Saudi Arabian Airlines

Not Verified | My flight was delayed over 3 hours. It’s not the first time I chose Saudia as a carrier due to the good quality on board service and punctuality. Hence, it disappoints me even more how I was treated as a loyal customer. As soon as I received the information about the delay I knew that I wouldn’t be able to make it to my next flight that was leaving from Paris to Warsaw at 4.20pm. It was the separate booking as unfortunately Saudia doesn’t operate in Poland. I went to the passenger claim office in Jeddah to tell them about my issue and then I was being transferred to some person in the transfer area who told me that the delay is my fault as I don’t have the connecting flight. Then I was transferred again to 2 other places but no one was treating me seriously as a customer. Just to make it clear - due to the delayed over 3 hours flight I had to book another flight. So not only I lost the tickets I’ve already had but also had to buy the new ones in the last moment. I was travelling with my husband. In total we both lost almost 1100 EUR because of Saudia, not mentioning the time and tiredness since we had travelled all the way from Jakarta. Since Saudia is not an EU carrier and the flight departed from non EU country I’m not eligible for the compensation according to the EU regulations. And Saudia seemed very happy about the fact that there is absolutey nothing I can do so that they take some responsibility. They distributed free refreshments to make it up to the passengers. It’s obvious that people have plans and might have booked some other connections later. I always recommended Saudia as a carrier but now I feel only anger and disappointment.

✅ Trip Verified | The flight from Lahore to Jeddah was more than 5 hours and the staff was unprofessional. The crew pretty much disappeared after the meal was given and came back 10 minutes before landing. They were actively ignoring passengers' requests. I had to wait hours to get a glass of water. There was no tea served at all on a 5 plus hours flight. I'm never flying Saudi again.

✅ Trip Verified | I am writing to express my profound dissatisfaction with the appalling service I received during my journey on flight SV38 from Dulles International (IAD) to Riyadh (RUH) on 30th September 2024, connecting to flight SV637 to Amman (AMM). Due to external events, flight SV637 made a U-turn and returned to Riyadh one hour into the flight. What followed was a nightmare: I was informed the flight would depart at 21:30, but that flight never happened. Eventually, I was rebooked on flight SV633, which finally departed on 2nd October after nearly 43 hours of delays. During this ordeal, Saudia showed a shocking disregard for passengers, stranded in Terminal 4 with no access to lounges or proper resting facilities. We were kept in the terminal overnight, receiving no assistance. The only provision offered was an inadequate box with a cheese sandwich, a small water bottle, and sugary juice—a gross insult after hours of waiting. Upon arriving in Amman, the misery continued when I discovered my luggage was missing. At the baggage claims office, I was met with the most unprofessional and belligerent employee, devoid of empathy for passengers who had been in transit for over 45 hours. As of today, 3rd October, I still have no information regarding my luggage.

✅ Trip Verified | I lost my checked bag when I flew from Jeddah to LAX on 7 September. I opened a claim upon my arrival at the airport, open another claim online, submitted a complaint online, sent multiple emails, called the US 800 number multiple times and called the international number for Jeddah airport. It has been more than 10 days and I am not getting any responses at all. My bag has an airtag that shows its location at King Abdulazziz international airport terminal 1 yet nobody can locate it.

Not Verified | The last time we flew Saudi Arabian Airlines was well over 15 years ago. If memory serves, the cabin crew were a delight, customer service was outstanding, and the planes and onboard entertainment were decent. This time, (August 2024), we flew out of Riyadh (during a transit from an inbound Jeddah flight) to London. Saudi Airline gound crew were non existent. We had to traverse the entire length of the airport, past the baggage claim, before a helpful airport security employee signposted us to circle back to the baggage claim section/building exits, noting the airport bus which we would need to take to get to the Terminal 4 building for our Outbound London flight. All this with my daughter who has mobility issues. We turned back, walked back towards baggage claim, exited the building and found ourselves out in Riyadh. Again, no ground crew to redirect international passengers. We saw one bus, asked the driver and got on board. Shortly, found other passengers joining us. All equally confused, but finding reassurance when we spoke with each other that this was an official airport bus, and it'd be taking us to T4. Once the flight had been announced, we all headed to the boarding gate again, here there was no rhyme or reason, with people rocking up late with bags and shown to the front of the queue, despite our Boarding passes having codes. Once on board the aircraft. My daughter & I were put into separate seats, despite Saudia having forced us earlier to pay for the privilege of seating next to each other, and at the front of the plane. Despite our protests, the cabin crew were not helpful, nor understanding but simply stating to take it up with Saudia ground staff in London. Onboard entertainment didn't work. The screen was non-responsive to touch. The return leg was spent looking at the overhead flight map. Outdated in-flight entertainment equipment.

✅ Trip Verified | Travelled with SA recently and observed poor hospitality and no entertainment for kids. I have travelled earlier (2019) and service quality was acceptable. I recommend the SA team to work on improvement of quality services and guests satisfaction. Thank you!

✅ Trip Verified | They will take your money but give you an inferior product. Our flight was downgraded from a 787 to an ancient Boeing 777-300ER. No entertainment. Rubbish seats and everything looked so worn.

Not Verified | Paid and requested for bassinet. Bassinet was confirmed upon arrival with the front desk while checkin. However only upon entering the plane did we know that we did not get a bassinet seat and had to hold our 9 months baby for the during of our 8hrs 15 mins flight in a very cramped space. The air hostess who we mentioned our bassinet to kept talking in a very sarcastic and said ‘sorry flight full cannot do anything only one economy seat left on whole flight, please go sit’.

✅ Trip Verified | Saudia continues to lower the bar in terms of customer service. Their call center team has limited to no ability to support on anything beyond sales and seems unaware of most protocols in place - all they do is refer you to email and website forms to fill that have gotten 0 replies for a couple of months. Every operator has a different perspective and approach (one mentioned email, other web page form, another to go to the airport; the airport team members also had a different perspectives). It seems there are no standard protocols to be followed at Saudia or their staff is unaware of them.

✅ Trip Verified | Very poor experience with Saudia Airlines which was well below what you would expect from a national carrier from their home airport. Flight was delayed almost 4 hours and the communication from ground staff was non-existent with no updates or information. Comfort refreshments were also only offered after well over 3 hours and only after customers became angered at the way they had been treated. To make it even worse the template possibly automated responses from their guest relations team online showed a lack of interest in the way they deal with complaints and customer issues. I will not be using again if I have the choice and can think of several competitors I will pay more for the improved service.