I checked out from my Istanbul hotel at 1100 and waited for my shuttle pickup at 1245 which came “on the dot”. After cruising around the Sultanahmet area to fill up with other prebooked passengers, we left for Ataturk airport getting there around 1345.
With a 1530 departure to Jeddah to connect to Kuala Lumpur, I didn’t have much time. It took me about 30 minutes to clear preliminary security to enter the terminal, check-in at Saudia’s Business Class queue, complete immigration and go through a proper security check.
I had bought this Business Class ticket on Saudia because it was about the same as other airlines’ economy price. I had previously done likewise with Turkish Airlines out of Cairo to Hong Kong. Sometimes both airlines seem to have economy prices at half that of other airlines but I guess I’m at a stage in my life where I’m starting to treat myself a little.
I managed to spend about half hour at the Skyteam Lounge before heading to the gate. The flight pushed back on time but as is commonly the case with Istanbul’s airports, there was a queue of planes waiting and that meant we spent about 30 minutes waiting to take off.
The 3h55 flight went quickly and upon landing at Jeddah, I spent most of my 3h35 transit in Saudia’s Al-Fursan lounge as transit security was an absolute breeze. Despite a somewhat average Business Class, their lounge really wowed me with sandwiches, hot meals, desserts and Arabic sweets. The drink variety was wide and there was even non-alcoholic beer.
The connecting flight to KL at 2300 left on time.