Mom will never ever forget her experience at Jeddah International airport. Whilst returning to South Africa from Riyadh via Jeddah, the immigration officer at Jeddah airport realized that the Arabic date didn't coincide with the English date on the visa and so technically mom had overstayed in the country for ten days more which is a criminal offence and requires a fine of SR10000 to be paid in order for a new visa to be issued and the passenger sent home. So at immigrations they told mom that she can not board the plane but instead of helping her they made her run from one office to the other with no one at the airport being able to get to the bottom of the situation or find a solution to the problem. I was in Riyadh and so I got a call at four in the morning from mom who sounded very upset and distraught over the phone. I in turn called the South African embassy in Jeddah and I must say hats off to Mr. Frank from the embassy who responded to my call at around four fifteen in the morning. He then woke up and went to the airport to assess the situation and find a solution to the problem. Being an embassy official he was also treated very badly by airport officials who were screaming and shouting at him without displaying any public relationship skills at all.The only solution I came up with was to ask mom to return to Riyadh so that the internal hospital passport office could sort out this mess which was not mom's fault in the first place but rather the fault of the Saudi embassy in South Africa who fed us with incorrect information regarding the visitors visa. Mr. Frank arranged a ticket for mom and she arrived in Riyadh very angry and disappointed that she missed the flight. It took ten days before the issue was resolved and naturally I didn't pay any fine.The irony though was that on the day mom had left to South Africa after all the drama she encountered, I met another South African family who were embroiled in the same issue at Jeddah airport. All family members were allowed to board the flight with the exception of this families eldest daughter as there was a date discrepancy on the visa.The poor girl was in tears as she had to be in South Africa to write an important university entrance exam which she obviously missed.
Usually in any organized country you would find that they have a help desk at the airport that assists passengers with visa or ticketing issues. The officials at the airport try and make the passengers trip as pleasant as possible.I recall an incident we had in Thailand at the Bangkok airport where a friend of ours was prevented from boarding the flight as his passport was due to expire within five months.The airport officials were however, extremely friendly and polite. The young man was chauffeur driven to the South African embassy and once all the formalities were completed he was driven back to the airport and was allowed to board the next available flight to Malaysia.This kind of service is nowhere to be found at any of the Saudi airports.
As I mentioned to you earlier, I haven't experienced waiting in long queues at the airport but I did encounter a few other problems. Whilst speeding down the Makkah- Jeddah highway in our hired black dodge vehicle trying to beat the horrendous traffic,mom and I arrived at the Jeddah airport only to find that the idiotic man at the counter had given our tickets away to someone else that he knows. This is how Saudi Arabia functions.If you need anything to be done speedily you just need a "wasta" ----a favour from a connection that you know----and your work gets done. So naturally the man at the counter was surprised to see us and then directed us to another counter where the gentleman stated that the flight is full and he will place us on the next flight to Riyadh. Now being a person who can not tolerate incompetence I simply lashed out at the man and threatened to call some well known people in Riyadh. After making quite a scene I was finally granted two business class boarding passes.
Last year my brother and his family also encountered a horrible experience at Jeddah airport . Having confirmed their flight a few days prior to departure with the Saudi Airlines office in Makkah, they arrived at Jeddah airport only to be told that their names do not appear on the system. My brother speaks fluent Arabic and so after having an altercation with the man at the counter, the man simply took the tickets from my brothers hand and tore it up saying that you are no longer on the flight. What usually happens is that if you are a VIP person and you need to get onto a flight, with one phone call at the airport your name will be entered in the system and another passengers name will be deleted. Also travel agents that have contacts with the personnel at the airport will block book seats for their passengers days before departure and so if extra seats are required the airport officials will simply delete another passengers name from the system who is not a part of that agents group. This is what happened with my brother and his family. So now they needed to book another day at a hotel plus book another flight via Qatar in order to return home. Why do passengers need to go through all this aggravation after paying for their tickets and booking their tickets well in advance?
Jeddah airport is more like a fish market than an airport. Passengers are always screaming and shouting out of dissatisfaction. When you simply enter the airport to check in, you will more than likely be welcomed with bags all over the place from the entrance of the airport building. There would be some passengers sitting on the floor due to a lack of adequate chairs.In short the airport is old and outdated. The plans for the construction of the new Jeddah International airport has been approved and so the thumbs up has been given to begin development as soon as possible. I do hope that with the new airport there would be a new fresh image and attitude portrayed by the staff at the airport as well. Personally if I was in charge of the airports I would fire all the staff working there. They should all first go on training on how to deal with other people and learn simple basic techniques of politeness and friendliness.The airport is the gateway to the country and so if the officials at the airport are rude and impolite with absolutely no manners it gives you an impression as to how the people of the country are as a whole. Airport officials will never assist a female in picking up her bags to place on the check in conveyor belt. The man will sit at his counter and stare at a woman having difficulty in lifting a heavy 25kg bag from the trolley but he wouldn't offer to help at all. Never mind helping a female I've witnessed old elderly people not being assisted properly at the airport.With thousands of pilgrims frequenting the Kingdom for Haj and Umra throughout the year its is about time that the Saudi government improves the service delivery at the airport. There are also numerous incidents of missing luggage as well as luggage landing up in other cities or countries.
King Khaled International airport in Riyadh is a little more organized than Jeddah.Take note just a wee bit more organized. However, the staff rudeness, impoliteness and unfriendliness is just the same. You will be shocked at the level of rudeness when I relate the next incident to you. So whilst waiting in the queue to clear customs and immigrations in Riyadh, Mr. A.A bin Ali hears a Saudi official screaming for the next Filipino gentleman to make his way to the counter. In any other country the immigration official would probably say politely "next please" but this airport official said "come here you piece of shit". Obviously this was said in Arabic and the poor Filipino gentleman without understanding anything simply made his way to the counter.Despite the wonderful structure and interior design of King Khaled International airport , it is probably the most boring airport in the world to get stuck in. There is nothing at the airport.No internet cafes or restaurants to pass your time during transit.
The story that takes the cake though goes to the next incident that my colleague Dr. Bajini experienced. Many a times at the airports announcements are not made in English and often there are sudden flight changes or the gate number for boarding the flight changes and passengers are not aware of this. Then there are times that an airport official will run from one waiting area to the next screaming, JEDDAH, JEDDAH, JEDDAH, JiZAN JIZAN.......ABHA ABHA ABHA....and then direct passengers in this primitive way to the boarding gate. During one of these fiascoes Dr. Bajini was directed to the wrong boarding gate and so instead of seeing the high rise buildings of Dubai from the plane window he realized during descent that the plane had flown over the Great Pyramids of Giza and so he and his family landed in Cairo. According to Dr. Bajini the check in staff were disorganized with some staff members engrossed in conversation amongst themselves whilst the man he handed his boarding pass to was too involved in a mobile conversation.
Now this story sounds really hilarious and we all couldn't stop laughing and yes this has happened in reality but of course for any passenger with many connecting flights to catch this situation is a nightmare. Their holiday was completely ruined as they then could not acquire connecting flights that suited them.After a few days Dr. Bajini and his family simply returned to Riyadh after spending a few days in Cairo.
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