Saudia - is it worth upgrading?
 

Hi All!

I'm currently booked on a trip to Jakarta in economy next week on SV,

I received today an email asking me if I'd like to bid for an upgrade.

My question is - anybody experienced SV business class before? the lowet offer is around $200 one way from RUH to CGK, is it worth going for it in your opinion?

I already get lounge access and priority service on the ground, so my question is limited to the on board experience. Night flight from RUH to CGK, wouldn't upgrade on the way back as it'd a day flight.

Thank you very much!

Personally I'd pay $200 each way to upgrade to J class for a 9 hour flight on just about any airline even Copa.

Are you comfortable and able to sleep in Y so that you arrive in Jakarta ready to go?

Here is a somewhat recent review, not mine, November Guest Review: Saudia Boeing 777 Business Class Review | LondonSpotter

Totally worth $200 to upgrade to J. I flew RUH-IAD recently, a bit newer plane with lie flat seats, but service wasn't too shabby, with good food and hard product. $200 for a 9 hour flight is a steal. Make sure to order the date smoothie! Its yummy

$200 is just the starting bid for upgrade depending on whether they accept or not my max that I would be willing to pay for upgrade on Saudia would be around 300 ... I think their new Biz product is quite good too

200$ will be alright but i wont do it for more than 300$. J product to CGK can be vary depend on which aircraft they use.
early this year (i think jan/feb) the IFE didnt work on few rows (J class!). food isnt much appealing, few times ive found half of the chicken is warm and the rest cold, or their biryani rice is wet.
good thing is you get better rest. if youre traveling for work, i suggest you go for it. but if its for vacation, i would take Y on emergency seat, ask extra pillows for my back, and try to sleep during the flight. and later on get nice massage or spa in CGK :D
ps: if your location is in italy, lots of below-500$ish-J-fare when you book OW exMXP/FCO to CGK.

Agree same as above, despite the service and food definitely not the best in the skies it is anyway better than almost any Y class, seats are good for sleeping and worth the 200 USD. Generally J cabins to CGK are half empty thus I think you do not need to increase heavily the bid. Also flown from MXP via JED last beginning of March and OW ticket was less than 500 Euro, business saver was just about 70 Euro more than Economy! While a return ticket is definitely not a good deal for the same route as you can find better solutions on both price and service with other airlines.

Not true. I flew JED/RUH-CGK multiple times and only had 2 flight which were maybe occupied for 50%. Other flights were (nearly) full. I even had a regular flight that was filled up to the brim with Hajj travelers going back home. They arrived by buses from the other terminal at JED. What I thought would be an empty flight, how wrong I was. My worst experience on them ever back then, but 9 hours are very survivable on SV :)

Also flown mxp-jed-cgk o/w for €465 last year. It was an old cabin (2-2-2) 777, seat not full flat.
As trip occured during the ramadan, in the middle of the night, half way through, the flight crew started serving breakfast...

Their service definitely is not top notch but as mentioned by others, 200$ is definitely worthwhile to bid for being comfortable on a long flight.

Has anyone received a complimentary upgrade on Saudia? I am Plat with Flying Blue and I flew with them a couple of times in J and was very happy with the service and comfort, except for the hell-hole that is the terminal inJeddah. Unfortunately my next flight BEY-MNL will be in Y, something I am not looking forward to, so an upgrade would make me very happy!

I don't know, I thought that Y was really good. I did it recently, out from CDG to JED and back in from RUH to CDG (final outbound destination was DXB). I think it's the best service and food I have had in Y for years, really tops. Loads of legroom too!

I did not travel that much with SV, just a couple of times and in J, in my opinion for the European legs the service is notably better than the Asian ones (my was JED CGK), female FAs (almost no smile and interaction, avoiding eye contact) after distributing menus started collecting orders, I asked about the soup mentioned in the menu, the respond was a straight "just choose between the mains" with no other explanation or offers.
By the way on a MNL leg since is it more than 9 hours, instead of relying on eventual opup that could never occur I would try to bid an upgrade, if the prices are similar to those mentioned above it is definitely worth.

Happy to hear you had a good experience on Saudia Y, Concerto.
I called Saudia to reserve Y seats and expected they could give me an exit row seat, but they said even Elite Plus needs to pay for those.
Given that I never flew Saudia in Y, I feel nervous...
Indeed, Bob, maybe a cheap paid upgrade would be nice - of course, a complimentary upgrade would be even nicer. I wonder if Saudia is the kind of airline that would be willing to do that? Would be nice to hear if anyone has experience of getting one?

Anyone else have any real life experiences of Saudia especially in Y on the route to MNL? Happy to hear