Review of FlyDubai flight from Kuwait City to Dubai in Business

This flight was part of my trip from Iceland to Bahrain and Kuwait.
My routing:
Keflavik-London Heathrow, British Airways, Euro Traveller (economy)
London Heathrow-Bahrain, British Airways, World Traveller Plus (premium economy)
Bahrain-Kuwait, Kuwait Airways, Economy
Kuwait-Dubai, FlyDubai, Business - you're here
Duba- London Heathrow, British Airways, booked on World Traveller Plus (premium economy) but upgraded to Club World (business class)
London Heathrow-Keflavík, British Airways, Euro Traveller (economy) – not reported
I choose FlyDubai for my flight from Kuwait and Dubai as it offered a very competitive fare in business class – much cheaper than Kuwait Airways or Emirates – and I was eager to try this product.
FlyDubai does not use Kuwait International Airport’s main terminal but the Sheikh Saad Terminal. It’s on the other side of the runway. It takes 10 minutes to drive there from the main terminal and costs 5 KWD by taxi.

The only airline at this terminal, with the exception of private flights, is FlyDubai. The layout of the terminal is original but simple: economy class passengers go to the right and business class passengers go to the left as you enter. There are some shops in the middle.

Business class check-in is completely separated, and so are passport control (which is immediately next to the check-in desks) and security (after the lounge, before boarding). If there is no agent at check-in or immigration do not worry, they will come after a few minutes. Access to the lounge is available for economy class passengers for 7 KWD. The lounge is just one large room, and it is comfortable.

There is a private flights lounge next to it. It was not in use when I was there.

Only basic food was available: microwavable packaged food, snacks, sandwiches, soft drinks. Staff was nice and friendly.

I had some corn salad, apple juice and a tea.

I was in the lounge until 20.20. Security control was behind the lounge, after boarding started. I had than a very short walk with a nice view of the plane.

There are three rows of business class seats in a 2+2 configuration. US first class type recline seats (not lie-flat or flat-bed) but with a lot of legroom, at least in the front row. Very comfortable for such a short flight.

Headphones and water were waiting in the seat pocket.

Business class was full. Water, apple and orange juice offered when boarding was completed. The crew was experienced, efficient and friendly, especially the purser who did a very professional job.
Scheduled departure time was 20.35. We took off from runway 15L at 20.53. This short delay was not a problem as expected flight time was 1 hour 20 minutes only. There were some very nice views over Kuwait City during take-off.

I selected the air show for my screen built in the bulkhead wall.

There were also around 200 movies, many TV shows and a lot of different music from all categories. A very impressive choice for a short-haul budget airline – much better than what many long-haul legacy airlines offer.

Meal and drink menus were distributed shortly after. Three-course dinner included potato salad, a choice of three mains (Honey Mustard Chicken, Citrush Fish and Pumpkin Ravioli) and a cake (Coconut Slice). The drink selection was impressive: Taitinger NV Champagne (which routinely gets high ratings), red and white wine, six types of aperitifs and digestifs, three types of beers, and of course a good selection of soft drinks, tea and coffee. Keep in mind once again that we’re talking about the business class of a budget short-haul airline!

I had champagne, salad, pasta, cake and apple juice. The salad was fresh. The main was, while nothing outstanding, perfectly fine. The cake was OK. Altogether the meal was very good for such a short flight sold at such a competitive price.

"Would you like more champagne?"

I listened to a Johnny Cash disk during the rest of my flight

We had to fly behind Dubai but still landed at 23.15, well ahead of schedule.

There was a separate business class bus that took us to Terminal 2, directly to immigration.

As I had a connecting flight with British Airways from Terminal 1 I didn’t have to clear immigration. I took instead the free airside shuttle bus