Saudi Arabian Airlines

Flew LHR to LHE via JED. The flight from LHR to JED was fairly good quality which was an A330-300. Seats were good and quite clean. Stopover was for half a day. I would now choose not to fly to JED only if leaving there. Staff don't try to speak even basic English despite it being an important international airport and no communication facilities (telephone) if there are delays. Flight from JED to LHE was unbelievable. They gave us a very old plane (Boeing 747) and most hostesses don't seem too friendly compared to the other flights. TV's will never work on these flights and quality of plane compared to one going to the west doesn't seem right - the quality should be the same. Better to fly to Riyadh for a stop over as some attempt to speak English. Always try to ensure the stopover is kept short.

My flight was cancelled on the departure day when everyone was waiting for boarding. We were asked to wait for hours in the airport and the staff were not helpful at all, leaving all the passengers in panic. We were promised to have our flight on the next day at 10am and had us waiting at the airport from 5am in the morning. Bad service and also provide flight that would not work for connecting flight. Waited for almost 2 days to have flight. Asked for refund but never received a reply from them.

Outbound from Heathrow was good. Food was served with a menu card, nice silver cutlery and service was professional despite having many trainees onboard. B777 aircraft - seat was brand new and very comfortable legroom. 3 entrée choices on the menu usually only two for other airlines. Toilet clean, aircraft clean. After the 4.5 hours transit transfering to a different B777 and everything changed. More experienced staff but toilet dirty even before boarding. Crew were rude denying me to use the toilet despite the flight being grounded for 1.5hours delay without any explanation. Food not served with any menu card like previous leg, had to ask staff to show before serving and it was cold. Plane was dirty could see clumps of dirt and dust on the floor. Seat not that comfortable but legroom was still bearable. Overall mixed experience, will take it because of the 46kg luggage allowance something not seen even in business class for most airlines.

Better aircraft now with the B777-300ER unlike before with the old B747s - very significant improvement. Cabin lights were changing from light yellow to purple. I had the seafood meal which was OK. Inflight entertainment has a fairly good selection of movies (still with blurs and cuts though). Price not very far from the competing airline that offers direct route from DMM-MNL (about 50 to 100 SAR difference) but still provides full airline service. One negative thing is the boarding gate in MNL airport terminal 1. There were not enough seats for the all the passengers. Some were standing up while waiting for boarding. Check-in process was OK. Good value for money. Can compare now with Emirates and Etihad.

Travelled from JNB-JED. IFE was very good. Seat was comfortable. Crew was pleasant and helpful. The real prize winner was the food. Absolutely delicious! The returning flight was bad. JED airport was dirty and smelt. Cabin crew on the aircraft were rude. I asked for a croissant she said rudely: "what?" The time food was disgusting.

Recently flew HYD-RUH in Business and have to say it wasn't a pleasant experience. Food was terrible the crew seem disinterested and allowed children to stand up during landing. I had the misfortune to visit one of the toilets and found the entire seat and floor covered in dirt and discarded paper. Advised the attendant and she shrugged her shoulders. Wasn't expecting much and didn't get it. The toilet experience though was the worst I've seen in 30 years of flying and it was in the J class cabin!

I recently went on a class trip to Rome with 17 teenagers RUH-FCO-RUH. We were all seated together for both flights and overall had an acceptable experience. I was unpleasantly surprised however by the poor quality of the food and inflight entertainment. The food from Riyadh was nearly inedible and because we were on an older smaller airplane the inflight video entertainment was central with fold up overhead screens. Unfortunately from Rome to Riyadh there was no inflight video entertainment at all. For a daytime flight. Otherwise staff were mostly attentive and there were no other issues. You'd expect a flight leaving Rome to have nice food though no?

My children and I had a terrible experience. We were not allowed to check-in our luggage at Queen Alia Airport before plastic-wrapping all the bags even though we did not have to do that when departing from Canada. We were never informed when booking or before boarding the SA flight from Canada that we had to plastic-wrap our bags. Second wheelchair service was not provided although I was instructed to wait in the check-in lobby until a wheelchair became available. No wheelchair came and my name was called out to board the plane and I had to rush through security and get to the gate while limping and pulling carry-on bags pushing a stroller and taking care of my sons. Third our itinerary did not include a stop in Jeddah on the trip from Riyadh to Toronto. Fourth my seat was broken on the flight from Riyadh to Jeddah and I could not sit in the seat properly. When I complained to the flight attendant they did nothing until I escalated the case and was moved to a new seat row as a result. Fifth my son's stroller was checked in at the gate in Queen Alia Airport and was supposed to be available at the gate in Toronto Pearson Airport but it was delayed. When I picked up my luggage at Vancouver International Airport the stroller was not found. The YVR staff kindly helped me file a delayed luggage claim located the stroller and delivered it a few days later.

My flight was on 19th February SV 755 Business Class aircraft Airbus 330-300 from HYD-JED. This time the plane was in good condition and the seat was quite comfortable and newly designed love the re-imagined seat. Firstly dates and Gahwa was served as a Saudi tradition after the takeoff menu was given in which we could select our preferable meal. The food was good the cabin crew were friendly but the Inflight entertainment was not working as I said to the crew members they said they were trying their best and after 2 hours the flight entertainment started working. Overall enjoyed my flight and looking forward in flying with this airline again.

Flew JED-MNL on February 5 2015. First time after many years. Heard feedback that service is now better but didn't really feel that. Also heard that planes traveling to and from Manila have been replaced with new ones since January 2015. The one I boarded on doesn't fit the description of "new". Departure from Jeddah on time arrival in Manila 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. Only two meals for a 10-hour non-stop flight. Was really hungry by the time the second meal came 8 hours after the first. Both meals are just very ordinary. Entertainment is ok but still far from EK and Cathay Pacific.