Originally Posted by tom tulpe

The main difference, as incidentally is the case bewtween most of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, ist that as soon as EK and/or tourism to Dubai are involved, the former only pay lip service to Islamic law (e.g. EY have an extensive drinks menu on board in F/J, but it's printed on a separate sheet, not on the main menu, so they can argue that they don't serve alcohol to Muslims). In the air and in their countries, they allow alcohol and all sorts of other stuff that's officially haram, as long as it happens between tourists and kinda out of sight. Even Qatar has relaxed its rules to make DOH a viable connecting hub.

Saudi Arabia is a long way away from that sort of pragmatism - how are you going to attract connecting traffic if single women who miss their connecting flight can't leave the airport without a male guardian? And no, pictures of Cristiano Ronaldo's partner (not "wife") in skinny jeans and a T-Shirt (no headscarf) at a football match do not mean life has changed for everybody else too.