Apparently Saudi Arabian Airlines does have female flight attendants. But they are expats from Morocco and other countries.

From what I heard from a few people (and read here in trip reports), SV's service is quite good (maybe even a bit better than UA), and they're Skyteam, so there are mileage opportunities to be had there as well.

As someone who needs to fly to RUH on business, I would very much welcome UA on IAD-RUH instead of having to connect in FRA on LH.

Really?

As someone who goes to the KSA twice a year as well, I do NOT welcome this. I've heard horror stories of spending hours and hours in the immigration line trying to enter the country by air and discrimination of obvious Westerners. I'll stick to BAH with its two minute immigration and come via the causeway.

UAL Service to RUH?
 

The United sales VPs think its a good idea but wait till Jim Compton has a look at the numbers. This proposed flight, if it ever goes, won't last for long because the yield won't work even on a 787. Visas are difficult to get and oh wait, they only issue a business visa. KSA does not even issue tourist visas. United couldn't make their Moscow route work due to visa difficulties. A Russian visa while difficult is nothing like trying to get into KSA. I don't see this happening.

I'd rather fly Qatar or Emirates and connect to Riyadh with some real service anyway.:)

Yes they have female flight attendants that are not wearing the "regular street clothes" that you see all saudi women, but rather have their hair covered.

Service is OK if you fly business not that good in economy, lounges in Riyadh is terrible compared to the lounge for non Sky team airlines.

Not once I've had a problem with immigration at RUH most time I've spent in immigration could have been around 30 min. I will continue to land in RUH, however have business in Dammam which are making me contemplate landing in Bahrein or DMM to avoid local flights.

That's a good tip. Thanks for sharing!

Yes they are allowed to work - almost a fifth of the Saudi workforce is female. It's not too hard for many women to drive either - though of course completely prohibited (how do you think they are able to drive perfectly well when they organise the protests every few years?). Though interestingly, not actually prohibited by any law.

While of course this is all incredibly backwards and instigated by morons - it isn't about punishing women. They genuinely believe this is what is best for them (and many women there believe this as well). That's religion for you.

That's interesting. But aren't they supposed to get rest after such a long flight? I can imagine that the off-duty crew will sleep in the mini-cabin on the top of those B777, but taking flights itself is already tiring, right?

Sorry. I wasn't clear.

Day 1
Crew A flies from IAD to KWI
Crew B flies from KWI to BAH and back to KWI
Crew C flight from BAH to IAD

Day 2
Crew A becomes Crew B
Crew B becomes Crew C

Day 3
The Crew B from Day 2 becomes the Crew C for Day 3

Same thing worked when they did the Lagos/Accura run.

That's debatable - Half the city lives in the Marina and there are a number of people the are transiting to Abu Dhabi. DWC is much closer to both. And you can take Emirates road from DWC to downtown. During rush hour, might even be quicker...

Great point. Been there, done that too many times in RUH. All depends on who gets off the plane first.

That's very clear now. Thanks!

I think people often forget about Sharjar. Looking at the entire metro area most of the population is around DXB and Dubai runs into Sharjar in that area. DWC is nice if your going to Abu Dhabi, thou I would just fly there if I was going there to begin with. DWC is end of Dubai and mass transportation links haven't been built to it either. DXB is a short train ride Financial center and lot of hotels off the red line.

I can't tell if your being sarcastic cause it took me a minute to figure that out lol.

Oh, absolutely no sarcasm intended:) yes it also took me a while to figure out, but I feel perhaps no better way to do it, haha~

...from both Jeddah and Riyadh, despite there being almost no SkyTeam feed (unlike at JFK). There's a substantial Arab population in northern Virginia, and plenty of diplomatic traffic.