Aug 23, 2007 11:26 AM
17969 Views
"Simple, Straight forward and frill free airlines", is what I honestly think about Air Arabia.
I was looking for a low cost ticket for my trip to Chennai from Sharjah and back. I came to know about air Arabia through one of my friend and decided to take a closer look at what they offered. There were so many positive points such as
Direct flights between Sharjah and Chennai.(They also operate flights to Mumbai, Thiruvanandapuram, Nagpur, Kochi, Ahmedabad etc)
Flights on all 7 days(as is the case for almost all destinations operated by air Arabia)
Facility to book tickets online.
Flight timing. For example the flight to Chennai was at 10.40 pm. For me it was very convenient, because I can finish my day's work at the office and leave around 7 pm for the flight. Similarly, the return flight from Chennai was at 4.30 AM, where I can reach Sharjah at around 7 AM and still turn up to work the same day.
Cost of the ticket. This is the lowest fare I could find apart from Air India express.
Decent amount of baggage allowance.
Because of the above said points, I decided to travel with Air Arabia, and booked my ticket online and there I had my first pleasant experience. Their website is simple and is very easy to use. All the relevant information is available in their site and neatly printed out in the tickets also.
I was little disappointed to know that the cost of the ticket does not cover the food/drinks(except for a complimentary water pocket served after boarding!), and we need to buy them on board if required.(Of course it’s not a big deal when the travel duration is only 4 hours or less). But I could see few people eating the food that they packed from home and there's no restriction to that. So that’s fair enough.
Best part is that they clearly mentioned in the site about the food available on board and the rates.(https://airarabia.ae/images/sky-cafe.jpg). So there are absolutely no surprises when you board the flight.
On the day of travel, I was in the check-in counter 2 hours before the flight and managed to check in without much trouble as my baggage weighed well under the specified limits. Please note that they are very strict about the baggage allowance (30 kilos of check in baggage for non GCC countries and 7 kilos of hand baggage).
The take off was smooth and on-time. Inside the aircraft(A320), the seating arrangements were as good as in any other Economy class. There are totally 27 rows of seats each row having 6 seats 3 to the right and 3 to the left. You may feel little cramped if you are seated in the center. So I requested for the window seat on the return flight and the person in the check in counter obliged.
Both my onward and return journey was comfortable and hassle free. So I wouldn't hesitate to travel by Air Arabia the next time.
Please note that they are also offering some holiday package options to around 20 destinations. Looks to me like a good deal. If you live in UAE, I think its worth giving it a try. Just check out
https://airarabia.com/Book%20early%20for%20the%20best%20fares.html for more details about the holiday packages.
Thanks for reading.
