Kind of a continuation from my last flight- this again was just not at all what I was expecting. Hi
there, my name is Kevin and I make honest and to the point narrated trip reports about flights and
premium hotels all over the world. This is episode 134 on my 2nd Saudia flight continuing from Jeddah
to Kuala Lumpur. Stick around because the full Saudia long haul experience begins in 10 seconds.
Exactly two years ago from today, November 14th, the day I’m editing this video,
I filmed my first ever video in Vietnam as sort of a trial run. I had no idea what Youtube would
bring, but I certainly never expected to be starting a video with, Welcome to Jeddah.
If you’d like to know more about the incredible fare that I paid for this
flight or my next five videos in queue, please check out the description below.
King Abdulaziz International Airport, where we are now,
is the third largest airport in Saudi Arabia and in 2019 debuted this brand new terminal,
replacing what looked to be a horror show of a terminal used previously.
As we head into the Alfursan Business Class lounge, let me mention that whether or not
this video is a horror show or not depends on what happens on this flight- as in,
you’re just going to get my honest opinion today. This video is unsponsored and I wouldn’t
dream of reviewing an airline that was paying me because sponsored unbiased reviews don’t exist.
So sit back and relax knowing this flight was 100% self funded.
Ok, so far, we’ve got a small duty free shop, golden columns, a white baby grand piano back
there and enough powder blue leather to upholster half of Long Island- it is clear that Saudia is
trying to prove something with this lounge and I gotta say, they’ve done quite well in here.
No matter what brought you to this video today, if you enjoy it, please give it a thumbs up and
subscribe- two things that massively support the channel against my biggest competitor,
the Youtube Algorithm. Y’all are the sponsors of this video, so ever snippet of engagement
really does help. And as always, if you have any feedback or suggestions,
please let me know in the comments below- I’m always looking for ways to improve my content.
While not quite a private room, the lounge does have slumber rooms available which are
semi private nooks available on a willy nilly first come first served basis. Based on how many
people popped their head around the glass into my temporary home, I’d say they could have tripled
the number of these rooms. Considering I had a six hour layover, my first few hours here were greatly
appreciated. There are also shower facilities and a litany of other features on offer- such as the
digital library, the game room, the coffee lounge and my personal favorite, the Post Dining Lounge.
It would be a logical assumption to make that this lounge is so big and so impressive because Saudia
is trying to rebuild- or perhaps just, build their brand into a multinational operation from
their two main cities of Jeddah and Riyadh. While that is true, there’s another factor-
another airline actually, to consider. I’ll explain as we take a look at the food on offer.
By the way, yes Saudia is a dry airline and there is no alcohol permitted in the lounge or on board.
Announced a few months back, the Saudi government is creating a new Airline, supposedly called RIA.
For the record, everything I’m saying in this part is based on tidbits of news about the
new airline or my own speculations. The plan is to create a totally new airline
with aspirations a la Emirates to be based in Riyadh, while Saudia would remain in Jeddah.
Every article written about this story asks the same question, “Why create another full
service airline? Why not just expand Saudia? If Saudia has too much baggage, why not just
rebrand the existing airline?” Well, I think I know why and I think it’s all about alcohol.
Let’s take a walk to the gate and discuss. In Saudi Arabia’s effort to transition away
from an oil based economy, the government has a goal of welcoming 100 million tourists per year,
starting in 2030. For any country, that would be a whackadoodle goal,
but for a country that just a couple years ago didn’t even effectively have tourist visas,
it seems crazy- and so some crazy solutions are being proposed. For example, did you know there
is a man made resort town being created on the Red Sea, cleverly named the Red Sea Project?
Wanna know what they’re building there? Oh, just an Edition Hotel, a Grand Hyatt, a Fairmont,
an SLS, a Six Senses, a Jumeirah, a Raffles, an Intercontinental, a St. Regis, a Ritz-Carlton
Reserve, a Rosewood, a Faena and a Miraval… and almost all of this is opening, next year!
Chew on that as we take a look at today’s flight stats. We would be taking off a few
minutes behind schedule on our way up to 37,000 feet for our almost 9
hour journey to Kuala Lumpur where we would be landing a full minute early.
Boarding began and we made our way to our three year old 787-10.
I’ll wrap up my RIA story. I think Saudi Arabia wants to have their cake and eat it too. Or in
this case, have their wine and drink it too. It’s already been announced that alcohol will
be permitted- under regulations- in the Red Sea Project. Alcohol also hasn’t officially been
ruled out from the Neom project- the Kingdom’s futuristic city built in a straight line. So
here’s my theory. Saudia, will remain committed to Jeddah, will remain a dry airline and will
continue to be the country’s Hajj workhorse, narrowing it’s focus to religious tourism. RIA,
which I’m guessing stands for Riyadh International Airlines, who has already poached Etihad CEO Tony
Douglas, will target an international market focused on transit passengers and new streams of
tourism revenue. But this is just my theory and I could certainly be proven totally wrong tomorrow.
Anyway, here we are on board. A bit of an awkward boarding situation, turning left and then walking
through four rows of economy before making our way to the very pink and purple business class cabin.
Let’s take a closer look at our Collins Aerospace Super Diamond layout.
The 787-10s have six rows of business class seats in a 1-2-1 all aisle access layout. While there is
a window between row 4 and 5 missing, it is well placed behind the console so walk on the wild
side and choose any seat you’d like. For a bit of extra counter space above your IFE monitor,
choose a bulkhead seat as I did, 1L. Our
seat is well known and well adored for its all around great package on offer. The same seat is
used to varying degrees by American Airlines, British Airways and Qatar Airways among others.
If traveling in a pair, you may prefer two seats in the middle
and here is the extra counter space at the bulkhead seats I mentioned.
Legroom is ample in width and depth and easily fits my backpack under the foot rest. Your drink
of choice was served as a pre departure beverage along with a hot scented towel.
There are many variations of this seat, especially around this storage compartment,
but I have to say this is my favorite setup with the storage compartment empty for you to use,
with the IFE remote and outlets conveniently placed outside of the cubby, just to your side.
Quality headphones were waiting at the seat,
there was an over shoulder reading light and a coathook on the other side.
The seat controls were on an LED touch pad and were intuitive and
on the opposite side we had our arm rest which could be raised and lowered,
convenient if you want to slide out during meal service. There’s also more storage inside.
If that wasn’t enough there's also a final storage cubby down near your knee.
By the way, this flight departed at 2:10am which is why everything is so
dark. The headphones on offer were higher quality than most airlines
and the tray table easily extended out and unfolded. One of my favorite configurations.
And thank you Saudia for being one of the very few airlines that has personal air vents on a 787.
The cabin crew came around with what looked to be a very nice amenity kit. In reality,
it’s super stiff and a bit cheap feeling but comes fully stocked with everything you’d
need for a flight, including products from Grown Alchemist. The interior is also pretty stylish.
As I mentioned in my last video, I love the Covid kits from Saudia and think their execution,
design and local relevance is a really nice touch.
Pushback began and we would be taking off to the north before turning to the
southeast for the duration of the flight. The spool up and take off are up next.
I must have been tired becuase I counted the movies on offer, which you can see on the screen
now, but forgot to film more than a second or two of the IFE monitor which was a good quality.
A quick bathroom trip showed a nicely maintained and clean room
which remained that way, more or less, throughout the flight.
Saudia did have one of their fancy onboard chefs on board tonight's flight, but no paper menus.
So just as my last flight the flight attendant, who was friendly enough, read the choices out of
her own personal hello kitty notebook. It was a breakfast service with a choice of Arabic Mezze,
Granola with Yogurt, a Fruit Plate or Cucumber Tomato Dukah for starter and for the main,
Waffles, Scrambled Eggs, Shakshoke Scrambled Eggs or Foul. I you can see I went for the beautifully
presented granola, served with breakfast pastries and the foul, served with pita and mixed berries.
If you’re planning on getting some sleep, well, good luck to you. For a flight of
this length the blanket and pillow both fell short- no seat covers were offered either.
Also, as there was no paper menu, I wasn’t aware of what the next meal service would
entail. Imagine my surprise when I woke up 90 minutes before arrival- groggy as
anything- only to find out, there was no second meal service. Ok, strange…
10 minutes later I asked for at least a coffee, which was refused since the fasten seat belt sign
was on- it had been on I believe the entire time I was awake. I asked if it was actually brewed,
it was… so I asked could they serve it to me over ice. Also refused. If you’ve watched any
of my videos before, you can imagine this was not how I wanted to start my morning.
Anyway, soon enough we were on approach to KLIA anyway, so I
could just get some coffee in the airport.
We passed the Malaysia A380s which have essentially been parked there since long
before COVID, barely being used and made our way to the satellite terminal in KLIA1.
I hopped on board my favorite little airport
train and off I was to find coffee. Let’s head into the Flip Flop Score.
Overall, relative to the price paid, that’s key to what I’m about to say, it was a good experience.
If this was what I’d considered a normal priced fare, then the low quality bedding
and lack of a 2nd meal service would be irking me more than it did in this case.
As for the service- it wasn’t as great as my first flight and some of the flight attendants were a
bit robotic, but overall it wasn’t half bad. Would I fly Saudia again? For the right price, yes.
I hope you enjoyed this video and if you did, ask that you give it a
thumbs up and subscribe so you don’t miss a beat. Continuing with the cheap theme,
I’ll see you next time at the world’s cheapest Mandarin Oriental in Kuala Lumpur.