FlyDubai has announced some positive changes to its passenger experience, which will certainly be welcomed by travelers.
The Dubai-based carrier has been making some nice improvements to its passenger experience over the years, and here’s the latest example of that. As of November 2025, FlyDubai will be elevating the experience in economy, and will start including complimentary meals and inflight entertainment with all economy fares.
Historically, the airline has only offered complimentary meals on select economy fares, and also charged for use of inflight entertainment for select passengers.
Here’s how FlyDubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith describes this:
The thing to understand about FlyDubai is that it’s not an ultra low cost carrier, or anything, even though some people assume that it is. Yes, the airline definitely has some labor savings compared to Emirates, but aside from that, the airline is largely intended to be more of a full service (or at least value) airline. FlyDubai’s fares are also anything but cheap.
So it seems overdue that the airline offer a higher general service standard onboard, and I’m very happy to see this change. I continue to believe that Emirates and FlyDubai should just merge. It makes no sense to me that they’re branded separately, as it causes huge confusion (FlyDubai has little name recognition outside the region), not to mention the airlines have very complementary route networks.
There are lots of passengers who have itineraries that include travel on both airlines, so at a minimum, you’d think the airline would take on “Emirates Express” branding, or something. I continue to think that will eventually happen, it’s just a function of when. After all, there are all kinds of markets that can accommodate a 737 but not a 777, and there’s value in Emirates being able to serve those markets directly. It’s one of Emirates’ disadvantages compared to Etihad and Qatar.
Anyway, I digress… I’ll get off my Emirates and FlyDubai merger soapbox.
Bottom line
As of November 2025, Emirates is nicely improving its economy passenger experience, offering free meals and inflight entertainment on all fares. FlyDubai has never been known for its low fares, so it didn’t make sense to me that this wasn’t included on all fares, especially given the extent to which the carrier’s network is integrated with that of Emirates. This development moves the FlyDubai passenger experience a little closer to that of Emirates.
A great solo travel tip spotted this week on One Mile at a Time.
