iHere is a brief review of the Al Fursan program.

The current earning tables are here:
https://www.saudia.com/en-GB/earn-an...ng-with-saudia

Specifically:

* Saver 0%
* Basic 60%
* Semi Flex 80%
* Flex 110%

Status is earned on a calendar year basis (January 1 - December 31)

If you buy from Saudia directly, from London, the fares to say S or SE Asia in economy:

Saver (not available)
Basic £x return
Saver +£45 each-way
Flex +£54 each-way
(the premium varies by origin; from the US it's much more, from Indonesia less.)

The difference between these fares is that

Saver = 1x bag, non-cancellable
Semi-flex = 2x bag, £80 cancellation
Flex = 2x bag, free cancellation

For Business the rates are 125%, 150% and 175%, and the same (rather small) premium for Flex over Saver.

Note that Saudia has both 'tier credits' (for reaching status) and 'tier miles' (for spending)

Al Fursan has two levels:

Silver = Elite, at 25,000 miles or 20,000 miles to maintain
Gold = Elite Plus, at 50,000 miles or 40,000 miles to maintain

If you are not flying on Saudia, the program might not suit you.

However, on the other hand the mileage earning rates are clear and straightforward, and it's quite cheap to get the 110% rate.

I booked two cheap Saudia tickets LHR-CGK, and my segment fare codes were in

N, V, T, Q

So on Saudia I earn 110% for all, but if accruing to LotusMiles (Vietnam) it's 50% for NV, and 75% for TQ.
Meanwhile for Garudamiles it would be 0% for N, 50% for VQ, 75% for T.

For comparison you can get Lotusmiles Elite at 15,000 (but Elite Plus is a steep 50,000), and Garudamiles Elite is 20,000 to attain, 15,000 to renew, while Garudamiles Elite Plus is 40,000 to attain, 25,000 to renew.

Saudia's Silver/Elite status is very attractive if you are flying on Saudia, as not only do you get the extra bag from Skyteam but also lounge access, plus for one registered family member.

I flew from LHR T4, where the Skyteam lounges are:

T2 - Lufthanasa
T3 - No 1 Lounge, Cathay Pacific
T4 - Plaza Premium

The Saudia Lounge is upstairs from the Plaza Premium lounge which had a throng of people queuing to get in.

The Saudia lounge otoh was very civilised, and is only open to Saudia passengers with Saudia status or business/first class tickets, and has a tea bar with a selection of loose leaf teas served to your table as well as other things like milkshakes. They do not have alcohol but have a wide selection of de-alcoholised/non-alcoholic beer, spirits and wine. There was also hot and cold food, which is fine.

Unfortunately Saudia's IT has aspects to be desired. I am recently Saudia Silver and it shows on my app and when checking in online. However my boarding pass shows as Silver. When I checked in at Heathrow they told me I was Green. I said "look, I am silver". They weren't interested in discussing or helping but at least offered a fairly reasonable conclusion, which was to pay the $250 bag fee and reclaim from Saudi.

At Jeddah it was worse - I was not allowed into the lounge and was told to go off to the desk at gate 25 (which is quite far away). At gate 25 they sneered and said "Nothing we can do - you go back through security and go to the transfer desk". At the transfer desk it was the same, they didn't care and told me to write a complaint to Saudia. I said "well what can I do, I can't even pay?". and he said "yes you can pay".

So I went back to the lounge and showed my boarding pass again "It's still green." "I will pay", I said. And then the man next to her said "just let him in". So she asked me to expand the QR code on the Saudia app scanned that and said "welcome to the lounge sir". Grr.

The lounge is quite ok - it's large and there is a reasonable amount of hot food at midnight, a non-alcoholic coffee/bar (albeit the tea was nicer at LHR), a chocolate bar, dates, sleep rooms (always full I think).

Usually the flights from Jeddah to Jakarta are mostly Indonesian crew but on my last flight there were both more Saudi passengers than usual and more Saudi crew. I prefer the Indonesian crew, Saudis don't really seem to be too big on service.

Another point of the Saudi program is 'milestones'. You get:

10,000 credits- 15% discount - I think this is not really worth anything - I buy from trip. com for cheaper
30,000 credits - 10,000 miles cashback on upgrading a flight
75,000 credits- 50,000 cashback on booking a reward flight
100,000 credits- gift silver

For upgrades you would always book in 'flex', as it will save you many miles relative to the premium.

One-way costs are:
Domestic 5250
UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman 9500
Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq 10750
Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan 12,250
Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria 18,000
South Africa, Nigeria, Mauritius 19,250
Turkey 12,750
Other Europe: 17,000
Subcontinent 12,500
China, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand 23,000
USA exc. LAX 24,250
LAX 30,000

For economy class redemptions there is good availability, but you will pay the airport fees, any taxes, and around £80 each way in fuel surcharge. This means for example about £350 on a return flight from London - Jakarta, plus the 60,000 miles return. This is not a great deal!

Upgrades are possible online for flights but unfortunately it doesn't seem to be possible to upgrade after you've flown the outbound of a return flight.

Al-fursan enquiries are I think strictly by telephone, to +966 126861010
From what I've tried it's impossible to call this number from outside Saudi Arabia.

In addition, if you want to upgrade say London - Jeddah - KL, then they will ask for 40,000 miles (17,000 + 23,000). You can't upgrade one leg online. It might be possible to upgrade by phone, but as mentioned I can't call them.

For earning on other carriers, their tables indicate for cheap economy tickets you will earn:

Air Europa - typically 25% of flown miles
China Airlines - typically 0%
KLM, Air France - typically 20%
Garuda - typically 100%

In conclusion:

* flying on Saudia lots of miles and easy to reach Silver (Elite)
* Silver 25,000/20,000 (renew) = lounge access on Saudia flights (not offered to non-Saudia customers). extra bag. 135% miles for flexi tickets.
* Gold 50,000/40,000 (renew) . non-Saudia lounge access. 160% miles for flexi tickets.