JEDDAH, 29 August 2006 — With Saudi schools reopening soon, complaints are mounting about vacationers unable to return in time. This is attributed to the problem of finding airline seats. “My family is vacationing in Egypt, but their efforts to find seats for returning to the Kingdom have failed so far,” Abdul Rahman Al-Mutaibi, a Saudi businessman told Arab News yesterday. “My children may miss their classes and I’m very much worried about that,” he added.
Some other citizens echoing Al-Mutaibi’s statement said they had been visiting some of the airline offices to seek their help in getting confirmed bookings for their families. These airlines include Egypt Air and Malaysian Airlines.
Inquiries with various airlines indicate that there ought not to be any problem of finding seats as all of them have enough capacity. “The problem lies with vacationers, as they tend to travel without prior return bookings,” an Egypt Air executive said.
A Malaysian Airline management executive said the problem of finding seats this time was much worse due to two main reasons. One, the number of vacationers who left for overseas destinations is much more than last year.
Two, the vacationers took the risk of flying out despite the fact that they did not have return bookings. “We’ll take the flight now and decide about our return bookings later. This was the typical response from our passengers,” he added.
“It’s again not the question of an airline having inadequate capacity. We’ve enough capacity. The problem is the vacationers go on postponing their return journeys,” he said.
Air-India’s Western Province Manager Ashok Kumar substantiating this said vacationers generally tend to switch their dates of return. The airline operated three extra flights, one each from Calicut, Bombay and Hyderabad between Aug. 17 and 19 to clear the rush of passengers returning to Jeddah. These flights were meant to bring back families, students and children as Indian schools were set to re-open on Aug. 20. “But we had to fly almost half-empty, as not all vacationers were keen to take those flights. Instead, they chose to postpone their return,” Kumar said.
Dr. Nasser Attaiya, chairman of Attaiya Travel & Tourism Board, said a large number of Saudis visited Egypt and Malaysia this summer. “The Israeli aggression of Lebanon discouraged a sizable number of passengers from vacationing in Beirut and so they chose to head for Egypt and Malaysia,” he said, adding that the number of Saudis traveling abroad this summer was much more than last year, or in the previous few years. One other problem, according to him, is that some passengers go to smaller, unorganized travel agencies and tour operators tempted by the offer of discounts and they land themselves in trouble when it comes to finding return seats.
Another important reason for the current pressure on airline seats is the continuous inflow of Umrah pilgrims from various world destinations, a SriLankan Airlines executive said. “Vacationers should bear in mind this before they switch their dates of return and thus create problems for the airlines, he added.
Meanwhile, citizens have urged Saudi Arabian Airlines to operate extra flights to bring back the vacationers, especially from Cairo and Kuala Lumpur. According to an estimate, 4.5 million Saudis have traveled abroad so far this year and spent about SR60 billion.
