My AWFUL Saudia Flight: Flying to Saudi Arabia

I took a strange flight with Saudi Arabia's airline Saudia which ended up having some of the most bizarre customer service experiences I've ever had.

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[LeandroAragon]

All the departures at Tunis required a 6% gradient of climb, this is why is so steep until at least 3000fts, at 250 knots its at least 1500ft/min climb. Lot´s of restricted airspace around the airport. Love your videos !! Cheers from Brasil !!!

[importedmusic]

The steep pitch was probably due to the check-in lady phoning ahead to the pilots just to put the icing on your cake.

[barbaratg]

I remember departing Tunis back to London. The guy at checkout took my passport and boarding pass then whispered he would give me back my passport if I gave him some money. I told him I had left all my loose change in my hotel room. He tossed my passport back to me in disgust. This was many years ago.

[MancunianMrG]

That attitude of that check in woman was staggeringly bad, the utter contempt on her face as she looked at you.

[Shellynn]

What a bunch of rude employees at the airport You are always so please and thank yous all the time! You def didn't deserve that

[pyramidhead]

Don't worry my friend, even I, a Tunisian native, am treated like shit.. I actually dread departing and arriving to carthage :')

[sightsandsoundsofaviation]

The staff at Tunis Airport is a scandal. How dare you addressing and bothering them with your presence... ? Reminds me of the old Soviet Union "shut up and do as you are told" attitude. But Noel never loses his good humor, does he ? That makes this series so special.

[jacquelineb]

If the staff cannnot be bothered to be pleasant let someone do the job.
Manners cost nothing.
Thank you for your review.

[kbboy]

The rule with many Middle Easter airlines (some more, others less) is that if you fly a route to a third-world country (South Asia, Africa) vs another route to East Asia, EU, or NA, it is like flying two different airlines or two different classes. Some airlines reduce the difference and others just expose it, but the gap is ALWAYS there. Part of it is down to the passengers too.

[srikothur]

The woman at 2:00 seemed so upset that you actually had business class.

[andrewnorth]

What a horrible experience a the airport, and quite a grim looking airport. I recoiled at the point where the lounge receptionist slapped your pass back down on the desk without even a cursory attempt at eye contact, let alone a smile. It was like one of those corporate videos where they show their staff how not to treat a customer. Still, at least you were able to enjoy some light dinning.

[GarryPhillips]

Having a made a few Saudia flights recently, totally agree on your comments. Great food and cabin crew, but the rest of the experience is poor, especially compared with Emirates. They managed to lose my bag, but quickly recovered it, but then failed to let me know. So close but so far.

[smikejasper]

Dear Noel, unfailingly polite in the face of blunt rudeness - I couldn't do it! Hope the rest of your flights are better. 😊

[RayStatham]

I made the same mistake of flying with this airline, the whole process was anti passenger from checkin to off-boarding. Not enough staff, super long queues, what felt like secret police bag searches. Horrible.

[wylecoyote]

The takeoff angle sounds a lot like the Orange County California Airport noise abatement takeoff that starts off super steep like a rocket ship, then once out over the ocean it almost seems like they turn off the engines as you level off. They used to give a pre-flight warning about the takeoff, but the first time I flew out of the airport they did not make an announcement and I was very unsettled until a flight attendant explained it to me

[lesleytapp]

Just flown in and out of Hurguarda Egypt as disabled traveller, I've done this with friends many times but this time our experience was dreadful beyond dreadful. There security is so tight which we're used to but so forceful and disrespectful to us when we arrived to none of our mobility equipment and left us at gate with no wheelchair or other assistance. We eventually found our own scooters and wheel chairs behind some unmarked door by baggage. But usually we praise how efficient they are and it was a startling contrast this time. Attitudes too

[Jay_Wolfe]

I've watched a number of your videos now, and I have to admit that the one thing I really appreciate seeing, or hearing, is that you've gone to the effort to learn hello's, goodbyes, thank you's, etc in quite a number of different languages. It's something quite small, but so nice to know others make some kind of effort to do this.

[Flo]

I remember flying out of Tunis back to europe like 10 years ago. The take off had a very high climb rate in combination with a pretty tight left turn. Meaning steep pitch up while sitting at a pretty high bank angle very close to the ground. I knew the plane could easily handle this maneuver, still felt uncomfortable af as a passenger.
After reaching cruising altitude the pilot sort of apologised and said he had to perform this maneuver due to restricted airspace. The presidential residence isn't (or at least wasn't) allowed to be overflown and the runway we were taking off from was aiming at it.

Edit: Your flight path at 15:30 looks like you were using the same runway. The presidential residence is near Carthage and it looks like you were flying over it. Maybe you are allowed to do so now at a certain altitude and thats why the climb was so steep?

[atomsmash]

She was just itching to tell you to go check in somewhere else. Atrocious customer service.

[brucefrytz]

That last security check wasn't looking for weapons or drugs, it was for booze, pork and porn.