On my recent trip to Riyadh from Dubai I decided to try Air Arabia. Air Arabia flies out of Sharjah International Airport in Sharjah, the emirate to the north of Dubai. It's been getting quite a lot of press, and there seems to be quite a potential for LCCs in the mideast right now.

First, the price difference between Air Arabia and EK, my preferred carrier, was considerable. Roundtrip on Air Arabia was about AED 600 vs. AED 1500 on EK. There was an even greater price differential for flights to Kuwait, which I am taking in a few days.

I had no idea how far the Sharjah airport was from Dubai. I was leaving on a Friday, with a 5:00 p.m. departure. I hailed a taxi on Sheikh Zayed Road, across from the Emirates Towers, around 2:30 p.m. to give plenty of time for unexpecteds. On a friend's advice, I just said "airport" when I got in, then once we were on the road and the meter was running, I said, "sorry, Sharjah airport". There was a slight pause from the driver, who was clearly not thrilled. A little later on the driver tried to convince me that I really meant Dubai airport because the Sharjah one was so small.

The trip took 40 minutes or so. We drove out by Festival City, then did a big circuit around Bur Dubai and Deira. Friday afternoon was fairly quiet and the trip went quickly with little traffic, but I don't know how the traffic would be at other times. I've had some trips to or from Sharjah via other routes that took hours.

The airport was cooler looking than I expected from the outside, though nothing special inside. There is a small food area. Check-in is off to the right, past security screening, which threw me off a little. Once through the screening, check in was quick though a little unorganized.

An important warning: don't do the VIP lounge deal. They offered me the VIP lounge pass for 50 dirhams which included food and drinks and internet access. Not knowing what to expect, I took it as a hedge against a zoo at the gate area. I was given a lounge invite with a map on the back. I'm pretty good with a map, able to navigate cities throughout the world, but I couldn't find the VIP lounge based on the map. There's some construction going on in the airport, so it may be in a temporary place or something, but the location did not correspond to the map. The lounge was a depressing, empty, unimpressive place. I asked about wifi or internet access, my primary motive for the lounge, and was told they had one computer with net access but it was being used. I went off to the small side sitting room, which had overstuffed brown leather chairs and couches, crooked pictures on the wall, and a little counter of drinks and sandwiches. I had a drink and a sandwich and read a paper to kill 45 minutes or so.

The airport in general was uncrowded. There is a small food court on this side of immigration. Bored in the lounge, I checked out the duty free shop and got a box of siglo v's. I then went to Gate 3, and went through another screening. I am always surprised by how lax the mideast security is, though that comment may stem from the trauma / brainwashing of the TSA more than anything.

After a few minutes of waiting in a crowded gate area full of just about every type of person you can imagine -- a real cover of National Geographic opportunity -- boarding began. I had no idea what was going on during boarding. A few things were mumbled in English and Arabic. My guess is that women were asked to board first, then it seemed to become a free for all with a lot of Saudi men pushing to the front of the wild mob and boarding. I'm not sure why they did that other than being pushy. After a while the mob surged forward and I with it. No one looked at my boarding pass.

Walking down the gangway, I saw the plane was an Airbus A320. The engine on the near wing had a hatch open, showing lots of wires and guts, likely from some maintenance. Several of the men around me seemed to be upset by seeing this; even though I didn't understand the language, their faces were upset. I muttered insha'allah and continued.

Seating was 3-3. I was in 4A as I wanted the window seat to see the setting sun over the Saudi desert during the flight. The seat was surprisingly wide with very generous legroom. I was comfortable.

Take off was on time. We took off, then flew down the coast to Dubai, and right over the Palm Jumeirah banked right to fly over the Gulf. A terrific view of the whole city from my vantage.

The weather was calm for the flight. Once we got over Saudi I was glad I had the window seat as there are quite a bit of interesting features in the desert, from dunes to rock formations.

Landing was fine. Our gate was close to immigration. I got into a short line. When I got to the immigration guy, he asked for the immigration form, and I realized that I had never gotten one on the flight and had not known to ask for one. For some reason the flight attendant looked at me when she handed them out but didn't give me one; I have no idea what her thinking was. The immigration guy waved me away without saying anything, so I slowly walked away and eventually got in the back of a long line of various south asian guys. 40 minutes later I had to explain to a new immigration guy that the airline passed me up for the immigration card, which seemed to satisfy him and he let me through. No hassles from customs, my driver was waiting, and we sped off into the night.

My feeling at this point about Air Arabia is mixed. The flight experience for a short flight was fine, and the price difference makes it a hard-to-refuse option as a small business owner. My biggest concern is the trip to Sharjah Airport from Dubai and the potential for traffic, but saving 1000 dirhams or so makes a slightly longer driver tolerable. Plus, the sleepiness of the Sharjah airport was a somewhat refreshing change from the zoo of Dubai airport, even if in a backwater-ish kind of way. Renovations to the Sharjah airport may make it more appealing. I fly back to Sharjah next week and then have a day trip to Kuwait to solidify my thinking on the airline. If you frequent the local middle east markets and are a budget conscious traveler or business owner it's worth a try.