I haven’t been through the Saudia Jeddah lounge for a while, so I thought I would quickly review it based on my transit there for 4+ hours the other night. My summary: more substance and quality needed.

My first visits to this lounge soon after it opened were incredible as of course I was comparing it with old hell-hole of the original Jeddah terminal and lounge. But now that this contrast has been forgotten, I am back to comparing it with other flagship lounges in the region, notably QR/DOH, EK/DXB, EY/AUH, as well as a couple of others that do not compete fully but are worth noting as well, such as GF/BAH and RJ/AMM.

Let’s start with some positives:

• It is fairly big and the entrance is impressive. So you do begin with a positive sensation!
• The food options are nice, with some original touches such as a pizza and pasta station, and good hearty meal options from the buffet, plus some competent baristas.
• Also unique ice creams are offered (pomegranate or lemon and mint lollies) and even a chocolate and cake bar (no time here to reflect on the long-term health consequences of the region’s addiction to sugar…).
• Lots of seating, with a good mix of solo and group seating. Even at peak time there seem to be seats available.

And things to be improved:

• Wifi! I think I used to have faster speeds with dial-up! Goes for both the lounge and airport wifi. Atrocious. It feels as if every email and webpage is being checked by someone and they will then decide if you get it or see it. But this is the same Saudi Arabia that has excellent internet speeds, including, for example, in the SV lounge in RUH. And it cannot even be that the airport is in some mysterious internet black hole, because the Plaza Premium lounge has great wifi (btw: my hack if you want to be connected to the 21st century is to pop into that lounge).
• Showers! Only one working shower. Seems to always be the case in this lounge. Facilities for premium transit passengers (there are many!) are important, that’s where the big three QR/EK/EY excel.
• Having said the food options are nice, they are also only of canteen standard. And curiously lacking in many Arabian options, especially in terms of mezze. I have previously tried the first class section of this lounge and its cook to order option, and it was more like reheat to order (an airplane food sensation on the ground).

This is not just “a” lounge. It is THE flagship lounge of this airline at its flagship airport. And on that basis alone I am afraid it only scores a 5/10. Improvement needed to get it to Vision 2030 standards!