Saudi Arabian Airlines

Jeddah to London in Guest Class (Oct 25). Clean and roomy 777 with seatback screens showing recent Western and Arabic movies and TV shows on demand amenity packs for children a good lunch shortly after take off (including specially ordered children's meals which were great) and sandwiches with a chocolate bar an hour before landing. Check-in calm and well organized in the dedicated Saudia terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport boarding was orderly and our luggage was on the belt swiftly at LHR. Arabic coffee served before departure by a friendly and professional crew. Passengers in all cabins receive an amenity pack. Last time we flew Saudi we returned via Paris CDG. In common with Frankfurt Rome Milan Madrid and Geneva the continental European cities use a much smaller Airbus A320/1 which adds to the length of the flight and the entertainment systems are also a bit more basic. Nonetheless staff and service are just as pleasant and irrespective of the route or the aircraft standard leg room - at 34" in Economy - is amongst the most generous we have encountered.

Jeddah - Damman. A321. Business class. Was the only one is business class apart from a crew member. Despite warnings about switching off electronic devices he insisted on using it the entire flight. Food was great hot breakfast with fruit salad and pastries. Honestly even with just one passenger the cabin crew seemed disinterested. Bussed requiring a headset and gave up after 10 minutes. You could seem them sitting in the galley. The best part about the flight was the food.

RUH-JED. Check in at Riyadh was fast and easy no waiting at security. Information on the ground is not very good. Change of boarding gate not announced so a bit chaos for boarding. Flight on time A319. Economy seating comfortable good space between rows. Small snacks and drinks during flight crew very polite and attentive. Bags on belt short 10 min after arrival at the lounge.

Mumbai to London. Staff attentive food excellent. Entertainment was fine. Stopover in Riyadh was good. A very cheap flight at £135 one way but at full fare I would still have been happy.

CDG-JED-TUU. After a good trip from RUH-LHR we then caught Eurostar to Paris. Upon checking in at CDG were told that the seats we had booked for travel between JED and TUU had been cancelled without reason. Staff at CDG were then able to re-book 3 seats for my wife and children but on arrival at JED it turned out they had been cancelled as well once again with no apparent reason. After 3 fruitless hours of to-ing and fro- ing between every desk possible with no-one was able to tell us why seats had been cancelled. We had to come back at 04.00 to see if we could get standby seats meaning we had to stay at a hotel. Thankfully we got seats for the early morning flight. Not a very good experience. I must say there was some helpful staff but mostly not much seemed to get done.

LHR-RUH-KUL. I was pleasantly surprised. Quick easy check-in at Heathrow polite service excellent meals with generous portions and on demand inflight entertainment up to any airline's standards. Planes were in good order and the 3 hour transit in Riyadh was hassle free. The only negatives were that the flight attendants did not respond to the call button and on the RUH-KUL sector the toilets were in an unusable state by the end of the flight. Overall a good experience and would fly with them again if they continue to have low fares.

RUH-MNL. Excellent flight. Flight left on time and the service was good. The entertainment was something to be desired. Overall a pleasant flight on Saudi Airlines.

Many internal sectors flown on Saudia over the past 6 months. I tend to prefer the A320 and A321 aircraft rather than the widebodies although the best aircraft is the E70 in terms of seat comfort and space. I've never been delayed and baggage has always arrived quickly. Food is served on most flights but is often bland and unappetising. Flew the 777 from JED to DMM 2 days ago and it was very uncomfortable. Was grateful we landed early so as not to spend any longer in the seat. From my experience Saudia are ok for short sectors (not that there is much choice in Saudi) but I wouldn't consider them long haul.

London to Jeddah was ok apart from there being no available inflight entertainment meal choice was non existent and you got what was left. Flight from Jeddah to Manila - seat had no recline at all and yet again no working inflight entertainment. Return flight Manila to Riyadh with no inflight entertainment worked only for half the cabin unfortunately not my side. Saudi then changed the connecting flight time from Riyadh to London. When this was noticed at check-in in Manila the Saudi staff claimed my itinerary and ticket was wrong! Very poor customer service.

LHR-JED in Business with a punctual departure and good level of comfort onboard a 777. Hot towels arabic coffee and dates before pulling back from the gate excellent juices and hot drinks and a more up-to-date entertainment selection than expected. The meal service was nicely done and the lunch enjoyable. Early landing easy boarding and disembarking. Pleasant and professional crew. Very good value for the fare paid.