After a relatively short but comfortable night in the airside Aerotel in Jeddah airport, I made my way down to gate 10a for boarding the 06h25 flight to Tunis. This was a gate dedicated to business class passengers only, economy class was allocated gate 10b. I found myself on an Airbus 330 again but somehow the seating was more comfortable. I have read that there are a certain number of older A330s at Saudia with varying degrees of comfort. So I must have got lucky, because the outbound TUN-JED flight a week earlier was not so comfortable.

After take-off we were served breakfast and I chose the Saudia Sufrah Arabian option, with fava beans stewed in tomato, garlic and lemon, along with Arabic breakfast salad and Arabic bread. I complemented this with a smoothie of Saudi dates and bananas, then hot coffee. I must say that the catering on Saudia flights is outstanding. I used the recliner seat to sleep for a good part of the flight, but not before I was able to admire the mind boggling landscape of Egypt below. This landscape resembled the planet Mars and became increasingly wild the further we flew from the Red Sea coast, the contours of the stony mountains and sand dunes thrown into sharp relief by the morning sun. There were also unforgettable views as we came into land at Tunis. Who needs IFE with these views outside?

Rating 8*
Seat 1L
Aircraft 333
Registration HZ-AQH



My Saudia Business class seat right at the front of the cabin, on the A330-300 aircraft


Amazing bewitching landscapes over the middle of Egypt


Early morning breakfast service began with hot nuts and a yogurt drink


The full Arabian breakfast service was outstanding - Saudia is certainly a winner with its food service


The coast of Tunisia before landing at Tunis airport TUN


The city of Tunis as we came in to land