Flight Review - Sharjah in the UAE to Doha on Qatar Airways in First class. The UAE's BEST airport?
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- Опубликовано: 30 июн 2024
- After my trip to Indonesia on SriLankan I needed to get back to London and chose to fly with Qatar. It was slightly cheaper to fly from Sharjah than from Abu Dhabi or Dubai, so I decided to give this little-known airport a go..... And I'm glad I did, as its a bit of a hidden gem.... Only 10 miles as the crow flies from Dubai airport but an absolute pleasure to travel through, compared to Dubai which can be a bit of a chore....
Here's the list of unique destinations on the departures board if you want to play the Departure Board game yourself....
Abha, Saudi Arabia
Baghdad, Iraq
Baku, Azerbaijan
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan - MJ yes!
Cairo, Egypt - MJ yes!
Chandigarh, India - MJ yes!
Chittagong, Bangladesh
Cochin, India
Delhi, India - MJ yes!
Doha, Qatar - MJ yes!
Entebbe, Uganda
Erbil, Iraq
Hail, Saudi Arabia
Islamabad, Pakistan
Istanbul, Turkey - MJ yes!
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Mashad, Iran
Medinah, Saudi Arabia
Moscow, Russia - MJ yes!
Mumbai, India
Nairobi, Kenya
Najaf, Iraq
Peshawar, Pakistan
Shiraz, Iran
Tabuk, Saudi Arabia
Taif, Saudi Arabia
Tehran, Iran
Trivandrum, India
⭐ #flightreview #Qatarairways #MattsPlanet ⭐
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⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
3:12 - Sharjah Airport
7:25 - The Plane
DISCLAIMER: Links included in this description might be affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service with the links that I provide I may receive a small commission. There is no additional charge to you. This video may not be copied or reproduced without written permission.
Must say great presentation! Being someone who lives in Sharjah, the thumbnail was catchy too! Sharjah may not be a luxurious airport like Dubai and Abu Dhabi but if a person who prefers to travel in a relaxed manner without much hassle and in a simple way, SHJ is the most preferrable one.
Thanks - Sharjah is a great place to depart from! Next time I need to be in the UAE I'll look to arrive into SHJ to see if its as good a process in that direction!
Thanks Matt, this is the first video of yours i have seen. We live in the Northern Emirates so use SHJ regularly and because we use to live in Qatar we try to fly Qatar airways as often as we can. I can attest SHJ airport is great. I often come back from Saudi and literally walk continuously from the plane to the taxi, (with a short bus ride in between), no immigration lines with auto immigration. We love SHJ airport!
I'm sorry if I've let the secret out!
I think I win some kind of prize in the destination board game with a score of zero..
You'd wipe the floor with most though if you played this game in Tiree!!!
Most interesting. I will sure think about this routing. I like the smaller Emirates having found DXB has out-grown me.
UAE has, forgive me, 7 Emirates not 6.
Thanks - I am still standing in the corner for 5 minutes every morning with the special hat on for saying 6 emirates.....
I live in Qatar and whenever i visit the UAE I always fly to SHJ with QR. Currently 5 flights a day, spaced well throughout the daytime, as opposed to QR's schedule to DXB of 1 8am departure, 2 around 7pm and another one at about 1:30am, the timings for arriving into the UAE and seeing a bit more are much better. Plus, like you said in the video, its often slightly cheaper. I can confirm the arrival experience is excellent also. Doors open to bags collected and waiting for a taxi in as little as 20 minutes, an absolute breeze, and thats even with collecting golf clubs! Plus, whats nice is that the UAE's country-wide customs laws apply, so if you want to take something in via duty free, you can absolutely arrive as a tourist there with a bit of plonk in your carry on!
Thanks Phil - Sharjah for the win!
The trick is to have the mint lime juice and the champagne and make a Mimosa. Breakfast of champions!
That really is a top tip!!!
Top Tipple! There’s always a way to make champagne palatable at any time of day! Why just restrict it to Xmas morning.
Cracking short video Matt and definitely an option worth considering, even more so if you are not flying out of Terminal 3 at DXB (i.e. most non-EK flights) as the rest of the airport is pretty grim. Just a word of warning for any of your followers looking to travel between Sharjah and Dubai - traffic can be horrendous if you pick the wrong time of day. From Sharjah to Dubai from around 6am to 9am and going back the other way from Dubai to Sharjah from approx. 5pm to 8pm is notoriously bad and can take hours. As you mentioned in the video lots of workers live in Sharjah as it is much cheaper than Dubai so their peak commuting times are best avoided if at all possible.
Top tip - thanks Nick. You sound like a local??
@@MattsPlanet I’m Singapore based but travel through UAE a lot. Have fallen foul of this traffic once or twice myself and it’s not a fun experience.
Enjoyed the video as always Matt and as always I am looking forward to the next one
Thanks Bob.. Same time next week!
Thanks for the info + video!
Thanks for watching Jimmy!
Thanks heaps for creating this video. I've been curious about Sharjah airport for a while now.
You are very welcome - hope you enjoyed it!
I'd totally check out Sharjah for next time I'm heading for Dubai. Thx for another epic video. That robot is so cool! Very Japanese....❤
Thanks!
Another great video Matt! Looking forward to trying out QR soon out of London too!
Thanks - you'll have a great time!
Entertaining as always - loved the Grog station comment ! The clean shaven you is a welcome return from the Archbishop Rowan Williams look….
Thanks so much! A vote for clean shaven - I get more votes in favour of the beard so this is a valuable counterbalance!
Cracked me up, the lounge called the lounge
Makes it easy to remember the name!
excellent video Matt. I remember a few years ago one of my pupils mothers booked them a week in Dubai, or so she thought. They had inadvertantly booked Abu Dhabi. It wasn't the dream holiday they had expected.
Gosh! Abu Dhabi isn't a bad spot, the weather is very similar, but if you're expecting Dubai you would be disappointed!!!
Thanks Matt. Really interesting information and as usual learnt a few new facts. I was rubbish at your game, never been to the sub continent😂👍🇿🇦
It's a tough game to do well at!
Love your videos 👍
Thanks!
Interesting option for the region.
Not every airport has to look like a Palace. A normal airport will do fine.
Cheers for the video.
Much more fun than DXB....
Stick around..always makes me smile 😊
Gotta have a catchphrase!
i enjoy your flight and information greetings from the netherlands
Dank u wel!
Another entertaining video, Matt - and really good to know about the potential alternative to the main Dubai airport. Looked like a really decent airport and lounge at Sharjah - shall be adding it to the list for future visits. It was also good to clarify if you still get Al Safwa access on an inbound short-haul First Class flight if then connecting on to a long-haul Business Class flight. No issues with that I take it?
Thanks - no probs with getting into the al Safwa. I went to the new al Mourjan for a look round and the entry guy actually pointed out that I should be in the al Safwa! Still let me in though
Thanks Matt, very helpful. My family and I are heading to Dubai in April and are using Qatar to and from Sharjah as redemption availability to DXB was non existent. Pleased to see the experience will be equally as pleasant, if not better as a trip we did with QR this year. Keep up the great videos
Thanks Russell. Sharjah is nothing to be scared of! One mention in the comments that traffic can be bad so bear that in mind, otherwise its a pleasant experience
Good info...
Thanks!
Hello Matt, thanks for this video. I actually never considered flying to or from Sharjah airport. I will travel in biz from doh to lhr with Qatar airways on Thursday. Looking forward to see how your experience compares to mine.
Next week's video is me on that exact flight! Should make it even easier to compare...
Excellent video! But I’m afraid I’m doing even worse than you with that list…
Doha
Entebbe
Istanbul
Nairobi
I better get travelling…
What you lack in quantity you make back in quality! Not been to Nairobi or Entebbe myself....
Nice
It was!
Yes that airport has changed a lot since my previous visits many years ago. Doubtless the same with the hotels which even 40 years ago tried so hard to drum up business because, as you say, Sharjah is 'dry.' Good advice re the lower ticket price,
Thanks Alex - I gather that airport has been around for quite a few years...
I flew with QR from BHX to DXB when they first launched from BHX (at a special intro fare of circa £800 for J on the BHX>DOH leg and then in F on the DOH>DXB leg). Due to the last leg being in regional F, it was my first experience of the Al Safwa lounge, plus the extra tier points were of course very welcome
Hard to go back to regular lounges after the al Safwa....
I’m going for victory by claiming Abha, Saudi Arabia. A long time ago!!
Now that's a good one! You must have got Jeddah on the way there too???
Spot on. Jeddah & Riyadh on way out/back. Saudia back then was quite the experience! My bro managed to get in the jump seat of a 747-SP for landing.
Would love to fly Qatar someday but I would be perfectly happy with the Gold Lounge-South in Doha. I just want the food, and lots of it :)
- Red
Indeed - any lounge is a good lounge!
My record entry into the UAE was at SHJ: 11 minutes from wheels down to getting into a taxi outside the terminal. But as others have said, traffic can be terrible if heading into Dubai. And I'm starting to feel like your proofreader Matt ... the UAE is composed of 7 emirates.
Thanks Rob - annoyed about the emirate count but couldn't change it! Thanks for noticing though.... And I assume if traffic is bad in Dubai its going to be bad from SHJ and from DXB?
Yes. It's terrible between Dubai and Sharjah
Nice airport tour. Departure board bingo is always fun, though from that list, I believe my score would be a paltry 3. The question I would have is what the cost difference would have to be to make it worthwhile if you were shuttling between DXB and DOH for an onward flight. I imagine you can justify it if you have stayed over in Dubai or Abu Dhabi.
3? Needs work! It was perhaps £100 cheaper to fly from SHJ versus AUH? Probably not a brilliant cost saving but it made for an interesting video!
Great video as ever Matt. We are looking to do osl to auh via doh and business lite indicates no access to first lounge even though its first on the short hop. Should this give lounge access?
Hello. That is an excellent question and I think you are out of luck... Lite fares are "cheap" as they don't include lounge access. And even though the short leg will book into F, that's still not providing lounges. I've seen online that outstations might not be so familiar with the rules, so by all means play dumb and have a try in Oslo and Abu Dhabi, but in Doha they'll be able to see the booking code and won't let you in. Status trumps the fare code though, so you'll still have access to something if you travel with status.
@MattsPlanet thanks, we are OW emerald through our BA status and found a great fare for next Oct to do the CGK tier point run back to back. Lounges aren't the be all and end all, but I just wondered after seeing your vid.
Keep up the great work
"Where?" I did indeed cry. But interesting to see Sharjah. I haven't played the departures board game board before but its a good one 😂 7 this time but I'm cheating and including a refuelling stop in Baku on a flight to India in March 2003 - it should have been Bahrain but we were rerouted by the war.
7 - or even 6 is a pretty good score on that board!
Planning an early visit to Gatwick's improved railway station, Matt?
Ha ha! Not sure there's a video in a new railway station! I come from the other direction these days too...
I scored 10 on the Departure Board game!
I think that might take the lead!
Hi Matt
Great video, I only found this because you tagged it in your latest vid. It does say Unlisted at the top if thats of any coincidence.
Well found! I did this once before by accident so I was interested if anyone found it this time!!! This is next week's video....
I'm now gutted I've seen next weeks video, I'll have to wait 2 weeks now for a new one.@@MattsPlanet
DWC- Dubai World Central
Indeed. A little bit of ego in the name!
Contaminated with Avocado! Lol. I say the same thing about Mushy Peas
I just don't like them!
@@MattsPlanet mushy peas or avocados? 😏
When you fly to more to south afrika and his near country's?
Never been to South Africa but am keen to do so
So Doha it seems is the best airport in the region, is that right?
That's a great question! Qatar would say it is.... Dubai would probably argue but would probably lose. Abu Dhabi opened a new terminal a few days ago so is upping their game.... And Muscat is quite new but is less well known... Guess we both have to get back to the region to make a definitive judgement!
Abu Dhabi yes
Cairo yes
Cochin yes
Delhi yes
Doha yes
Istanbul yes
Moscow yes
Mumbai yes
Nairobi yes
Shiraz yes
Tehran yes
Not a bad haul... Iran really appeals but its a tricky place these days if you like having access to an ESTA... Leaving aside the political considerations of a visit... But I gather its a fascinating place to visit
@@MattsPlanet I went twice around 20 years ago with a group when diplomatic conditions were probably better. Fabulous place. Flew IranAir’s 747-200 both times which was a treat.
Hmm, Matt. Dunno if this is your doing, or some yt algorithm, but i see my comment on this video, as well as the previous one, have been deleted. Would be nice to know why.
I think I know.... I make these available to my Patr(e)ons before I release them to the public.... I think when I move the video from unlisted to public I think all comments accumulated get wiped...
It was public when I viewed it. You think the contents get scrubbed exactly when you move it, or sometime afterwards?
which type of aircraft was it?
Sharjah to Doha was a 737
It’s actually 7 Emirates not 6. Abu Dhabi, dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, umm al qawain, ras al khaimah, fujairah.
You are completely correct. I knew that too - really annoyed I got it wrong in the video!
@@MattsPlanet I really love how detailed you get into with your videos and there’s a lot that i learn. Keep up the good work