Originally Posted by
zenith2010
Hi Tejasjog,
Did you travel on an Indian passport? I was under the impression that Indian passport holders might require a transit visa. One of my family member might be booking a JFK-BOM-JFK flight with layover either in Riyadh or Jeddah next year. She has an Indian passport, but works in the States. I have never been to either airports, so how much of a layover would you say is acceptable from a comfort/killing time perspective? On a slightly related note, are women transit passengers (who do not leave the terminal during transit) required to have a male companion while at Riyadh or Jeddah airports? I'd read something to this effect, and hence the question. Many thanks to you & to the other posters here.
zenith2010
Yes. We did travel with Indian passports. I think the transit visa is required only of the duration of the layover is more than 18 hours. We were there from 8pm tp 2am on the way to London and from 6am to 10am on the way back to Mumbai. There's nothing much to do at the airport except ait around and wait. But here's the thing during both our layovers, we were given meal boxes; onward it was with a hot meal tray with options for veg. fish chicken or lamb; return was a breakfast box. It was indeed a nice touch and very welcome! On the way back there was a Gujarati aunty who tagged along with us as requested by her daughter and son-in-law at LHR. So I guess there are single female travellers as well. Hope this helps.