Review of Saudia flight from Jeddah to London in Economy

Hello gatwick, my old friend

Hey guys and welcome to another Flight Report!

This is the final FR from my trip to Tanzania and will cover my last leg to London Gatwick on Saudia's Boeing 787. While Gatwick is known for its leisure and LCC traffic mainly from easyJet and TUI, it's been getting more and more international traffic since the pandemic including the likes of Air China, Air Mauritius, Air India and Turkmenistan Airlines with more airlines turning to the airport because of Heathrow's slot limitations. It's also my main airport when flying out of London.

But anyway, back to the FR. As mentioned in my previous FRs, this flight was booked as part of a multi-city trip flying Milan-Jeddah-Dar-Jeddah-London for only £165, which is easily the bargain of the year. Also, despite travelling 4800 miles (7700 km) to Tanzania, this will be my first (and only) wide-body flight of this trip so I'm really curious on how Saudia's 787 compares to their brand new A321neo and (very impressive) A320.

I aim to offset all of my CO2 emission from flights. All emissions are calculated using the ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator and I will be funding projects approved by The Gold Standard.

video report

Here's the video version of this FR, it's got pretty much the same thing content wise.

Jeddah King Abdulaziz International Airport (JED)

Once again, we start in the departures lobby of King Abdulaziz Airport.

I already did a review of the airport on my flight to Dar-es-Salaam so I'm not gonna go into as much detail in this FR. 

But in short, it's gorgeous (and very new). 

Once again, I paid a visit to the Wellcome Lounge (which I also reviewed in my flight to Dar).

I planned on getting some food here but there weren't any. I guess they were in the middle of switching to breakfast? The counters were completely empty (as you can see in the photo) apart from some water and juice. Luckily Saudia gave out a proper hot meal on my 4 hour flight here (yes, they're amazing) so I'm not too bothered.

Anyway, with about 20 minutes to boarding and the sun rising, we can finally do some planespotting. Obviously, most of the departures here is Saudia mixed in with some Flynas, a LCC in Saudi Arabia. Rather interestingly, I'm quite sure most international airlines operate out of the Hajj terminal (looking on Flightradar24), which is on the other side of the airport very far away and explains why I didn't see many foreign carrier here. 

Amazingly, Saudia still have 3 Boeing 747-400s in their fleet. It's operated by Air Atlanta Icelandic (hence the white fuselage) and mainly operate Hajj and Umrah flights to Jakarta, Dhaka etc. I did actually look up the option to fly these 744s in the summer to Asia (because who doesn't love flying the 747? But not on Lufthansa...) however it appears they may be replaced by the Boeing 777s after the summer schedule change. 

Speaking of the 777, here's a 777-300ER (HZ-AK22) heading to Karachi (KHI), the largest city in Pakistan. 

Interestingly, flights to the UK are all located at the very end of the building, which is separated by a boarding pass and another security check. While these are required for flights to the US, this is the first time I've seen it for flights to the UK (not EU). I wonder if such an arrangement also exists in other airports like Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai etc. 

But anyway, here are the 3 UK bound 787s heading to London (our plane), Manchester and Birmingham respectively. 

A much better view of the Manchester bound 787. She (HZ-ARB) is in the Riyadh Season 2021 special livery. 

The seating at the end here. As you can see, it's fairly quiet here with huge windows - perfect for planespotting! 

View of the whole apron with the control tower. 

And finally, the outside of the terminal with one of the runways. 

the flight

Finally! Flight tracking is back now that we're out of Africa. Here's our route and flight time will be around 6 hours. 

Boarding started pretty much on time and here's the IFE and tray table - this one actually folds out and is normal sized, which will come as a surprise to anyone who's read my previous Saudia FRs. 

As usual, on each seat is a pillow and blanket. Unusually this fairly new cabin actually comes with a foot rest, which is a nice addition. The legroom is also very good. 

First views out of the window with the 777 heading to Karachi (KHI)

As always for Saudia, a wet wipe and headphones were handed out shortly before pushback. 

Taxiing to the runway. 

Nice-ish views of Jeddah on takeoff.

And after that, there's basically nothing but desert. Also, complete tangent, but did you know Saudi Arabia actually imports sand? Over 7 million kgs in fact. This is because desert (wind eroded) sand is way too fine for construction so regular, water eroded sand is needed. 

Over the Red Sea. 

Shortly after takeoff, the crew actually gave out an amenity kit, which is rather surprising as it was a day flight (unlike my previous flights on Saudia). It's looks like a super high quality amenity kit. Apparently, according to the label, it is a 'heritage amenity kit' showcasing the Hejaz region of Saudia Arabia located on the Western coast of the country (where Jeddah is). It looks really nice so I didn't open it as it required ripping off the label. Most airlines don't even bother with amenity kits these days so it's amazing to get one as unique as this - I'm definitely keeping it as a souvenir haha. 

The crew also came around separately with drinks… 

… and a little later, breakfast! 

And here it is. The options were egg or beans. I went with the latter. I know it looks really unappetizing, but it's chickpeas in tomato sauce with fresh fruits, a mango yoghurt and naan bread. Interestingly, this was the exact same thing I got on my flight from Dar-es-Salaam. What's more interesting is that this one tastes completely different compared to that one. The one from Dar was mushy, bland and generally terrible however this one was more watery and tasted much, much better. I know they were both catered in Jeddah so it's fascinating how different and inconsistent the catering can be. 

But anyway, it's a nice meal overall with good portions. 

Still over the Saudi coast. 

Lets have a look at the IFE. This system is identical to the one found on the A320s, which is older than the brand new 4k screens on the A321neo. 

Content-wise, it's identical to the A320, which means that it's very good. There's plenty of movies and TV shows however this system crashes more often than a drunk driver on a racetrack. I literally couldn't load up the 'music' section as it was just an automatic crash whenever I tried. The movies screen also crashes randomly whenever you're scrolling. I'm not sure why but it made it very unpleasant and annoying to use. 

A fully interactive map is also available.

Somewhere over the Balkans. 

After that, I watched a movie (Gran Turismo - it's very good!) and shortly after that, the crew came around with a before landing snack, which consisted of a muffin and some more drinks. The catering on this flight is amazing - it's definitely one of the best 6 hour flights I've had catering wise. 

Over the English Channel with its wind farms - a landmark approaching the UK these days. 

First views of land as we start our descent. 

On final approach. 

Welcome back to the UK! We arrived on time. 

Parked next to a China Eastern A330-200 (B-5961) that will be heading to Shanghai (PVG). 

Longon gatwick airport (lgw)

Gosh, it's been such a long time since I last reviewed a UK airport, although (unsurprisingly) nothing's changed. Heading the immigration. This is the north terminal at LGW by the way. 

The baggage reclaim area. It's much newer (and more pleasant) than the baggage reclaim area in the south terminal. 

It took around 15 minutes for my bag to arrive. Adding on the 5 minutes at immigration means that it took around 30 minutes from the gate to the arrivals area landside - not bad. 

Heading to the train station…

… which includes a short shuttle ride to the south terminal.  

And here's the train station. No strikes this time!! Hooray!! It's hilarious the amount of times I've flown here on strike days with no trains (see the Aer Lingus FR if you're wondering about my 4-5 hour journey from the airport last time). 

Thanks for reading my last FR of this trip! It was amazing visiting Tanzania (and Africa) for the first time. The people so kind and helpful and the scenery is amazing. I've got another big trip coming up so thanks for watching and I'll see you there!!