Miss connection in Riyadh?
 

Hi folks,

Apologies if this is in the wrong section.

I just wondered if someone could answer a quick question. My brother-in-law is about to depart Singapore to Riydah, where he is supposed to transit for 1.5 hours before taking a connecting flight to Paris. All is a through-booking entirely flying with Saudi Airlines.

Only thing is, the SIN - RUH flight is delayed 2 hours. Now, if, upon arrival in Riyadh, he finds that the RUH - CDG is also sufficiently delayed - no problem. But if RUH - CDG goes on time then... he'll have missed it.

The next RUH - CDG with Saudi Airlines is 2 days later. Will Saudi Airlines put him on that flight for free? Also, what happens in the mean time? Are Saudi Airlines obliged to put him up in a hotel for the two days or will he be left to fend for himself in Saudi Arabia?

What's the reason given for the delay? Airlines do more when it's their "fault" and can't be claimed as an act of god.

Can he enter Saudi Arabia without a visa? Without any health requirements, such an menningitis shots?

Hi MSPeconomist,

I don't know the reason for the delay - but it was something on Saudi Airlines' side. I don't think Singaporeans can enter Saudi Arabia without a visa.

Anyway, good news, Saudi Airlines transferred him on to Singapore Airlines SQ334, direct from Singapore to Paris!

Really pleased with that. What was about to be a nightmare ended up to be a very lucky day!

he is very lucky ;) : a SQ direct flight instead of a two days nightmare in RUH

Indeed!

And it's an A380.

And SQ gave him dinner vouchers due to the later departure (23:55 instead of 19:50 with SV).

And they checked in his luggage all the way to Dublin (Aer Lingus flight, CDG - DUB), even though this was booked separately.

Wow, he really lucked out. The SQ A380 should be a wonderful experience, not to mention the convenience and time saved. Congratulations.

Yeah, I've done my time on Saudi Arabian. :(

And I'd say your brother in law lucked-out in so many more way than you can imagine. I hope he's collecting the miles from SQ! ^

Only Saudis (and possibly GCC citizens) can enter KSA without a visa. They don't do visas on the spot as all other GCC Countries...

Thanks Maximus.

So do you think that it's actually a good bet to fly with SV if the transit is in KSA, on the basis that they are unable to accommodate their passengers in KSA in situations like this? Or is that risky and false logic?

I would neither risk a transit in Saudi Arabia without a transit visa (no matter what the rules say), or expect anything at all from Saudia should things go wrong (and I have top status in their FF program).

So much about flying Saudia through KSA is a crap shoot.