Part 4: Rome Fiumicino (FCO) to Riyadh (RUH) on Saudia business class
Flight SV208 - Airbus A320 - Seat 4A - 350 EUR as part of FCO-RUH-CGK
STD 3.40pm - STA 9.40pm (flight time 5h00m)

The boarding gate at FCO was mercifully devoid of gate lice, and gate agents called a few people – including me – forward to have their visa checked. The problem was not Indonesia by itself (as I can get a VOA stamp) but the gate agents demanded to see proof of onward travel to a third country just to confirm I indeed truly can get a visa on arrival. Showing an email confirmation of my award flight from Surabaya to Singapore was enough.



Standing near the gate gave me a good opportunity to take a snap of the A320 that would take us to Riyadh. Saudia is about as far as it gets from the world's sexiest companies to travel with, but I do love their livery – the colours match beautifully and are stylish.



The same cannot be said on board however. Priority boarding was neatly observed and I was the first to be on the plane. My first impressions were mixed: the seats looked good but the colour scheme is the same as my local dentist (there are worse however: looking at you, Korean Air!).



Saudia operates narrow-body aeroplanes to many of its mid-haul destinations in Europe. While obviously you don't want to have this for a night flight, I don't mind it at all for a day flight of five hours as in most cases I wouldn't sleep anyway – and if I want I could also doze off a bit in these chairs. Upon seating I found them to be very comfortable and better than similar seats I've travelled in on flights in Russia and the US.



For starters, the seat pitch just was great. Tons of space for your legs no matter where you put them!



There was however some wear and tear around the seat, table and controls. But everything did still function normally as headrest, seat, leg rest etc. are all adjustable. Seats have USB ports to charge your phone. The plane also had wifi, which I didn't try as the system forced me to download a weird application which frankly I did not fully trust (and neither did my phone giving some warnings).





PDBs were offered, so naturally I went for the champagne a lime juice – which was tasty and very refreshing. Hot towels were also distributed by the crew, which seemed friendly and welcoming yet a bit awkward in their service (more on that later).



After glasses and towels were taken by the crew we were rolling off on the tarmac towards the runway. As many surely know, Saudia always plays a pre-flight prayer which the Prophet Muhammed used to say during his travels to stay safe. As it starts with “Allahu akbar” ('God is greatest' in Arabic) it will for sure have the TSA on high alert if they'd listen in.



It was a short path to the runway of FCO and we were airborne right on time.







Shortly after the fasten seatbelts sign went off, the crew came out again to distribute amenity kits, which in my opinion is a nice touch on a daylight mid-haul flight. The Porsche Design kits did not have anything spectacular in it, but was not bad either. I do like the design of the brown bag.



The menus for today's flight were distributed as well a short while later. I found it a bit weird that Saudia does not list all drinks they have in their assortment. Especially as a dry airline you want to differentiate and offer a wide selection of non-alcoholic drinks. And even if they do have some intriguing juices, you would have to ask a FA for it what they actually offer. It would indeed be a bad omen for some very sloppy drinks services on both my Saudia flights – and the only real negative I have with the airline.







After the menus were distributed, the sole male FA (and sole FA from Saudi Arabia) came around to note meal preferences. The crew on this flight was very particular. The Saudi FA was actually a very friendly and welcoming guy – but my gosh – he was slow. It took an hour for him to note every meal preference for the entire business class cabin (which was completely full). The other flight attendants (from south-eastern Asia) were faster and more efficient, but not very welcoming somehow. We were almost one-and-a-half-hour into the flight – and way beyond Sicily about halfway to Crete – when the crew distributed Arab coffee and dates.



After more than two hours – well past Crete – where the meals finally handed out. Not that I don't mind a drawn-out dining experience (especially when there is no booze and a rather mediocre entertainment system/available movies) but this just seemed to be completely on the hands of a very inefficient crew.

Starters were brought on a plate. As I ordered the Arabic mezze as a starter I did not touch it until they also brought out the main dish (grilled lamb) so I could make a photo with both of them combined. Kudos for Saudia to serve proper Arabic flatbread to accompany the mezze dips.



Let's start with the positive: the meal tasted excellent. The mezze dips were yummy, the salad was good, the lamb succulent. It is really a job well done on that field. With the meal, a glass of water was served. And that is where it goes wrong. At not a single point since the PDB did the crew ask for any drinks preferences. I asked for another juice, but that was forgotten in the process as the crew was seemingly to disorientated/disorganised for that. As told before it did take the crew an hour to note down all dining wishes. It also took them one full hour from the moment person 1A got his meal, to the moment 5F got his. How on earth does it take one hour to put 20 trays on the tray tables?



No proper coffee machines on board this aircraft meant bad aeroplane coffee. The weird thing with the desserts is that the crew asked before about preferences, but in the end just rolled out a cart with all options on it and let us choose all over again. I made the mistake here by sticking to my initial preference of the Arabic pastries, even though the chocolate and cherry cake looked way bigger and more tasty on the cart. The pastries were rather disappointing both in taste and especially in size.



After the meal service the crew disappeared entirely from the cabin and only after a reminder by the call button I was finally given another juice. By the time the meal service ended we were already flying over the Nile Delta. Gotta be one of the least efficient meal services I ever saw. But what do I care for the price I paid? I had an absolutely tasty meal and was looking down the window on the Nile Valley – which somehow I found fascinating to see the lush river surroundings opposite the dry desert just a few miles away from the river.



From my two plane windows, I also had a great view of the sunset over North Africa.



Arrival into Riyadh was on time and spectacular. There is again just something fascinating here, landing in a giant city in what seems the middle of nowhere in the desert. Looking from the window, it looks like being caught inside the Matrix.









In short: It was a perfectly enjoyable flight for five hours, and especially given the price I should not complain at all. Except for the dessert, the meal was excellent and would easily beat a lot of more “reputable” carriers in J so to say. For a mid-haul day flight, the seat was also very comfortable, had lots of legroom, USB ports, and a decent enough entertainment system.

What was lacking though was the service. First of all, the meal service was just plain inefficient as it almost lasted four hours into the flight. Secondly, I can't understand why not at a single time any FA went around asking for refills or drinks wishes. Even though the crew was friendly enough, they did need a few reminders on some things like a simple refill of water. If Saudia would just improve its service when it comes to this they would have an amazing product for the price.

Next up:Riyadh Airport, the Saudia business lounge, and the flight to Jakarta.