Review: We visit Saudia’s new lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4

Back in April, Saudia, the Jeddah-based airline, opened a new lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4.

The airline has worked with Plaza Premium on the design, fit out and operation.

Plaza Premium had leased the former two level SkyTeam lounge at Heathrow T4, opening up a new, larger Plaza Premium on the ground floor. Saudia has now taken over what was the upper floor of the SkyTeam lounge as its own space.

On Wednesday, I went down for a tour.

Our visit was hosted by senior members of the Saudia team from Jeddah, which gave us an opportunity to talk in broader detail about what is happening with the airline.

Saudia is on the move ….

If I’m honest, Saudia – in my mind – was not an airline I saw as a top tier carrier. My view started to change when I saw a mock-up of their impressive A321XLR seat at World Travel Market last November, and there is a lot more going on:

• since 2016, Saudia has jumped from 82nd to 17th in the Skytrax ‘Best Airline Staff & Service’ table

• for June 2025, Cirium ranked it No 1 globally for on-time departure and arrival performance – a crazy 91.3% on-time arrival rate and a 90.7% on-time departure rate, across almost 17,000 flights

• some aircraft have full suites in business class, including ‘double bed’ suites

• it has 118 aircraft on order, plus another 73 for its low cost offshoot flyadeal

• as well as London, it is opening dedicated lounges in Paris, Istanbul and Dubai

• having just announced flights to Dammam from November 2025, it now flies from Heathrow to three cities (the other two are Riyadh and Jeddah)

• other UK routes include Gatwick to Neom, Gatwick to Jeddah, Birmingham to Jeddah and Manchester to Jeddah

Inside the new Heathrow Terminal 4 lounge

Let’s cover a key point first. This is NOT a SkyTeam lounge. You cannot get in if you are flying from Terminal 4 on Air France, KLM, Vietnam Airlines or China Eastern.

I asked why this is the case and did not receive a satisfactory answer. It is not uncommon for flagship lounges at home airports to get a carve out (eg Virgin Atlantic’s Clubhouse in Terminal 3) but this is just a – primarily – business class lounge at an outstation.

That said, it is a very good lounge. Of course, the lack of SkyTeam passengers – meaning that it was never busy when we were there – is part of its appeal.

The lounge is 850 square metres, with capacity for 174 guests. You can enter if you are flying Saudia in First or Business Class, or are in Economy with Alfursan Gold or Silver frequent flyer status. The list posted on the front desk does NOT say that SkyTeam elites with other airlines, flying Saudia, can use it.

The two images above are PR shots, but are accurate. The one immediately above is just after you enter and is the tea bar, where you can enjoy ‘a bespoke London Tea Exchange experience’.

This is, of course, a dry lounge. However, I was impressed by what Saudia has done to offset this.

The ‘tea experience’ is novel. You have different options laid out:

There appeared to be a dedicated member of staff overseeing this and able to advise. There are also 10 premium teas available in hand stitched bags by the buffet.

If you usually have champagne, you can have a glass of dealcoholized sparkling chardonnay instead:

There is also Kronenbourg 1664, Lyre’s Italian Spritz, Warner’s Pink Berry gin, Tanqueray gin, Lyre’s coffee liqueur, white wine and rose wine – all 0%.

There is also a wide range of smoothies, wellness shots, milkshakes, fresh juices and mocktails on the drinks menu. There was some really good stuff there, especially at the tea bar, and unless you are a hardened alcoholic I think you’ll enjoy working through it as I did.

At the back of the lounge is a large buffet:

Anyone who has had a Middle Eastern hotel buffet will recognise the mix on offer.

You’ve got scrambled egg with chive, roasted tomatoes, chicken sausage, lots of fresh fruit, breakfast cereals, pastries, cheese etc, but also shakhouka egg tahini dressing, olive, zucchini and sundried tomato frittata, foul jarrah goulabah etc. Even the butter selection gives you a choice of parsley butter, sun-dried tomato butter or truffle butter.

To the side of the buffet is a (possibly pop-up) stall with ice cream and Lindt chocolates:

First Class and VIP passengers

First Class passengers have a dedicated seating area to the left of the entrance – everyone else will turn to the right:

Apart from getting a yellow chair, it wasn’t clear what else may be special about this corner!

In the same area is a VIP room – this is a PR photo as it was being set up for the presentation we received when I went in:

Whilst I didn’t see them, the lounge also has showers (Urban Apothecary amenities) and prayer rooms.

Conclusion

I was pleasantly surprised by the new Saudia lounge in Heathrow Terminal 4.

The quality of everything – from the design to the fit-out to the food to the expansive range of non-alcoholic drink options – was better than I anticipated.

If you are flying Saudia in the near future, you are in for a treat. It’s just a shame that the space isn’t open to passengers on other SkyTeam carriers.

Saudia’s Heathrow lounge is open from 7:00am to 10:00pm, covering Saudia’s first and last flights of the day.