Dubai Consumer Mirror

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Air Arabia

A round trip ticket for a quick 48 hrs get-away in Kuwait - Dhs 1,125/-

A Cold grilled chicken sandwich in stale bread with a chewy date sweet thingy - Dhs 15/-

Watching the Air Arabia flight attendant telling the 6 year old kid to place his bag in the overhead cabinet and actually waiting for him to do so - PRICELESS!

posted by moryarti at 1/28/2006 02:30:00 PM

5 Comments:

  • lol!

    That's like the air hostess on a flight before Christmas when my sister-in-law flew home to Slovakia from NZ with her 6 month old son - and without my brother to help.

    Hostess stood and watched as SIL had to juggle bags and baby - and then told SIL that she couldn't help put baggage in the overheads because she had a bad back!

    As for mood's comment re Emirates - we've had some really bad meals on their flights, and the quality of service is really dropping. It's been very noticeable from 4 years ago when I started flying on Emirates.

    Friends of mine who also fly them have also noticed the decline.

    Let's hope that they can stop the downward spiral as it's one of my favourite airlines, and I hope to keep it that way.

    By Blogger nzm, at January 28, 2006 at 10:10 PM  

  • Yes, we fly Lufthansa all the time because of their connections into almost every major city in the US, and because of their alliance with United.

    Luckily for us, J is German and speaks the lingo! In her capacity as Company owner and CEO, she also has flown A LOT of miles with them and is now a member of the HONS Circle - which brings many privileges such as she gets greeted upon check-in and arrival and escorted through the airports. (that's mostly a waste of time for us, as we fly to these airports so often and are familiear with them.) In Frankfurt, she is driven to the plane in a Porsche or Mercedes! In Munich when recently arriving from Switzerland, the plane parked in an outfield position, and there was a limo at the planedoor to pick her up! She feels very special, let me tell you! Sometimes it's hard for her to fit in the doorways 'cos her head swells - I have to constantly bring her back down to reality!!! lol

    But when I travel on my own as a "lowly Senator Gold-card holder", it's a different story. No priveleges for me! lol.

    Most of their cabin crew can also speak English, but like the French, they just "choose" not to understand.

    Very arrogant - especially in a service industry.

    Our best experiences have been with Cathay Pacific and also Qantas. Singapore Airlines is also really nice.

    Air NZ is also great, but they don't fly into this part of the world, and they suffer from not having enough money for the entertainment systems, although this is now changing and they've got them on their longhaul flights up to the US and UK.

    Haven't flown on Malaysian yet, but they have a great reputation.

    ANA (Japan) is just old and awful, United sucks, British Airways is ok when they do have food onboard and the catering staff isn't on strike!

    By Blogger nzm, at January 29, 2006 at 10:21 AM  

  • Emirates is a disgrace. Their food sucks, they fit more seats in their cabins than sardines in a tin, their hostesses leave a lot to be desired....shall I continue?
    Malaysian is Ok, as long as it has not come from Kuwait and has the National sports team on board.
    British is nice. (yes NICE)
    Lufthansa is alright too.
    Qatar Airways is great as long as you go First Class.
    KLM is not very nice at all, but will fly you straight into small airports in the UK from Amsterdam, avoiding clearing customs at a major uk airport. (good for Newcastle, Cardiff etc)

    By Blogger CG, at January 29, 2006 at 12:40 PM  

  • looool, man you need a disclaimer lest you get sued by mastercard of intellectual property violations!

    very funny i have to admit though :) was the kid kuwaiti? even funnier.

    By Blogger BuJ, at January 29, 2006 at 2:13 PM  

  • mood - haven't flown any other Arab airlines so I can't make the comparison between them and Emirates.

    Skytrax which is a rating system for airlines, airports etc has Emirates in 3rd, with Cathay 1st and Qantas in 2nd.

    I really hope that they pick up their standards, as I was one of their biggest fans.

    I agree with 1st and 2nd, but am surprised at Emirates scoring at 3rd. Mind you, the survey time was from June 2004 until May 2005 - and I think that the deterioration of Emirates started to happen after this.

    By Blogger nzm, at January 29, 2006 at 10:01 PM  

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