Saudia Business Class Airbus A330 Review (JED-RUH): Great Experience!

For the next sector of my Four Seasons Yacht via Turkmenistan and Saudi Arabia adventure, I flew Saudia’s Airbus A330-300 business class on the 75-minute flight from Jeddah (JED) to Riyadh (RUH). It goes without saying that the Middle East has completely different standards for passenger experience than what you’ll find in most other regions of the world.

For a 75-minute flight departing at 1AM, this was simply top notch, with a full, delicious meal, friendly service, and even a flat bed… not that there was time to enjoy that! Saudia really has elevated itself, and I think the short haul soft product might even exceed what you’ll find on Gulf carrier rivals.

How I booked my Saudia business class ticket

I redeemed Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles for my Saudia business class itinerary. Specifically, I booked the following for 85,000 Flying Blue miles plus $301 in taxes & fees:

7/28 SV214 Amsterdam to Jeddah departing 3:55PM arriving 10:45PM
7/29 SV1056 Jeddah to Riyadh departing 1:00AM arriving 2:45AM

In the previous installment, I reviewed my Saudia 787 business class flight from Amsterdam to Jeddah, so this review is of the second sector of that ticket.

Saudia business class lounge & boarding

I had a transit of just under two hours in Jeddah (after factoring in the flight arrival delay). My arrivals experience was super smooth — I cleared passport control, and then had to go through security, prior to entering the domestic terminal.

I have to generally acknowledge that I’ve found Saudis to be incredibly warm and hospitable. For example, the immigration officer said “I see you have already been to Saudi Arabia before, welcome back!” Honestly, that’s a warmer greeting than I’ve ever received from immigration in Qatar, the UAE, etc.

Once in the domestic portion of Terminal 1, I headed to the Saudia Lounge, which is located one level down from the concourse, near gate A5.

I didn’t have time to do a full review, since I was just there for a matter of minutes, but I’ll share some quick thoughts. For a domestic lounge, this was excellent — it wasn’t crowded, there was plenty of seating, the staff were friendly, and there were a lot of food and drinks to choose from.

I briefly sat down in the area with the coffee and sweets.

The super nice guy working that area didn’t seem to have a whole lot going on, so he proceeded to prepare me a massive plate of sweets. YOWZERS. Everything was of course delicious, but I feel like I put on a few pounds during my 48 hours in Saudi Arabia, based on the extent to which everyone pushes sweets on you.

My flight was departing from gate A8, a short walk from the lounge. Boarding was scheduled for 12:15AM, 45 minutes before departure.

I thought it was cool how the gate had two areas, with one on each side of the gate seating — the left side was where premium cabin boarding took place, and the right side was where standard boarding took place. Boarding started exactly on schedule, and I was the first person to board.

Saudia A330 business class cabin & seats

Saudia has a fleet of over 30 Airbus A330s, and there are two different business class hard products. They’re used pretty interchangeably, so be prepared for either. Both configurations are in a 2-2-2 layout, so you can tell which product you’ll get based on the number of seats.

Originally, my flight was scheduled to be on the A330 with 36 business class seats (so six rows of seats), and these are just recliners, similar to this version of Turkish Airlines’ A330 business class. However, a few days before departure, my flight was swapped to the A330 with 30 business class seats (so five rows of seats), and these are flat beds, so it’s a better product.

For what it’s worth, around 40% of A330s have the 36-seat cabin, and around 60% of A330s have the 30-seat cabin. Anyway, the better version of Saudia’s A330 business class has Collins Aerospace Diamond seats, which are fully flat beds, but a rather space efficient configuration. This wouldn’t be terribly competitive on a real long haul flight, but Saudia primarily uses this plane for regional and medium haul flights.

There’s not really a single best strategy for picking a seat here. If you want to look out the window, you’ll of course want to select one of the window seats, but you also don’t get direct aisle access then.

Meanwhile the pairs of seats in the center have the upside of both featuring direct aisle access, so there’s no one to step over (and no one to step over you). I ended up selecting seat 5D, the center left seat in the last row of business class. That ended up being a good choice, as the sole empty seat in business class was next to me (there’s an advantage to sitting in the back of the cabin!).

When it comes to seat features, the tray table pops out from the center armrest, so don’t expect you’ll easily be able to get out of your seat when it’s extended.

On the center armrest you’ll find USB-A charging, the headphone jacks, and the entertainment controller.

Then the AC power outlet, plus an additional USB-A outlet, are located underneath the center console.

These Collins Aerospace Diamond seats really lack any sort of storage. There is a literature pocket toward the back of the seat, and in theory you can place a few things there, but it’s not exactly a convenient location, and things can also easily fall from there.

The seat back entertainment screens are 16″, and are fixed in place, immediately above the footwells.

Speaking of the footwells, they’re definitely on the tight side, not that I was looking to get any real rest on this flight.

Lastly, Saudia’s A330s have individual air nozzles in the overhead console. Admittedly on the A330, the center console is pretty high up, so you’ll have to stand up to open or close the vents.

Obviously this isn’t a terribly competitive long haul hard product, though for the missions this plane flies, I’d say it’s very competitive. Perhaps the biggest issue is how Saudia swaps its A330s, so you could end up on an A330 with either recliner seats or flat beds.

Saudia A330 business class entertainment & Wi-Fi

Saudia’s A330 business class has seat back audio and video on demand, with the carrier’s signature SaudiaBEYOND system. The system didn’t seem to be quite as modern as on the 787, but there was still a good selection of movies, TV shows, music, games, and more.

Saudia’s A330s also have Wi-Fi, courtesy of OnAir. Of course some Wi-Fi is better than none, but the pricing here was possibly the worst I’ve ever seen on any airline:

• The airline offers a free messaging plan, but that gets you a total of 5MB of data… that’ll last you all of a minute
• The only plan for data beyond that was for a 200 MB package at the cost of $50, which is just absurd and laughable
• In theory some premium passengers are also entitled to free Wi-Fi, but that wasn’t offered on this domestic flight

Wi-Fi on a 75-minute 1AM flight is hardly important to me, so that didn’t bother me. But still, the pricing is so absurd that I think it just leaves a bad taste in the mouth of passengers, especially given how glacially slow OnAir’s connectivity is. Like, at that point just don’t offer it.

Saudia business class amenities

Waiting at my Saudia business class seat upon boarding were a pair of noise canceling headphones, the same I had on my previous flight.

Pillows and blankets were also available on demand, and were colorful and cozy.

The crew was incredible, as on the previous flight. As soon as I settled in, they familiarized me with my seat, as if this was a long haul flight. They also offered me a pre-departure drink of choice, along with a hot or cold towel. I ordered the signature date and banana smoothie and a cold towel, and that was offered with some warm mixed nuts in a ramekin. What lovely service!

A few minutes later, I was presented with the menu for the flight.

Then just before the door closed, the crew passed through the cabin with Arabic coffee and dates.

Saudia A330 departure from Jeddah

The boarding process was pretty efficient, and mostly wrapped up by 12:40AM. However, we had to then wait for another 15 minutes or so, as a traveler on a stretcher was loaded onto the plane, and that was quite a process. At 12:55AM, the main cabin door closed, still ahead of schedule.

At 1AM we began our pushback. We had an insanely short taxi, thanks to the proximity of Terminal 1 to runway 34R — within a minute of the engines starting, we were barreling down the runway by 1:05AM, with the safety video still playing. Hah.

After takeoff we immediately made a turn to the east, and then the seatbelt sign was turned off around 10 minutes after takeoff.

Saudia business class meal service

Despite this being a short flight in the middle of the night, there was still a full meal service. You can find the Saudia business class menu and drink list below.

The crew hustled on this short sector, and unsurprisingly, it took a little while until they got to my seat, given the nearly full cabin and short flight time. While Gulf carriers tend to have great food, this was honestly the best meal I ever recall having on a short flight within the region.

There were three different main course options, and I chose the Saudi option, with the main course being a sea bass sayadiah, with crispy onions and toasted pine nuts. That was accompanied by a feta salad, a mezze duo, a bread selection, and a dessert consisting of black forest gateau. This was perhaps the most flavorful fish dish I’ve ever been served on a plane.

To drink, I simply had some water, since I felt like I had to restrain myself when it comes to sugary drinks.

At the conclusion of the meal I was asked if I wanted any coffee or tea. I opted for tea, which was served with some chocolates.

Saudia A330 business class lavatories

One quirk with Saudia’s A330s is that there appears to be just one lavatory for business class, at the very front of the cabin, right by the flight deck. It was a pretty standard lavatory, and was clean, but there was nothing special about it.

Now, there are four lavatories immediately behind business class, but they seem to be intended for economy. After all, the only other economy lavatories are in the very back of the plane, and there are only two of them there. With 300 economy seats, this is definitely more of a “high density” configuration.

Saudia business class service

Much like on the last flight, the crew on this sector was stellar. They were hospitable, efficient, poised, and had great attention to detail. The ladies working business class came from Morocco, Tunisia, and the Philippines, and they were all really great.

Even though this was a short haul flight where they were in a bit of a rush, they took their time with each passenger, and really treated the service flow as if it was a long haul flight. I’m so amazed by the service transformation at Saudia!

Saudia A330 arrival in Riyadh

Just 40 minutes after takeoff we began our descent toward Riyadh, from our cruising altitude of 35,000 feet. About five minutes later, the seatbelt sign was turned on.

Our descent was smooth, and we touched down in Riyadh at 2:20AM, on runway 33L. From there we had a 10-minute taxi to our arrival gate (which covered a long distance, but we taxied fast), where we pulled at in 2:30AM.

Bottom line

Saudia has improved massively, and I had excellent back-to-back flights. My short, middle of the night Saudia business class flight had flat beds, a really friendly crew, and excellent food. I’m not kidding when I say this is the best meal I’ve ever had on a flight of this length.

My only real negative feedback on the flight is the Wi-Fi pricing, which borders on offensive, especially given the quality of the service. It’s not that I needed Wi-Fi on this flight, but don’t even bother if that’s how much you’re going to charge.

Huge kudos to Saudia on its transformation, and I’d gladly fly the airline again, including when connecting to elsewhere.

What’s your take on Saudia’s A330 business class?