Well that escalated very quickly... Canada and Saudi Arabia have gotten into a diplomatic spat. Last week Canada expressed concern about new arrests that have taken place in Saudi Arabia, targeted at women's rights activists. Canada urged the immediate…
12 months ago, several Arab countries cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing them of destabilising the region, by backing militant groups including the Islamic State (IS) and Al-Qaeda. These countries included: -- Saudi Arabia -- Bahrain -- United…
Call me crazy, but when I woke up this morning, the first thing I thought to myself is "it's April 1... has Saudi Arabia starting issuing tourist visas yet?!" No, that's not an April Fools' joke. Several months ago Saudi Arabia revealed that for the…
Late last year I wrote about how Saudi Arabia announced that they'd begin issuing tourist visas in 2018. I figured that might have been an optimistic timeline, especially given what has been going on there politically lately, but it looks like it's happening.…
I've flown through Saudi Arabia several times now, and it's a country I'd be fascinated to actually visit. Up until now they haven't really issued traditional tourist visas. While millions of people travel to Saudi Arabia every year to visit Mecca, for…
I boarded through door L1, where I was greeted by Ayman, the friendly cabin manager. He pointed me towards seat 3L, the window seat in the last row of the cabin on the right. While walking to my seat I noticed that seat 2H was broken. On my last flight…
We arrived in Riyadh at around 7PM, while our flight to Los Angeles was around 1:30AM, meaning we had about a six hour layover. In June I reviewed Saudia's first class lounge at Riyadh Airport, so I won't be reviewing that again. Instead I'll be reviewing…
We spent a couple of nights in Dubai at the Park Hyatt, which I won't be reviewing this time around, since I've reviewed it before, and not much has changed. Our flight from Dubai to Riyadh was departing at 6:15PM, so we got to the airport plenty early,…
Welcome to my next trip report, covering flights in Uzbekistan Airways business class, Somon Air business class, and Saudia first class, as well as stays at a couple of Hyatt hotels. My good friend Matthew (from Live and Let's Fly) and I have a shared…
I've written in the past about how some airlines have onboard chefs, and what they actually do. In theory the concept of an onboard chef is awesome -- no, they won't be cooking with open flames onboard, but they should have the ability to customize your…
In March the US implemented an electronics ban for flights from select Middle Eastern countries to the US. Under this ban, passengers had to check electronic devices other than phones into the cargo holds of planes. This whole thing seemed pretty poorly…
Earlier I was flying out of Dubai Airport and using the SkyTeam Lounge, when I witnessed something for the first time (at least knowingly). A guy was entering the lounge and tried to get access for his family as well. Based on that I would assume he…
One of the things that makes SkyPass so unique is that it allows you to book first class awards on China Eastern, China Southern, Korean Air, and Saudia. While oneworld and Star Alliance let you redeem miles for international first class throughout the…
Earlier a Twitter user made me aware of the following: I've flown Saudia before, in both first class and business class, and had very different experiences. However, I wasn't aware that they formally had a dress code, though I guess it doesn't come as…
Today Saudia announced that they're no longer subjected to the US electronics ban, meaning that you can once again take electronic devices larger than smartphones into the cabins of their US-bound flights. Saudia was the last of nine airlines to be subjected…
Back in 2015 I wrote a post with what I consider to be the world's best first class airline products. An updated version of this is long overdue, especially now that I've flown a couple of new first class products. The reason I hadn't written an updated…
I boarded through the forward door at around 5:30PM, where I was greeted by the cabin supervisor, as well as the two lovely Filipino flight attendants who would be taking care of me. I was escorted to my seat, 2A. This was exactly the same aircraft I…
I intentionally planned a fairly long layover at Riyadh Airport, since I knew I'd have to get some work done between flights. So I arrived in Riyadh shortly before 1PM, while my connection to Dubai was shortly after 6PM. Last year I flew from Colombo…
I boarded through door L1, where I was greeted by the cabin supervisor and brought to my seat. Saudia's new 777-300ER first class cabin consists of a total of 12 suites, spread across three rows in a 1-2-1 configuration. You'll notice that there are…
Here comes my next trip report, which covers some travels I had earlier in the month. I'm actually on one very long, continuous journey, but I'll be breaking this up into a few different trip reports (once this report is complete, I'll have reviews of…
Collectively I've spent a lot of time in the Middle East, so I'm pretty familiar with the Ramadan customs. As an "outsider," the most practical implication of Ramadan is that those observing it fast during daylight hours for about a month (Ramadan goes…
