FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - First time to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (and other parts of the Al-Jazeera region)
Old Dec 21, 2017, 3:37 am
  #1  
bwiadca
 
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: BWIADCA
Posts: 1,882
First time to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (and other parts of the Al-Jazeera region)

After completing few mileage runs few days earlier (and making United Gold), I was scheduled to visit few customers in the ME region.
Originally I was scheduled to just visit customer in Riyadh, but after few days they scheduled me for a meeting in Doha. I took the opportunity to visit Dubai for the first time, only for plane spotting.
My routes were as follow:

IAD-FRA United B777-200
FRA-RUH Lufthansa A330-300
RUH-MCT Oman Air B737-900
MCT-DOH Oman Air B737-800
DOH-MCT Oman Air B737-900
MCT-DXB Oman Air B737-900
DXB-BAH Gulf Air A321-200
BAH-RUH Gulf Air A330-200
RUH-FRA Lufthansa A330-300
FRA-ZRH Lufthansa A320-200
ZRH-IAD United B767-300

My buddy picked me up from my place way before my departure time out of Dulles. Around 2pm there were no lines at TSA Pre Check stations so I was airside in no time. Hungry and thirsty I headed to Chef Geoff's restaurant. I've eaten there before, and I like the food they serve. At the restaurant I had double Jameson with Coke and chicken sandwich.





Later I've decided to check if my Star Gold status will reflect on the lounge access. After scan of my boarding pass I was invited to the lounge. The lounge itself was still half empty. Typical snack selection and free house booze. I had few glasses of red wine and lengthy conversation with another avid traveler.
Boarding started on time and soon I was walking to my seat.

December 6 2017
UA989
IAD - FRA
United Airlines
Boeing 777-200
N792UA
26C E+
Actual flight time: 6:54hrs


I was very happy to discover that I don't have any seatmates. It's rarely happens on United flights lately. So I had 3 seats to myself.





Shortly after take off, drink service started, following meal service. I had chicken with something. It was uneatable.
Absolutely nasty.





I've picked the chicken and left the rest. Had one more cup of red wine and went to sleep on my tripple seats. I slept for almost 4 hours.
Probably the longest sleep ever in economy seat for me.
Before the landing breakfast service occurred with some pastry and yogurt.
We've landed few minutes before the schedule. I had to take 25 minutes trek from concourse A to concourse B in Terminal 1. Since I was not entering EU I didn't have to go through passport control, just security check point.

Found the Lufthansa lounge (*G) and entered it without any problems. I didn't know if they will require actual plastic card from me.
Got nice spot close to the buffet and enjoyed real food for a change. I had 5 hours to kill so I've decided to take the shower and change some clothes. That didn't kill much time. Later I was looking at my reservation online and I saw that I can upgrade to Premium Economy on my next leg to Riyadh for $225. Why not. I haven't flown in LH PE before so it will be my first time.
I did that at the front desk in the lounge. After that I had only 3 more hours to kill
To kill boredom I had few glasses of Scotch, some more food and few more glasses of Scotch
I left the lounge 1 hour before departure time and wondered around the concourse.


December 7 2017
LH636
FRA - RUH
Lufthansa
Airbus A330-300
D-AIKM
26A Premium Economy
Actual flight time: 5:09hrs



Boarding for my Riyadh flight started on time. It was done from the bus gate. Passport and visa checks and we were allowed to the bus.
Our aircraft was parked at the remote stand, close to runway 18.



The seats in LH Premium Economy are much nicer than in United's E+. Each seat also had amenity kit and bottle of water. My seat was located in mini cabin, in the last row of PE.



Everybody in my section of PE had two seats to themselves. The overall load on this flight was about 100 passengers.



After the take off drink service followed hot towel service. I think I had enough alcohol in the past several hours that for the rest of the flight I was just drinking water I didn't want to land at KSA for the first time drunk

The meal on this flight was chicken or pasta. I've opted for chicken.



After the meal I've watched few shows on my ipad and completely exhausted I've passed out. I woke up about one hour before the landing.
It was also time to serve second meal. I'm not completely positive, but it was tuna salad sandwich.











Right before the landing, the purser informed passengers about strict rules of no alcohol/porn in the KSA.
When we got to the gate only about half of the people got up and proceeded to exit the aircraft. Rest of them were continuing to Dammam.

When you arrive at Riyadh airport, you have 3 choices, First Time arrivals lane, Returning visitors lane and Diplomatic/Business lane.
Since this was my first time to the KSA I've picked the First Time arrival lane. Had my pictures and fingerprints taken. It took about 10 minutes. Then I was welcomed to the Kingdom. Baggage claim is located right after you pass passport control. My bag was one of the first one out (priority tag working?). After collecting my bag I queued in another line to scan my bag and my backpack.

Not having any contraband I was once again welcomed to the Kingdom. In the arrivals hall I started searching for money exchange place.
I couldn't find any so I've asked store employee where I can exchange money to Saudi Riyals. I was directed to the bank where I stood in lane for quite some time.
With local money in my pocket I went outside to catch the taxi (picking up Uber at RUH airport is illegal, despite Saudi government investing millions of $$$ in Uber and Careem service in KSA). As typical at any airport, there was a lot of solicitation from "unauthorized" taxi drivers. I was told by my coworker to go to the white taxi lane and take the car from there.
And that's what I did. My driver did not speak word of English and didn't know where my hotel was. Finally he pulled over and handed me his phone to put the hotel's address in google maps. After driving around in the heavy traffic for 1.5 hours, we finally arrived at my hotel. The driver told me the cost for the trip is 150 SAR (about $40). Of course that was a rip off, since the trip shouldn't cost more than 95 SAR ($25). I was tired and didn't want to argue with the driver in a place where I haven't been before.
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