Review: Saudia B787-9 Business Class, Casablanca to Jeddah

 

Saudia B787-9 business class, Casablanca to Jeddah

Trip to Casablanca, Uzbekistan and Manila flying Saudia Business Class

Flight: SV376
Departure time in Casablanca (CMN): 07:40
Arrival time in Jeddah (JED): 15:50
Aircraft: B787-9
Seat: 5A
Duration: 6h 10m
Date of flight: October 11, 2025
*This is an SAS award ticket, Business Class flight #296

Video on YouTube



Casablanca International Airport Terminal 2, Check-in

Saudia uses check-in desks 10 and 11 for it's premium and status passengers. Check-in went smoothly with only hand luggage and moments later, I was on the way to security.

Fast Track

As a business class passenger, I had access to fast track which also had it's own passport control.

Royal Air Maroc Zenith Lounge

The Royal Air Maroc Zenith Lounge is a very basic lounge and sadly does not have natural light. I left the lounge around 6:30am for the boarding time of 6:40am.

Boarding, Gate A4

Boarding began at 6:40am from Gate A4. I thought it was early but it makes sure that passengers would arrive early to the gate, thus boarding on time.

As expected, I had access to priority boarding. There was also an extra control just before boarding the aircraft.

Aircraft, B787-9 (HZ-ARD)

This is a 9.5 year old B787 (taken after landing in Jeddah).

Business Class Cabin

The cabin has a total of 24 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The flight was about 85-90% full.

Seat 5A

My seat 5A is a window seat.

The personal screen is just about the same size as other airlines business class.

Foldable tray table

Literature pocket, headphones and Berain mineral water

Safety card and air-sickness bag

The headphones are okay.

IFE controller, USB and AC power outlet

Seat controls

Storage

Storage

On the right hand side of the seat is another storage perfect for bottles of water.

Legroom was spacious as expected. The footwell was okay but seat 1 is probably the best seat if you want to have the most spacious seat.

The pillow was soft.

The blanket was actually thick, with a green color on one side and blue on the other.

Pre-departure Beverage

Moments after settling in, I was welcomed by a nice flight attendant from Indonesia. She offered a towel which was not the usual thick towel other airlines like Qatar Airways and Emirates offer. It was thin but had some seal on it which I thought was cool. They had orange and lemon juice which I do not drink so I asked if I could have the antioxidant drink, which was gladly served minutes later.

I was also offered Saudi coffee and some dates which I gladly accepted.

Amenity Kit

For this day flight, we were offered a very nice amenity kit by the Lebanese fashion designer Elie Saab. In comparison, Qatar Airways would always give amenity kits (day and night flights) while Emirates only give them on night/long haul flights. The content was very generous: hand and body lotion, lip butter, face cleanser, face cream and a small bottle of perfume. They also had the usual dental kit, ear plugs and eye mask. I would say that this has become one of my favorite amenity kits (the one from Qatar Airways is still my favorite).

The dental kit had a tootbrush, mouthwash and Marvis toothpaste.

Pushback & Take Off

We began pushback at 7:38am and 15 minutes later, we were airborne.

Inflight Entertainment

The movie selection was very good, and I ended up watching Megan 2.0.

Wifi


Business class passengers and status members get free wifi access for the whole flight. Others get free messaging plan for 30 minutes/5MB limit. Paid access is 50USD for the whole flight with 200MB data limit and 20USD for a 20-minute use with 30MB data limit.

Dining

Saudia offers dine-on-demand on their flights so you decide whenever you want to have your meal. I decided to have breakfast served after take off.

Menu

Menu

Menu, light dining

Beverage list

Beverage list

Non-alcoholic drinks

Coffee and tea

To start the breakfast service, nuts were offered. Again, I chose the antioxidant drink to go with it.

Instead of having the local selection (Saudia Sufrah), I chose the international one. Sadly, they only had 2 servings of salmon which was already taken so I settled for the cheese and cold cut for my appetizer.

The cheese and cold cut platter was very good. It was served with a croissant and another bread and butter.

For my main course, I chose the Scrambled eggs with handmade rye waffle, smoked salmon and whipped chive ricotta.

The signature date and banana smoothie was perfect.

I also got to taste the BelliNo (fresh peach blended with white Moscato grape, Delicate fizz. It was good.

Dental floss.

The breakfast was actually very good. This is more or less in par with what I would normally get flying Qatar Airways or Turkish Airlines.

Movie Treats

I had a chance to take a photo of what was being served for movie treats: pop corn, Pringles, Twix and Kitkat.

Pre-landing Snacks

I pre-ordered the prawn for my pre-landing meal which was served about 2 hours before landing. The prawn was really good 😋

I was thinking of ordering a cappuccino but changed my mind and went for the plant based milk (oatmeal. It was served with Patchi chocolates 👍

Lavatory

There is only one lavatory located in front of the cabin, on the left hand side. This is much smaller than the economy class lavatory located behind row 6. There were Saudia branded hand lotion and hand hygiene offered, as well as feminine pads for the ladies.

Landing in Jeddah

We landed in Jeddah at 3:24pm and reached our gate 8 minutes later.

CONCLUSION

Finally, I was able to fly Saudia business class! I have been used to flying Qatar Airways, Turkish Airlines and SAS business class in the last year so it was nice to experience first hand what it was like to fly with Saudia. Of course, Saudia being a dry airline is not a problem for me since I do not drink.

The service was friendly and professional, with Irene a nice lady from the Philippines taking care of me the entire flight. It is always nice to have a "kabayan" working on the flight as I always feel at home. The dining experience was also very good, I would say still not in par with Qatar Airways but much better than Kenya Airways and other airlines I have flown with. The seats are average, nothing special like the Q-suites though.

I have several flights in Saudia business class in the future and knowing what they offer now in business class, I'd say I am looking forward to those flights. There is still room for improvement but I am sure Saudia is on the right track 👍 To all the crew on this flight, Shukran!

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