Go Back  FlyerTalk Forums > Community > Trip Reports
Reload this Page >

Saudia Business Class IST-JED-SUB, Positive First Impression

Saudia Business Class IST-JED-SUB, Positive First Impression

Old Jan 30, 2020, 12:26 am
  #1  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles (most active), Asia Miles (most active), Kris Flyer, Flying Blue, Royal Orchid Plus
Posts: 79
Saudia Business Class IST-JED-SUB, Positive First Impression

This flight was a part of my return trip to Surabaya-Indonesia after spending almost one week vacationing in Istanbul and Izmir with my wife.

Since we are both Skyteam members and we also eager to try some new airlines within this alliance, we decide to give Saudia a try, since the price they offered for flights from Istanbul to Surabaya was more economical even in business class, it was about USD 950 at the time I booked it. I also checked that they would deploy their A330-300 with brand new business class seats for this route, so it would be a no-brainer to try this flagship carrier of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.


At Istanbul New Airport
We arrived at Istanbul New Airport 3.5 hours before the scheduled flight time. There was this first security check just after entrance and then we were let into the huge check-in area to find our way to the check-in desk for Saudia.

This is how the check-in desk looks like for business class passengers.



There were no other passengers when we got there. In not more than 10 minutes, the friendly agent checked us in and told us that the lounge we could use was IGA Lounge. I was quite perplexed since IST has just recently opened the new Skyteam Lounge, why wouldn't he give us access? I confirmed once again and he surely nodded that IGA lounge was the one for us that day. I felt sorry that we could not have the chance to experience the newly opened Skyteam Lounge, but on the other hand, I did feel excited to try IGA Lounge since from some reviews I read before, this lounge is spacious and has various kinds of seating and also lots of choices for food and beverage, almost identical with Turkish Airlines lounge in terms of space and amenities. With boarding pass in hand, so off we went to find our way to the lounge.



For elite-status passengers or those who are traveling in First and Business Class, IST provides dedicated fast track immigration lanes for Turkish Airlines & Star Alliance airlines and IGA fast track lanes for other airlines outside of Star Alliance. Unfortunately, we couldn't manage to snap a picture of it.

Some pictures of IST after second security check and along the way to the lounge.





Both IGA Lounge and Skyteam Lounge are easily spotted and located just across each other.





Too bad there would be no review for this lounge.


And here is the entrance of IGA Lounge.



To enter the lounge, one has to scan his/her boarding pass onto the automated gate machine. But before that, the boarding pass must be verified by the gate agent and stamped.

We did not snap much pictures here, but this lounge has many amenities and facilities one might need. Just right next to the gate machines, there are rows of lockers to put luggage or personal belongings that you would not want to bring in during lounging around. One pool table lies in the center. When we got there, it was still breakfast time, so the food had choices of salads, cheese, cold cuts, pastries and also some hot options like kfte (Turkish meat balls), spiced rice, baked beans, and Menemen (Turkish omelette). Beverage options were fresh Turkish tea/coffee, pre-packed/bottled tea and juices, mineral water, Ayran (Turkish style yogurt), beer and some liquors in a manned bar.

Various amenities includes praying rooms, shower rooms, opened-style napping booths, dining tables, lazy chairs, couch, VIP room, and children playing area. One feature which is quite unique is the complimentary massage service for 15-30 minutes for those who are interested, first-come-first-served basis.

We spent roughly two hours lounging around and then decided to move out to the boarding area, just in time that the boarding was just started.


On-board The Cabin
Apparently, there was last minute aircraft swap and as confirmed by the crew, there was some kind of operational reason that the aircraft which was supposed to be the new A330-300 was changed to the old three-classed B777-300ER, unfortunately with also the old business class seats.

This is how the seat looks like.






As seen on the pictures, the seat was the older one Saudia has that does not go fully flat when reclined, exactly similar with what other fellow Skyteam members like Garuda Indonesia & Korean Air have on their A330-200 & A330-300 respectively. A thick blanket and a pillow are placed on each seat.

It was a light load in business cabin today with only 10 seats taken out of 36 seats.

The headset Saudia uses on this flight were placed inside a chic looking pouch, it sure looks firm and decent.






As soon as we took our seat, a flight attendant serving our aisle that day, Ms. Jaler came by to introduce herself and offered us choices of welcome drink: water or date smoothie. Saudia is a dry airline, so every beverage on board does not contain alcohol. I definitely opted for their well-known date smoothie and when it came, it was served chilled and felt really refreshing with no tendency of being too sweet. It was one of the most excellent airline signature drinks I've ever tried so far. The smoothie came with a warm oshibori on a plastic tray.


Later I found out that Ms. Jaler is a Filipina working for Saudia. It was exactly December 25th and based on my assumption, I wish her a merry Christmas and she gracefully smiled back while generously thanking me for the wishes. She would keep this positive and friendly attitude towards the end of the flight and rest assured that this would be a flight full of enjoyment for me and my wife.

Few minutes later, she brought us a basket with assorted dates to choose while also serving us a cup of Arabic coffee from a unique jar. I asked her what she would recommend us to have for the dates and here was her choice. She was definitely right, the seedless dates were all awesome.



It was also my first experience tasting the Arabic coffee. It had a very strong cardamom and clove aroma while the coffee itself tasted bitter. Apparently, it was supposed to be consumed altogether with the sweet dates to balance the bitterness. Later I learned that this was a gesture of welcome from Arabian countries.

Later on while the boarding process was still commencing, she handed over a piece of menu card for us to choose later on after cruising. There were two choices of Arabic set cuisine or Mediterranean cuisine, while for the drinks, there were choices of stilled/sparkling water, non-alcoholic Bellini cocktail, date smoothie, choice of juices, teas and Sumatra coffee. It was really a delight to see Indonesian coffee being served on international airlines like what Saudia did.



Few minutes after reaching cruising altitude, Ms. Jaler came by and kneeled down next to our seats to ask what we would like to have for lunch. For some, it might sound strange and awkward to have someone kneeled down, but for us both, it was just a warm welcoming gesture that she tried to maintain a level eye contact with her guests while communicating.

I chose the Arabic set cuisine with sparkling water and my wife ordered the Mediterranean set with stilled water and blueberry juice. She delightfully took note and went back to the galley. Some moment later, she started to set our tables. First, she spread over a deep blue tablecloth which resembles Saudia cabin crew's uniform color and then brought out trays consisting of our appetizers. I had mint labneh, hummus, and cumin dip while my wife had the kelp cured salmon with potato salad and aioli. Bread baskets were already prepared on each tray.

This was my appetizer.



And this was my wife's.




I enjoyed mine really well and so did my wife. The Arabic mezze had a unique taste while the salmon was moist and really tender with hint of spices.


Ms. Jaler then came back to clear our empty plates and then replaced them with our main course. I had red mullet fish with kabsah rice and my wife had roasted garlic chicken with zucchini, red peppers and rosemary potatoes.

This was my main.



And this was my wife's.



The spiced rice dish really went well with the fish without being too much overheated, the portion was very fulfilling as well. My wife also enjoyed her chicken dish very much. It was a fulfilling yet delicious lunch we had in the sky, and Saudia crew managed to deliver this lunch service promptly. But the more important thing was the crew's attitude, especially Ms. Jaler's which made our flight more enjoyable. She would always call us by name and every time we made our choice on something, she always said things like "... Good choice, Mr. Martin". We were awed by her hospitality and friendly manner all along the flight. She deserves higher appreciation from Saudia and Saudia should always maintain this level of service on all its flights.

However, I noticed one shortcoming on the dining service. The crew did not offer us any dessert despite it was clearly written on the menu. No idea if they just forgot about it or they did not load it on board.

We spent the rest of this 3-hourish flight by watching the interactive flight map. I didn't try the headphones nor watching movies, but based on my swift browsing on the content, the IFE system was loaded with lots of movies, music, TV series, live news, etc.

Mid-flight, Ms. Jaler came down to offer us this Valrhona chocolates served on a silver saucer.



I also ordered English Breakfast tea and it came with separate sugar cubes and cookies.




We landed on time to Jeddah for making our 4 hour transit before our next flight to Surabaya, All good times must come to an end, and so we bid farewell to our very first yet enjoyable flight with Saudia and furthermore, to our lovely Ms. Jaler who had taken care of us really well.

Despite of the dated hard product, Saudia leaves us with a very positive first impression and we would not hesitate to fly with it again in the future.
lamphs, Dover2Golf and Annalisa12 like this.
MRTY is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2020, 7:13 am
  #2  
 
Join Date: Nov 2009
Location: 6km East of EPAYE
Programs: UA Silver, AA Platinum, AS & DL GM Marriott TE, Hilton Gold
Posts: 9,582
Thank you for sharing ^ Saudi isn't one we get to see too often here.
1P likes this.
Madone59 is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2020, 1:34 pm
  #3  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Four Seasons 5+ BadgeSPG 5+ Badge
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,491
The price is good but you couldnt pay me enough to enter Saudi Arabia.
stevie, enviroian and david55 like this.
offerendum is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2020, 1:52 pm
  #4  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: EK
Posts: 102
how was your trip to surabaya? i'm headed there myself next month and would like to see your TR for the destination as well.
nuzbim is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2020, 3:22 pm
  #5  
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Posts: 4,463
Originally Posted by MRTY
...Too bad there would be no review for this lounge...
I'm not at all clear why you couldn't check out the Skyteam Lounge at IST. Your Business or First boarding pass should be enough for admission.
RandomBaritone and MikeFly like this.
MaxVO is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2020, 6:24 pm
  #6  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles (most active), Asia Miles (most active), Kris Flyer, Flying Blue, Royal Orchid Plus
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by Madone59
Thank you for sharing ^ Saudi isn't one we get to see too often here.
My pleasure as well. I always love trying new airlines and sharing the experience here. Thank you for the comment.


Originally Posted by offerendum
The price is good but you couldnt pay me enough to enter Saudi Arabia.
Despite of personal preference, I have Spanish and Taiwanese friends who just happened to visit Saudi Arabia as tourists and they enjoyed the experience very much, especially when they allow you to mingle with the locals.
MRTY is offline  
Old Jan 30, 2020, 6:29 pm
  #7  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles (most active), Asia Miles (most active), Kris Flyer, Flying Blue, Royal Orchid Plus
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by nuzbim
how was your trip to surabaya? i'm headed there myself next month and would like to see your TR for the destination as well.
It was by Air Atlanta Icelandic chartered by Saudia so the crew, aircraft and pilot belong to Air Atlanta. The experience was a little bit let down compared with Saudia owned resources, but the crew still maintain a warm service attitude and friendliness. I'll make another TR about it later.


Originally Posted by MaxVO
I'm not at all clear why you couldn't check out the Skyteam Lounge at IST. Your Business or First boarding pass should be enough for admission.
Yes, that was my bad for not even try to check it out that time.
MRTY is offline  
Old Jan 31, 2020, 8:10 am
  #8  
 
Join Date: Jun 2009
Programs: EK
Posts: 102
Originally Posted by MRTY
It was by Air Atlanta Icelandic chartered by Saudia so the crew, aircraft and pilot belong to Air Atlanta. The experience was a little bit let down compared with Saudia owned resources, but the crew still maintain a warm service attitude and friendliness. I'll make another TR about it later.

.
excellent i was hoping to see a TR for your actual time in Surabaya, i'll keep an eye out for it.
nuzbim is offline  
Old Jan 31, 2020, 6:34 pm
  #9  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles (most active), Asia Miles (most active), Kris Flyer, Flying Blue, Royal Orchid Plus
Posts: 79
Saudia Business Class JED-SUB in B747-400

This was a part of my IST-SUB flight that involved a 4-hour transit at Jeddah airport.


Previous post on Istanbul-Jeddah flight can be found here:
Saudia Business Class IST-JED, Positive First Impression


Disembarking at JED
As usual at JED, all disembarking passengers are transported to the South terminal building by buses. There was a separate bus for business class passengers.

Transit procedure in JED was not as horrible as I thought. Once in the South terminal, we directly headed to the transfer counter and in just few minutes, the agent let us through to the security checkpoint upstairs because we had printed our boarding passes beforehand in Istanbul. The security checkpoint was divided between male and female, each with male and female officers respectively.

Security check cleared, then we swiftly walked along a duty-free area before finding our way to the right to Alfursan Lounge, a lounge exclusively owned by Saudia for its premium, first class, and business class passengers.



Alfursan Lounge Jeddah
The main entrance is easily spotted to the right after duty-free area. This is how the entrance looks like.



This lounge is basically one large room full of seats and dining area at the center. Even though it's written for First and Business pax, but based on my observation, there was no dedicated area for both, F & J class passengers will likely just share that same space.

We handed over our boarding passes to the dragon lady and she welcomed us in with smiles, a primary positive gesture from Saudia in its home base. She told us that there would be no announcement for Surabaya flight and also the gate number wasn't available on the screen yet, so we needed to check with her again by the time boarding was about to commence.



As shown on pictures, Saudia tends to decorate this lounge with shades of purple lights all over the place. I think it looks soothing yet sore to the eyes at the same time.

As we've just landed and were all well-fed during our previous leg, we decided to just partake in small nibbles and re-hydrate ourselves a little. This lounge offers anything from breads, pastries, salads, few hot options and rice. Avian water and juices are available in the fridge, Arabic coffee, and also tea & regular coffee from the machine.









Wi-fi was available for free. Despite of this, there was nothing much to do inside rather than eating and lounging around with no seating available for napping.

According to my wife, the lady's room was extremely disgusting, looks like its previous users did not know the concept of flushing and there were also no cleaning personnel on sight either, so that would probably add up to its dire and sad state. But when I checked on the men's room, it was much better, the urinals and the room were kept quite clean by one cleaning service agent who always cleaned up every time one has finished using it.

Since our flight would take almost 10 hours, I decided to freshen up by a shower. The lounge has one shower room located inside the men's room, but no toilet available so if you need to do the thing, you first need to get out from the shower room.

This is how the single shower cubicle looks like.



Unfortunately, the hot water was non-operational and no amenities rather than soap dispenser inside. Towel can be provided by asking the cleaning service agent, however when he showed up, he brought me three pieces of tiny face towels. I wonder if they did not prepare any decent towel there or ran out of it when I came, but it's better to bring your own bathing amenities when using the shower.

By the time I asked the front desk about my departure time, it appeared that boarding was already on-going. So, off we dashed to the chaotic boarding terminal of JED South Terminal and headed downstairs to wait for our bus that would take us to the aircraft.


On-board Saudia B747-400 Aircraft
The flight to Surabaya was operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic B747-400 chartered by Saudia, so all crew, pilot and aircraft belong to this Air Atlanta Icelandic.

This would be another chance for me to be inside this beautiful Queen of The Sky, and as I sat on 16A, it is located right inside the nose part of the aircraft.

The gorgeous Queen of The Sky when I snapped the picture after arriving at Surabaya:




There were 3 flight attendants that would be serving the empty business cabin, from Morocco, Tunisia, and Indonesia. We were the only passengers on business cabin that day, so we occupied the whole 16-seat area for about 10 hours.

The seats are of the old style that will not go fully flat when reclined, and it's one of the ancient business class seats if compared to today's sophisticated seats offered by various major airlines. Later I found out that this type of seat is exactly similar to what Air France has on their A380 business cabin, and if my prediction is accurate, they have been using it since 2009.

Some pictures of the curved cabin and the seat:





A small pillow and a blanket were already placed on each seat.


The seat control:




The monitor was very blurry and to add the pain, IFE was not available during the entire flight. One thing that's available was just the flight map which again was of the old static style.


Once we were seated, a flight attendant came to offer us some newspapers and magazines. However, they were all in Arabic and since we do not speak the language, we remorsefully declined her offer and stuck with our sad flight map for the entire journey to pass time.

And then, the in-flight service supervisor, Sofyan, who is from Tunisia, came by to hand over the hot towel to freshen up and offered us some welcome drink. There were two choices of mango smoothie and the usual date smoothie. We took both smoothies and wow... they were all so refreshing. Sofyan even said that we could have the smoothies again anytime we wanted.



Although they had in-flight Wi-Fi advertised on those paper towels, there was none in this aircraft.

Moments after they cleared our glasses, the Indonesian lady crew came by and offered us the usual welcome gesture in every Arab airlines: the Arabic coffee and dates. Unlike our previous flight from Istanbul, they only had one type of date this time and pre-plucked with toothpicks. No small saucers being offered either to place the dates on the seat. This is how it looks.



After this, this same lady gave us each a menu book. This time, it came in a decent book, unlike the previous one where it's just a piece of menu card. The menu book is printed on a glossy grayish blue cover paper and looks luxurious. Dinner and breakfast were offered on this flight with 3 choices of main course each. The crew would come back after reaching cruising altitude to take our orders.







It's a strange thing that no one was offering us any amenity kit. We assumed that since we'll fly for almost 10 hours on a red-eye flight, amenity kit would be given. When I stopped one crew to ask, he just said that he would check on it if they loaded it on board, but he never returned. I did send some emails to Saudia to ask about this few days after the flight, it's said that the higher management has acknowledged the matter and will respond to me soon, but none of it materialized until now.


Once we're reaching cruising altitude, it's time to dine in the sky. I chose the Western appetizer and my wife chose the Arabic one.
First, the crew laid out a white linen on our tables and brought out our trays. It had fresh salad, salt & pepper shakers, olive oil, butter, and the default stilled water. And then, he put a plate of appetizer on it.

This was my appetizer of smoked salmon, pan fried artichoke and grilled scallop. Overall, the taste was rather unappetizing, same with the appearance.



Next, I opted to have the cream of seafood soup. It took so long for the crew to bring the soup out, that they needed almost half an hour after the appetizer to prepare it. By the time it came, both of us were already exhausted and wanted to just go straight to sleep. However, I loved the presentation and it's delicious as well.




My wife and I decided that we would not partake in the main course and would rather have it during breakfast time. The crew gladly obliged with the request and left us to rest.

Despite of the "ancient" look, the seat was surprisingly very comfortable to sleep on. Even though it's not fully flat, but I managed to get a solid 6-hour sleep and woken up feeling refreshed. The blanket was rather thin and smallish though.

Some time after woken up, I walked to the galley and told the crew that we'd like to have breakfast in few minutes. Both of us opted to have the main course for dinner which we skipped before as breakfast, complete with the cheese course and fresh fruits, the dish was called Fish Sayadia.

Few minutes later, the crew started to set up our tables and brought out our breakfast.



Some of the rice got dry due to overheat, but overall, this breakfast was one of the most fulfilling we ever had on an airplane. The taste was delicious for our Asian taste buds with nice presentation and good quantity.

Unfortunately, when I asked to have the ice cream, the crew regretfully told that it has melted and no possibility to be served properly for us.


There were two lavatories for business class which were kept clean the entire time. Apparently, Saudia uses Saudi Arabia's local sanitary products called Patic.




Months before this flight, I have contacted Saudia that I'd like to surprise my wife with a special honeymoon cake request since this trip is actually our second honeymoon. Saudia does not provide email contact to land this special request, so I tried to call local Saudia office in Indonesia few times, and eventually I ended up making a direct call to Saudia head office in Jeddah. They promised that they would entertain this request and assured me that the cake will be available on board.

And apparently they did deliver what's been promised. Some 2 hours before landing, the three crew serving business class suddenly brought out a small cake beautifully set on a plate while singing "Happy Birthday"! Yes, you're right, a Happy Birthday song that almost made me burst with laugh. My wife also got perplexed that the crew suddenly brought her a cake and wished her a happy birthday. Looks like the surprise really works for her but in a very wrong direction.

All in all, I really appreciate the effort from Saudia and thanked them for realizing this small gesture to please their customers and delivers high level of service. One tiny miscommunication certainly won't turn our heads against Saudia for future flights.

The cute "Honeymoon-turned Happy Birthday" cake:






Despite of some shortcomings in the hardware, we still look forward to another flight with Saudia in the future, given its cheaper price and quality of the food and crew.
MRTY is offline  
Old Jan 31, 2020, 8:22 pm
  #10  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles (most active), Asia Miles (most active), Kris Flyer, Flying Blue, Royal Orchid Plus
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by nuzbim
excellent i was hoping to see a TR for your actual time in Surabaya, i'll keep an eye out for it.
The report is up now.
Saudi Business Class JED-SUB in B747-400
MRTY is offline  
Old Feb 1, 2020, 9:14 am
  #11  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
SPG 5+ BadgeFour Seasons 5+ Badge
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Germany
Programs: Some
Posts: 11,491
You mustnt open a new thread for every leg of the flight. Its much more conveniant if the whole trip is in one thread.
Never heared of Air Atlanta Icelandic.
offerendum is offline  
Old Feb 1, 2020, 11:02 pm
  #12  
Original Poster
 
Join Date: Jul 2016
Location: Indonesia
Programs: GarudaMiles (most active), Asia Miles (most active), Kris Flyer, Flying Blue, Royal Orchid Plus
Posts: 79
Originally Posted by offerendum
You mustnt open a new thread for every leg of the flight. Its much more conveniant if the whole trip is in one thread.
Never heared of Air Atlanta Icelandic.
Thanks for the advice. Air Atlanta Icelandic is based in Iceland and mainly provides chartered flights to other airlines. Saudia is one of their biggest customers.
offerendum likes this.
MRTY is offline  
Old Feb 2, 2020, 5:00 am
  #13  
FlyerTalk Evangelist
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Sydney Australia
Programs: No programs & No Points!!!
Posts: 14,203
Thanks for posting.
Annalisa12 is offline  
Old Feb 4, 2020, 1:37 am
  #14  
 
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: CGK, BDO, MXP
Programs: QR Gold, WY Gold, TK Elite, EY Silver,
Posts: 458
Thanks for sharing.
It seems SV is doing efforts in improving their FA skills, as you got 2 good crews on 2 flights. I had a similar trip two years ago (MXP-CGK and 9.5 hours layover in JED) and the crew on the JED-CGK leg left me unimpressed, almost zero interaction, food service rushed, while hard product and food quality OK.
Tempted to do again a ATH-CGK with family end of this year as it has a very good J rate, hopefully by the time all flights will be already moved to the new JED terminal and new lounge.
BobFF68 is offline  
Old Feb 4, 2020, 9:59 am
  #15  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: SFOSJCOAK
Programs: AA-EXP & 1MM+, AS, MR-LTT, HH Gold
Posts: 7,574
Interesting report, thank you.

Did they serve the date without a wrapper or small dish?
allset2travel is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Manage Preferences - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

This site is owned, operated, and maintained by MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Designated trademarks are the property of their respective owners.