Originally Posted by
directorguy_
Although Air Arabiia can be very, very tempting (especially if it's non-Eid times when all the working class people fly home) but the downside is SHJ. Bad, slow check-in and immigration experience (the ones at DXB aren't much better but DXB can be one of the most efficient arrival/departure points even at multi-bank times of the day).
I've always had very quick check-ins at SHJ (2 or 3 minutes). Immigration on return has been very hit or miss; a few times upon arrival most of the very young nationals on duty were more interested in chatting than processing the passengers, and the wait time was 15 minutes or more with only a few people in front of me. The "elite" lounge that is available for departures is a depressing rip-off. But generally I've had ok experiences with Air Arabia and SHJ, with morning departures and evening arrivals so I am always going against traffic.
If you take a morning departure be prepared for the taxi driver to hit you up for an extra tip since he'll be sitting in 2 hours of traffic on the way back!