Review: Saudia Business Class Boeing 777, Manila to Jeddah

Saudia business class, Manila to Jeddah on the B777

Winter trip flying Saudia and SAS Business Class

Introduction

After my recent trip to South East Asia with Mike visiting Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Indonesia, it is now time to travel again alone and visit three countries. So far, I have visited 97 countries according to the UN list so after my visit to Tunisia, Colombia and Guatemala, I would have visited a total of 100 countries. I am really excited and I can't wait for this trip to unfold. I am hoping for the best 👍

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Flight: SV871

Departure time in Manila (MNL): 21:40

Arrival time in Jeddah (JED): 04:10 (+1)

Aircraft: Boeing 787-9 (HZ-ARD) delivered April 2016

Seat: 5A

Duration: 11h 30m

Date of flight: February 16, 2025

*This is an award ticket, Business Class flight #312

Video on YouTube

Coming soon!

Check-in, Desks 38-39

For business class and those with status, Saudia uses check-in desks 38 and 39. I was helped by a friendly staff and after confirming that I didn't need a visa to Tunisia, my boarding passes were issued.

Marhaba Lounge

I have previously visited this lounge in 2024 and sadly, not much has changed since then: I still think the food options are limited and that it could be better.

Aircraft, Boeing 787-9

For flights to Jeddah, Saudia normally uses their Boeing 787s which have modern seats (although they are getting old too). This aircraft was delivered in 2016 making it almost 10 years old.

Boarding, Gate 12

Saudia normally boards early so when I arrived at the boarding gate, I was helped by a staff to bypass the long queue already occupied by economy class passengers.

Business Class Cabin

For this flight, I was able to select 5A on the Saudia website days before departure. The cabin has a total of 24 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. The cabin was full on this flight, I believe less than half of which were Filipinos. 

Seat, 5A

I have flown this exact seat twice in the past 6 months so I will just concentrate on the service.

Personal screen

Headphones, safety instruction card, bottle of water

Safety card, air-sickness bag

Noise-cancelling headphones

Blanket and pillow

Seat controls 

AC power port, IFE controller

Moments after settling in, Charmine a lovely lady from the Philippines came to my seat to introduce herself. She took my drink order and I ended up choosing mango juice which was served with a hot towel.

I was also offered some dates and Saudia coffee.

Amenity Kit

I was surprised to know that they have a new set of amenity kit (at least the pouch bag) for this flight. 

The contents were impressive and included skin care products and a small bottle of perfume from Lebanese fashion designer Ellie Saab. The usual dental kit, eye mask and earplugs were also inside the bag.

Wifi

200mb data would cost 50 USD while the free messaging plan was capped at 5mb.

Dining

Menu 

Menu

Menu

Drink list

Drink list

Pushback & Take Off

We began pushback at 9:36pm and 12 minutes later, we were airborne.

Dinner

As soon as the seatbelt sign was turned off, the crew began with the dinner service. The usual mixed nuts were offered, and I had a glass of apple juice to go with it.

For my appetizer, I chose the Balik Salmon which was perfect. I tasted it one time during my visit to the Emirates First Class Lounge in Dubai and I really liked it. I also know that Swiss first class passengers are served with Balik Salmon from time to time so it was nice to know that Saudia has invested on something like this.

For my main course, I had the seared spiced cod fish which was very good.

I also had the RossiNo to go with my fish, as suggested by Charmine.

I did not have any dessert as I was already full. I ended the meal with a relaxing tea which was served with a Patchi chocolate.

Time to Sleep

Since no turn down service is offered (unlike with Turkish Airlines which offer a mattress pad), I prepared the bed myself.

I was able to sleep for a few hours and with about 2.5 hours left to landing, I decided to have something to eat. I chose the fish sarciado from the Light Dining menu.

Sadly, I thought the sauce was not the perfect match for the fish.

Apple juice

I also ordered some desserts and had the warm date sticky toffee pudding which was very good but something I will not eat everyday 😉

Female Amenity Kit & Movie Treats (Photos)

I did not have the time to have some snacks so I asked Charmine if I could just take a photo of the snacks, as well as the female amenity kit, both of which she agreed to.

Lavatory

The lavatory had the Saudia branded toiletries as usual.

Landing in Jeddah Airport

We landed in Jeddah Airport at 3:07am which was almost an hour ahead of schedule.

CONCLUSION

Flying with Saudia on their B787s is always a joy since they have better seats, and with the lovely crew from the Philippines, it just gets better. Of course, there are still things they could improve on: they can offer slippers and pajamas on night flights just like Qatar Airways, offer an amuse bouche to start the meal and offer better selection of drinks. Still, it was a very nice flight overall. To all the crew on this flight, Shukran!