For the first time ever Saudi Arabia is issuing tourist visas. The scheme was officially announced yesterday, and today the country is accepting e-visa applications. Now that this functionality is live, I've gone through the process of applying for an…
At the beginning of the month I wrote about how Saudi Arabia was planning on formally opening the country up to tourists, and the full details of that have now been revealed. Saudi Arabia E-Visa Applications Starting tomorrow (Saturday, September 28,…
Saudi Arabia's Okaz newspaper is reporting that Saudi Arabia will begin issuing tourist visas as of September 27, 2019. It's worth noting that unnamed sources are being "quoted" as of now, so there's nothing official yet. According to these sources:…
While details are still emerging, this situation is horrible no matter how you slice it. Tunisian media is reporting that one Saudia crew member is in critical condition and six Saudia crew members have been arrested following a violent assault in Tunis.…
Overall we're seeing airlines constantly upping their game when it comes to premium cabin hard products. One area in which we've seen this trend lately is with narrowbody aircraft, which is a trend I love. This will become increasingly common over time,…
Yesterday Ben wrote about his plans to visit Saudi Arabia, noting it is a very conservative country and there would be a number of rules he would need to follow when there. Many airlines have dress codes for their own airport lounges (it's something…
Saudi Arabia was supposed to start issuing tourist visas as of April 1, 2018, in an attempt to boost their non-religious tourism. However, for whatever reason there have been delays in implementing this, and more than six months later they're still not…
It's pretty common to see special flights get water salutes. This can be done for many reasons -- to celebrate a new route, to honor military members, to commemorate a pilot's retirement, etc. Well, to celebrate the 88th birthday of Saudi Arabia, Dubai…
Saudi Arabia most definitely isn't near the top of most peoples' list of places to visit, though it's near the top of mine. I love traveling to places that I’m fascinated by, rather than places that I’ve heard are awesome, or that are popular with tourists.…
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…
