SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  9 June 2009 : by Mark Fulwell   (UK)

Having flown with Saudia for the better part of twenty years, I feel a certain fondness for the airline in spite of its many failings. Basically, the level of service you receive depends upon which sector you fly. Flights to and from Europe or North America are generally better in terms of equipment (B-777 or B747-400) and service than flights to the Indian Subcontinent or SE Asia. Over the years I've experienced various levels of service, from absolutely lousy to excellent. Don't expect five star service, even in First or Business Class. A 3 star rating is about right.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  20 May 2009 : by A Krier-Lanzaga   (Germany)

Economy Class FRA-RUH-MNL-JED-LHR. I bought my ticket for only 380 Euro as for my roundtrip ticket, so I did not expect anything good flying on SV. FRA-RUH (via JED) leg, and JED-LHR leg were both B777 aircraft. Cabin interior were old, but aircraft were clean, and they were spacious. Inflight Entertainment could have been better - but better than nothing! Flight attendants tried their best, although there is a big difference compared to other airlines. RUH-MNL I flew with a very old lady, a B747-300. No inflight entertainment, no musi, nothing, but spacious and clean aircraft. MNL-JED (via RUH) was on a bit younger B747-400 aircraft, this one had inflight entertainment (PTV's etc). The food was good quality and also in quantity. I must say the airline is a good 3 Star Airline. But still you should try to avoid long Stopovers in Jeddah.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  1 May 2009 : by Hani Alahdal   (Saudi Arabia)

I have been flying SV for many years, domestic and International, short medium and long haul. I feel that a 3 star rating is accurate. Poorly maintained (in terms of cabin amenities) aircraft, slow modernization initiatives and not beefing up their customer service persona makes it a disappointment to fly. Their major hub JED is a very sad and annoying facility (even with the recent upgrades) with RUH being a lot better but still below average. The airline employees lack the attitude of service for passengers let alone "customer" or "clientele". Their website is not a well rounded information resource nor is it truly up to standards for booking and checking in. Airport lounges are poorly staffed and have little to offer. FFP needs to be more in tune with other airlines. The most consistent advantage of SV however, would their good departure and arrival times mainly for international flights.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  27 April 2009 : by Jamal Hussain   (UK)

LHR-JED Return Economy. A satisfactory flight with on time departure. A rather old aircraft. Food must have been a week old - I felt sick after eating and decided not to eat on return flight. Staff not very courteous and seem exhausted. In the return flight, the foot rest was broken. The seats were loose, IFE does not work properly, screen was very fuzzy. Crew again don't respond to customers instead sitting in the back chatting amongst themselves.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  10 March 2009 : by Roy Clogstoun

RUH-DAM economy return on Saudia. Comfortable B777 used and both flights left on time. IFE was acceptable. Food average, except on return there was no choice. Main concern about the flight was the lax security procedures by Saudia staff. There was no checking by staff to see whether passengers had belted up. On the return flight when about to land many children did not have their seat belts on and mothers were just holding their babies. The staff were too busy selling duty free goods to worry about ensuring that passengers adhered to security procedures. On both flights passengers walked towards the entrance while the plane was still taxing to the arrival gates. However, on the return flight almost the whole plane stood up to walk to the doors when the pilot had to park near the airstrip as the flight had lost its landing gate to another aircraft. Announcements were only made in Arabic to get the passengers to sit down as it took about fifteen minutes to find another landing gate. Saudia is good value for money and the service is passable but the lack of security procedures is appalling.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  1 March 2009 : by R McCarthy

DXB-DMM-RUH-JED, Economy Class. The first two legs were in fairly new Embraer E170s, which were clean, comfortable and quiet. The flight attendants were quick and efficient, however I think the male flight attendants need to smile more - there was no warmth in their service. RUH to JED was in a Boeing 777, the standard of which was very poor. Seats reclined automatically (broken), footrests and tray tables wonky and the plane just had a feeling of uncleanliness about it. I also can't why check-in agents sit foreign men next to Saudi women and then push the passengers and flight attendants to sort it out themselves on board. They also tended to cram people together, when there were free banks of seats elsewhere. All flights were on-time, however, and there was nothing major to complain about apart from the above.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  20 December 2008 : by Michael Morrison

Manchester-Geneva-Riyadh-Jeddah. I arrived at check in early. There was no option to check in on line. My travel agent had asked for a window seat, but I was advised that no window seats were available. Question? If it is not possible to check in on line, and there were no window seats available as soon as the check in desk opened, how is this possible. I was given a centre aisle seat in front of the main screen that remained on throughout the flight, so no sleep was possible. Seat pitch was very poor, as was leg room and I question the Business Class ticket status as a whole. Food was acceptable. This carrier was the only available to get me to Riyadh for a business meeting. I am not looking forward to the return flight and will plan ahead next time in order not to fly Saudi Arabian.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  18 November 2008 : by Graham McMahon

JED-JFK in Business class. Flight operates on a 747; business is in the dome 2-2 layout. JED airport is hopelessly disorganized; security is onerous without being thorough. Saudia airport staff disdainful and unhelpful. Business lounge is basic and has no wifi; food in lounge was stale and cold; bathrooms filthy. Bus to all planes. Flight left 30 mins late. Seat pitch very poor in business, but good footrest. Be aware that you cannot get around your seat partner if you choose a window seat. Cabin staff (from Asia) attentive but young and disorganized (eg stategy of dealing with cabin baggage is to ask you to find a place in main cabin downstairs to stow it). Recurrent airing on the loud-speakers of islamic prayers is somewhat disconcerting. Four-course food service was surprisingly good and tasty with wide array of choices, though icecream was melted. Difficult to sleep with such a poor seat recline on this 13.5 hr flight. Choice and quality of breakfast (incl cereal, yogurts, pastries, hot and cold, western and Arabian choices) were good. Overall (other than JED experience), Saudia was better than expected, but falls significantly behind standard of major international carriers.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review :  13 November 2008 : by S Habib

LHR to JED. Excellent modern aircraft, on time. JED-DAC flight cancelled, had to wait another 4 days for flight. DAC-RUH-LHR. old 747, half empty aircraft. Arrived RUH in morning, waited another 14 hours before boarding our second flight to LHR. Very poor customer service, staff on ground can be unfriendly.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review : 18 October 2008 : by S Purnani

Customer Rating :  3/5

Paris to Jeddah via Rome and Madinah - the routing turns this into a horribly long flight and logic dictates that the next time I would seriously consider Air France direct flight. From Paris the flight was delayed, we never received a delayed announcement nor did the new timing show on the departure screen. The aircraft was a B777, we were seated at the back of economy with massive leg room. Paris-Rome sector we were served a hot meal, Rome-Riyadh, another hot meal. Riyadh-Jeddah we received a hot roll. Food quantity was great and quality even better, we were surprised. The cabin crew were helpful, responded to requests for extra water, coke etc The also handed out newspapers and magazines. I understand that Saudia will reconfigure the B777s starting this year, its about time, hopefully they wont follow the trend of installing 10 across seating in economy. Upon arrival in Jeddah, the airport is in a state of flux whilst renovations are going on in the baggage hall, this is the same reason why the business lounge isn’t available with complete facilities in the departure area.

SAUDI ARABIAN AIRLINES review : 11 August 2008 : by S Smith

Customer Rating :  3/5

Jeddah-Bahrain-Jeddah economy. Embraer 170 aircraft in good condition with adequate leg room. Both flights on time and arrived slightly early. Food OK if nothing to write home about. Newspapers handed out in economy. On the return flight I had to point out to the trainee stewardess that the life jacket pouch under the seat was empty, she laughed nervously and removed one from another seat but it had clearly not been checked. On arrival back in Jeddah the stewardess warmly welcomed us to Bahrain. Amusing!

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.