World Cup fans put off by prices, beer limits commute by air

DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Travel at this World Cup was supposed to be easy in the tiny host nation of Qatar, after fans had to take long flights between cities at the last three tournaments.

The eight stadiums in Qatar are in or near the capital, so fans don't have to go too far to get to matches — in theory. The country billed its World Cup as environmentally sustainable in part because of how compact it is, but the reality is quite different.

Tens of thousands of foreign fans are turning to shuttle flights between Doha and neighboring Dubai for a number of reasons — high hotel prices, a scarcity of accommodation and alcohol limits.

It might sound extreme, expensive and environmentally questionable, but the daily flights have become a popular choice as fans opt to sleep somewhere other than Qatar.

Dubai, the freewheeling commercial capital of the United Arab Emirates, is the region's top destination outside Doha. State airlines like FlyDubai, the emirate's budget carrier, are marshaling resources, operating 10 times the number of usual flights to Doha.

Neighboring Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia also have organized air shuttles to cash in on the World Cup tourism boom. Every few minutes, a Boeing or Airbus rumbles overhead Doha's old airport.

The concept of air shuttles isn't new to the Gulf, where many who live and work in ultraconservative Saudi Arabia or dry Kuwait hop over to Dubai for the weekend to drink freely and have fun in the glittering metropolis.

Unlike fans who had to take long-distance flights at the World Cups in South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014) and Russia (2018), the Dubai-Doha route is shorter in most cases.

But short flights, often defined as trips shorter than 500 kilometers (311 miles), are more polluting than long ones per person for every kilometer...