I'll write something more complete later, but I finally made it to KIH this week so wanted to fill folks in asap.

- I bought the tickets 4 days in advance from the DNATA counter at DXB Terminal 2. At that time, several flights were already sold out leaving me with only a couple options. I was informed these tickets can only be bought in person, are cash only, so pretty difficult without already being in the region.

- Daytrip is definitely possible, but expect to get grilled by immigration in KIH. Took me an hour to clear, including some time being interviewed / fingerprinted / photographed in a back room.

- Planes were an F50 which was completely full, and an M82 which was less than half full, but all passengers were ordered to stay in assigned seats....rows 9-17 completely full (all seats) and nobody in the other rows. Assume this was weight/balance issue. Plane was an ex-CO M82 which still had the CO stripe down the side.

Any other specifics, ask away. It was fascinating!