2:48AM - Entertaining Kuwait since 2003
I was planning to book a short trip to London this month and I was checking out Kuwait Airways prices and a two-way economy ticket costs around 500KD this month. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it that expensive before, does anyone know why? British Airways tickets are less than 200KD but the flight back is a red-eye-flight which I don’t want to deal with. So just curious to why the Kuwait Airways flight specifically is so crazy expensive.
Since we are on the subject of Kuwait Airways, while browsing the New York Times archive I found an article from Feb. 11, 1974 which talks about the Kuwaiti parliament debating if Kuwait Airways should continue to serve alcohol on its flight:
Serving of Drinks on Airline at Issue in Kuwait
KUWAIT, Feb. 9—The National Assembly, Kuwait’s lively parliament, was in an uproar this week over whether Kuwait’s national airline should, continue to serve alcoholic drinks on its flights.
The Moslem religion prohibits consumption of intoxicating beverages, and this is a major issue between “liberal” and “fundamentalist” Arabs around the Persian Gulf.
It is an issue of some terest to Western oilmen and business representatives who are in the area in growing numbers, as well as for many Arabs who have studied or done business abroad, where they acquired a Western taste for a highball or cocktails.
Uproar in Assembly
One of these Arabs is Abdulaziz al‐Massaeed, the publisher of Dar Al Rai al‐Amm, one of Kuwaits leading morning newspapers.
Mr. Massaeed, an elected deputy in the 50‐member National Assembly, set off the uproar during a debate on the budget for the national airline when he replied to conservative members who said Kuwait’s “dry” law should apply to the state company’s international flights.
“I, as a free citizen, would refrain from traveling aboard any plane that does not sell liquor,” said Mr. Massaeed, who travels frequently to Europe on business and for holidays. He added:
“I take liquor. Ninety per cent of Kuwaitis drink and know many of the deputies drink also.”
This touched off a furor, With conservative members banging their desks and shouting for the floor.
Moslem Prohibition Brings Furor in Parliament and Blood‐Test Challenge
“I challenge the members to take a blood test to see who drinks and who doesn’t,” retorted Mr. Massaeed over the uproar.
$30 for Scotch
While Kuwait is officially dry, and no alcoholic drinks are served even in the big international hotels, there is a large black market in foreign liquors. For instance, a bottle of Scotch will be delivered to a guest’s room in one of the major hotels for $30.
In private homes, many Kuwaitis serve liquor to their Western guests, and hard drinking among Kuwaitis and other Arabs here who can afford it is not unusual.
But any public place, or even Private club, is subject to prohibition. When the Kuwait National Bank had a reception this week for visiting Western bankers at a hotel, it was for tea, not cocktails.
In other places along the gulf, the situation varies from the strict fundamentalism of Saudi Arabia, where travelers bringing liquor in their luggage can be arrested, to the relativey free‐wheeling habits of Bahrain or Dubai, where there are bars.
Drink or Pray
Supporting his argument for tolerance of drinkers aboard the Kuwait airline, Mr. Massaeed said that the ruler of Dubai, Shiek Rashid bin Said al‐Maktum, had told a protesting delegation of religious leaders that this was a matter for individual choice.
According to Mr. Massaeed, Sheik Rashid said: “Here there is a mosque and over there is a bar. Whoever wants to please himself can resort to either prayer or drink.” Sheik Rashid is noted for his business acumen, the newspaper official said.
In the end the budget of the Kuwait airline, which flies as far as London and New Delhi, as well as around the Middle East, was approved on the condition that Finance Minister Abdel‐Rahman Salem al‐Atigi make a “thorough study” of the effect that banning liquor sales might have on the willingness of non‐Moslem passengers to use the airline.
Last year, Kuwait Airways unveiled renderings of its revamped interior, and now, photos and videos have surfaced showcasing the final look.
Kuwait Airways took delivery of its brand-new Airbus A330-900 last week, the first of seven on order. The aircraft features new Business Class seats, and a new “Premium” Economy cabin which is a completely new addition to the Kuwait Airways product lineup. This new cabin class will be called “Comfort Plus” while the regular economy cabin will be called just “Comfort”.
Airline journalist @bo.waleed1 got a tour of the new plane once it arrived and was kind enough to let me share his images. The main image on top was also taken by Engineer @bin_ghareeb_83 who also got to see the new plane last week.
The A330-900 has 32 business class seats, 21 premium economy seats, and 225 economy seats. Business Class has a 1-2-1 cabin configuration, premium economy a 2-3-2 configuration while the regular economy a 2-4-2 cabin configuration. All the business class seats are now private cabins with sliding doors, which is pretty cool and puts Kuwait Airways on par with the top business class offerings from other airlines. The cabins also feature amenities like USB-C ports, wireless charging, plenty of storage, and of course, seats that fold flat into a bed.
Kuwait Airways will be officially revealing the new interior soon, so follow them to stay updated @kuwaitairways. If you want to see more photos and videos of the interior, check out my post on Instagram @248am
This is pretty shocking news but by the end of March 2025, British Airways will be axing its Kuwait London route. British Airways has been flying to Kuwait for over 92 years, since before British Airways was called British Airways.
British Airway’s first flight to Kuwait was in 1932 when Imperial Airways landed in Kuwait for the first time. Imperial Airways merged into British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) in 1939. BOAC in turn merged with the British European Airways (BEA) in 1974 to form British Airways. So Imperial Airways is technically British Airways.
It seems the main reason for the route cancellation is problems with Rolls-Royce engines that power the British Airways fleet. The airline is having issues with the serviceability of their engines and so the Kuwait – London route is no longer viable for them.
I personally stopped flying BA to London since T4 opened. But, BA were my go-to airline to fly to Los Angeles since a number of times I was able to fly business class for around 1,000KD round-trip. Compared to airlines like Emirates and Qatar Airways that charge around 1,700, it was a really good deal.
So far in less than 2 years, KLM, Lufthansa, and now British Airways have canceled their Kuwait route. I don’t believe there is any European airline that now flies to Kuwait direct. Now I’m concerned.
This is just a follow up to my post from a few weeks ago about the Ricoh GRIII. If you missed that post, basically I got the GRIII camera to use as a travel cam since I’ve been finding my Fuji X100V a bit cumbersome when traveling.
I took the Ricoh with me to Athens a couple of weeks ago and during the week trip I took 121 photos with my iPhone, and 304 photos with my Ricoh. That is crazy.
The fact I took more photos with the GRIII than my iPhone goes to show how great a travel camera is it. I carried the iPhone in one pocket in my shorts and the GRIII in the other and I always found it easier to pull out the GRIII snap a photo and put it back. It slips in and out of my pocket easier than the iPhone because my iPhone has the silicone cover. But also the iPhone is bigger so harder to pull out of my pocket while the GRIII is smaller so easier. Also it’s a lot easier to pull the camera out and press the power button to turn it on and start taking photos than it is to pull out the iPhone, tap to turn the screen on and then tap again to open the camera and then reposition my hand on the phone to take a photo.
I love the GRIII so much, if I wasn’t a camera hoarder I would sell my Fuji because I can’t think of a situation now where I would pick it over the GRIII.
Oh and another thing, I usually run my iPhone photos or Fuji photos through RNI afterwards to apply a filter, I wasn’t applying any filters to the Rioch photos, they all looked great as is straight out of the camera. I also enjoyed shooting with the 28mm lens over the 35mm lens of the Fuji. Especially when traveling, I feel a wider lens works better.
I do have one big complaint about the Ricoh though and one I’m surprised they haven’t solved yet with a firmware update. You can’t shoot photos in the 16:9 ratio! They only give you the option of 3:2 and 1:1. I appreciate 1:1 since that’s a square and what I use for my Instagram posts, but 16:9 is crucial for me since that’s the ratio of Instagram stories and how I share my photos.
Other than that the camera is perfect, I can’t recommend it enough. I got mine from BHPhoto for around $1,000. They’re usually out of stock but you can just buy it and once they restock they ship right away and straight to Kuwait. Link
Starting September 1st, Wizz Air has suspended flights to Kuwait. Although I’ve never flown with them, they did have some really great prices and from what I read, it really wasn’t that bad of an experience flying with them.
It’s not clear yet if this is a permanent or just temporary suspension, but right now you can no longer book any Wizz Air flights from Kuwait for the foreseeable future. source
Lufthansa has decided to cancel the Kuwait – Frankfurt route with the last flight scheduled for September 15, 2024.
Lufthansa has been landing in Kuwait since 1963, over 60 years. They’re blaming the lack of carrying capacity caused by late delivery of new aircrafts from the manufacturer. They’re also planning to reevaluate and improving its network of routes, so they might eventually fly from Kuwait again.
Last year KLM suspended flights to Kuwait blaming lack of profitability. I personally stopped flying both KLM and Lufthansa since Kuwait Airways got the new planes. I just find the Kuwait Airways timings so much better since they fly out in the morning instead of the middle of the night. I’m assuming other people are doing the same.
Update: Seems the Times Kuwait article might be wrong. According to another article, Lufthansa is temporarily suspending flights until September 15 due to the situation in the region. I don’t trust newspapers in Kuwait so I’d believe this website over Times Kuwait. Link
Update2: A reader sent me the screenshot above which was a mid August update that was sent to travel agencies. According to Lufthansa in the screenshot, they decided to discontinue the Frankfurt Kuwait connection from September 16 onwards. Lufthansa currently suspended flights to the region till September 15 due to the situation in the region. This notice is basically saying that even after the 15th they won’t be operating out of Kuwait.
So many places have closed down in T4, in fact, once you pass security the only places with food still left open are Raising Cane’s, Shake Shack, Starbucks, McDonalds and Al Rifai nuts. So if you’re boycotting brands, your only option for food and coffee is basically Al Rifai.
Last month I did a road trip from Amsterdam to Copenhagen and below is a quick guide of all my favorite spots in Copenhagen. They are not touristic, nor are they TikToky, so you won’t find long lines, although some of the places do require booking ahead of time:
Eat
Krogs Fiskerestaurant and Kodbyens Fiskebar were my favorite seafood spots. I might have actually had the best fish dish I’ve ever had at Krogs (it was their catch of the day). Tokyo Restaurant for authentic Shabu-shabu, it’s also the oldest Japanese restaurant in Scandinavia. Jah Izakaya & Sake Bar for a less traditional and more hip Japanese spot. Oysters & Grill and Rouge Oysters for your more typical seafood and lots of oysters. Andersen & Maillard and Skipper Bageri for your baked goods and pastries. Slurp for Ramen, although it might be a bit TikToky, and finally, Osterberg for delicious ice cream.
Drink
Prolog was by far my favorite coffee spot and their bread, butter and cheese sandwich is top notch as well. Bread, butter and cheese was my favorite thing about Copenhagen, it’s like a staple over there. Orsa was my second favorite coffee shop and it also happens to be in a very cool neighborhood. HANS was also good and the more accessible coffee shop since they have multiple locations.
See
For furniture and accessories you have to visit Frama, Ferm Living and HAY House. For fashion, Another Aspect, Samsøe Samsøe and The Girl & The Diamond. For art supplies (don’t ask) Tutein & Koch. For a day trip out of the city, head to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art followed by Frederiksborg Castle and exploring the nature around it.
Sleep
I had a few hotels I looked at but eventually booked at Zuko. It’s a new hotel and their rooms looked like one of those small apartments in an episode of “Never too small”. It was very practical, spacious and the location was great, right outside the city center with the metro a 2 minute walk away. The hotel rooftop was a nice spot to chill at the end of the day and there was underground parking which I needed for my rental. Audo Residence and Manon les Suites were my plan B’s.
To see my previous lists, click here.
Yesterday in the comments, I was having a discussion with a reader about the whole practicality of flying to UAE and back just to use the pool there and I found out from him that a return flight to Abu Dhabi is now just 6.750 KD!
Turns out Wizz Air are having a summer sale right now and if your dates are flexible, you can get tickets as cheap at 6.750 KD this summer. I tried it now and it’s real. As long as you don’t add any options like checked-in luggage and other extras, you can get your ticket for $21.98.
I’ve never flown Wizz Air but I have heard both positive and negative comments about it. As long as you manage your expectations it seems like an OK experience. wizzair.com
If you haven’t gotten your biometric scanning done yet and can’t find an appointment, here is a tip, if you’re traveling soon do it on the way out.
I got my biometrics done last year at the Saudi/Kuwait border but my wife hadn’t done hers yet and was worried we’d have to get stuck in line on the way back to get it done. But, a friend who recently traveled from Terminal 1 told me she got her biometric scan done after passport control on the way out, and she didn’t have to wait. So this morning while leaving from Terminal 4 we asked passport control if my wife could get her biometrics done and he pointed towards a blue booth in the corner. We went to it, no line, no appointment and no waiting. She got her biometrics scanned and now she’s done with it.
If you try getting your biometrics scanned on arrival, good luck cuz I’ve heard the lines are a nightmare.
A hacker is claiming to have 600,000 passenger data for Kuwait Airways customers which supposedly contains the following information:
Member title, first name, middle name, surname, marital status, job title, dob, gender, e-mail address, nationality, Kuwait national ID, passport, passport validity period, primary telephone, second telephone, address, city, state, zip code, country, award mile, next card, qualify miles, quality sector, tier, total award miles, total qualify miles, valid from, valid till, contents.
Kuwait Airways have responded to the claim stating:
The security and privacy of our passengers’ information are paramount to us. We are investigating the claims made on social media and have engaged leading cybersecurity experts to assess and mitigate the situation. source
🇰🇼 Alleged Sale of 600,000 Passenger Data of Kuwait Airways
A threat actor claimed to have 600,000 passenger data belonging to Kuwait Airways and was putting it up for sale. Allegedly in the database: member title, first name, middle name, surname, marital status, job title,… pic.twitter.com/PRndsOe5ce
— ThreatMon (@MonThreat) March 25, 2024
I’m a Kuwait Airways customer so I originally was concerned my credit card details might have been part of the security breach. But, I checked and I don’t have my credit card details saved, and don’t think there is a way to save them anyway. So one positive I guess. For more details, check this article out on cybersecuritynews.com
Just a quick update on my previous post on a new rule requiring a triptik for your car if you’re planning on driving out of Kuwait. Yesterday I had a day trip to Khafji and I didn’t get triptik for my car and nobody asked for it at the border.
The only issue I had actually was a 5KD parking fine. They wouldn’t let me leave Kuwait without settling the fine, luckily the border was empty due to the rain storm, so the guy just let me pay the fine while still at the window using the Sahel app.
So lesson of the day, always check to see if you have any fines before traveling. This applies only for expats.
Update: So it seems it could depend on what border you exit Kuwait from. The Salmi border are supposedly asking for triptik, the khafji border isn’t.
Kuwait Airways is currently celebrating their 70 year anniversary, so I decided to share some old photos my mum took back when she was a Kuwait Airways flight attendant.
Back in the early 70s, my mum traveled to Iran via Kuwait Airways from Lebanon. On the way back while transiting at the Kuwait Airport, she saw a Kuwait Airways ad looking for flight attendants. So once she got back to Lebanon, she applied, got the job, and ended up moving to Kuwait a few months later.
Anytime my mum brings up her experience as a Kuwait Airways flight attendant, she always mentions how great it was, and how she got to travel to so many places and meet a lot of people.
Some of the photos I’ve shared here, I previously posted on the blog around 18 years ago, but in low res. I’ve now rescanned all the photos including new ones I hadn’t shared before, and then tried to restore and recover as much of the details and colors as possible without over editing the images.
Just to add a bit more context, the photos here range from 1974 to 1976, with the oldest being the one of my mum in the orange colored uniform. The uniforms in the photos were also designed by Dior, except for the orange one which was designed by Nina Ricci. Finally, the last photos which look like they were taken on a private jet were in fact taken onboard the Emir’s plane (Emir Sabah al-Salim Al Sabah) which she served on during the last period of her career.
I’ve uploaded all 16 photos to my Flickr account, to check them out click here.
I’m currently in London for the week and I haven’t been here since 2022, before we got Apple Pay in Kuwait.
One cool benefit I realized I now have on this trip is that I can use the London Underground by just tapping my phone on the yellow card readers. I don’t even need to double tap the side button or even activate Face ID, I just take my phone out of my pocket, touch the yellow card reader and it automatically takes the money from my account and lets me through. It also works if you have Google Pay but I haven’t tried that.
Another cool thing I got to try on this trip is the eGate at the airport. Because I have the Canadian passport and I was alone, I was able to use the egate at passport control which meant I didn’t have to wait in any line and was through passport control in under a minute. Anyone who’s had to wait in line for an hour at LHR knows going through in under a minute is just insane.
Other than that its freezing and wet over here right now. I keep forgetting how cold it really gets outside of Kuwait and so I never pack enough winter clothes.
