Trip Report: AirArabia, Sharjah to Almaty; Bishkek to Sharjah (September 2024)

 Trip Report: Air Arabia, Sharjah to Almaty; Bishkek to Sharjah
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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.