MaxFlyer

If LHR is your home airport then maybe a direct Avios flight otherwise you’ll have to connect in LHR extending the length of the journey quite significantly. Plus not everyone will have miles in an airline FF programme who fly direct from their local airport to AMS. Same goes for other countries and other airline FF programmes.

InsomniaBA

Deal is gone, sadly.

IAN-UK

Words of wisdom

Though I suppose some potential pain can be removed by using miles to book the positioning flights.

It's worth doing the maths, adding on all the extras $$, time, risks (missed connection and, errrr, special risk in this case) required to access "bargain fares". This fare would take some hammering to make it unattractive in terms of ancillary costs - though those special risks are pretty hefty.

Typs

Ok

lall

A word of caution to those booking Saudia. I have read many horror stories about the airline, its staff, baggage losses and the reliability of SV flight schedules.
Sometimes, it pays to spend some more money to reduce risk.

gordiegem

Ended up cancelling as I had booked fare for first part of a journey to Maldives. The economy flights I then needed to fly from Dubai to Male were £2000 for both of us for a 4 hour economy return flight plus we needed repositioning flights to get from Northern Ireland to Amsterdam and hotels etc. Discovered for an extra £600 I could book Turkish Airlines for our whole journey from Dublin to Maldives, all segments in business class on one ticket with good connection times. I rather pay an extra £600 for peace of mind. Saudi Airlines cancellation fee was 95 euro and will take 45 days for refund. Had a few refund hoops to jump through. For some reason my contact details had defaulted to my landline number despite me providing mobile number. If you try to refund online with Saudi you need to receive a verification code which I couldn't. I had to email on direction of Customer Services Representative a screenshot proving I had attempted to get a verification code plus copies of both passports.

For anyone not travelling beyond Dubai it was a great fare but didn't work out for us. Too many risks.

IAN-UK

They really don't take reservations: i guess it makes for a simpler life, at least in the initial stages of the hotel's operation.

In an idle chat with an airport guy, he said the hotel has some sort of commercial agreement with SV, so needs to be ready to accept some of the airline's passengers if there are delays - and that could be messy if they had a system packed with reservations.

But that's just gossip …. it seems they're missing a trick. Looking at the success of other airside hotels at hubs, i expect the rates could increase and a booking system may eventually be introduced. It's just that in the kingdom these things don't always run on the expected tracks …..

onlysuites

Where did you find TK for £1000 return? What dates as they tend to be around 3k.

irishguy28

I rather think the subset of people who jumped on this deal, and people who haven't the time/money/miles to get from the UK/other 3rd country to AMS at a reasonable price, is a vanishingly small group of people!!!

MaxFlyer

One thing I keep hearing on FT is that if you find a great deal book it before it disappears and then worry about the logistics later.

gordiegem

You maybe misunderstood me. I was referring to extra £600 in addition to cost of the return economy flights from Dubai to Maldives, repositioning flights to Amsterdam plus hotels. So looking at £3700 for 2 business class return flights from Dublin to Male with 2 hr connection. Have them on hold for 3 days directly with Turkish Airlines.

zoonil

I ended up cancelling for similar reasons. Repositioning flight to AMS (From the New York area) and then booking Round trip from Dubai to my final destination in India (Chennai) - the economics was not working out. Thankfully I cancelled within the 24 hour period, and I got a 100% refund immediately with Expedia

BuildingMyBento

Impugning an airline that you've never flown? How does that help anyone?

I've found Saudia to be underrated, heaps better than most other carriers. Although I took a few flights with them pre-tourist visa days (which did indeed mean many hours of layovers), now I'd be much less hesitant to book with them, for that reason.

Things can go wrong anywhere, anytime, but I'd rather that happen when I'm somewhere beautiful and delicious.
Saudia can take me to those places.

InsomniaBA

Agreed. I find Saudia to be a fine airline with often good fares in both Y and J.
Flown them for around 20 years, and while they had many problems in the past a lot of these have been resolved.

But now with new Jeddah lounge, tourist visa and general attitude shift I find them a very pleasant airline to fly.

MaxFlyer

Plus if MBS wants to open up KSA to more widespread tourism then having a good competent airlines with enticing fares helps.