SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review : 22 July 2008 : by S Smith

Customer Rating : n/a

Re Peter Ingelby's comments, there is a dedicated business (Al Fursan) lounge at Jeddah airport for use by Saudia passengers which has WIFI, toilets and reasonable range of food/drinks. This is in both international and domestic departures and has been recently refurbishe.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review : 19 July 2008 : by Peter Ingleby

Customer Rating : 1/5

London to Jeddah business class. The service was business class only in price. The seats are incredibly uncomfortable, staff rude and food shocking. The lounge at Heathrow was fine but on my return from Jeddah the lounge is abysmal. It is simply a sectioned off part of the main departure lounge with no WIFI and no toilets. Customers are therefore required to use the public toilets which are foul. I have also flown BMI on the same route and the difference is amazing, flat beds, good service. My advice is if you need to go to Jeddah, do not be tempted to go with Saudia.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review : 15 July 2008 : by Tim Addams

Customer Rating : 2/5

Paris to Riyadh on B777 in Economy Class. Aircraft only about half full, so I got the window and aisle seat. Aircraft worn and tattered. I noticed that an armrest cover was missing, exposing bare metal edges. The lumbar support on my aisle seat was broken, and the seatbelt on my window seat was doubled through the catch, making it impossible to adjust. Crew was courteous. I avoid food offerings on Saudia since having a bad experience years ago, so did not try the cuisine. Individual video screens, but not on-demand, and movie choices were atrocious.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review : 11 June 2008 : by N Siotto

Customer Rating : 1/5

June 9th 2008, holding a confirmed business class e-ticket, at the counter the guy says the plane is overbooked, go to another counter. I follow the instruction and proceed at the Excess Luggage desk where a man in a hurry says, the plane is overbooked so you are downgraded to Economy Class. It is not the first time this happens to me while holding a confirmed business class or first class seat, in fact it is the third time with the same airline. If there is any local businessman on waiting list, instead of downgrading him they prefer to downgrade a passenger with confirmed reservation. Once on board the A/C wasn't working until an hour after taking off. But that's another story.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Martin Brown

19 February 2008  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-JED Economy Class. I can break parts of this flight down into 2 categories, not so good and excellent. I start with the negatives. It took quite a while to checkin even though there were only 5 people ahead of me in the queue. Whilst waiting at the gate, I had a good look at the aircraft and it looked like the sun and sand in Saudi has certainly taken it's toll with the paint looking very faded and the silver of the rivets showing and the seat wasn't the most comfortable I'd been on. It felt like the bottom of it was sloping backwards slightly and the lumbar support still stuck out even though it was pushed all the way in. That said, I did get used to the seat and slept a little and the seat pitch was about 34". On the positive side, the checkin staff were great The plane was a 777 with 2x5x2 configuration and they found me an aisle seat in the centre where the 3 seats next to me were empty. After take off the crew went round with head phones, amenity kits, newspapers and menus (in economy!). They then came round arabic coffee and dates, followed by the drinks round, main meal with all choices available, tea and coffee twice. Shortly before landing the crew went round with sandwiches and more tea and coffee. The food was tasty. I chose the Balti chicken for the main course, which was nice, but the Chicken and Mango chutney sandwiches were excellent and full of flavour. IFE was a selection of films on a menu, but films were running on a loop. You also had main screen viewing as well, which showed some programs, but also airshow and occasionally showed you the location of Mecca. At the rear of the plane was an area where the passengers could pray. Part of the IFE was a camera pointing directly down and another looking forward. Each seat had it's own airvent, which I have never seen on a 777 before, or certainly not recently. I only took this flight as it was the only direct flight from Heathrow but it was great and I would use them again if ever going to Saudi again and half of me is wishing I wasn't flying another airline on the return.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by R Mitchell

23 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

First Class AUH-RUH. My last trip Abu Dhabi to Riyadh on a very clean M-80 was excellent. I was travelling with a severe leg injury which necessitated wheelchair assistance. Ground staff at AUH were first-rate. They got the chair immediately. I was travelling with my cat The check-in staff were very helpful with that as well. The food was good and flight attendants were pleasant and professional. So both my cat and I thank often-criticised SV for having made this trip a pleasant one.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Rahaf Alamoudi

12 November 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

JFK to JED. The flight was comfortable. The plane was clean and they had really good food - staff was friendly and seemed happy on the flight.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Taher Chaudhary

9 October 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

LHR-RUH-ISB. The service, from the mainly far eastern flight attendants, was efficient and delivered with a smile. Everything worked, and WC was in good order. I had a horrendously long stopover in Riyadh (8 hours) for my connecting flight to Islamabad. But the transit facilities were good. My return to London Heathrow 2 weeks later was via a 5 day stopover in Jeddah. The international check in facilities at Jeddah airport can only be described as third world!! There was no order in the queues, the staff didn't not seem to want to help. The usual problem of locals pushing in to the front of the queue, the check in staff gave the impression that they'd rather be some where else. After finally getting the bags checked through and going into the departure lounge itself, at last one could relax and the facilities there were pretty good.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by M Abrar

6 September 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

London Heathrow to Jeddah return economy class. The family had prebooked seats together and we got these. The seats were good and plenty of legroom (although some had the IFE box restricting legroom in those seats). The meal had three main choices - we obviously chose the wrong one because it was awful. The kids had chosen other dishes which were quite good. The quantity was on the low side. The rest of the flight was fine with the attendants keeping making several drinks runs. The return check- in was quick and easy. We checked in early and we got seats together - on the plane we discovered that others had not. The service on this flight was very good. For some reason the plane was very cold but eventually warmed up. B777s on this route have seen better days. IFE did not work on one of our seats. Clean windows would also have been nice. Overall, I would be happy to travel with Saudia again.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Suhail Kazim

30 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

JED-AUH Economy class. Having no luggage, I arrived at Jeddah airport and waiting in one of the most boring airports in the world. Boarding stared on time and we were bussed off to the plane- an M80. I was happy to see that the seats were all empty until I noticed that there were many passengers coming now from the domestic terminal and the flight would be stopping at Riyadh, therefore the first half of the trip would be a domestic flight. Chaos ensued as the plane got full and the unfriendly cabin attendants started ordering passengers to change seats in order to accommodate groups to sit together - -something which seemed ridiculous but very much in practice apparently. We took off on time and a hot meal was served- basic rice, lamb and a cake. Flight landed in RUH and luckily 75% of passengers disembarked. Boarding commenced again with a few more passengers joining us from RUH. It was interesting to note that all of us were seated cramped up in 3 by 3 seating filling up 3 rows and the entire plane was left with all other rows empty!!! Cabin attendants can be very unwelcoming and unfriendly and lack any sort of warmth or customer service. Flight took off on time and again a basic hot meal was served. The less spoken of Saudi airlines the better and as mentioned I only fly it if I don’t have any other choice.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Saad Khan

18 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

KHI-DMM on a boeing 777 in the economy class. The computer servers were down since the day before and thus we were given the boarding pass with no seats alotted and were told you can sit where you to on the aircraft. The aircraft was good and not so old. The staff was good but did not pay attention to the requests of the passengers. The thing that made a bad impression was the IFE. Saudi Airlines have the same IFE look since 10 years and just have around 5 movies to watch! Plus the audio wasnt working so there was no point of using the headphones. Overall, its an average airlines, way better than PIA but not near the quality of Etihad airways on this sector!

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Norma Williams

2 August 2007  Customer Trip Rating :

Jeddah to Washington coach class. The food was very good, with 4 choices of hot meals. The stewardess even offered me a choice between white or brown bread. The flight was not full so I had a whole row of seats for myself. The cabin crew were not really visible outside meal service, but they responded to my service call. Toilets kept clean. The crew were quite friendly and professional.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Rohan McCarthy

28 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

RUH-DEL in Economy Class. Boeing 777 already seemed as if it has passed its best days. The interior was tired, with numerous seats mildly broken (they reclined with just the weight of the passenger up against them), my personal IFE a bit rusty (sound quality was off) and the toilets quite a shambles. The service was okay, the food was average, but the flight wasn't long-haul, so that was bearable. Drinks were served a few times throughout the flight, and Saudia offers cold mini towelettes, which is a nice change from the hot towels other airlines give out. The crew seemed a tad disinterested, though offered the occasional smile. One of the male cabin crew got understandably quite exasperated upon landing as many of the passengers got out of their seats to unpack the overhead lockers - we were cruising down the runway!! He raised his voice and almost chased some of the passengers, it was well deserved though in my opinion. One interesting aspect of Saudia's cabin crew is that unlike other Gulf airlines, the hostesses keep their hats and veils on throughout the flight. I think it looks far more professional! Anyway, Saudia is hardly five star - or even four star. But this and my previous flight made for an interesting variation from travel on Emirates.

Saudi Arabian Airlines by Rohan McCarthy

24 May 2007   Customer Trip Rating : n/a

JED-RUH in Economy-Class. Spent a considerable amount of time in the transfer bus waiting to be allowed to board, after a boring wait in Jeddah airport, though food facilities there were okay. Saudia's MD-90 place looked pretty old (paint peeling on the outside), so I wasn't expecting too much. Thankfully, the interior wasn't too bad, there was plenty of room as it was only half full. The four international cabin crew were polite and efficient; small snack offered on a flight that was really only about an hour long. In-flight reading material nothing much, but nothing much expected either.

Saudi Arabian - by Jonathan Marshall

6 March 2007

JED-RUH, Booked first class tickets but downgraded to Economy, discovered why on boarding the aircraft and discovering it was an old 747 in all economy configuration. Avoid this at all costs, seating was very cramped. Airconditioning did not work until while waiting on the ground in Jeddah. The most uncomfortable flight of my life, thank goodness it was only 1hour!

Saudi Arabian - by Abdulmajeed Alzad

19 February 2007

Jeddah to New York at the economy class. I found it much better than a lot of western airlines that I had been flying before. The food was pretty good. There were screens at every seat with a lot of entertaining choices, from movies to games. Now the only bad thing was the delay at the beginning of the trip but my overall rating would be 4 stars.

Saudi Arabian - by Brian Howells

5 November 2006

Saudi Arabian Airlines Have been working in Madinah for the past 3 months and have flown between Madinah and Riyadh on 6 occassions, Madinah/Jeddah/London return once and Madinah/Cairo return once.No complaints about the service, the food or the standard of the aircraft. Couple of delayed flights but all in all very good. I am 6 foot tall and found that the leg room in economy class was good. Much better than a lot of transatlantic flights I have been on. Jeddah airport is getting quite shabby.

Saudi Arabian - by Hal Westbrook

26 August 2006

JFK to RUH First Class. The check-in process was chaotic. One long line for an official to check your passport, then to the check-in line (at first the official told me to go to the economy line, insisting I didn't have a First Class ticket). In the line someone checks the passport again. And then, during the check-in process, the agent checks it a third time! Saudia brags of wonderful services for F/C passengers at their website. First, consider "Golden Service." In First Class this was suppose to include, among other things, meals on demand. Forget it. They serve everyone at once about 30 minutes after takeoff. There is no meal on demand service. Saudia presented an attractive menu that listed tempting desserts - French pastries, ice cream, etc. They didn't even offer dessert of any kind! There was supposed to be a snack bar offered throughout the flight. It was never opened, and I had to specifically ask for snacks. The flight was to Riyadh with a stop in Jeddah. In Jeddah, even the passengers continuing to Riyadh were forced to deplane and go through passport control. No one helped, guided, etc. I had to ask several "officials" in the terminal before I found out I had to get a domestic boarding pass to replace my international one, where to go to find the bus to go back to the plane, etc. Once we got to Riyadh, we had to go through passport control again! Fortunately I sat next to a nice Saudi engineer who guided me through the corner doorway where the airline employees exit to the baggage claim area. Their website brags of "fast track" service through customs for First Class passengers. There was nothing remotely resembling that. This was an unbelievably bad experience, even by Saudia "standards. Of the five initial entries into KSA I've experienced, this was by far the worst.

Saudi Arabian - by Peter Morison

22 August 2006

JED-MED Y Class. A 5.30am departure would require 3.30 arrival at the airport to ensure a seat as Saudia domestic flights are routinely overbooked but making use of the self service check in machines the night before (service available 24 hours prior to departure) avoided this problem though this service is only available for domestic flights. Early check in for both domestic and international flights is available at downtown offices in most large centres which is useful though passangers with baggage will still have to queue at the airport dest to check this in. Flight to Medina in a fairly new and clean MD90 so an improvement on the ageing 747s and 777s used on the main domestic routes Jeddah - Riyadh - Dammam. Helpfulness and service from staff for western customers seems to depend to some extent on how comfortable they are using English. A knowledge of and use of Arabic often elicits a friendly response from male staff which would otherwise not been apparent. Female FAs are usually East Asian and Turkish and its not hard to tell they would rather be working for a more glamorous airline. The gloomy dark blue colour scheme of their planes and the growing age of the long haul fleet make flying with Saudia in economy a bit depressing for long flights. F and C much more relaxing though seats not very exciting. Food pretty average in all classes. Of course no alcohol served at all which some passengers find difficult for long flights. IFE on long haul flights can also be quite temperamental though when it does work there is a decent selection of English language films albeit heavily censored by blurred patches to avoid viewers seeing images containing alcohol or women's legs/shoulders/cleavage etc. For those who use Saudia regularly building up milage on their Al Fursan frequent flyers programme is petty fast and although the system for obtaining free tickets is rather cumbersome when you do have your ticket issued it is a full fare fully flexible ticket you can change and rebook and even earn more miles on! On the whole Saudia do the main job they need to which is moving millions of pilgrims into, out of and around country pretty well and still give a usually acceptable service to other customers though it is wise not to expect too much beyond reaching your destination safe and on time.

Saudi Arabian - by Robert G Coupland

8 April 2006

Dammam-Riyadh-Al Jouf & Al Jouf -Dammam (internal). Arrived at airport to book in for flight to Riyadh and then on to Al Jouf. At the first class desk I was asked to wait as there was a problem. First class was already full and there were no more seats available. Eventually a downgrade was negotiated for my flight to Riyadh. On my return, I arrived at Al Jouf airport to check in and it was absolute chaos, people shouting at the staff, thumping the check-in counters. I presented my tickets and once again was asked to wait. Again I was told that first class was full and that in fact the aircraft was full. After lengthy discussions another downgrade was negotiated and a seat was somehow made available. It appears to be Saudi Arabian policy to accept 'over- bookings' in the misguided hope that not all passengers will turn up. While this behaviour may be financially viable for the company it does nothing to better customer relations. I am still waiting for a reply from Saudi Arabian in response to my complaint.

Saudi Arabian - by Kalle Landsroed

10 January 2006

LHR-RUH, J-class. Ok service and seats but don't expect western standards. I would much rather not travel direct, and travel with some more relaxed airlines such as Emirates or Gulf Air.

Saudi Arabian - by Hani Al-Ahdal

8 January 2006

Saudi Arabian Airlines continues to disappoint. Its lack of consistency and professionalism is its curse. A true shame from the excellence it used to be famous for in the mid 80’s. Things begin to go wrong from the ground. Perhaps the least friendly, least helpful and professional staff of the airline is its ground staff, particularly at Saudi airports. Simple examples include incomplete or no uniform, no name tags, smoking in the “no smoking” terminals and answering mobile phones while you check in! The First/Business Class lounges are below average. During the flight many FA’s are not keen to help you. Would not be vigilant to annoyances and are not well trained to deal with difficult social issues. Examples include being frustrated/angry when you ask them what you mean by “meat” when he or she presents the meal selections as “Chicken or meat?” During long flights when children begin to play in the aisles, in many instances they prefer not to be involved, I would have thought that this would violate some aviation regulation! Meals are not what they once were in quantity and quality. Seats are not well maintained. Even the new 777’s are beginning to welt. It’s unfortunate that SV selects its newer aircraft for LHR, FRA, CDG, FCO, JFK, IAD etc - while keeping their old, poorly furnished 747 for their central Asia flights. I am Saudi and have been flying SV for 20 years and more, but the issue is lack of consistency. Hence a poor final product. SV is still a major international airline, but not one that is truly competitive in terms of customer service.

Saudi Arabian - by Philip Chilton-Jones

6 January 2006

JED-JNB Business Class. Equipment used was the Boeing 777 High Density Configuration, as opposed to the Business Configuration on the 777 used for the inward flight 9 days earlier. Flight was comfortable, the only surprise being the offer of a full dinner menu shortly after take-off at 04:35. The breakfast service shortly before landing at Johannesburg was a very "watered down" affair - it would have been better to have offered a snack after take-off with a fuller breakfast in the morning. Seating good - acceptable pitch but not lie-flat as in SAA, Virgin and BA. Nonetheless a good night's sleep was possible with the plane being blacked out for most of the trip. Cabin crew attentive, as was the case on the inward flight. The inward experience was spoiled, however, by my luggage - labelled for Jeddah - being offloaded at Medinah where the plane made an unannounced stop-over to offload the pilgrims on board. This added an unexpected 3 hours to the flight, after allowing for time spent on the ground waiting for joining crew. The service level offered by the ground support crew attending to the several passengers who had also had luggage mislaid was appalling - no apology, no offer to return the luggage, but merely a sullen "phone us in the morning and if we have found the luggage you can come and fetch it. Luckily they had - but with the typical Jeddah driving experience to go through to collect the luggage I felt that far more could and should have been done by Saudia themselves.

Saudi Arabian - by Graham Serjeant

10 December 2005

I have visited the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on many occasions, frequently flying Saudi Airlines especially as there is little alternative when flying from London. I wish to avoid any negative comments but would like to suggest two matters which personally I would find helpful. In the early days, the Prophet's prayer at the outset of the journey was always introduced in English for those non-Arabian speakers and it would be good if this small matter of hospitality to visitors could be reinstated. The other more mundane matter refers to the use of unpitted dates in Business Class. Years ago, the dates were stuffed with almonds but now they are served with stones and there is nowhere to put the stones. On my most recent flight I collected these on the arm-rest and then had the unpleasant exercise of picking up these sticky stones and handing them to a stewardess prior to take-off. It would be nice to either pit the dates or give passengers a small receptacle within which to put them. Small matters but important to comfort and hospitality.

Saudi Arabian - by Ron Merritt

30 November 2005

JED-JKT. I have flown this route three times in the last two years, in business class. Each time the flight has departed 4-9 hrs late from JED due to mechanical difficulties. Most recently the flight departed 11 hours late, with no hint of compensation to biz class passengers for the inconvenience of missing connection flight in JKT. I learned from Saudia staff that the reason for our delay was SV had planned to operate to JKT with a Phuket Air wet lease plane, which could not get insurance. Why would any reputable airline ever charter a flight to Phuket Air, which is not allowed to land in Western Europe? Upon boarding on 03 Oct, I was the only passenger in J class - however, the biz cabin filled up quickly as SV stewards brought their off-duty lady friends up front. I also noticed the two shared toilets in first/biz seemed to be occupied most of the time with SV flight crew. However, the onboard toilets were clean contrary to the first/biz SV JED lounge, which had Saudia Catering drink napkins stuffed in the toilet tissue holders. I would not recommend anyone travel biz class on Saudia to Jakarta if they have a choice to fly another airline. The SV flight delays are aggravating, JED ground staff has no idea of departure times and inflight service is very average.

Saudi Arabian - by Sarah Hamidan

7 October 2005

KUL-JED 2 weeks ago. Aircraft was an old B747-300. Its probably one of the oldest 743's with Saudia. Entertainment was bad. No PTVs. Only projector screen. Was given some weird headphones! Food was terrible. Crying children all over the plane. The surprising thing was that the crew were good. Would never fly Saudia again on a long-haul flight.

Saudi Arabian - by M Hussein

1 September 2005

LHR to JED - The flight was ok, nothing to shout about. Food lousy and general service standards poor. The fun started on the JED-KHI trip. The flight was cancelled without any notice and as stated by others, the Saudi Airlines staff passed the buck from one to another, acted rude, ignorant, stupid and generally pathetic at all times! Checked in for the flight at 2000 hrs which was originally scheduled to depart at 0105am, not told at check in that flight delayed till 1600hrs the next day - but still told it was my fault for not asking! This was the supervisor telling me this and he was supposed to be the top man at the airport - had non existant manners and was downright rude. Told as my passport had been stamped I was not going to get a hotel - after much arguing got a hotel some 8hrs later, but had to surrender my passport -just in case I ran away!...I should think not! Other passengers in transit from LHR arrived and due to delayed flight to KHI were sent to hotel automatically - except passengers of Pakistani origin, regardless of the fact they held the same British passports as their fellow country men who were now in a 4 Star hotel resting - these guys were told to make do with the lounge seats! Flight to Karachi was a diesaster! They chose the worst, oldest 747 on the fleet, witouth any air con, or working toilets etc, and put on a crew from another airline and flew the aircraft with more passengers then seats available - open seating tactics used which caused chaos! Dont think me or my family will ever wish to fly Saudi again - not untill the staff learn manners and how to treat the customer. Usefull hint for the non Arab traveller - learn Arabic. That way they cannot hide from your questions!

Saudi Arabian - by Mala Chandran

8 August 2005

I think the biggest problem with Saudia is their service. I have travelled twice alone with an infant, and both times, the crew never bothered to give me some extra help which I would have really appreciated. Check in staff say they're giving me the bassinet seat and yet upon stepping onboard, I find out that it's not the special bassinet (bulkhead) seat. Then crew couldn't be bothered to give me a baby kit and simply said they didn't have any onboard when I asked. I asked for the bassinet so I could at least place it on the empty seat next to me and the lazy Indonesian crew handed it to me without assembling it. The passenger seated near me was shocked at her attitude and luckily offered to help set it up. They also don't have any infant seat belts. On my last flight, I was upgraded to Business class and walked in with a sling back, rucksack, baby in one arm and pushchair in the other and the chief stewardess basically looked at me and said I couldn't bring in the pushchair and it had to be placed with cargo. However she said I could try taking it upstairs where I was seated and see if they could store it there. Neither she or the other crew who saw me offered to help. I had to struggle upstairs with baby and pushchair and when I got to the top, the crew said no space for pushchair. Luckily, she offered to hold the baby while I went back downstairs with the pushchair. The only reason why I fly with them is because they're the only airlines at the moment with direct flights between Riyadh and Kuala Lumpur.

Saudi Arabian - by Amro Gamal

3 April 2005

Services between KSA and London are amazing in economy or business class. Full entertainment, complete relaxation and amazing services but what happens when you go to Khartoum first class? You will get the worst services ever, although it is 2.5 hours flight from Riyadh to Khartuum, we don't get the built-in-seat entertainment while you will get one if you fly from Riyadh to Dubai, a 1 hour flight! Also, the first class seats do not have the legs rest system in the AB3 (most frequent fleet between KRT and KSA). Now that I moved from KSA, I still hope that Saudi airlines will still improve their services to Sudan.