I flew to Lebanon and back with Jazeera Airways last week and I decided to share my experience with the site’s readers. I had purchased two tickets online around 2 months earlier and all I needed to do was print out the confirmation email they sent and present it at the Jazeera Airways counter at the airport.
I arrived 2 hours before the flight and checked in my bags. Jazeera Airways allows you to check in only 20KG for free, anything above that you have to pay around KD1.250 per extra kilo. Unlike other airlines Jazeera can’t be flexible with the weight. On Kuwait Airways for example they allow you 30KG of weight and anything extra they can sometimes let you through without paying anything. Since Jazeera Airways profit margins are so slim they can’t be as flexible and I personally don’t have a problem with that. I paid my weight difference and got on the plane.
When I first entered the door of the Jazeera Airways aircraft I was kind of shocked. The plane is tiny with a seat formation of 3 – 3, meaning you have 3 seats on the left hand side of the plane and 3 seats on the right hand side with the aisle in between. I sat down in my seat which was in Row 10. When I was booking online the website didn’t allow me to book a seat closer to the front, the first 4 rows were first class on the website map while the seats from row 5 to 9 were not selectable and so I wasn’t able to book those. I later found out that the rows 5 to 9 are sometimes kept aside in case they needed to expand the first class to more seats. This brings me to another subject, the first class. The first class on Jazeera Airways doesn’t differ at all from the economy area. They have the same seats as us and the only difference is the middle seat on each side is temporarily converted into a table so it basically becomes a 2 – 2 formation. The leg room is also exactly the same although this is usually the biggest difference on other airlines between the first class and economy. Once the plane took off we were allowed to change seats, since the first class was only the first 4 rows I was able to go and sit in row 5. The plane had max 40 people on board and so everyone was allowed to change their seats as they pleased.
I have to say the flight was extremely comfortable. The leg room was just amazing, me being 6’1 I usually end up getting cramped on planes but Jazeera has the largest economy class leg room I have seen. The seats are all leather, very comfortable and if you lift the hand rest up you could comfortably take up the empty seat next to you. There is no free food on board only free bottled water. Sandwiches cost KD1, muffins cost 500fils, chocolate costs 300fils, softdrinks 400fils and Sunkist 250fils. Jazeera have Sunkist on board so you know they are cool and very local. The chief crewman walked around and mingled with the passengers asking their opinion on Jazeera airways and if there was anything they could do to improve the experience. I managed to speak to him and get some information off him. He explained to me why sometimes I couldn’t book the seats from row 5 to 9 online and how easy it is for them to expand or decrease the size of the first class section. He also told me Jazeera currently operate only 2 planes and the airlines is rated Class A. He explained to me how 1 plane flies from Kuwait to Beirut and Kuwait to Syria daily while the other plane flies from Kuwait to Bahrain and Kuwait to Dubai daily while also flying to Jordan three times a week. Once we were done chatting he offered me complimentary food and when I told him I didn’t need anything he still went and got me a bag of nuts to enjoy.
The plane left Kuwait on time and arrived in Beirut ahead of schedule, it was a very nice flight and I was able to watch 2 episodes of Arrested Development and 1 episode of Lost before we had to land. The flight back to Kuwait was as comfortable and although I had already booked the seats on row 10 online I was able to change it at check in to seats in row 4 since on the way back they only had 3 rows of first class.
I am extremely satisfied with Jazeera Airways, their prices are great, the planes are brand new and the service is very friendly. They seem to just want you to have a great experience. Even once we landed in Kuwait and we were on the way out of the airport a Jazeera Airways representative caught up with us to ask us if we had any feedback and if we enjoyed the experience. This is what I call good service and I would definitely recommend Jazeera to everyone.
I recorded a small crappy video showing the inside of the airplane. I didn’t know if they would allow me to shoot so its kinda shaky and short. [Video 932KB]
For more information and pricing for Jazeera Airways visit their website. [Link]
24 replies on “Jazeera Airways Review – My Experience”
You just wrote this post to get more nuts next time.
my only prob with jazeera is the complete and utter lack of any sort of inflight entertainment, or distraction or anything. i hate fumbling with electronics onboard planes so i usually just close my eyes and listen to the crappy radio or watch the programming. jazeera however doesn’t even have magazines. i made sure to stock up on magazines when i came back from beirut.
otherwise, it’s awesome and it’s nice to not have the plane stink up with fucking nasty food.
yes I forgot to mention there was no inflight entertainment but according to the guy i spoke to they will soon and they will be selling the headphones on the flight but you only need to buy them once since you can reuse them on other flights.
inflight entertainment wasn’t a problem for me since nat and I brought our own entertainment. Actually when we finished watching Lost i quickly loaded up a second episode cuz I was eager to see what happened next but pilot announced we were landing. it was the only time ever i had wished the flight lasted longer lol
Coool, I think ima fly jazeera to dubai, I will check their website for pricing, I am not worried about inflight entertainment cause I can always bring my own. Thanx for the feedback.
yea.. ipod video is enough
I flew Jazeera airways to dubai and back and i was amazed at how we took Dubai in an hour and 25mins! Emiratesis known for it’s delays but Jazeera is now establishing their image as an Airline who cares for on time departures and arrivals. I would not want to pay extra fares for on board food which i don’t want to eat,Jazeera offers your money great flexibility when it comes to ticket prices. Oh i forgot the crew looks exotic in those blue uniforms.
Recently I travelled by Jazeerah to Bahrain; I was in a hurry and no seats were available on Gulf Air or Kuwait Airlines. In a way I took Jazeera out of compulsion!. Since I bought the ticket on the same day there was not much price difference either!
BUT, after having flown it once, it is my FAVORITE carrier now. The check-in was friendly, cabin crew very cooperative; the airplane was clean and confortable. And above all …. BOTH FLIGHTS LEFT AND ARRIVED IN TIME.
Hummm! sounds good guy. Very encouraging. Will definately try it the next time. One question though. How is the flight from India?
Jazeera is a life saver to all the people of Kuwait and the other countries.. It gives very cheap raetes lots of offers and I would really suggest going on this airline. I am 14 I would like and going to become a pilot I am going to join Jazeera Airways.
hey are you a pilot now? just curious
10/10 for Jazeera Airway,tried them once to Duabi and back was a great experience, will fly on Jazeera in the future for sure(thumbs up)
Hmmm…. let me see.
I think my experience with Jazeera Airways qualifies as the worst I have had with any airlines in my entire life. (I fly around the Gulf once or twice a month).
It all started when my wife and I booked return tickets from Dubai To Muscat online to finish some paperwork for our car. When we processed the payment the status of our reservation was displayed as pending.
(As a matter of fact it still is until now even though I have landed in Muscat 18 hours ago).
We were flying in a couple of days and needed to confirm so we waited a few hours and called them. It took about 4 hours of continuous trials for someone to pick up. When someone finally did they explained that there was a problem with the system but that the payment had gone through and my flight was confirmed. I told them that I would like a confirmation email sent to me so that there are no surprises at the airport. I received the email within the hour verifying my flight confirmation. Great news right?
WRONG!!
I caught a bad cold the night before our flight and wanted to reschedule. I went online and the payment was still pending. I tried to postpone the flight but apparently you can’t do that when your reservation status is pending. I read their terms and found out that I would not be refunded the money if I canceled except in the “force majeure” events. I tried to call them but no one was answering. So I took some strong medicine and decided to make the trip. We arrived at the airport an hour early and waited in line. When we arrived at the counter I gave them our reservation number and passport and waited. They spoke amongst themselves for a while, then took out a piece of paper with our names on it and a post-it note stuck to it. One of them proceeded to make a phone call and asked us to wait. 10 minutes later he asks us if we have made any amendments on our flight timings. I told him that we wanted to but couldn’t due to our ‘pending’ status. He said that we had to pay 67KD ($240) extra and that this fee is usually incurred when a change is made in the flight details. When I explained that the amount he is mentioning is more than we had paid for the tickets he said that he actually didn’t know what the extra fee was for nor did the person he called form their office. All he knew was that we had to pay that amount to get on the plane. He suggested that the credit card payment my not have gone through at which point I showed him the e-mail sent from their call center confirming payment and reservation number. It didn’t matter to him. He had orders. Our options were:
Pay the money and get on the flight or don’t pay and don’t fly. Realizing the absurdity of the choices, he offered that in case of double payment, we can take the receipt and claim our money from their office in Muscat. It was already 7:50pm and our plane was taking off at 8:15pm. We decided it was too late to back down now and I took out my credit card to pay. The man at the counter managed a, “cash only please”. I didn’t have that much cash on me so I swallowed my anger and proceeded to the nearest ATM machine. It was 8pm when I arrived and checked one of our 2 carry-ons with the luggage since it weighed 11Kg not 9Kg as was the limit for carry-ons. Miraculously we reached the plane in time and that was probably the only pleasant part of this ordeal. The stewards were friendly and the plane was in good shape, the seats comfortable and there was ample leg-room. A sweet 40 minute respite from the nightmare. Upon arrival and going through customs which was a breeze, we proceeded to luggage claims.
When we arrived at the ramp designated to our flight there was nothing on it. One of the helpers asked us what we were waiting for and we told him that we had luggage on Jazeera. He said that there were no more bags to be loaded on the ramp from our flight and that we should check the unclaimed luggage area. We couldn’t find our luggage, but we found a few people from our flight also searching for their luggage. We spent an hour between searching all ramps and filling a lost luggage claim. My wife by now had broken down in tears of disbelief. How can so much go so wrong?!? We were spending the weekend in Muscat and we weren’t going to have any of our stuff. We checked into our room at the Intercontinental and asked the concierge to follow-up on our luggage. The next morning he called us back and told us that he had been trying for hours and when he finally got through they told him that the our bag MIGHT be on their next flight into Muscat tonight. Outraged, I have been trying to call them continuously for hours to no avail. I have tried their numbers in Dubai, Muscat and Kuwait with no luck. I’m writing this from our hotel room in Muscat as we wait until tonight to head to the airport in search for our bag. Needless to say this will be our last experience on Jazeera Airways. See, I would love an airways that has good planes, comfy seats and a pleasant crew, but more important to me is how they efficiently they function when something goes wrong. That’s what really separates the pros from the amateurs.
well, It looks like my experience is the worst of its kind in my entire life as a traveller. I purchased tickets for my family for their return trip from Cochin to Kuwait using the Visa Card, around 4 months ahead of travel. Due to their policy that the card holder has to be among the traveller, I called up their office in Kuwait to find out from the help desk thats its okay to travel even if the card holder is not among the passenger. I was thrilled of getting 3 tickets for my family for around Rs. 33,000/-
However, my thrill and excitment perished with the experience I had with them.
My family on arrival at Cochin International Airport was denied check in since they didnt know who the card holder was. I spoke to the staff from here in Kuwait and told them that I was the card holder. They asked me to go to the Jazeera office in Kuwait and fax them the authorisation and copy of Credit Card and I had only 45 minutes to do this.
I drove to Kuwait airport immediately (time 23:30) to find out that the Jazeera Office is CLOSED.
I spoke to the check in staff at Cochin international airport about my situation here and asked them if we could buy fresh tickets to board the flight. They told me that the tickets were available and it would cost us 27,000 INR. I was ready to buy them to get my family back to Kuwait but again Jazeera accepted only cash payment. No credit cards or any debit cards or bank cards. Now this is the funniest thing I have heard. They expect us to carry huge sums of money as cash and pay them.
Morever, banks in India doesnt allow you to draw cash from ATM’s exceeding 20,000 Rs in a day.
So all this put together, I had the worst experience in the history of my travel. Since then I have decided never to fly Jazeera ever again in my life. This was the first and last attempt to fly Jazeera.
WE normally fly business class on Emirates or Sri Lankan and have found their service excellent. I had earlier vowed never to fly Air India, Indian Airlines and Kuwait Airways for the kind of service they provide. Now one more addition to the list Jazeera !!
Anyway, my family had to return back home from the airport. I lost the money I paid for the tickets. They will be flying to Kuwait in 2 days on Emirates or Sri Lankan.
My wife and I flew Jazeera from Kuwait to Bahrain. Comfortable, great legroom (I’m 6′ 3″) and the lads doing the flight attendance were great. Nice airline and amazingly cheap- we booked a few days before for 8KD plus taxes each way.
Can’t recommend enough. I just hope they start flying to Australia.
I flew Jazeera from kuwait to Dubai. All the services are great except to this one Flight Attendant. Ive just known her by the name Melissa. She so arrogant type of person.
Well cant say more about this crew till i fly again.
jazeera is CRAP!
if it is crap…stong wining and dont fly jazeera…u guys are pathetic
Jazeera is CRAP!!! Stick with Kuwait Airways bud
My experience all three times has been a nightmare, lost luggage each and every time and offered no apology, refund, compensation etc
There was no rep present either and one your luggage has turned up you have to go and collect it yourself as opposed to them delivering it to your hotel.
By the way getting into Dubai airport to pick up luggage took me 2.5 hours because security and the police wouldn’t let me in.
@Jason:
So, if Mark posts his experience, and we can comment, are we not supposed to say the truth?
The airline is very poor
They lost my Baggage lost
The staff is very rude (if they answered you) and transfers you to another person
The complain line never answered
The baggage’s handled by National Aviation Service (NAS) they never answer the phone
And you will be lucky if you saw your baggage again
This is the worst airline I ever used
It is a nice airline.My experience is nice with Jazeera especially being on time for most flights.
Jazeera airways is one of the worst and dump airways in the world I was traveling from India coming back to Kuwait & the flight cancel coz of heavy rainfall in India when we request to Mr. Amitabh of the employee of jazeera he was like there is no policy providing hotel for passengers if the flight delay rest of the airways they provide hotel for passengers as well as break fast lunch and all but this airways is good for nothing Mr. Amitabh said you just bring all the bills will pay u back but next day when I came back to the airport they ignore us paying back they also start saying there is limitation of paying back money will not pay the whole amount I just smash all the bills on there stupid faces and walk away I buy ticket from Kuwait for 180 KD no breakfast no dinner in the flight this was my first experience in jazeera and it was so awkward.
I flew business class from Jeddah to Kuwait, everything was great, than when I took my luggage it was all broken !! I contacted Jazeera and they treated me very badly, disrespected me and humiliated me !!! It was the worst experience I’ve ever had !!!