Flights of fancy

IT was an irresistible offer. The advertisement screamed out a fare of BD5 - the equivalent of my weekly petrol bill and gave me a choice of eight destinations - Dubai, Alexandria, Beirut, Doha, Damascus, Mashad, Amman and Khartoum - to choose from. Reporter Anasuya Kesavan decided to check out new low-budget carrier Bahrain Air's service on a return flight to Dubai for a weekend shopping trip.

This was the best 69 bucks I have ever spent.

I missed my flight to Dubai on Gulf Air because of traffic delays of over three-and-a-half hours on the Saudi Causeway.

I had a flight to Alabama to catch tonight and was left wondering what to do. I noticed this Bahrain Air flight on the ticker, made enquiries and bought a ticket for just BD26.

Excellent! I could not believe that I was in Dubai in time to begin my next 14-hour haul. I'm absolutely delighted.

-_Business traveller Osman Tunagur from Birmingham, Alabama, US, as he arrived in Dubai on Thursday evening

It took me just a couple of minutes and the screen actually showed me a return fare of BD40 for an adult.

Five dinars for the ticket and the rest, of course, for taxes. It still sounded like a bargain and I proceeded to check on other important details - time and length of the flight, luggage allowance and visa formalities.

There were a few conditions surrounding my weekend break, I hoped to meet up with friends with my family alongside the shopping spree and my hard-hearted editor would not let me take any time off work.

Bahrain Air gave me two options - a morning flight at 7am and an evening flight at 6.40pm. The return flight options were at 9.55am and 10.35pm.

Not one to enjoy stopovers or lengthy flights unless unavoidable, I was further delighted at the prospect of taking a direct flight that would only take an hour and 10 minutes.

It all sounded great. I could finish work on Thursday at 4pm, join my husband, collect my children and check in at the airport by 5.15pm.

I could return on Saturday evening by 10pm, crash (not sure if that's the right terminology in the circumstances) and get back to the office grind on Sunday.

Before I proceeded to book I was curious to find out the prices of other competitors. Jazeera Airways was cheaper by BD1.

However, the timings did not suit me and the flight stopped over at Kuwait for more than four hours. The only direct flight they offered arrived in Dubai around midnight - not suitable if you were travelling with young children.

Air Arabia offered direct flights to Sharjah at 6.10pm from Bahrain that would return at 5.20pm from Sharjah BUT would make me poorer by BD58 per ticket.

I happily then proceeded to book my Bahrain Air tickets online which took me less than 15 minutes in all.

On Thursday, my husband Kesavan was sure that the journey would be delayed. To our delight it was not and I was excited at the prospect of taking my debut Bahrain Air flight. We left the airport tarmac just 10 minutes late and compared to several past experiences on budget and other airlines it was nothing short of a luxury.

I was slightly saddened at having been robbed of the pleasure of travelling in an aircraft with Bahrain Air colours as we were aboard a Via Air aircraft, a Bulgarian airliner that had its aircraft and crew leased to Bahrain Air.

However, this displeasure was short-lived when I saw that we also had Bahrain Air crew serving us on board.

The airline magazine further told me that there was in-flight entertainment and a selection of foods that one could purchase.

The aircraft itself was clean and smartly dressed Kate Pascual and Hamad Al Ali, our inflight stewards were ever smiling and more than happy to have us onboard.

While the business class was empty, the economy class was almost full. For the baby of this industry I thought that was commendable.

No one was complaining and we arrived in Dubai at 9pm local time.

To be picky, we had to get on a bus to reach the aircraft and could not walk directly along the passenger boarding bridge. Also, as a vegetarian who wanted some food on my return flight, I had to make do with soft drinks and potato chips. It would also have been nice to have been offered some bottled water and the addition of a headrest cover on the seat would have added to the hygiene aspects of the flight.

These teething issues aside, it certainly was a promising take off and I cannot wait to plan my next weekend getaway ... Alexandria, maybe?