This post includes tips on how to make the most of travelling with Air Arabia Abu Dhabi.

I recently flew Air Arabia Abu Dhabi for the first time on a short flight from Abu Dhabi to Amman. The whole experience exceeded my expectations. I was impressed by the spotless cabin, the friendly crew and the acres of legroom in the emergency exit row. I was flying on a nine-year-old aircraft, but the slimline-style seats looked brand new and in perfect condition. 

What is Air Arabia Abu Dhabi?

Air Arabia Abu Dhabi is a joint venture between Etihad Airways and Air Arabia based at Zayed International Airport. It operates on a low-cost model, offering low base fares with the option to pay for extras such as luggage, seats, and meals.

Where does Air Arabia Abu Dhabi fly? 

The airline currently has nine aircraft based in Abu Dhabi and operates flights to 29 destinations. These include Baku, Bahrain, Chittagong, Dhaka, Alexandria, Cairo, Sohag, Tbilisi, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kochi, Kolkata, Kozhikode, Thiruvananthapuram, Tehran, Baghdad, Amann, Kuwait City, Beirut, Kathmandu, Muscat, Salalah, Faisalabad, Multan, Moscow, Colombo, Istanbul, Trabzon, and Tashkent. The airline is growing rapidly, with plans for a fleet of 20 aircraft by 2025. We can expect more destinations to be continually added to that list.

My six tips 

While the flight exceeded my expectations, there are a few things you can do to make a journey with Air Arabia as comfortable as possible. As this was my first time flying Air Arabia, I wanted to try everything, so I paid for a bundle that included checked baggage, an extra legroom seat and an inflight meal. These are my six tips on how to make the most of a trip with Air Arabia.

Use city check-in 

The only frustrating part of the journey was the airport check-in experience. Air Arabia has strict carry-on rules, so unless passengers travel extremely lightly, they must check their bags. 

Despite at least nine check-in desks being open, it still took 35 minutes to drop off my bag at the airport. My flight was not even at a particularly busy time of day, so I suspect the wait could be longer at peak times. It is the longest I have had to wait to check bags in over a decade.

However, there is an alternative to queuing at the airport. Air Arabia operates five city check-in/bag drop locations around Abu Dhabi. They are located in Al Nahyan, Mussafah, Yas Mall, the Abu Dhabi Cruise Terminal, and Hamdan Street. 

Early check-in starts 36 or 24 hours before departure, depending on the drop-off location. There is also a charge of AED 20 or AED 35 per passenger, which also varies by location. I would happily pay that fee rather than risk a long or unpredictable wait at the airport.

The full details of all the city check-in locations, timings and charges can be found here. 

Pay for extra legroom 

My fare bundle included the ability to select any seat on the plane. I chose a seat in row 12, one of the Emergency Exit rows with extra legroom. I am glad I did, as this came with acres of space as you can see in the photo above.

The standard seat looked a little tighter, particularly if you are on the taller side. However, Air Arabia offers a reasonable 32-inch seat pitch across its entire fleet. 

Air Arabia offers up to three rows of seats with extra legroom on every flight. On this flight, the fee for seat selection was AED 50 for an emergency exit row and AED 100 for a front-row seat. 

Charge your devices or bring back-up power 

This was the biggest surprise of the trip. Despite the cabin looking brand new, there was no at-seat power, not even a USB socket. None of the A320 aircraft flying for Air Arabia Abu Dhabi have at-seat power.

Ensure your devices are fully charged before the flight, or bring a power pack.

I suspect this will change at some point. At-seat power feels like a necessity these days rather than a nice-to-have. The newest A321 aircraft flying for Air Arabia from their main hub in Sharjah are fitted with at-seat power onboard. Air Arabia has a large number of aircraft on order, and I would expect all new planes to have that installed.

Pre-book your meal 

I pre-booked a vegetable biryani during the booking process. There was a range of hot meals, sandwiches and salads to choose from. I had purchased a ticket bundle that included the meal. However, to purchase onboard would cost between AED 15-25 depending on the item.

It was a smart move, as the pre-orders were delivered first before the crew passed through the cabin a second time to take orders from anyone who wanted to buy on board. I received my meal about 20-30 minutes faster than if I had waited to purchase it during the flight.

The biryani was a decent portion size and tasted perfectly fine. It came with yoghurt and a bottle of water. 

Download entertainment 

You should download anything you want to watch or listen to before your flight.

Air Arabia has a free streaming service called SkyTime, which offers a wide selection of movies, TV shows, podcasts, and music you can watch or listen to on your device. However, SkyTime was not switched on during my flight to Amann. One of the cabin crew told me that SkyTime is only available on flights over 3.5 hours. However, apparently, that policy has changed and SkyTime steaming should be available on all Air Arabia flights regardless of length.

There is also no Wi-Fi available on Air Arabia flights, not even for purchase, so it is essential to download anything you want to watch or listen to before you travel. Or pack a book in your carry-on.  

Sign up for AirRewards 

Make sure you join AirRewards, the loyalty programme of Air Arabia. 

You will earn points based on your spend. You will earn 5% cashback as points on your flight and baggage spend and 10% on seats, meals and everything else. 

These points can used as a discount on future Air Arabia travel. Alternatively, AirRewards is a transfer partner of Etihad Guest, and points and miles can be transferred between the two programs.

Overall

I really enjoyed this first trip with Air Arabia Abu Dhabi. It exceeded my expectations despite a couple of surprises and frustrations. However, the six tips above can mitigate all those things making Air Arabia a very good value choice.

It looks like I will be flying Air Arabia again as soon as the upcoming Eid holiday in June. However, next time, I will be taking my own advice and using the city check-in to drop luggage and downloading a movie or two before the flight.