As I said in my previous post, my trip to Africa and Europe in 2025 was my first time flying business class. For this reason I thought I would document and give my thoughts on the experience.

This was a trip in two legs. First from Changi Airport in Singapore to King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on a 787-9. Then a second 787-9 from Jeddah to Mohammed V International Airport in Casablanca, Morocco. I also flew on a 787-10 (similar to the -9) from Jeddah back to Singapore on my return leg.

Airport experience

The first big advantage to business class is having a dedicated checkin desk for ‘premium’ passengers. There are also frequent flyer programmes and other perks that qualify you.

They even roll out the red carpet!

The check in staff were very friendly and helpful. I think they figured out quickly that I was not a regular business class traveller so patiently explained everything without me having to ask.

The luggage allowance is frankly ridiculous – up to 2 x 32kg checked in bags. I don’t think I could come close to that weight if I tried. Maybe next time I’ll take some large bricks along with me.

One of the main things I was looking forward to using was the airport lounge. Again, this was a first for me.

I will be writing separate reviews on the airport lounges that I used on this trip so I won’t rehash the same information here. Suffice to say that they were very useful, especially the showers.

Boarding

Being at the gate and getting onto the aircraft itself was a very different experience to economy.

The first difference is boarding before anyone else. If I’m flying budget or economy I will always board later to minimise my time spent in a cramped seat. But in this case lack of comfort wasn’t a consideration and I was on the aircraft within minutes.

Boarding at Singapore was only through one door. The business class cabin is completely separate to the ‘guest class’ (economy) cabin behind. This means that you turn left when you enter for business and turn right for economy.

Staff all along the way were very friendly and helpful. Each business class passenger is greeted and escorted personally to their seat with help offered for storing any cabin baggage.

After a minute or two for me to settle into the seat, a cabin crew member walked over to introduce herself. She was dedicated to my aisle of the cabin while another was responsible for the other.

Seat and cabin

This was where the difference for business class really struck me. The seat itself, its comfort and all the facilities are just a world away from an economy seat.

The first thing is the amount of space available. There are more storage areas than you’ll ever need of all sizes around the seat, not to mention the fact that the entire overhead bin above your seat is for your exclusive use.

The 787-9 has a lie flat bed that can be reclined or sat up as needed. It is wide, comfortable and more than long enough for me to completely lie down when fully flat.

For me this is the best part. Being able to fully lie down flat makes such a huge difference. It’s hard for me to sleep on planes and with this seat, I slept very well on both this and the return flight. One flight attendant even told me later that he had come around for my scheduled meal service but I was sleeping so soundly he couldn’t wake me up!

There were two toilets for exclusive use by business class passengers. They were always clean and I never had to wait in a queue. There were nice toiletries inside and felt a bit more ‘premium’ but otherwise pretty much your usual on-board toilet.

Almost all of the seat controls are in a small remote control on your right including for lights and the seat’s screen. The armrest also includes two USB-A ports and a three pin headphone jack.

The IFE screen was very big compared to economy and had a decent selection of media content. Apparently some movies have bits censored or removed for modesty but I didn’t check myself. Everything seemed to work just fine.

Each seat also came with a pair of noise-cancelling headphones that were very comfortable. Although you can’t take them off the plane and I mostly used my own it was a useful thing to have.

Along with the headphones came the amenity kit. Now on the return flight I lucked out because it happened to be on the first day of Eid al-Adha. This meant there were special treats given out to celebrate, which for business class included a bar of chocolate and a ‘special edition’ amenity kit (see photo below).

Inside was a variety of soaps, creams, a toothbrush, eye mask and even a pair of socks. The chocolate was very tasty too.

Food and drink

I had heard very good things about the food and beverage options on Saudia for both business and economy class. It did not disappoint.

Saudia have a ‘dine on demand’ system. The flight attendant will hand you the menu before takeoff, take your order and ask roughly what time you would like your meal(s) to be served.

My one small gripe is that this system was not adequately explained. While you could order things on the menu at any time, you could only order some items once. I found this out on my second leg where I was hoping to eat both breakfast and lunch on the same flight. Unfortunately I was told this wasn’t possible. Because of the flight’s length you could only order from the ‘A La Carte’ section of the menu once. I completely understand why but I wish it was point out to me earlier. They did give me some extra appetisers to make up for it though which was a nice gesture!

Although I’m not much of a drinks person the selection on Saudia was outstanding. Apparently this is because it is a ‘dry’ airline where no alcohol is served.

You receive a welcome drink of your choice (the lemon and mint was my favourite), along with an Arabic coffee and one of the best dates that I’ve ever eaten. The best drink though was an incredible karak chai. It’s made from black tea brewed with evaporated milk, saffron, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

You also get a small bowl of heated spiced almond and cashew nuts which were delicious and warm.

In terms of food, I won’t go through everything that I ate but it was of a very high standard. All the dishes were presented beautifully with a white linen tablecloth, metal cutlery, proper plates and even tiny salt and pepper shakers with a very cute miniature bottle of extra virgin olive oil. The meal in the photo below is the delicious ‘Arab mezze’ with various small plates including dips, tabbouleh and some fruit.

This is all made possible by the presence of an on-board chef who cooks and prepares the meals. He came to introduce himself at the start of the flight and was very helpful throughout. There didn’t appear to be one on the legs from Africa / Europe to Jeddah, I only saw this on the flights between Jeddah and Singapore.

Service

The overall service was fantastic. Cabin crew were overall helpful and friendly (with some exceptions).

They initially seemed a bit hesitant to engage in conversation but got chattier as the flight went on. I was speaking to one on the second flight leg and had a good conversation about her home country of Tunisia and what it was like – just as we were flying overhead.

Overall

As my first time in business class I have nothing to compare this to. But this did set a very high standard that I would be very happy to repeat if the opportunity ever arose again.