Hello from Saudi Arabia, as I just flew Saudia’s Boeing 787-10 business class on the 5hr20min flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Jeddah (JED), as I continue my review trip.
I don’t want to bury the lede — this flight absolutely blew my mind in terms of how good it was. If you can get over the lack of alcohol, this has to be one of the best business class soft products in the world. What a contrast to my Saudia flight around a decade ago — at the time, it would’ve been a compliment to call the airline second rate.
Gone are the days where there are half a dozen “local” male flight attendants just lounging around in business class seats and being served meals before passengers. Heck, some may remember my Saudia first class flight a long time ago, where the crew was unhappy that I “stole” the cabin manager’s seat (which… was my assigned seat, but he wanted to just store all of his things there).
Anyway, I can’t express enough how impressed I am. Let me share some initial thoughts, and then soon I’ll have a full review. it’s always nice to see an airline truly elevating its passenger experience, and that’s exactly what I witnessed here.
My Saudia business class crew was spectacular
Typically I talk about service at the end of posts, but in this case, I need to talk about it at the beginning, as that’s truly what stood out to me the most. I hate to say this, but Four Seasons Yachts could learn a thing or two about service from this Saudia crew. Not only were they incredibly kind and hospitable, but they were detail oriented and attentive.
Taking care of me was business class attendant Cherine, cabin manager Wael, and inflight chef Ihsan. All three of them came around during both boarding and during the descent to welcome each passenger onboard, which really set the tone for the flight. It was such a genuine and warm greeting across the board.
This particular Dreamliner didn’t yet have Wi-Fi installed, and Wael additionally came around to each business class passenger to personally apologize for that, and to explain that the plane would be retrofitted with the service soon. Ihsan came around to check on each passenger to see how their food was, and to get feedback.
But the real star of the show was Cherine, who was dedicated to “my” section. She offered textbook perfect service in every way, from start to finish. We’re talking things like proactively replacing cutlery, always removing any “trash” from the seat, and even folding my blanket when I went to the bathroom.
Before I went to sleep (keep in mind this isn’t a terribly long flight), Cherine asked if I wanted to be woken up at a certain time, and asked if I had a favorite beverage that she could prepare for me before landing. Those kinds of touches happened throughout the service. 10/10.
Saudia’s business class food is phenomenal
Saudia has a full dine on demand concept, so you can eat what you want, when you want. On this afternoon flight lasting just over five hours, there was a menu consisting of three starters, four main courses, one cheese option, and four desserts, plus some additional snacks.
The food presentation and service items were among the nicest I’ve ever seen in business class.
For the starter I had the smoked salmon with red chicory leaves and saffron potatoes. Real talk, have you ever seen a nicer smoked salmon dish served in business class? I haven’t. Airlines love to talk about serving restaurant quality food, but this truly fell in that category.
For the main course, I went for the Saudi option, which was the chicken mandi, with roasted chicken, caramelized onion, raisins, and red dakous sauce. This dish was brilliant, and very flavorful.
Then for dessert I had the sticky toffee date pudding, which was also very good… and massive. This looks like something you’d be served in a restaurant, and not on an airplane.
At Cherine’s insistence (and since I didn’t want to let y’all down), I also had a cheese plate and fruit plate before landing, along with a cappuccino.
Let me point out the obvious “issue” with Saudia, which is that the airline is dry (meaning it doesn’t serve alcohol). Obviously people will have vastly different takes on how much that impacts their experience.
I do have to give Saudia credit for massively elevating its drink selection, though, and introducing all kinds of imaginative non-alcoholic drinks. If I’m being honest, I’m not a huge fan of caloric drinks that don’t get me buzzed (I’m a water, coffee, or Diet Coke kind of guy), but I still felt like I had to take one for the team, and check out the selection.
There were all the traditional things you’d expect, from endless coffee and tea (both hot and iced), to smoothies, to juices. But there was also a “sparkling collection,” and I had the BelliNo (a non-alcoholic version of a bellini), and the Jukes 1 The Sparkling White (a non-alcoholic sparkling beverage).
So while I’ll probably stick to water next time (just so I don’t consume endless calories and sugar), I appreciate the effort that’s put into this.
Saudia’s business class amenities are great
I was on an afternoon flight lasting just over five hours, and amenities included pajamas, an amenity kit, and slippers.
Before departure there was the choice of a hot or cold towel, cold drinks, and dates with Arabic coffee.
Saudia’s 787 business class seats & entertainment are good
All of Saudia’s Boeing 787s (whether the 787-9 or 787-10) have 24 business class seats, spread across six rows, in a 1-2-1 configuration. The airline has Collins Aerospace Super Diamond seats, one of the most common reverse herringbone seats out there.
There’s nothing cutting edge about this, but it’s still a competitive product, especially for a flight of this length. So I have no complaints there.
Saudia is in the process of launching a new high speed Wi-Fi system on its Dreamliners, but unfortunately my plane didn’t yet have it. The entertainment selection was very good, though, with a large variety of movies and TV shows. Admittedly I didn’t watch anything too objectionable, but I didn’t notice any censoring (though I know it happens).
Bottom line
Saudia’s Dreamliner business class is surprisingly spectacular, in a way that I wasn’t expecting. I had heard the airline improved over the years, but I wasn’t expecting a first rate soft product. While the hard product was good, it was the service, food, and amenities, that really excelled.
In Saudi Arabia, Riyadh Air is positioning itself as the premium airline, and I have to say, the airline has quite the competition. I have a hard time imagining a soft product could be better than this (while still not serving alcohol), though I look forward to checking it out. Huge credit to the Saudia passenger experience team for their work over the years.
What do you make of Saudia’s 787 business class product?