Traveler Recounts Saudi Airlines Flight Diversion to Jeddah

You see me like this only because it all happened so suddenly.

Uh, right now, I'm at Jeddah Airport in Saudi Arabia.

I was supposed to be in Riyadh. I was lucky enough to land in Riyadh, but they brought us here, they dropped me off here.

You know, I swear I'm laughing only because I'm so upset, I'm about to cry.

I'll explain to you what happened to me in detail.

And why you shouldn't fly with Saudi Airlines.

The first thing you should know is that I came here as a tourist.

I mean, I came as a tourist, and all this happened to me.

Uh, I came here for something related to my future, okay?

I won't go into the details now. About the training, studying, and all that.

That's another topic. Uh, I just got my ticket with Saudi Airlines.

Why Saudi Airlines? Because my whole family always flies Saudi Airlines when they come here to Saudi Arabia.

Because it's the best airline, okay? That's the truth. It's the best airline for air travel.

Uh, and it's direct, I mean direct from Paris to Riyadh, so I'd be comfortable.

And it's expensive, more expensive than other airlines.

It's more comfortable, okay? I could've taken another one that was cheaper, with just, like, a transfer somewhere else.

And that's it, none of this was supposed to happen to me.

What I couldn't figure out was what happened to me, with the people working for Saudi Airlines, not with the plane.

Okay, today I arrived at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport.

I gave them my passport to check my baggage through to Riyadh.

You could even see Riyadh on the board. I went up to her, and she said, "Look, it's showing in the system that there's a problem in Riyadh."

I already knew there were problems in Saudi Arabia, okay?

But the plane was operating. I gave her my passport, and she told me, "Unfortunately, there's a problem.

You can't fly to Riyadh anymore. You'll fly to Jeddah instead, but in Jeddah they'll give you another plane that will then take you to Riyadh the same day."

I accepted. If I hadn't, I mean, heard those words from her herself…

And this was written in the emails. I wouldn't have accepted.

But this reached me by email too, after I accepted.

I told them, "Okay." The plane took off.

But thank God, mashallah, the weather was really nice.

The people working on the plane, mashallah, were so nice.

Their food was good, comfortable, and everything.

I already knew that. That's why I chose Saudi Airlines.

I arrived in Jeddah. I got off in Jeddah.

I ask them, "What…" Poor Dad called me, and he was completely cut off.

Anyway, um, I got my baggage. Thank God, my visa was still valid.

I always come to Saudi Arabia, okay? I like Saudi Arabia and the Gulf so much, I always come here.

And I still have my visa. I mean, it still has plenty of days left.

It has at least a month and a half. I came out and went to get my baggage.

Just like the dates guy told me, "..." He told me, "Do it like this. You have to go out here."

I went out. Um, I went to their office, the Saudi Airlines office.

Look, I swear to God, I left this morning.

It's nine minutes past ten now. Since six, they've been sending me from one office to another, from one office to another, over and over.

With my baggage, look, with my baggage and all my stuff, and you threw me out.

They don't care. They have no idea whether I'm a girl, whether I'm a tourist, whether...

I was left there crying and everything. Okay. Uh...

What did they tell me in the end? We can't do anything for you.

The only solution is for you to get, uh, another ticket.

You pay for it. I paid 320 euros. I said, okay, the first flight was at eight.

They told me they couldn't get it for me.

Even though there was still an hour left.

I mean, I wanted to pay for the baggage.

They said, no, there wasn't enough time. Okay.

There was another one at ten. They said it had been canceled.

I went to check the board. To check the board, it showed the flight was still on.

And I could see people were still boarding.

I tell them, but I can see from afar that they're boarding.

They tell me, "No, actually…" There was another one at three in the morning.

They wouldn't even arrange a hotel for me, or food, or somewhere to put my things, any of that, or a flight, or anything.

I mean, I'm telling you, Saudi Airlines? No.

Bottom line, bottom line, it's impossible.

I mean, you fly all the way from Paris to Riyadh and find people in Jeddah who don't care, who have no idea.

Now I'm waiting. At ten, they told me something about three, that I'd board in…

I hung up because they kept calling me. I'm waiting for them to confirm that it's all good, that the flight is going to take off, so I can— so I can book it.

But this is the last time with them. There you go.

I'll show you again. Look. Mashallah.