MeltingAlf

Saudia and their good fares are back, albeit not as good as the previously active ex-ATH ones (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/mile...ispreloading=1), and definitely somewhat harder to reposition for. But availability seems pretty wide, and the range of start/end points can be pretty wide but it does take a bit of a digging (cruser1 perhaps this is a task for you? )


Some fares available (fares below are clickable):

dep North Africa
SSH-MNL 901EUR
HBE-SIN 928EUR
TUN-KUL 1033EUR
TUN-CGK 1046EUR
CAI-ICN 1303EUR

Some fares available from Asia but this is more limited and less competitive:

dep Asia
SIN-SSH 1250EUR
SIN-TUN 1507EUR
MNL-TUN 1573EUR

cruser1

TUN-CAN - 910 EUR / $1000 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...vap3NKuMCmgoB8 (.06796 EUR/mile flown)
TUN-BKK - 986 EUR / $1086 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...bQubdF1P43gGd7 (.0810 EUR/mile flown)
SSH-CGK - 916 EUR / $1005 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...oPdRG5fRsYgvu7 (.0836 EUR/mile flown)

Andrew_G

TUN-JED on SV has recently been all economy. See this thread: Help - Saudia downgraded flight TUN-JED - FlyerTalk Forums It shows up on google flights as business, but you can't book it in business on saudia.com

AurelAF96

It's true but after september it's bookable, for instance:
A333 in a 2-2-2 config

cruser1

Thanks for the notice!

magXY

Wow, really great find.
If only positioning to Africa weren't such a hassle... my first time in J will be postponed again...

denkigroove

From your home MXP it’s quite cheap to Egypt or Tunis with some Lowcoster….from Central Europe it’s a hassle.

tkwetina

CAI-ICN 1303EUR


I did the ride through Riyad, the lounge in CAI is perfect but the one in Riyad is really a pain waiting from midnight to 04:00 AM. Airport also doesn’t offer any fun. Time killing exercise.

cruser1

Everything posted so far, plus a few others -

SSH-MNL - 901 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
11748 miles flown / .0767 EUR/mile
Delta - 11748 MQM & Redeemable / 2349 MQD (Cost per MQM - 8.44 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 102 XP / 17622 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 8.83 EUR)

HBE-SIN - 928 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
10882 miles flown / .0853 EUR/mile
Delta - 10882 MQM & Redeemable / 2176 MQD (Cost per MQM - 9.39 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 90 XP / 16323 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 10.31 EUR)

TUN-KUL - 1033 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
12834 miles flown / .0805 EUR/mile
Delta - 12834 MQM & Redeemable / 2566 MQD (Cost per MQM - 8.87 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 19251 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 9.56 EUR)

TUN-CGK - 1046 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
13956 miles flown / .0749 EUR/mile
Delta - 13956 MQM & Redeemable / 2791 MQD (Cost per MQM - 8.26 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 20934 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 9.69 EUR)

CAI-ICN - 1305 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
11334 miles flown / .1151 EUR/mile
Delta - 11334 MQM & Redeemable / 2266 MQD (Cost per MQM - 12.68 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 90 XP / 17001 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 14.50 EUR)

SIN-SSH - 1250 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
10204 miles flown / .1225 EUR/mile
Delta - 10204 MQM & Redeemable / 2040 MQD (Cost per MQM - 13.49 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 90 XP / 15306 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 13.89 EUR)

SIN-TUN - 1507 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
13198 miles flown / .1142 EUR/mile
Delta - 13198 MQM & Redeemable / 2639 MQD (Cost per MQM - 12.57 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 19797 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 13.95 EUR)

MNL-TUN - 1573 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...IASIA&curr=EUR
14742 miles flown / .1067 EUR/mile
Delta - 14742 MQM & Redeemable / 2948 MQD (Cost per MQM - 11.76 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 120 XP / 22113 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 13.11 EUR)

TUN-CAN - 910 EUR (Best Deal for Mileage Run)
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...vap3NKuMCmgoB8
13414 miles flown / .0678 EUR/mile
Delta - 13414 MQM & Redeemable / 2682 MQD (Cost per MQM - 7.48 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 20121 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 8.43 EUR)

TUN-BKK - 986 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...bQubdF1P43gGd7
12192 miles flown / .0809 EUR/mile
Delta - 12192 MQM & Redeemable / 2438 MQD (Cost per MQM - 8.91 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 18288 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 9.13 EUR)

SSH-CGK - 916 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...oPdRG5fRsYgvu7
10962 miles flown / .0836 EUR/mile
Delta - 10962 MQM & Redeemable / 2192 MQD (Cost per MQM - 9.21 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 90 XP / 16443 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 10.18 EUR)

HBE-MNL - 896 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...nnYZqDSMtshG16
12426 miles flown / .0721 EUR/mile
Delta - 12426 MQM & Redeemable / 2485 MQD (Cost per MQM - 7.94 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 102 XP / 18639 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 8.78 EUR)

HBE-CGK - 904 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...6HqraXNJ54LTE7
11640 miles flown / .0777 EUR/mile
Delta - 11640 MQM & Redeemable / 2328 MQD (Cost per MQM - 8.56 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 90 XP / 17460 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 10.04 EUR)

TUN-SIN - 1268 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...W95Yem85WLtrG6
13198 miles flown / .0961 EUR/mile
Delta - 13198 MQM & Redeemable / 2639 MQD (Cost per MQM - 10.59 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 19797 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 11.74 EUR)

MXP-SIN - 1466 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...hVFDaM9cJvwWVA
13916 miles flown / .1053 EUR/mile
Delta - 13916 MQM & Redeemable / 2783 MQD (Cost per MQM - 11.61 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 20874 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 13.57 EUR)

JFK-CGK - 2255 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...waXHVr6hdyyo26
22406 miles flown / .1006 EUR/mile
Delta - 22406 MQM & Redeemable / 4481 MQD (Cost per MQM - 11.09 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 132 XP / 33609 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 17.08 EUR)

MNL-MXP - 1585 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...o4kUNHLHshNC59
13916 miles flown / .1139 EUR/mile
Delta - 13916 MQM & Redeemable / 2783 MQD (Cost per MQM - 12.55 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 108 XP / 20874 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 14.68 EUR)

COK-VIE - 1079 EUR
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...RFKJH2T5iZx7CA
9744 miles flown / .1107 EUR/mile
Delta - 9744 MQM & Redeemable / 1947 MQD (Cost per MQM - 12.97 cents USD)
Flying Blue - 102 XP / 14616 Redeemable (Cost per XP - 10.58 EUR)

atflyer

That is too pessimistic, as the thread also stated. Some practical experiences
- From May onwards on some days there is again availability in J. From September they seem to use every day a J aircraft. Point is like many carriers (AF and KL is doing the same) they are short on aircraft and wet lease from service companies. One of of the leased planes is all Y, which led to the downgrades.
- Several people including myself were rebooked on other carriers with a better quality product or much shorter layovers in e.g. IST as originally planned in JED or Riad. It can take some persistence and calling though to get this.
- So the way to go seems checking at the Saudia website if J is bookable or not. I would recommend anyway booking directly with a carrier if there is a negligible price difference; that avoids they may ask you to deal with the OTA first in case of schedule changes and so on. If for some reason Saudia has a plane change that downgrades you to Y, a fair chance you can get yourself rebooked to something equally good or better.
- If you have long waiting times, Jeddah seems preferable over Riad (from hearsay since I haven't seen Riad). Jeddah has a walk-in airside hotel (for some 110 Euro, can't be booked in advance so you must walk in, not really cheap, but combined with the ticket still a bargain price to Asia in J). Riad has not. The lounge in Jeddah I saw is not really equipped for people who want to sleep, and that lounge seems much more modern as the Riad one if I understand it right.
- The stop in Tunis has pro's and con's. Con are the fairly long waiting times at immigration. Pro is that in my 1 day experience Tunis is an affordable, fairly hassle-free city, with a nice old town. On my way back I have another day, will try old Cartago or a hotel at the coast.
- Positioning indeed will depend where you come from. I could get a return Paris-Tunis with AF for 200 Euro, adding 10 XP. Tunesian carriers can be even cheaper. Overall thanks to the Tunis detour I flew from Paris to Asia largely in J (and a longer journey time) for a lower price as Paris-Asia with other carriers in Y.

cruser1

Dubai (DXB) - Johannesburg (JNB) - $884 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...ngCBEAs7kj7pC9

Kulala Lumpur (KUL) - Madrid (MAD) - $1598 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...nz6XTaztvFxdK7

Algiers (ALG) - Johannesburg (JNB) - $1444 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...fsogVRFjiQvaF6

Manilla (MNL) - Istanbul (IST) - $1470 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...i5vF5Q2wd46wz8

Mauritius (MRU) - Bangkok (BKK) - $1041 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...t1syuZqM36MM98

Bengaluru (BLR) - Rome (FCO) - $1209 - https://www.google.com/travel/flight...fsG2bUpMTXpDLA

unusualtravelblog

Interesting One-ways:
MLE-AMS/IST/FCO/BCN/MXP for €700

ALEXY267

you are spot on!
every single point you highlighted is right..
I have experienced tunis/jed transits/saudia flights to asia a few times since 2021 and the other points to add for jed transits are:
-if you have sky team elite plus/AF platinum you get access to saudia first class section of the lounge which is always empty given few flights have first and is a very nice place to spend a few hours in especially as it is so quiet.
-saudia allows visa on arrival now for some passports so you can always go out of airport and explore jed a bit if bored of airport lounges. I did that and it was seamless.

cruser1

There is also Manilla (MNL) - Milan (MXP) - $1343 round trip
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...oyi6nKqiJWz5K6


Or Hyderabad (HYD) - Rome (FCO) - $981 roundtrip
https://www.google.com/travel/flight...XqhohXcrkvuDe7

Moh20

Saudia is offering discounted fares from September through November. Consequently, some of the fares previously mentioned have been adjusted.

PKX to DXB one-way for $501 up to November

https://www.google.com/travel/flight...gl=sa&curr=USD