the story never ends...

at Riyadh airport, the Saudi Airlines aircrafts, yang kecik tu, is MD90 aircraft (boeing aircraft), kat Mesia, we don't have this "ekor ikan paus" aircraft... MD would stand for McDonnell Douglas, but this company was bought over by Boeing some 15 years ago, I think...

I wonder how Saudi Airlines will do in a survey if they conduct a "Customer Satisfaction Survey"....

my adventure in Riyadh continued until the very last minute of my presence in Saudi... received my flight ticket at 12h30 on Thu, cleared everything, then went back to the hotel, picked up my stuffs, then go to the airport. If you are taking Saudi Airlines, you better check in early as sometimes if the flight is full (or overbooked), priority is given to Saudis... so, you might actually not get into the flight even if you have a confirmed ticket... if you are on waiting list, and you have registered earlier at check in counter for "waiting list seats", don't have high hopes as all Saudis who come later and register for the "waiting list seats", will have much much more priority than you... well, that's how it works there... I have heard stories where Malaysian travellers are being kicked out of the flight because they come check in late... (one instance, sorang kawan nih nak balik Mesia coz adiknya meninggal, got a confirmed ticket, can you imagine how he felt when he arrived at the airport and discovered that his seat "has been taken away"...? tak jadi balik Mesia kawan tuh...

Saudi Airlines Boeing747 flight... harapkan aircraft jer besar... inflight service, big fat ZERO

on my previous trip to Dubai (from Riyadh, last May), the flight took off on time, but after 15mn on air, the flight came back to Riyadh due to some technical pbm... we touched down at Riyadh airport 45mn after take off... after ding dong here and there, we were told that we had to change flight... the replacement flight came 3.5 hours later and instead of taking off at 5h30pm, we finally left Riyadh at 11h30pm... arrived in Dubai just before 1am, then no more parking at Dubai airport, it took sometime for the buses to come and fetch us to bring to the terminal... ambik luggage and all... finally arrived home at about 2h30am... all together (from arrival time at Riyadh airport, and arrival time at home), the journey took 12 hours... imagine that...

the Boeing777 flight that I took... aircond was also not working properly during the whole journey...

well, this time around... it was not far different... checked in, got into the flight... and by 6h30pm, we were still at Riyadh airport (in the flight)... "flight engine tak leh start...", boleh camtu...? (that's what the Captain said)... hehehe... Don't really understand what the pbm was but at 7pm, we were told to get off the flight... tak ker tension? I mean... 2 times in a row, I encounter pbms with Saudi Airlines flight... luckily, this time the delay was a bit shorter... after 1.5 hours at the terminal, we were called to get into the flight again (same one)... flight finally took off at 9pm... arrived in Dubai around 10h30pm, and after dingdong immigration queue, pick up luggage, customs clearance... reached home just after midnite...

nasib baik that this time, I was ready to expect the worse... so somehow, I was not fuming that much....

private terminal far across the runway..., tengok camna besar private jets dia orang... rezeki petrol money...

in the flight, the guy next to me was a French guy who came to Saudi for the first time... boy he was fuming mad big time....!!

took the opportunity to practice my French again talking to this guy....

my opinion of Saudi Airlines...? bad, very bad... kalah Air Asia.... hehe....

Riyadh airport domestic terminal, that's SAMA air aircraft (budget airlines)

macam2 cerita I experienced during my stay in Saudi... memang boleh buat novel... hehe...

well, resting now... tomorrow will start new work at Dubai Internet City...