My review of Saudia B773 business class

I popped over to Dubai around Christmas, and for value I chose Saudia with a connection in Jeddah. A Business Class redemption using Virgin points costs only 40,000 points, with no fuel surcharges, though the rather extortionate ~£200 UK APD was of course unavoidable. We’ve already reviewed Saudia’s lounge at Heathrow T4, so today let’s look at the onboard experience.

Unfortunately, it started on a rather sad note. The London–Jeddah flight SV120 is usually operated by a 787-9, with a 1-2-1 reverse-herringbone layout that looks quite decent, and I selected my seat immediately after ticketing. Then disaster struck at online check-in the day before: why had the seat map changed? A quick check revealed that, for those two days, the flight had suddenly been swapped to a 777-300. All I could do was accept my fate.

I arrived at the gate early to take photos, so let’s take a look at the cabin.

This 2-2-2 layout is easily my least favourite Business Class configuration. Years ago I flew Lufthansa back to China in a similar setup, which left me with lasting psychological trauma. If I’m not mistaken such configuration is / was common on quite a few Star Alliance aircrafts because of some alliance-wide purchase deal, but I’m not sure why Saudia has it too.

Because of the awkward access, this is the only Business Class layout where I’d actually rather choose a middle seat. Fortunately, the load factor that day was low, and I had both window seats to myself.

You can see that the two seats are slightly staggered front to back, but in terms of privacy and ease of movement, it’s pretty poor. The side table and all the power ports are positioned behind and to the side.

Next up, the amenity kit. At first glance the design looks decent, but on closer inspection the quality somehow feels like something from a wholesale market back in my hometown.

The entertainment system interface is quite good, with some relatively new films such as the Jurassic World: Rebirth. That said, being an Arab country, the content is filtered. I watched the recent Mickey 17 film by Robert Pattinson, and at one point found it strangely disjointed – only then did I realise several minutes had clearly been cut out.

There are also some Asian / World programs available.

Now let’s move on to dining. Shortly after take-off, the onboard chef came by to greet me and served tea and dates. Throughout the meal service they checked in regularly, and before landing even asked for feedback. I’d previously only heard of Turkish Airlines doing this, and it was genuinely my first time experiencing such attentive service.

Here’s the menu:

I looked it up and found that the Chicken Kabsa is a Saudi speciality, so of course I had to try it.

For in-flight catering, the dish was very respectable: good presentation, aroma and flavour. When I saw “Dine as you like” I assumed I could order freely at any time, but before landing I tried to order the halibut and was told it wasn’t available since I already did Chicken Kabsa. I could only choose from the lighter options, so I went with a beef burger, which was predictably unremarkable.

Let’s take a look at the fully flat bed mode.

The footwell is surprisingly spacious, with plenty of both length and width. That said, as this wasn’t a long-haul flight, I didn’t sleep, so I can’t offer a deeper evaluation.

Overall, Saudia’s soft product is quite good. As for the hard product, given that I was unexpectedly assigned such an old aircraft, I won’t dwell on it too much. All in all, it’s perfectly acceptable, and if you don’t mind the lack of alcohol, it’s a viable option. Redeeming Virgin points for Saudia’s Europe–Middle East Business Class offers excellent value, and award availability is plentiful.