so how do other airlines deal with their passengers when flights are cancelled ?
Had to go from Riyadh to Dubai on a business trip recently. Emirates are an option on this route, but their timing is such that the flight gets into DXB late evening - anyway, the company had booked me Saudia. (No LCC options here
)
So leave home 12:30 for a 2-hour check-in and a flight at 15:00 to arrive just under 2 hours later at 17:45 DXB time. Planning to meet the boss, who's flying in from Geneva, in the airport restaurant an hour later.
14:30, flight boards. 15:15, pax disembarked, 2 hour delay announced. 18:00, delay amended to 4 hours as the aircraft is seen being towed away by a tug, pax given their "box lunches" in the departure lounge (just at "prayer time", so those who went to pray got their "whatever-it-was and rice" cold
). 20:00, another 747 arrives at the gate and pax boarded. 20:30, pax disembarked again, another delay announced. Another "box lunch" arrives, finally at 23:30 flight is boarded again and soon we're on our way.
Get to hotel - one of the delights of business trips outward from Saudi is that there's the chance of a few "wets" on arrival - not in UAE at almost 3 a.m. - the club beside the hotel was in the final throws of chucking out!
Almost 12 hours door-to door, for a 105 minute flight - I could have
driven there in less time. Yes, aircraft do go sick, but two in succesion does not impress me.
As I said, SV is NOT an LCC, and if RUH is not their hub, it's their capital city, and the hub at JED is only 90 minutes flying time away.
Impressed -
Not
----------------------------------------------------------
Martin Baker - the only way to fly 