Flying the “God Bless You” Jet

Leaving KL

Things couldn’t have been better with an 1100 checkout from the hotel and a 1500 departure. That’s until I tried hailing a taxi outside the hotel in gridlock traffic at 1100 in competition with a couple of other people. I gave up and climbed up the ladder to the skybridge to get to the monorail station which took me to KL Sentral, which wasn’t yet connected to the train station of the same name.

I got to the airport 2h45 before departure and I was the only person wanting to check in. The group check-in queue was pretty horrendous though. The airline stationed a staff member with a laminated card at the queue (or where they should have been a queue) to explain the strict entry dress code required for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. For men it means no shorts allowed; women don’t need to cover their hair but can’t show their legs.

At check-in the KLAS ground handling clerk wasn’t too sure about my tickets which left a gap between Khartoum and Cairo, as I intend to travel overland. She checked with a colleague then a supervisor and they checked up the IATA database which I had already looked up in my planning several months back. My boarding passes to Riyadh and then Khartoum was finally issued. The supervisor asked to take a snapshot of my Sudanese visa as he hadn’t seen one before, but I think it was just to cover his back in case anything went wrong (as in denied entry into Sudan).

I had enough time to grab lunch at the Plaza Premium lounge which had been nicely renovated. I thought it had moved up a notch until I saw a guest washing his feet (one-by-one) in the hand basin in the lavatory. I actually see this once in a while but didn’t expect it in the lounge.

Flying Saudia, aka Saudi Arabian Airlines

Boarding the “God Bless You” Saudia jet (due to the inscription by the cockpit), I saw two of the pilots praying at the entrance to the spare airbridge. The plane was nearly chocka but I was lucky enough to shift quickly to secure a spare seat next to me. Most passengers were Malaysians on umrah pilgrimages.

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My ticket to Khartoum (11 hours flying time with a connection in Riyadh) cost only USD335 compared to about USD800 on the competitors. The downside was the 11h transit, but the competitors leave KL at around midnight which would involve killing a similar duration in KL after checking-out from the hotel anyway.

For an 8 hour flight they served 2 meals where as many airlines would offer a meal plus a snack. They offered 3 choices for the first meal and 2 for the second. My only gripe is that they didn’t come round with drinks at all during the entire flight; it was purely on request. I suppose they are desert people and are used to being without water? Lol!

The entertainment selection on board was broad enough. It watched a couple of episodes of Friends to find that cleavage, legs and wine bottles had been blurred out! Some swearing had also been censored.

Legroom was extremely generous but the seat width was narrow but it is increasingly becoming to have 10-across (rather than 9) as the standard on B777 economy class.

For the price that I paid, I consider Saudia to be a great airline. It offers a simple full-service experience (sans alcohol) for the price of the price of a budget airline. One might say the price is due to the long connection. This is not entirely true as these ridiculously low prices also exist for some seamless connections. Further, they have Business Class offers for around USD800 for flights of similar duration (which I have secured for another trip).

Despite some headwind and a somewhat low flight (largely at 30,000 ft), we arrived into Riyadh on time.

Transiting at Riyadh

I had heard of meal vouchers being handed out to those on long transit but upon enquiry, they told me that dinner would be served at Gate 21 at 2100. The ground staff were very casual, genuine and helpful, much like their cabin crew. The airport terminal was uncongested. Apart from the duration and some internet issues, it is much more pleasant than transiting in Doha (old airport) and Dubai.

The dinner turned out to be at 2130. It was very much like an onboard dinner but in a box instead, and without dessert. The hot main was delicious and very welcome from this weary soul. The hot serving was extremely generous with four huge chunks of moist white fish in it.