How to Book Saudia Alfursan Awards

Saudia, Saudi Arabia’s flag carrier, is a luxurious airline with outstanding service. Its loyalty program, Alfursan, is well-regarded, offering members some nice perks.

Although the program’s redemptions for miles are generally priced conservatively, there are a few excellent deals hidden in its award charts. In some cases, Saudia Alfursan will give you better redemption rates than its partner Delta Air Lines.

Adding to the value of its awards, the airline doesn’t typically impose fuel surcharges on its own flights.

The Family Member Program is one of Alfursan’s best perks, and one of the most generous miles-pooling benefits in the world. It allows the head of a household to pool miles with eight other members, including private chauffeurs and housemaids.

Options for earning Saudia Alfursan miles are quite limited. Saudia doesn’t have U.S.-based transfer partners, so aside from actually flying, you can only earn miles with its hotel, car rental, retail and other partners. You can also buy Alfursan miles, but at around $30 per 1,000 miles, this is not a great option.

Saudia Alfursan has two economy redemption levels: Guest Saver and Guest Freedom. Saver is the cheaper fare, but the cost difference between the two is not prohibitive. Business and first class, as well as partner airline awards, do not have separate redemption rates like economy.

When Should You Use Alfursan Awards?

Award seats on Saudia to Saudi Arabia are reasonable as long as you aren’t flying from the West Coast. An economy class seat costs 65,000 miles per roundtrip, while business class is 140,000. First class awards are a bit overpriced at 210,000 miles.

Another good redemption option is flying on a SkyTeam carrier from the East Coast to most of Europe for 50,000 miles in economy. Premium class redemptions aren’t great on these routes.

However, a business class seat between the U.S. and South America costs only 90,000 miles. And a business class seat between Hawaii and Australasia is only 80,000 miles, which is a bargain.

Partners Bookable Online:

None

When to Book by Phone:

All partner airlines
For complex itineraries
To change an existing itinerary

See below for our phone booking tips.

How to Search for Saudia Alfursan Award Seats Online:

Go to Saudia’s homepage and click on “Alfursan log-in” in the upper right corner.

After logging in, select “redeem miles” under the booking menu.

Fill in your flight information, and hit “search.” If you have some flexibility in your schedule, be sure to check “are you flexible with your travel dates?”

On the next screen, choose the dates that work best for you and click “next.”

In our example, there are no fuel surcharges, and taxes are $41.10.

The next page gives you the option to choose your class, if seats are available.

How to Confirm and Book Alfursan Award Flights Online:

If you have enough miles, you can click “next” after choosing your cabin class. On the next page, you’ll be asked to fill in your personal and billing information to pay for any taxes or fees.

Phone Booking Tips

There is no U.S.-based award booking number. Customers outside of Saudi Arabia are directed to:

Award booking: 966-1-2686-1010
Alfursan information: 966-1-4847-9797
Email: alfursan@saudiairlines.com

Since you are not calling an office in the U.S., remember to take into account the time difference between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which is Eastern Standard Time plus seven hours.

You have to call to book flights on partner airlines and to create complex itineraries. There’s no fee for booking by phone.

Important Award Booking Considerations

No stopovers allowed
One-way awards cost 60 percent of round-trip flights
Comfortable seats and amenity kits available in all classes
Alfursan miles don’t expire for three years
Change fees are low, only $27 domestic and $67 international
Generous family mile-sharing program