Hartington
31st May 2006, 20:03
Just been to Jeddah for the weekend (!) on business on Saudia; an interesting experience.
The journey itself rather splits into 2 elements: the airline and the “religious”.
Saudia itself is not bad. Walking through first then business to get to my economy (sob) seat I was surprised how little differentiation there seemed to be. Sure, F was 6 across and C 7 (on a 777) but the seats looked very similar. No lie flat anywhere.
Economy seating is, well, what can I say, “adequate” (777 – 2/5/2). No better, or worse than other long haul carriers I’ve been on but, a word to the wise, if you’re in any way tall take an aisle seat. If you don’t, you’ll find you foot room impeded by an AVOD box.
Three selections of main course on the way out. I was rather “encouraged” to take the fish but that suited me fine. Nice juices. I felt the service organisation was a little haphazard but, again, no worse than many western carriers.
The AVOD itself has a range of plain vanilla offerings (both Arabic and English). Films, short features, games, Air Show, a service questionnaire and two cameras, one pointing forward; the other down. They show the forward pointing one on the main cabin screen during take off and landing.
Both flights were on time.
Now, I have to be careful about the religious aspects. It may be that some of what I’m going to report is cultural, rather than religious. Furthermore, none of it detracted from what was a positive experience but for someone who has never met such things before it provided an interesting diversion.
When I boarded I noticed a curtained off area at the rear of the back cabin. It seemed an unusually large crew rest area. Then I realised that there was an upper lobe crew rest area and that the curtained off area was a prayer room. Not only that but the Air Show kept displaying a page with a pointer to Mecca. Oh, and a recorded prayer was broadcast as we taxied/took off.
On the way out several passengers boarded dressed in white robes. I’ve since discovered they were probably on the “Umrah”. As the flight progressed so other passengers disappeared to toilets to cleanse themselves and reappear in the same white robes. This meant that toilets could be occupied for some time and were left rather damp after use.
I had not been briefed (but then who would have done that) on what to expect so I was a little surprised initially but you have to go with the flow on such occasions. It made for a more interesting flight than usual.
Immigration was no problem, baggage arrived quickly and apart from being accosted by a taxi tout, I found my way through the terminal to my hotel easily.
The Hilton is a bit of a western bubble and, despite a quick visit to downtown Jeddah late one afternoon, I don’t really feel I gained any meaningful insight into Saudi Arabia. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and helpful.
Check in for the return was fine although I picked the correct queue more by good luck than adequate signage. Having completed check in you take your bag to a security machine and then it disappears into the baggage system. The whole Saudia terminal gives the impression of having been built a good few years ago and then left alone. It works, so why change anything
In fact, compared to T3 at Heathrow which was bursting at the seams both ways, Jeddah was really rather civilised! And, talking about adequate signage I was waiting for my taxi home at LHR (outside AA premium check in) at T3 when an elderly couple approached me to ask where to check in for UA. After I had pointed them to the main building I realised how (in)adequate the signage is at that point.
To sum up, a positive experience. In fact, despite being on business, I enjoyed myself.
The journey itself rather splits into 2 elements: the airline and the “religious”.
Saudia itself is not bad. Walking through first then business to get to my economy (sob) seat I was surprised how little differentiation there seemed to be. Sure, F was 6 across and C 7 (on a 777) but the seats looked very similar. No lie flat anywhere.
Economy seating is, well, what can I say, “adequate” (777 – 2/5/2). No better, or worse than other long haul carriers I’ve been on but, a word to the wise, if you’re in any way tall take an aisle seat. If you don’t, you’ll find you foot room impeded by an AVOD box.
Three selections of main course on the way out. I was rather “encouraged” to take the fish but that suited me fine. Nice juices. I felt the service organisation was a little haphazard but, again, no worse than many western carriers.
The AVOD itself has a range of plain vanilla offerings (both Arabic and English). Films, short features, games, Air Show, a service questionnaire and two cameras, one pointing forward; the other down. They show the forward pointing one on the main cabin screen during take off and landing.
Both flights were on time.
Now, I have to be careful about the religious aspects. It may be that some of what I’m going to report is cultural, rather than religious. Furthermore, none of it detracted from what was a positive experience but for someone who has never met such things before it provided an interesting diversion.
When I boarded I noticed a curtained off area at the rear of the back cabin. It seemed an unusually large crew rest area. Then I realised that there was an upper lobe crew rest area and that the curtained off area was a prayer room. Not only that but the Air Show kept displaying a page with a pointer to Mecca. Oh, and a recorded prayer was broadcast as we taxied/took off.
On the way out several passengers boarded dressed in white robes. I’ve since discovered they were probably on the “Umrah”. As the flight progressed so other passengers disappeared to toilets to cleanse themselves and reappear in the same white robes. This meant that toilets could be occupied for some time and were left rather damp after use.
I had not been briefed (but then who would have done that) on what to expect so I was a little surprised initially but you have to go with the flow on such occasions. It made for a more interesting flight than usual.
Immigration was no problem, baggage arrived quickly and apart from being accosted by a taxi tout, I found my way through the terminal to my hotel easily.
The Hilton is a bit of a western bubble and, despite a quick visit to downtown Jeddah late one afternoon, I don’t really feel I gained any meaningful insight into Saudi Arabia. Everyone I met was extremely friendly and helpful.
Check in for the return was fine although I picked the correct queue more by good luck than adequate signage. Having completed check in you take your bag to a security machine and then it disappears into the baggage system. The whole Saudia terminal gives the impression of having been built a good few years ago and then left alone. It works, so why change anything
In fact, compared to T3 at Heathrow which was bursting at the seams both ways, Jeddah was really rather civilised! And, talking about adequate signage I was waiting for my taxi home at LHR (outside AA premium check in) at T3 when an elderly couple approached me to ask where to check in for UA. After I had pointed them to the main building I realised how (in)adequate the signage is at that point.
To sum up, a positive experience. In fact, despite being on business, I enjoyed myself.