Review of Fly Jinnah flight from Islamabad to Sharjah in Economy

Intro

Aye Aye Aye, what a trip this has been so far, and we are less than a week into it. 

The night before we had a quick drive from Islamabad to Peshawar, stopping off at the bakery. 

A quick stay at the Shelton's Rezidor. A nice place, with a complicated check-in. However, if you stay on the main road, they mandate a police escort when you leave the hotel. While free of charge, and it's cool, it can get a little tedious after a while.

In the morning, we headed off with a police escort to the Afghanistan Embassy. 

If you are looking to get a Visa to Afghanistan, and fast, look no further than the embassy in Peshawar. All of the people are very friendly, the process is easy, and you can have your visa in less than 40 minutes if you go in the morning. Just make sure to apply for your online visa in advance, and is speeds up the process. Happy travels, and hope this helped!

Upon obtaining my Afghanistan Visa, and having a police escort out of Peshawar on the way to the airport, let’s pick up this series from the airport in Islamabad. 

A short history lesson about the airline: FlyJinnah is a Pakistani low-cost airline, founded in 2021 as a joint venture between Pakistan's Lakson Group and Air Arabia. FlyJinnah offers affordable travel options while showcasing domestic and international connectivity from Pakistan to the likes of Karachi, and this flight Sharjah.

I don’t tend to fly Low-Cost Carriers much, as there isn’t much to review on these flights. However, aside from the check-in, FlyJinnah operates an exceptional service on their A320s. To say I am impressed is an understatement, with reasonable fares, actually comfortable seats, good streaming options, and fantastic service, I would seek out this product again…

Routing

How I Booked

With my Afghanistan visa approved around 11 am local time, and the Torkham border being closed, I headed back to the hotel to figure out the best way to get to Kabul. No flights were flying from Islamabad to Kabul that day, all of the flights from Peshawar to Dubai had left, and my only option was to take FlyJinnah to Sharjah, and then take an Uber over to Dubai International Airport to catch Kam Air up to Kabul. Let’s just say, Kabul isn’t the easiest destination to get to in the world.

With a reasonable price of 142$ one way, I headed over to the FlyJinnah website to book, but with no success. As I had no plans to cancel, I ticketed it all through Expedia at the same price, and bam, I was ready to go!

Once receiving my confirmation email, I was able to select a seat online free of charge during check-in on a basic economy fare. Very nice touch! 

Check-In

Meeting my new friends at the Afghanistan embassy, we had a police escort for a little bit of the way to the airport.

Arriving and bidding farewell to my new friends, I made my way up to the check-in area located on level 3 at Islamabad airport. Check-in usually opens 3 hours prior to departure, and with nothing to do, I got to work to publish some stuff as well as write some emails.

However, 5:15 pm quickly came around, meaning it was time to head inside. There is an agent verifying details at the door, which is followed by a quick scan of the luggage, and then you are free to go check in.

FlyJinnah check-in was located on the far right-hand side of this magnificent terminal. Spirits were high, as it was time to head to Afghanistan! I strolled up to the counter and cracked a witty joke until they asked me to weigh my luggage. 

I haven’t flown an LCC in a while, and forgot that there was a weight limit for luggage (aye aye aye, sometimes I wonder about my brain). For carry-on luggage, the limit was 10 KG and mine was 12 KG. The staff informed me that I had to pay 3,800 PKR so I brought out my credit card. Except, wait for it, it’s cash only…

Seeing as my US Debit card didn’t work at any of the ATMs in the airport (UBL only), I gave a little pushback, and after a while, they said “Just go”. I am all for paying the extra money, as that is the rule, but cash only? Really? Something a little fishy going on here considering I saw a credit card machine 😉.

If that wasn’t enough, I proceeded to immigration to have my bag absolutely ransacked to the point where they thought my toothbrush was a weapon. Great. 

I digress, let’s move on with the good parts of this review. 

CIP Lounge Islamabad

With plenty of time to kill, and not much to do in Islamabad Airport, I headed upstairs to visit the CIP Lounge to check out the cost. Located right past immigration, on the right-hand side, is the only lounge in the airport, which is what Emirates, Qatar, and Etihad all use for their premium customers.

However, at 20$ for a 3-hour pass, one can indulge in what is a pretty decent lounge (for the cost at least). A full buffet is on offer, a decent coffee machine, a lovely ambiance, and a decent drinks selection. Just keep in mind that Pakistan is a dry country, and unlike Dubai, the same rules apply to the airport of Islamabad. 

The main lounge:

Passengers can also choose to sit in the nicer Prestigio Lounge. It's all part of one lounge, and this side certainly has a nice charm to it. 

Boarding

With our inbound flight landing early from Karachi, I made my way over to gate B2 for boarding around 7:40. Along with modern, Islamabad airport is laid out pretty well, so it’s relatively easy to find your gate.

By the time I made it downstairs, most of the plane had already boarded. Well, that’s pretty easy considering there were only 64 passengers onboard today… 

A quick bus ride over and we arrived at our beautiful looking bird today- AP-BOV. Yes, this plane did suffer from a depressurization issue not too long ago as well.

The Seat/Cabin

Stepping onboard, I was pleasantly surprised to see some nice-looking seats in a 3-3 configuration. These days, not even LCCs, but in major airlines, the seats just don’t have the same padding as they used to. FlyJinnah offers comfortable seats, decent legroom, and a little bit of a recline.

Beautiful cabin, with good legroom. I am impressed!

Departure

Originally, I was seated in 5F for today’s flight, but after boarding was complete at 8:00 pm sharp, I asked the FA if I could move up a row since it was empty. She responded with, “Of course, just wait until after takeoff, thanks”.

At 8:10, the captain came on to welcome us onboard and announce our flight time of 3 hours and 5 minutes, while cruising at 36,000 feet. 

A few moments later, we pushed back bound for runway 28L (28R seemed inactive as we taxiied on it). 12 minutes later, we were wheels up departing to the Northwest. 

Food Options

IFE

For sh*ts and giggles, I thought, “Why don’t I check out to see if they have any IFE, even though they probably don’t”. My oh my was I wrong, as not only does FlyJinnah have IFE, but the selection is quite good. 

Just head over to the wifi, connect, type in your seat number, and boom, you are online! 

Lavatories

As I had drank much too much coffee in the lounge, I made my way to the lavatory located by door 1L. Passengers also have the option of two lavatories at the back of the plane, but that is a bit of a trek when the other one is closer…

The lavatories weren’t in the best condition, but were kept relatively clean. In terms of amenities, not much offered either.

Arrival

Falling asleep for the next 2 hours and 30 minutes (I have been sleep deprived the whole week), I arose from the dead like a Phoenix rising from the ashes.

We touched down at 10:27 pm local time, at which point I woke up right as we pulled into our gate at 10:33 pm (17 minutes early). 

Getting my lazy bum out of the seat, I headed over to immigration which is unbelievably quick at Sharjah, but not for me. See, the last time I entered Dubai, I was on a US passport that had my date of birth as a different day (US passport office messed up). Only the UAE and Thailand have ever flagged this, so it took a minute for them to sort it out, and even longer upon departure. 

I digress, I eventually made it out of the airport, into an Uber, and off to the closest restaurant I could find.

At which point I saw my plane had been assigned to Flighty. Excited? Scared? Find out very soon…

Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for Kam Air next report!