, and we pushed back for an on-time departure. The seats itself were basic and decent for a low-cost carrier. The seat was not very wide nor very padded but there was decent amount of legroom. For both sectors I luckily had the entire row to myself but if there was another passenger next to me, that could be uncomfortable as the seat width was narrow. For both sectors, the flight time was a bit over 3hours and after the second/third hour you got to feel the uncomfortableness of the seat. On both sectors, most of the announcements were done by prerecorded statements which were done in Arabic, English and Urdu. On both sectors, the attendants seemed not interested nor caring in neither their job nor the safety nor security of the plane nor passengers. On both sectors, basic safety and security standards such as ensuring everyone had their seatbelt on for takeoff and landing or ensuring the seat was upright were not adhered to; on both sectors the lavatory was not maintained in terms of cleanliness nor restocking even though the FA's were conversing in the galley right next to the lavatory. Also, seat selection in the front came at a higher cost and most other airlines would prevent passengers from changing seats for both safety as well as monetary reasons; FlyJinnah did not seem to care as midflight many passengers moved up as they saw empty rows and seats near the front.
FlyJinnah, similar to their parent company AirArabia, is a low-cost company which means there is no inflight complimentary service. You can preorder meals and drinks, and certain upgraded tickets come with meals, but generally everything is buy on-board. As soon as we reached cruising altitude, the FA's came down the aisle for you to purchase snacks or drinks. Even though they were supposed to accept card, they preferred cash and even though it was over a 3hr flight, they only came by within the first hour to sell items; other low cost carriers would've come back towards the end of the flight to increase revenue and purchase of items. Despite it being a low-cost airline, complimentary entertainment was provided through streaming to your device. Once you connected to the internet, you can stream movies, TV shows, and other programs for free. This was a great option and the selection was actually very good so this was a plus point for FlyJinnah. Other airlines also showed a flight map, the inflight menu, or other items when you are connected to the entertainment but FlyJinnah only had the entertainment.
Overall, how was my experience on FlyJinnah? Not very good, especially since they are a new airline and new airlines are generally better. Positives are that you are able to book a journey on FlyJinnah and AirArabia on one ticket and there are seamless and hassle free transitions between the two. Also, the complimentary entertainment was also a nice gesture. Negatives were the lack of support on the seats, the lack of attention or detail to safety and security, the lack of caring by the FAs for their job or towards the passengers, and the chaos of boarding the flights. As I stated before, my options for this sector were either FlyJinnah + AirArabia or FlyDubai and if I had to choose again, I would probably choose FlyDubai.
I wanted to travel from Pakistan to Central Asia on a visit to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. In looking for options, online searches came back with FlyDubai but there was a really long layover in Dubai which did not seem appealing so I continued to look and that is when I looked into FlyJinnah and AirArabia. I have reviewed the FlyJinnah portion in a separate review (found here) as for this review I will forcus on the AirArabia portion. AirArabia is a low-cost carrier based out of Sharjah in the UAE (Sharjah is the Emirate located next to Dubai). They had a big network covering AirArabia Middle East, AirArabia Marob, and now FlyJinnah covering Pakistan. Because they are all part of the AirArabia family, you can book multiple sectors and connecting flights on one ticket. Even though I was flying FlyJinnah + AirArabia, I could and did book my travel on AirArabia's website and selected the flight in which the Pakistan to Sharjah and Sharjah to Pakistan flights were to be operated by FlyJinnah and the Sharjah to Central Asia flights operated by AirArabia. 
AirArabia is a low-cost carrier meaning the base ticket includes a personal pack plus a carry-on, everything else needs to be charged for. I choose to pay for my seats as I prefer certain seats on the plane and I paid for luggage. The seat costs were not bad and I was able to get an aisle seat near the front of the plane for not a high cost; the luggage charge was also not that high and included a checked bag of 30kg which is a generous portion. Once I booked my ticket, I could use the same confirmation code on either site to manage my booking. This review will be a compilation of my two flights on AirArabia - from Sharjan to Central Asia and from Central Asia to Sharjah - as both were operated by the same aircraft and both had a similar experience. For the check-in experience, I only experienced AirArabia check-in on the outbound. I arrived at the airport 3-hours in advance to ensure check-in went ok; the process was chaotic with little organization but I received both boarding passes and my luggage was tagged to my final destination. I had talked about some of the security and other issues that I had experienced on my flights with FlyJinnah, and some of the issues continued with my flight on AirArabia. 
AirArabia's policy is that boarding is supposed to be in groups, starting with the rear of the aircraft. As was my experience with FlyJinnah, on AirArabia for both sectors this was only mildly adhered to as once the plane got halfway full everyone was allowed to board to ensure an on-time departure. Both operating aircraft was an Airbus A320 which had a cabin laid in a 3-3 seat layout. Both flights were not completely full so the chaotic boarding ended, manual safety demonstrations commenced, and we pushed back for an on-time departure. The seats itself were basic and decent for a low-cost carrier, not padded seats but there was decent amount of legroom. For both sectors I luckily had the entire row to myself but if there was another passenger next to me, that could be uncomfortable as the seat width was narrow. For both sectors, the flight time was a bit over 3hours and after the second/third hour you got to feel the uncomfortableness of the seat. On both sectors, most of the announcements were done by prerecorded statements which were done in Arabic and English. On both sectors, the attendants seemed not interested nor caring in neither their job. For my low-cost carriers, paying for a seat is big business so many are strict as to ensure passengers do not sit in a sit they did not pay for; this was not the case with AirArabia. On both sectors, many passengers who had not paid for seats and thus were allocated seats in the back moved up in the middle of the flight to the front of the plane where seat selection came at a costs. 
As detailed earlier, AirArabia is a low-cost company which means there is no inflight complimentary service. You can preorder meals and drinks, and certain upgraded tickets come with meals, but generally everything is buy on-board. As soon as we reached cruising altitude, the FA's came down the aisle for you to purchase snacks or drinks. My first flight departed at 9pm so coming by within the first hour of the flight made sense; the return flight left at 3am so most of the passengers were sleeping. Instead of waiting until the end to conduct the service, thus ensuring more revenue, the FA's came around at the beginning when most passengers were sleeping. Also, service was only conducted once and within the first hour even though both sectors were 3hr+; other low cost carriers would've come back towards the end of the flight to increase revenue and purchase of items. Despite it being a low-cost airline, complimentary entertainment was provided through streaming to your device. Once you connected to the internet, you can stream movies, TV shows, and other programs for free. Other airlines also showed a flight map, the inflight menu, or other items when you are connected to the entertainment but AirArabia only had the entertainment. 
Overall, how was my experience on AirArabia? Similar to FlyJinnah, it was not very good. Positives were that you are able to book multi-country journeys on one ticket and there was no issue with that. Another positive was the consistent product with similar planes, similar seats, and similar service. Last positive was that complimentary entertainment was provided which is a nice gesture for a low-cost carrier. Negatives were the lack of support/padding on the seats, the lack of attention from the FA's, and generally the chaotic boarding and nature of how the airline operated. Did we depart ontime, yes; did I and my baggage make it to my destination, yes. Was it comfortable, definitely not. For this route, I had a choice between AirArabia or FlyDubai; AirArabia was less expensive and had less overflight time but if I had to choose again, I would probably choose FlyDubai as they seem less chaotic and better overall product.
