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Please pull out a chair. Between Colombo and Jeddah, he will hear the harrowing tales of Saudia Island from 38,000 feet above the ground.
As Lucky pointed out, this trip was truly disappointing. I was hoping for a good flight with China Eastern, but instead it was terrible. I was expecting brusque service on Royal Air Maroc, but instead it was warm and friendly. And since I’ve had no dramas with Saudia Airlines the previous four times, I expected today’s Saudia flight to be uneventful and boring.
But my estimate couldn’t have been more wrong.
Oddly enough, the entire flight experience began with a male flight attendant carefully checking the contents of each passenger’s carry-on bag and giving them an intrusive smackdown. When I asked why, all they said was “Colombo.” Well, things got better from there.
Our 777-200 was replaced with a 777-300 with business class lie-flat seats. The in-flight menu looked very promising with a very tasty-looking kaiseki meal. The Ferragamo amenity kit was also of the highest quality and contained lots of useful items. There was also reasonably priced in-flight Wi-Fi.
But wow, things certainly went downhill quickly. Here’s how things unfolded…
- The female FA working our aisle was hostile (though maybe we can cut her some slack…)
- The five Saudi male FAs took their seats in business class at the end of boarding, and all but one remained seated for most of the flight.
- The male FA spoke loudly and played music on his mobile phone.
- Male FA serves before other passengers
- No choice for appetizers – male FA took all the mezze
- Request for fish main course was refused – male FA ordered fish
- The male FA had garlic bread but we were not served any.
- No drink service provided at dinner – water still provided on tray
- Call button is regularly ignored by FA
- 35 minutes before landing I was woken up by FA shaking me and I returned my seat to an upright position.
- Near the end of the flight, there was an odor of cigarette smoke – unknown whether it was from a passenger in the restroom or a flight deck crew member.
The landing was textbook perfect and ironically marked the end of the flight.
What a terrible service failure! There were 3 female FAs and 5 male FAs in the 30-seat business class cabin, but none of the men raised their hands. The female FAs were from Tunisia, India and the Philippines, and although they weren’t all that friendly, I felt so bad having to deal with a group of lazy, self-entitled men who brought so much shame to the airline and the country. .
Stay tuned for the full review. It’s going to be terrible. See Lucky’s thoughts on today’s flight here.
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