Saudia which was previously known as Saudi Arabian Airlines is the official airline of Saudi Arabia, based in Jeddah. The airline’s main base airport from where they operate is at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. The other two secondary base airports are King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh and King Fahd International Airport in Dammam.
When it comes to revenue earning, Saudia is the third largest airline service in Saudi Arabia, just behind Qatar Airways and Emirates. Saudia operates both international and domestic flights and to over more than 100 destinations in the Middle East, Asia, Europe, Africa and North America. They also provide both domestic and international chartered flights as well but mainly during Hajj and Ramadan seasons.
Saudia also joined the SkyTeam airlines alliance as well on 29th May 2012 and thus they became the first Persian Gulf carrier who joined one of the most major airlines alliances. The airline company is a member and also one of the founders of the Arab Air Carriers Organisation.
In the early years when U.S President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gifted a plane known as the Douglas DC-3 to King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud in the year 1945. With this plane, they started an aeroplane service called Saudia Arabian Airlines in 1945 and became the official flight service of Saudi Arabia and now they have a total fleet of 154 planes in their inventory.
About Their Loyalty Program
Saudia’s loyalty program is called Alfursan and it is an initiative full of rewards and benefits for the passengers who fly quite frequently in Saudia Airlines.
Alfursan members get the world of benefits and rewards during their trip which includes free tickets and upgrades, extra luggage allowance, priority waitlisting, access to the global lounge and the list just goes on. The list just does not end here, with Saudia’s membership plan you can also get opportunities to earn and redeem miles on other global airlines as well because Saudia is a member of a major airlines alliance.
The members of the Alfursan Program will also get many promotions and offers from their exclusive partners, which includes SkyTeam Partner Airlines, banks, hotels, telecommunication and rental car services as well. All these rewards and facilities make this Alfursan program quite convenient and rewarding for the members who bought this program.
What Are The Membership Tiers And Their Benefits?
There are a total of three tiers in the Alfursan Membership, Blue, Silver(SkyTeam Elite) and Gold(SkyTeam Elite Plus). All these three tiers have different offers and facilities, read the following to get the detailed information of each tier.
- Alfursan Blue Tier
This is the most basic tier, you will get this membership absolutely free of cost and that too for the entirety of your lifetime. In this tier also you will get loads of facilities as well. You will also get enough opportunities to earn reward miles while travelling via Saudia airlines and Sky Team and also you can earn when you have a transaction with the commercial partners of Alfursan.
- Alfursan Silver Tier(ELITE)
In this tier, you will get all the facilities of the Blue tier plus you will get some other additional privileges also when you fly with Saudia Airlines or SkyTeam Partner Airlines. But to get the Alfursan Silver Elite Tier you have to earn a minimum of 25,000 status miles or you have to fly 20 international flights in a single calendar year. To maintain the Alfursan Silver Tier membership, you have to earn a minimum of 20,000 status miles or fly a minimum of 15 international flights in the upcoming calendar year.
- Alfursan Gold Tier (Elite Plus)
The gold elite plus associateship is exclusive for ALFURSAN members and the loyalty along with the privileges these members receive are proof of this. Along with the unmatched facilities and privileges while traveling with Saudia Airlines or SkyTeam partner airlines, but to earn this premium membership you have to earn at least 50,000 status miles or you have to fly in 40 international flights in a single year and to maintain this Alfursan Gold tier you have to earn a minimum of 40,000 status miles or you have to take 30 international flights in next coming year.
The benefits of each of the tiers are
| DETAILS | BLUE | SILVER ELITE | GOLD ELITE PLUS |
| Tier Bonus | – | 25% | 50% |
| Wait Listing Priority | High | Higher | Highest |
| Family Miles | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Using Reward Miles Any Time | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Airport Standby Priority | High | Higher | Highest |
| Boarding Priority | – | Yes | Yes |
| Selection Of Seat | – | Yes | Yes |
| Quick Check-In Class | – | Business | First |
| Extra Baggage Allowance | – | 1 Piece | 1 Piece |
| Lounge Access | – | Yes | Yes |
| Giving Special Attention To Luggage | – | Business | First |
| Newsletter and Statement | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Account In Saudia Website | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dedicated Call Centre For Alfursan(Reservation Included) | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Giving Priority To Calls | – | Yes | Yes |
| Promotion Benefits Of Alfursan Partners | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| – | – | – | – |
These are some of the benefits that you will get with each of the tiers and for achieving higher tiers you have to complete some minimum criteria and also do not worry about getting these tiers because many people are thinking that Saudia Airlines is not providing these memberships now because of the ongoing pandemic but it is not true the program is not at all affected due to the pandemic.
The Alfursan program is quite a profitable program for the airlines’ company because the offers and the number of benefits that they provide through these memberships are quite attractive and thus people want to avail themselves these memberships and for that, they have to fly a certain amount of flights and that is how these memberships help them to make a quite a good profit and that is why they can provide such offers and discounts to their customers.
This is a brief detail of the Saudia Airlines Alfursan Program. The memberships are quite attractive also and if you are quite a frequent traveller in Saudia Airlines, try to avail these memberships, this will help to gain lots of discounts, vouchers and many other facilities as well.
