Saudia review by Cristi 2014-07-22

We often fly Saudia from RUH (Riyadh) to UAE (both Dubai & Abu Dhabi) which is about a 2 1/2 hour flight (we are British-American expats who spend 1/2 the year in the mid east). Although it’s not super posh, we’ve never had any problems on any of our flights. It’s always clean, seats are comfortable and more spacious than say British Airways economy (they seems to be plush, faux leather seats), and the food is fine and filling (often simple, local dishes like rice & chicken.) We also find that the staff is pretty consistently courteous and helpful, and they don’t make you feel stressed even when there’s a full & busy flight. They do try to accommodate you (for instance, I had to nurse an infant and they made sure to move me to a row where only women were sitting and I had some privacy – being that these are conservative Muslim countries.) They’ve never lost our luggage, and all our flights have been on time. Sorry, no alcohol available on flight, and they say an Islamic prayer before take-off (which we don’t mind, it’s actually a bit comforting!) The only thing I would mention as a negative is that sometimes at the boarding gate in Riyadh, it’s a little disorganized, and the staff don’t always let disabled or families with children on first – so they need to work on that.