A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a question about having a ticket for a Saudia flight that no longer appears to operate and what to do next. Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll...
A LoyaltyLobby reader sent us a question about having a ticket for a Saudia flight that no longer appears to operate and what to do next.
Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll try to cover them here several times a week.
You can access Saudia here.
Reader’s Email:
I saw this post about Saudia being airfare of the day, no availability after March/April as well:
Interesting though as I have confirmed tickets from Amsterdam via Jeddah to Singapore (booked in September). A couple of weeks ago they cancelled the JED-SIN legs and actually there is no scheduled availability after March/April timeframe. No rebooking was done.
Called the airline and they could either refund or I could wait for the new schedule to be published. Have you seen something like this before? Given the cheap rates I got I did not wanted to refund. I even asked if they could reroute to Kuala Lumpur (I have no preference there), but they could not do it. They said they will get me there on those days, even with anothr airline.
Although the airline is good, their lounge in Jeddah supurb, their flight search system is very quirky and difficult to find.
Any word of advice or idea when they would publish their new schedule? Now it looks like they stop flying to Singapore completely…
Saudia definitely has had some good fares lately, and Saudi Arabia strongly pushes the free transit visa that passengers flying on Saudia can avail themselves and stay in the country for four days (96 hours).
I just had a chat with a friend who had booked one of Saudia’s good business class fares ex-Tunis, and the flight ended up being operated by a wet lease with no business class at all. He only got a small refund based on the fare difference.
Passengers on flights that have been completely canceled have been rebooked on other airlines to the destination on the ticketed fare class.
As the reader’s flight departs from the Netherlands, the EC 261/2004 legislation also comes into play. The airline is legally required to rebook on the original class of service OR, if the passenger so chooses, get a full refund even if the ticket is nonrefundable.
I would allow some more time for Saudia to get their act together and push hard in February if they haven’t rebooked the ticket yet.
It is better to have researched suggestions available regarding airlines and routes you would like to take from Amsterdam to Singapore; the direct SQ flight comes to mind.
Conclusion
In my opinion, if you can get over the fact that Saudia flights are dry, the service and food options are good in business (based on my small sample).
These Saudia business class fares between Europe and Asia are fantastic for those of us who collect Flying Blue XPs and miles.
Let’s hope the reader can convince Saudia to rebook them on Singapore Airlines, Emirates, or Qatar.