JEDDAH, 15 October 2003 — The man sitting next to me on the Jeddah flight from Riyadh had been told that the flight was leaving at 16:30. My ticket said 17:00 hours and the departures screen said 17:15. It was now 17:30 and we still had not moved. But then, what is an hour or so’s delay? It is all part of the service we have come to expect from Saudi Arabian Airlines.

Unfortunately, service is increasingly not a word one associates with the airline’s staff. The man next to me in the economy section, a Pakistani dressed in shalwar and kameez, was soon to find that out. Five times, his requests to cabin staff for tea — we had already been served with the usual roll and water, along with a cup for tea or coffee — were ignored. The sixth finally resulted in a cup of tea but without milk. That meant more requests, at least four. In the end, a steward came with a fistful of packs of instant milk which he thrust — almost threw — at the man. His contempt for my Pakistani neighbor was evident.

The recipient of this rudeness was deeply shocked, as was I. “We may not be as rich as the Saudis, but we would never treat someone like that,” he confided.

Was it racism, I wondered. The gentleman was a Pakistani, dressed in traditional clothing and in economy. Was that why the steward treated him with such contempt? Would he have acted differently if he had known that the man was, in fact, vice president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry on an official visit to the Kingdom, who had spent the previous day with Chairman of the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry Abdul Rahman Al-Jeraisy and was on his way to perform Umrah in Makkah? Who knows. Not that my treatment was much better. Four times I had to ask for some water before it arrived. The Saudi on the other side of the aisle never got the tea he asked for.

Such treatment, as travelers can testify, is no exception. The day before, a friend flying from Riyadh to Jeddah was downgraded because there was no business class section on the aircraft. His remonstrations elicited the obliging and deferential response, “If you don’t like it, you don’t have to fly with us.”

Yet the previous Sunday, flying to Riyadh in business class, I along with everyone else had been treated like princes; the service was perfect. It seems that if you fly first or business class you are treated superbly. But go economy and it is a different matter.

Not for nothing has Saudia’s motto “proud to serve” been transformed by disgruntled passengers into “too proud to serve.” It was in full evidence on last Sunday’s flight. Competition, in the form of another airline, cannot happen too soon.

Competition will hopefully put an end to some of Saudia’s other annoying and inconsiderate ways — such as why it consistently fails to put up flight numbers and destinations on gates in Jeddah, with the result that passengers have to ask where the flight they are about to board is going.

Why can’t it organize, before people board flights, that husbands and wives and other friends and family are seated together rather than wait till everyone is on board? The mayhem as stewards and stewardess try to re-seat everyone always results in delay.

Why overbooking? Is it not beyond the capabilities of Saudia to ensure that multiple bookings lapse a day before departure? It is an exhausting experience for businessmen wanting to travel first or business class to have to hang around until the last minute on the off-chance of a seat, and then all the more infuriating to discover that business and first class are half empty. Saudia says that it is because people with bookings do not phone in to cancel them. But airlines manage to avoid the frustration of waitlisting, why not Saudia?