Last month I posted about how you can skip airport queues with the Pearl Assist meet & assist service. I had previously tried Pearl Assist on arrival but these past two weekends I used them for both departure and arrival and I loved it.
Pearl Assist on Departure
I hadn’t tried Pearl Assist when departing before so I was curious to see how useful it would be. When you arrive to the airport the first thing you need to do is head to the Pearl Assist kiosk in the arrival section. There you hand over your passport to the employee who will then take you to your airline check-in area, skip to the front of the line and get you checked in at the first available check-in desk. This could be super useful on a very busy flight. Once you’re checked in the employee will then take you through the fast track security check and passport control area. After you’re done with passport control and enter the duty-free hall, they’ll hand you back your passport and you’re done. If you tend to travel during busy seasons or during holidays, this will save you so much time since you will avoid all the long lines.
Pearl Assist on Arrival
Once you land and get off the plane you’ll find a Pearl Assist employee waiting for you outside the gate, you hand them your passport and follow them to passport control. Kuwaitis might not benefit much from arrival since the passport control lines for Kuwaitis is pretty organized, but for expats it’s a completely different story. Expats are squeezed to the side of the passport control hall in a messy crooked line that’s long and packed (pictured above). It doesn’t matter if you flew in business or economy, you don’t get to fast track and everyone has to stand in this line, it gives me anxiety and I hate it. But with Pearl Assist you get to skip all that mess and head to the front of this line, it really makes the airport experience on arrival a million times better.
So how much does this cost? You have two options, the first is to pay for this service per use and that costs KD11. It’s what I did and it cost me KD22 for departure and arrival. The other option which I’m going to sign up with is their unlimited use membership. This costs KD110 for the year and you can use them as many times as you want. So if you travel more than 5 times a year then really this is the way to go.
If you’re interested in signing up to their membership plan or to try them out, here is the link to their [Website]
Update: I was just informed by Pearl Assist that they’re running a promo that expires at the end of the year (tomorrow night basically). If you sign up to their unlimited service before the end of 2018 you get extra benefits including 50% discount on your +1’s and 15% discount on their global services (over 200 airports). To get these benefits you just need to sign up from the same link I’ve posted above.
29 replies on “I’m Sold on the Kuwait Airport Pearl Assist Service”
Does this work in all terminals (Jazeera, Fly Dubai, Kuwait Airways, and “old”)?
All the terminals excluding the new T4 terminal. So the main terminal, the jazeera terminal and the flydubai terminal (sheikh saad)
T4- Kuwait airways has another service called Maraheb.
* Had booked the ‘Meet and Assist from the arrival gate and assitance on Visa application’ for KD 10/-
* Had also booked another ‘Original visa delivered to the passenger by hand’ for KD 3/-
I felt it was worth it for the convenience and peace of mind.
So is their charge per customer? Or can I just pay kd11 and skip the que with my family?
Per customer
There’s a reduced rate for more than one person. I booked it for my grandparents yesterday and it cost 19 for both of them wihtout lounge access since I was only booking arrival.
Also just an edit on the info above, if you’re traveling on business you don’t need to wait in the expat line, go directly to the business/first class line… I do get the looks and the customary question (even when they’re holding my boarding pass) to make sure I’m not another “line-dodging expat” but I don’t care.
Just to clarify your comment, there is no business/first class line on arrival, only on departure.
Based on your recommendation, I tried this service for my family who were arriving for Xmas. Everything was fine and the Pearl Assist Lady took care of passport, visa, etc. However, there is still the downside of having to wait for ages for your cases to arrive! (She even stayed with them till the cases arrived and they went through customs and reached the arrivals hall.)
hahaha they have another service for the bags, you go home, they pick up and drop your bags after
That is a sweet service. Do you know how much it costs? I don’t know why bag take almost an hour to come out now. Its never been like this before. Also can you get the luggage service without the assist service?
The Update message is not clear. Can you please shed some light on that….
Which part?
extra benefits including 50% discount on your +1’s and 15% discount
YOUR +1’S part
+1 = your friend, wife/husband, boyfriend/girlfriend, kids, family members etc..anybody who is coming along with you
Thank you.
Now clear.
Kuwait Airport is so mismanaged & disorganized these services sound they come from heaven.
There are so many airport staff, security personnel and workers but all slacking. Such a shame.
Hey, wanna earn more money while slacking off on our job? Here’s an idea…..
I’m not sure where (or how many pockets) the payment goes to, but it’s like paying for services that’s already part of the original purchase.
Lounges and other comforts in an airport I can understand, but paying to jump the line?
Don’t you pay to sit in business? Don’t you pay to choose the seat you want in economy? Don’t you pay to access the lounge? It’s all different services you pay for and this is just another one.
Those are private functions, passport control is PUBLIC
Everybody harps they hate the wasta system. Yet the monetized version gets all the praise .
Weird place, indeed.
I don’t get you. So you’re fine with paying for business class tickets and getting the ability to use the fast track passport control line, but are against paying for a service that allows you to use the fast track passport control line? They’re both the same thing so you’re contradicting yourself. The ability to use fast track lines for a fee isn’t a Kuwait Airport thing, this service is available at airports worldwide.
Agree.
Their entire business banks heavily on Kuwait airport continuing to provide a shitty experience.
If the quality of the airport improves (aka everyone simply does their job), not many regular travelers would consider using the assist service.
how much time before departure/arrival do we have to book these services if we take the membership ?
i often book my flight same day of travel.
Hmmm no idea probably better to ask them but if imagine same day booking since when I booked for myself a friend wanted to try the service with me so he booked for himself at the airport just before we checked in
I read somewhere, you need to book before 24hrs
Mark,
The link provided, takes to a website that list 366kd/ 350kd for 1year membership to sign up! Am I looking in the wrong place?
Its 366$ not KWD.
Thanks
Just tried it today. Skipped the passport control like a breeze.
HOWEVER….the baggage arrival itself took so long (I had 1 piece) that it negated the time advantage.
However, for making flying visits to GCC it really helps and reduces the stress levels.
Update: the service costs 15kd now not 11kd !