For my one day trip to Dubai mentioned in my last post, we traveled with Wataniya Airways for the first time. I read about in 248am last month but like Mark said, they are his clients so I wasn’t sure if it was a fair opinion.
After trying them, I can safely say they are the best regional airline I have ever used! I doubt I will ever fly any other airline to Dubai (or Bahrain or Beirut or Cairo) for that matter! The prices are comparable to jazeera (almost 50kd if u check online) the economy seats were ridiculously spacious, and the service was exceptional on and off the plane!
Btw, flying economy was our idea, we were trying to prove something to our boss, we saved a total of 500kd but that’s another story.
Anyway back to wataniya, when I reached the Sheikh Saad terminal, they had valet service go took my car for overnight parking (cost 1kd a day). Then someone greets u at the door and takes you to the counter an everything is very east and quick, no line or queue for anything! So went to starbucks to wait and they called us in when boarding. Altogether u feel pampered. Inside the plane, as mentioned earlier, the seats were extremely comfortable with great legroom for economy! They served food and the usual, and unlike jazeera u don’t pay coffee or food or water.
The best part was on arrival, where marhaba staff wait for you and again escort you all the way to the passport control with the golf cart and all if you want. Once you reach the passports, they have a special line for wataniya flight which makes life so much easier!
I was very surprised though with the number of passengers on the flight, it was almost empty, probably 20 or so only! I would think this mostly down to the fact that not many are yet used to them so it does not come up as an option.
Overall, again I would recommend it highly!
On the other hand … Etihad airways – “Please continue to hold, an agent will be with you shortly ….”
I booked a flight on etihad last week to Abu Dhabi for next month. First of all, it was almost 150kd per person, which is ridiculous! I needed to change the booking today so called their office since u can’t change booking online!! It took 46 mins on hold to get a response, proof -
After getting an agent, she was so uninterested in helping and said I need to go to the office! Then I asked her why I was on hold for 46mins, she said they were busy bcz of their special offers and prices! LOL! I didn’t bother to respond to her! I’m off to their office later to cancel my booking and replace with wataniya, the drive is worth it.
nice
will try it enshalla in my next trip to shaleeh:P
Planning to try them next month.. although I find it sad that they had to build their own terminal simply because our main airport is such a dump!
Ma6goog, itsaddig business! Chartered flights or helicopter rides to shalaih from deera! Hmmm … I like where this is going
Zaydoun, they actually built the terminal?? Didn’t know that! I have to admit getting to the terminal wasn’t fun, especially being my first time so for a while I thought I was lost!
And yes Etihad is ridiculously overpriced!
Well I’m not sure if it was purposely built by them or for them, but the fact remains that our main airport is a national embarrassment.
No, make that an INTERNATIONAL embarrassment!!!
thx for the feedback
will try them on my next trip to dubai
do not fly etihad! trust me! stay away from them! and you stayed on the line 46 mins ;p
Interesting… but I see people going on comparing Jazeera with Wataniya! Jazeera is different, you are not comparing apples to apples here
thats all I have to say… other than that, I look forward to try Wataniya soon
I travelled by Etihad its sucks !
Glad you canceled your booking.
I will try Wataniya on my next trip inshalla
Can’t bring myself to fly Wataniya because of the owner and the completely unfair advantage that he is only too overzealous to use!
Don’t feel sorry for them getting the terminal built for them… they own the rights to the WHOLE airport and the stacked shacks and their rent income and the parking as well.
I remember years back we were in disbelief of what Hosny Mubarak’s sons have been doing. Case in point the “hostile takeover” of the neighboring land for “Almaidan” hospital on the bilajat sea side.
Kinda similar to bad mouthing Ali Alkhalifa then paying him money by buying his newspaper. I advise against it.
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Hmmmm….
Looked at the website for internal view of thier 2 – A320s but didn’t see it.
Due to your experience I would definitely try them, but no to my surprise no service to/from Amman.
I’m only speculating that service was this good due to limited passengers and the fact they only have 2 – A320 in service. I’m sure when/if business picks up and more people start to fly w/ them service quality will falter.
I guess its best you enjoy it now while its good.
In re: to Etihad Airways… To be honest I tried them In December to Asia from Amman and it wasn’t bad…. only problem is that the plane from Amman to Abu Dhabi sucked (the plane is ancient) but that’s typical for all planes to/from Amman. Onwards on Etihad was great. Also for those flying these days Etihad has the best prices for “Int’l travel” … no one can beat their prices when compared to Emirates and Qatar.
Good to hear a premium airline finally taking wings from Kuwait.Only hope they look beyond ” Kuwaiti” in their focus,if they ever want to grow big like Emirates or BA. There is every possibility they might go the Kuwait Airways way if they fail in creating a ” global cosmopolitan feel”, to their airline. As for service standards, they’d do well to look to Japanese carriers : ANA or Nippon Airways for cues on hospitality and punctuality.
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nothing but very nice and i love puple and pink seats