Review: Saudia B777 Business Class, Riyadh to Manila

 

Saudia B777 business class, Riyadh to Manila

Trip to Casablanca, Uzbekistan and Dhaka flying Saudia Business Class

Flight: SV862
Departure time in Riyadh (RUH): 22:55
Arrival time in Manila (MNL): 13:50 (+1)
Aircraft: Boeing 777-300
Seat: 5A (changed to 5D)
Duration: 9h 55m
Date of flight: October 17, 2025
*This is an SAS award ticket, Business Class flight #300

Video on YouTube



Saudia Catrion Lounge, Riyadh Airport Terminal 4

I had about 2 hours in Riyadh before my flight to Manila so I headed directly to the Saudia Al Fursan - Catrion Lounge located on the upper floor. It is a really nice and modern lounge and I wished I had more time to explore it. Luckily, I am flying again with Saudia in December.

Aircraft, Boeing 777 (HZ-AK12)

Today, we are flying with Saudia's Boeing 777. This aircraft with regitration HZ-AK12 is almost 14 years old. It was delivered to Saudia in January 2012.

Boarding, Gate 402

I left the lounge around 10:10pm and reached the gate 2 minutes later. Although there was priority boarding for business class passengers and those with status, it was not as seamless as I had expected it to be. Right before entering the door, a staff would collect all the cabin trolleys (to be placed in the cargo). When it was my turn, I informed him that I have my laptop inside my cabin trolley so I couldn't have it checked-in. He replied take your laptop in a not so nice way, and when I told him what if I'm flying business class, he just shouted "go, go". It was a very unpleasant experience so I informed the purser about it upon boarding, and was informed he would talk with the staff. I hope Saudia can find a better solution when boarding with cabin trolleys, or at least have a polite staff 😉
  
Business Class

The business class cabin on this B777 has a total of 30 seats, all of which were occupied that evening.

Sadly, the business seats are old and in a 2-2-2 configuration which means no aisle access for everyone. In fairness, I flew with Emirates business class from Dubai to Cebu in 2021 and they had the dreaded 2-3-2 configuration, as well as with Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Hong Kong in 2024. Of course, both these airlines serve alcohol so they were compensating the bad seat configuration with a lot of booze to their passengers 😉
 
Seat 5A

My seat 5A is a window seat. I would later change to 5D to allow the Filipino family in 5C and 5D to seat together.

The personal screen is okay but not in par with what other airlines are offering, both in size and in resolution.

Already waiting at my seat is a pillow, blanket and a noise cancelling headphones.

The Saudia branded headphones were functional.

Business class blanket.

There was also a bottle of Berain mineral water.

Pre-departure Beverage

Moments after settling in, one of the Filipino crew (there were 4 Filipinas serving the cabin plus the purser) came to my seat to present herself and took my pre-departure beverage drink order. I settled for the signature date smoothie (I am beginning to love this drink). A hot towel was also offered.

Then came the usual dates ...

and the Saudi coffee to go with it.

Amenity Kit

We were also offered an amenity kit by Elie Saab. I asked the flight attendant if I could have the female version instead and was informed that they have only loaded the exact number of amenity kits for this flight. The contents were the same as the one I got on my Casablanca to Jeddah flight a week ago: a dental kit, ear plugs, socks and eye mask and a pouch bag by Elie Saab containing a 5ml lip butter, a 5ml face cleanser, a 10ml hand and body lotion, a 10ml face cream and a 10ml Essence no. 6 Vetiver spray. I thought the contents were generous, and pretty much in par with the Bulgari amenity kit from Emirates and Diptyque amenity kits from Qatar Airways. 

Fortunately, when I changed to seat 5D, my seatmate from Saudi Arabia was not interested with her amenity kit so I ended up asking for it and having it for my collection 👍

Wifi

As expected from an old aircraft, there was no wifi on board.

Pushback and Take Off

We pushed back at 10:55pm and 9 minutes later, we were airborne.

Safety Video (after take off)

The IFE system on this flight was a let down, it had to be restarted by the purser many, many times for it to work. This caused the safety video which would normally be screened during push back to be screened after take off. The lamp in the panel above my seat was also not working, so I had to use the reading lamp everytime I needed some light.

Dining

Dine on demand was offered as usual. There was the usual local choice of Saudia Sufrah and the international A la carte. 

Desserts

Light dining and Movie treats

Beverages

Beverages

Non-alcoholic sparkling collection

To start the meal service, we were offered some nuts. Most airlines would serve some drinks to go with the nuts like SAS on my flight from JFK to Oslo and Turkish Airlines from Istanbul to Hong Kong, but with Saudia, there seems to be no standard as it can be a hit or miss 😉

I had to ask something to drink and ordered the Jukes 1 non-alcoholic sparkling. I have to say that it is less superior to the BelliNo and RossiNo, and you would see it from the presentation. The Jukes come in a can while the BelliNos are served in a bottle.

A bottle of BelliNo being presented by a flight attendant.

I had the prawn for my starters and it was very good.

For my main course, I had the Baked Harissa chicken which was okay. I think it is hard to serve a baked chicken on flights like this without eventually making it dry. I would have preferred to have the salmon as my main course but it was popular and it was gone in minutes.

For dessert, I had the carrot cake tart which was very good. I also had a cup of green tea.

Time to Sleep

Saudia´s business seats on this B777 are not really lie-flat, unlike the ones they have on their B787s which I got to enjoy from Casablanca to Jeddah. Still, it was bearable since I would normally stay seated for hours after meals.

Hot towel

Edmaryn, the flight attendant taking care of my aisle of the cabin was kind enough to allow me to take a photo of the Movie snacks they were offering. They were tempting but I needed to remind myself that I am getting fat and need to avoid snacks 😉

Light Dining

I was able to sleep for a few hours and woke up with 2 hours and 20 minutes left before landing. I was offered some tea, which I gladly took. It was served with those lovely Patchi chocolates 👍

Tea and Patchi chocolates

For light snacks, I had the cheese and cold cut plate which was very good.

Edmaryn thought I also needed to try the Halloumi, tomato and pepper quiche. It was really good but I still felt full from the big dinner I had so I could not eat more than I could.

Lavatory

There are 2 lavatories, both of which were located in front of the cabin. They had the usual Saudia branded hand lotion and hand hygiene.

Special Souvenir

I noticed a Saudia pen in the galley and thought I´d ask Edmaryn if she had an extra for my collection. She came back and gave her pen to me. I later learned that she got a pack of these Saudia pens when she won the best employee award. I know how sentimental this pen is for her and to give it to me only shows that she really is an outstanding employee deserving of such recognition. Thank you Edmaryn 🙏

With the Saudia pen I got from Edmaryn, I now have 44 different pens from different airlines.

Landing in Manila

We landed in Manila at 1:11pm and reached our gate about 20 minutes later.

CONCLUSION

It is always a special flight for me when I fly home to Manila or Cebu since I have been a balikbayan for more than 20 years now, and coming to the Philippines is always a joy. The Saudia crew on this flight consisting of four Filipinas (Edmaryn, Gladys, Bea and Cynthia) and the purser all did an amazing job in making this flight a special one. Even with all the shortcomings (no wifi, outdated business class seats, the IFE being broken most of the time, etc.), the crew made sure that the passengers would have an enjoyable flight in the end. They were all apologetic and that was more than enough to make up for the issues on this flight. To all the crew on this flight, Shukran and Maraming Salamat!

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