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Virgin Points should be redeemable on Riyadh Air, if you want to try their amazing cabins

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Last week we published an interview with Tony Douglas, CEO of upstart Saudi airline Riyadh Air.

Riyadh Air has just unveiled the cabins which will be used on its first long-haul services, and they look very impressive.

Many readers were dismayed that Riyadh Air was not planning to join an airline alliance, and so there would be no easy way to redeem miles to try the new service. However, it seems we were mistaken.

Riyadh Air cabin design

Virgin Atlantic launched flights to Riyadh this week. We didn’t cover the story but our article on the initial announcement is here.

(The second new route mentioned in that article, to Accra, now appears to be permanently dead.)

One snippet of information which emerged during the launch trip is that Virgin Atlantic is planning a partnership deal with Riyadh Air.

Given that London is likely to be Riyadh Air’s first destination later this year – we understand that it has the Heathrow slots it needs – it doesn’t immediately make sense why a partnership with Virgin Atlantic would be necessary.

Riyadh Air cabin design

It would, however, allow Riyadh Air to feed in to Virgin Atlantic’s North American network until it can get its own US services established. Operating two Riyadh Air flights per day alongside one Virgin Atlantic flight would give it full coverage across the day on the key Heathrow to Riyadh route.

I asked Riyadh Air if it would be possible to spend Virgin Points on Riyadh Air. Whilst non-committal about a Virgin Atlantic deal, it told us that it was planning to have ‘earn and burn’ with its airline partners.

You may be able to try Riyadh Air’s impressive looking cabins without spending a fortune after all ….

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Category

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Comments (48)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Dan says:
    25 Apr25 April 06:48

    Is there enough demand for two carriers on the route, by the volume cheap points deals on Virgin it doesn’t appear to sell easily.

    • Matt says:
      25 Apr25 April 09:37

      Two carriers? There are already three carriers on the route (BA, Saudia and Virgin). Riyadh Air will be the fourth.

      • Novice says:
        25 Apr25 April 10:57

        Yes but out of all, Riyadh Air will have the better business class hard product. So if I had a choice I would fly Riyadh Air.

        • J says:
          25 Apr25 April 12:25

          Dry airline though which will put a lot of people off.

          • Rob says:
            25 Apr25 April 12:47

            It’s NOT a dry airline!

          • MKCol says:
            25 Apr25 April 16:59

            I think you overestimate the public’s desire for alcohol over a good product, schedule & price.
            The significant majority of my client base wouldn’t know whether an airline is wet or dry, let alone care.

          • Matt says:
            26 Apr26 April 00:52

            What is our obsession with alcohol?

  • Mr. AC says:
    25 Apr25 April 07:22

    Oh! I just flew on VA in UC from Riyadh on Tuesday without realising it was a new route… It was on A330 with a new cabin. Quite enjoyable, except that I was sad to see the bar area gone and replaced by a couple of couches (still better than nothing!)

  • Bill Templeton says:
    25 Apr25 April 08:00

    I flew to Riyadh on Upper Class and returned in Premium last week. There’s a huge ex-pat community in Saudi but in my experience the ex-pats haven’t yet realised that Virgin are flying to Riyadh and BA have increased their Jeddah frequency.
    Although alcohol was available while outside Saudi airspace, the sausages were chicken rather than pork and the menu had a lot of nut products which would align with the Saudi taste buds but was an issue for my son with the nut allergy.
    We hadn’t bothered to notify Virgin about the allergy because we’d flown Virgin so many times before and had lots of nut-free options.
    Tracey, William and Rebecca from the Virgin crew were brilliant and found alternatives across the classes and also made sure my son had plenty of snacks from the Wander Wall.
    It was my first time with the new UC suite and found it interesting trying to find all the features such as how to release the table and where to store shoes and the buttons to press. I too miss the bar.

    • Lumma says:
      25 Apr25 April 08:18

      BA don’t have any pork products on their flights to Marrakech, so it’s hardly surprising that there would be none on a flight to Saudi with another western airline

      • MKCol says:
        25 Apr25 April 17:01

        They didn’t express surprise at the sausages being chicken.

      • Bagoly says:
        26 Apr26 April 05:58

        Reasonable enough when flying to a Muslim country, not least because many of the guests will avoid pork.
        I was less sympathetic to find only turkey sausages at breakfast in several hotels in Switzerland – if they find that necessary to focus on the Muslim market then fine, but let me know in advance so I can go somewhere which offers pork sausages.

  • LittleNick says:
    25 Apr25 April 08:15

    I wonder if Riyadh will serve a glass of champagne for pre departure drink on takeoff from London and if it will continue until the aircraft is in Saudi airspace.

    • Mr. AC says:
      25 Apr25 April 09:27

      I flew VA one way from Saudi on Tuesday and they started serving alcohol only once we cleared Saudi airspace.

      • LittleNick says:
        25 Apr25 April 09:48

        Of course, exactly the same as BA. My point was will Riyadh Air be dry the entire way like Saudia or will be like non-dry carriers from day one?

      • daveinitalia says:
        25 Apr25 April 13:51

        Strewth, VA are getting bigger

  • BJ says:
    25 Apr25 April 09:48

    You mentioned in an earlier article that seat was a modification of the new JAL seat but I I don’t recall you mentioning JAL cabins were amazing. What’s better here? I’m a bit baffled as there is no way RIA economy cabin cpuld be compared favourably against JAL due to seating configuration alone. Also JAL has an F cabin that serves some regional as well as longhaul routes, foes RIA have F?

    • Rhys says:
      25 Apr25 April 10:12

      The Safran Unity is miles ahead of Virgin’s old Upper Class seat – that goes without saying. It’s super private and super spacious with some of the highest walls in the industry, bar Qsuite. At least on my particular JAL seat the padding could have been better – there was a gap between the back and base – but I’m not sure if that’s a seat-wide issue or just an issue with my particular seat. But Riyadh Air’s cabins look fantastic and should be very good, overall.

      If you read my article about the Riyadh Air cabins you would know the answer to your last question 😉

      • BJ says:
        25 Apr25 April 10:45

        I did read it but at my age you don’t retain detail so well, particularly when other stuff is so much more important. Tbh, I cannot even recall if you saw a real plane, a cabin mock-up or just some photos.

    • Vit says:
      25 Apr25 April 16:25

      BJ, speaking of JAL — which one would you choose?

      Option 1: BKK-HND-HEL, in F and HEL-EDI in J, for ~183k + ~£300
      Option 2: BKK-DOH-EDI, in J with Qsuite first leg, for 75k + ~£200

      Option 1 may also need overnight stay in HEL.
      Option 2 has a 13hr layover in DOH.

      🙂

      • BJ says:
        25 Apr25 April 17:55

        @Vit I’m assuming you are not stay8ng in Japan or Qatar., and there is no availability for 2h connections in Doha. In which case I would choose none of them, I would pay £1100-1200 for AY J 8qm BKK departure into EDI same day and credit to Alaska MP.

        • BJ says:
          25 Apr25 April 18:15

          If you don’t want to pay that cash and can get a one way from BKK-EDI for about £400 in Y with a connection around 2h in Doha or Dubai with A380 on first sector I think it would be worth considering. I did it one time on Etihad and it wasn’t bad at all as ot’s two nedium flights with a connection to break the momotiny and stretch you legs. I spent the entirety of EDI-AUH on the internet and slept all the way from AUH to BKK. I’d do it again if it was only reasonable schrdule and price was a factor.

        • Vit says:
          25 Apr25 April 18:33

          Thanks BJ. Good point there actually. I should have mentioned that I also need(ed) flexibility hence the reward redemption booking. Been changing flights multiple times the last couple months. From QR to AY and now to QR again and last minute flight is just a bit too expensive for my taste. Hainan is not bad actually and does fly into EDI albeit long connection in PEK and flying through Russian airspace which I am not too keen. 😀

          I will be back in BKK again in a few weeks. So may just do AY out late at night from HEL for some good sleep. I still have not managed to try the AY “lounge seat” yet.

          • Novice says:
            25 Apr25 April 20:16

            AY lounge seat is awful for sleeping. I am saying this as a person who doesn’t like fully flat. It is ok to lounge in but that’s all. I spent my flight to SK, contorted in a weird way in order to get some sleep.

            BA suite is good in this manner, for sleeping at a slight angle.

          • BJ says:
            25 Apr25 April 20:48

            Many one way revenue fares have some flexibility and always worth calling airline to check how much more you need to pay to get even better flexibility. Somestimes an extra £50-100 can be all it takes and very worth it. I’ve always believed in keeping itineraties as short and simple as possible. Apart from using AY zone 1 to bisit friends in Copenhagen my partner and I are now settled into QR. We taje the afternoon flight from EDU whivh means a midnight UK time departure from DOH whivh is good to sleep on second sector in A380 or Qsuite. Coming bavk we depart BKK at 8pm which then means DOH-EDI is oerfect for sleeping UK times. Service on QR has been very patchy and the food is poor but my partner who has flew m.ore frequently than me in past two years feels that service is getting much more consistent, he even sajd the food was good lsstu month whivh was a first for him.

          • BJ says:
            25 Apr25 April 20:59

            @Novice, I find SofaLounge by far the best seatu for sleeping since TG original F on 744s decades ago but that’s precisely because it’s flat 🙂 It could do with a good topper though lije those used bg ANZ also decades ago. No doubts seats are enormously better these days but there were sone elrmrnts years ago that some airlines did better. The TG Spa also springs to mind.

  • r* says:
    25 Apr25 April 10:30

    How much is saudi paying the airlines to fly there? Some of the US/EU carriers gave added flights too. Surely they havent all decided that the place everyone wants to go to is saudi arabia lol?

  • Dominic Barrington says:
    25 Apr25 April 13:39

    I don’t want to sound in any way negative, but surely you have to have a ‘real reason’ to go to Saudi Arabia? It’s not the most easy and obvious tourist destination, is it (quite aside of being dry)?

    • Novice says:
      25 Apr25 April 14:48

      They want to turn it into a hub so in that case, most passengers will just use it as a hub. Qatar started promoting itself as a destination when WC happened. I can’t remember them pushing for tourists before so Riyadh will do same. Might be a decent option for flying east.

    • PH says:
      25 Apr25 April 20:08

      They are trying to diversify the economy and grow tourism/events and tech/innovation sectors. This involves a major PR push, of which this airline is a key part. Judging from the articles and comments here, it is working exactly as planned so far. I don’t begrudge any of this, although I hope people at least acknowledge they are participating in this image makeover by supporting it. Some may take a view that supporting this is a path towards genuine progress (whatever that is these days) and not just PR / airline-washing, and/or that it’s irrelevant or hypocritical to be ‘concerned’. Which is fine… personally I’m not bought in yet. For Rob and co it clearly generates clicks and comments (like this one…)

  • BJ says:
    25 Apr25 April 14:36

    Connections is the only reason I need, and while the airline will not be dry I actually see a dry airline as a plus. The number of readers focussing on whether airlines are dry or not just strikes me as a bit odd, surely for most a whole range of airline and aircraft features are more importarnt than whether one can have a drink or not? There are still huge numbers of smokers around but few comments from them on HfP lamenting the fact that they can no longer light up onboard.

    • Novice says:
      25 Apr25 April 14:53

      True. If they offer good food for pescatarians, mostly vegetarians then I will be happy. Don’t need anything else other than decent hard product, amenity bag, food and service. Nothing else is necessary to me. Having said that, everyone’s priority lists will be different.

    • John says:
      25 Apr25 April 15:09

      its unbelievable how some people dont understand there is more to life than a drink

      • Rob says:
        25 Apr25 April 15:14

        I rarely drink in restaurants, because 75% of the time I’m with my kids and I try not to drink when they are there. I never drink at home either unless guests are round and the kids are out of the way. I don’t drink in the HfP office although unlimited free beer is available. Soft drinks with food is normal for me. However, there was something weird about eating in Doha restaurants all this week (I am typing this on QR1) and only being given a soft drinks menu. It’s hard to explain, but although I wouldn’t have had a drink anyway, the inability to order one felt very odd.

        • SimonC says:
          25 Apr25 April 21:24

          I was on a Ryanair flight from Shannon to Manchester. 50 mins flight time. Someone had pre-ordered 7 Coronas. Disrupted the wider Scratch card run. Also, upstart is not interchangeable with Startup. Unless you did find him to be cocky and arrogant.

      • J says:
        25 Apr25 April 15:30

        Getting tanked up in the lounge or Wetherspoons marks the start of the holiday for many Brits.

      • will says:
        25 Apr25 April 16:02

        As someone who doesn’t particularly drink much and usually flies sober out of personal choice I don’t find the “there’s more to life than” argument particularly compelling.

        There’s more to life than anything you care to think about, if someone wants to do something then as long as that does not negatively impact others then it has very little to do with me.

        • kevin86 says:
          25 Apr25 April 17:16

          It does impact others when people get stupidly drunk and act like yobbos

          • BJ says:
            25 Apr25 April 21:14

            +1 too, been sat next to a drunk, have seen a FA assaulted by a drunk, and have been on flights where drink -fuelled groups have caused unpleasant journeys. I’m all for restrictions (not vanning) on the amount if alcohol that can be purchased in airports and served on board, I feel it’s justifued in providing s safer working environment for FA alone. Sadly though it’s jyst another example where the majorith suffer at the expense if a few idiots.

      • RobH not Rob says:
        25 Apr25 April 19:02

        +1

      • Matt says:
        26 Apr26 April 00:54

        +1. I despair are our societies need for alcohol.

      • Thomas says:
        26 Apr26 April 05:08

        Nothing wrong with a good glass of red once in a blue moon. Fact is that ” premium booze” is expected by many as part of the deal, ignoring the fact that at attitude taste dramatically changes, and every good bottle served up there is a bottle drank, yet not fully enjoyed. An airplane environment is not the environment to truly appreciate any drink, or food for that matter. I would prefer Lower J fares, to include nothing but the seat. No service, no lounge, no added luggage, no F and B.

    • PH says:
      25 Apr25 April 20:15

      I hardly drink and agree that no alcohol on board could solve some problems but the sheer perception that quality airlines and hospitality establishments serve alcohol is hard to shake

      • PH says:
        25 Apr25 April 20:16

        Plus something nice about having the option there but choosing not to take it, vs being denied the option because of somebody else’s rules?

    • Bagoly says:
      26 Apr26 April 05:54

      For daytime flights I don’t care about alcohol.
      For overnight flights (especially eastbound TATL) where I want to get to sleep earlier than I would do otherwise in order to adjust my clock, having some decent wine does matter to me – I don’t use any other sleeping medication.

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