Saudia AlFursan Miles Program Guide: Everything You Need to Know

Saudia is the flag carrier of Saudi Arabia and one of the largest airlines operating out of the Middle East (behind Emirates and Qatar Airways). From its main hub in Jeddah and its secondary hub in Riyadh, Saudia operates domestic and international flights to over 100 destinations in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe and North America. The airline joined SkyTeam Alliance in 2012, allowing customers to book flights to almost anywhere in the world through its network of partners.

Saudia AlFursan Miles is the airline’s frequent flyer program, which allows customers to earn miles for flying with Saudia or one of its SkyTeam partners (as well as in a variety of other ways) and then redeem those miles for rewards flights and upgrades. If you fly with Saudia or one of its SkyTeam partners often enough, you may be able to earn elite status in the Saudia AlFursan Miles program and be entitled to certain benefits at the airport.

In general, most travelers based in the U.S. probably won’t use Saudia AlFursan Miles as their primary frequent flyer program. When flying with SkyTeam members, you’re probably better off crediting those flights to another SkyTeam frequent flyer program, such as Delta Air Lines SkyMiles. However, if you often fly on Saudia for work or leisure, then it may be worth crediting your flights to the AlFursan Miles program.

Nevertheless, in this article, we’re going to look at all of the different aspects of the Saudia AlFursan Miles program, including elite status, how to earn miles, how to redeem miles and which redemption methods provide the most value per mile.

Saudia AlFursan Miles Program Overview

The history of civil aviation in Saudi Arabia can be traced back to 1945, when U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gifted a Douglas DC-3 aircraft to Saudi King Abdul Aziz Ibn Saud. Not long after, the country’s Ministry of Defense established Saudi Arabian Airlines, with the United States’ TWA (Trans World Airlines) running it under a management contract.

The airline’s name was changed to Saudia in 1972 following the introduction of a new livery that featured a white fuselage and green and blue stripes. By the 1980s, the carrier was operating many more routes to major international cities like New York, Athens, Jakarta, Bangkok, Seoul, Amsterdam, Manila, Singapore, Dakar and more.

Over the years, Saudia has continued to expand its operations and bolster its list of destinations. In 2012, the airline joined SkyTeam Alliance and greatly increased the number of destinations that its customers could reach through its booking portals.

In addition to simply booking flights with SkyTeam Alliance partners, Saudia customers can also earn and redeem AlFursan Miles with SkyTeam Alliance airlines. Here is a current list of the members of SkyTeam Alliance:

If you take flights with any of the aforementioned airlines, you can credit those flights to the Saudia AlFursan Miles program and earn miles. Then, you can redeem those miles for flights or upgrades on Saudia as well as flights on SkyTeam Alliance partners.

You can also earn Saudia AlFursan miles by taking flights on Etihad Airways and China Southern Airlines (but you can’t redeem miles for flights with these two non-SkyTeam partners).

Also, by crediting SkyTeam flights to the Saudia AlFursan Miles program, you can earn Tier Credits, which can help you get closer to earning elite status.

Saudia AlFursan Miles Elite Status Program

Similar to most other frequent flyer programs, the Saudia AlFursan Miles program allows you to earn elite status and gain access to exclusive benefits if you fly with Saudia or one of its SkyTeam partners often.

There are currently three tiers in the AlFursan Miles program: Green, Silver and Gold. Green is the membership level you’ll receive as soon as you sign up for the program, and Silver and Gold status can be earned by accumulating a certain number of flights or a certain number of Tier Credits within a calendar year.

The following table includes how many flights or Tier Credits you have to earn and maintain each elite status tier:

For example, you can achieve Silver status by earning either 25,000 Tier Credits or 20 flights in a calendar year (starting January 1 and ending December 31). Then, your Silver status will be valid for the next calendar year. If you want to maintain your Silver status after that year is over, you’ll need to earn either 20,000 Tier Credits or 15 flights within that calendar year.

Tier Credits can be earned by flying with Saudia or one of its SkyTeam Alliance partners. The number of Tier Credits that you’ll earn for a specific flight with one of these airlines is the same as the number of reward miles that you’ll earn for that flight. For instance, if you were to earn 1,000 reward miles on a flight with Saudia or one of its partners, you’d also earn 1,000 Tier Credits on that same flight.

Any sector that you fly with either Saudia or one of its airline partners counts toward the flights requirement for elite status. However, if you were to take a round-trip flight itinerary from New York to Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a layover in Quito, Ecuador, in each direction, that would count as four international sectors.

So, now that you know how to earn elite status in the Saudia AlFursan program, let’s look at why you might want to do it in the first place. The following table includes the benefits that you’ll receive at each elite status tier:

As you can see, the Saudia AlFursan elite status program is not quite as extensive as elite status programs offered by many other airlines. For instance, even at the highest elite status tier, Saudia AlFursan members do not receive any free upgrades or discount vouchers.

Still, if you tend to fly with Saudia often, it may be worth crediting your SkyTeam flights to the Saudia AlFursan program and trying to earn AlFursan elite status. As an elite member, you’ll receive extra reward miles every time you fly, complimentary airport lounge access when flying on Saudia, free seat selection and more.

How to Earn Saudia AlFursan Miles

Of course, the most straightforward way to earn Saudia AlFursan miles is to take flights with Saudia. However, there are a wide variety of other ways to boost your miles balance, including flying with airline partners, renting cars, booking hotel stays, buying fuel, using credit cards and much more.

To help you reach your next award flight as quickly as possible, we’re going to take a look at all of the different ways to earn Saudia AlFursan miles.

Flying with Saudia

When taking flights on Saudia, the number of reward miles you’ll earn for each flight depends on whether you’re flying domestic or international, the distance of your flight (in miles), your cabin class and your booking code. Earnings are calculated using two separate earnings charts: one for domestic flights and another for international flights.

Here’s the earnings chart for Saudia domestic flights:

For example, if you were to take a 200-mile domestic flight on Saudia in First Class “Flex” (booking code P), you’d earn 700 reward miles (200 miles flown x 350% = 700 miles). However, if you took the same 200-mile flight in Guest Class “Basic” (booking code T), you’d earn only 120 reward miles (200 miles flown x 60% = 120 miles).

Here is the earnings chart for Saudia international flights:

For instance, if you were to take a 2,000-mile Saudia international flight in Business Class “Semi-Flex” (booking code D), you would earn 3,000 reward miles (2,000 miles flown x 150% = 3,000 miles). However, if you were to take the same flight in Guest Class “Semi-Flex” (booking code Q), you would earn 1,200 reward miles (2,000 miles flown x 60% = 1,200 miles).

To reiterate, the number of reward miles that you earn on international flights with Saudia is the same number of Tier Credits that you’ll earn for that flight. Saudia domestic flights are not eligible to earn Tier Credits.

Flying with Partner Airlines

In addition to earning AlFursan reward miles for flights with Saudia, you can also earn miles for flying with any SkyTeam Alliance airline. You can also earn AlFursan miles by taking flights with both China Southern Airlines and Etihad Airways.

In order to earn AlFursan miles for flights with these airline partners, you need to select Saudia AlFursan as your frequent flyer program of choice and include your AlFursan membership number when making your booking.

Then, to see how many AlFursan miles you could earn for a partner flight, you need to go to the Program Partners page of the Saudia website and click on the “Airline Partners” tab. Then, if you’re planning on flying with a SkyTeam airline, you can click on the SkyTeam Alliance partners page and select the SkyTeam partner that you’re going to fly with. If you’re going to fly with either China Southern Airlines or Etihad Airways, you can click on the Other Airline Partners page and choose which airline you’re flying with.

Once you arrive at the page of the airline you’re flying with, you’ll be able to see the earnings table for that airline. For example, here is the earnings table for flights operated by KLM:

As you can see, similar to flights on Saudia, flights on KLM earn miles based on the distance flown (in miles), cabin class and booking code. All other partner earnings charts in the AlFursan program work in pretty much the same way.

For example, if you were to take a 2,000-mile international flight on KLM in business class (booking code D), you would earn 3,000 reward miles (2,000 miles flown x 150% = 3,000 miles). However, if you were to take the same KLM international flight in economy class (booking code K), you would earn 1,500 reward miles (2,000 miles flown x 75% = 1,500 miles).

Here is the earnings chart from China Southern Airlines:

If you were to take a 1,000-mile international flight with China Southern Airlines in premier economy class (booking code W), you’d earn 1,100 reward miles (1,000 miles flown x 110% = 1,100 miles).

Car Rentals

The Saudia AlFursan program has partnerships with several car rental companies that allow you to earn reward miles for eligible rentals. The following table includes the car rental companies with which you can earn AlFursan miles and the miles-earnings rates for each partner:

It’s worth noting that several of the car rental partners (such as Avis, Budget, Hertz and Sixt) listed above also have partnerships with several other frequent flyer programs. So, before you choose to earn AlFursan miles on your next rental with one of these companies, you should decide whether you wouldn’t rather earn a different airline rewards currency instead.

Hotel Stays

AlFursan miles can also be earned by booking hotel stays with certain hotel chains and third-party booking engines. The following table includes all of the hotel partners with which you can earn AlFursan miles as well as each partner’s respective earnings rate:

You should note that Saudia Holidays is not strictly a hotel booking service but rather a vacation packages service that allows you to book packages that include flights, hotels, rental cars and more.

You should also be aware that many of the hotel partners listed above also have their own rewards programs (including IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy and Shangri-La Circle). By choosing to earn AlFursan miles on your stay with these hotel chains, you’ll be forfeiting the opportunity to earn that hotel’s native rewards currency. In most cases, you’re better off earning hotel points than AlFursan miles (or any other frequent flyer miles) for your hotel stays.

Spending on Saudia AlFursan Co-Branded Credit Cards

Saudia offers co-branded credit cards issued by several different banks, including American Express, Al Rajhi Bank, Riyad Bank, Alinma, SAB and Banque Saudi Fransi. With these credit cards, you can earn AlFursan miles for making everyday purchases. Unfortunately, these credit cards are only available to residents of Saudi Arabia.

However, if you happen to be a resident of Saudi Arabia, here’s a list of the currently available Saudia AlFursan co-branded credit cards:

• Al Rajhi Bank AlFursan Platinum Credit Card (annual fee of 300 Saudi riyals plus VAT as well as an issuance fee of 300 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Al Rajhi Bank AlFursan Infinite Credit Card (annual fee of 1,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT as well as an issuance fee of 1,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Riyad Bank AlFursan Signature Credit Card (annual fee of 1,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Riyad Bank AlFursan Infinite Credit Card (annual fee of 2,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Alinma AlFursan Platinum Credit Card (annual fee of 300 Saudi riyals plus VAT, waived for the first year)
• Alinma AlFursan Signature Credit Card (annual fee of 900 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Alinma AlFursan Platinum Credit Card (annual fee of 2,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
  SAB AlFursan Black Travel Card (annual fee of 950 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Banque Saudi Fransi AlFursan Platinum Credit Card (annual fee of 600 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Banque Saudi Fransi AlFursan Signature Credit Card (annual fee of 1,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• Banque Saudi Fransi AlFursan Infinite Credit Card (annual fee of 2,000 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• American Express AlFursan Credit Card (annual fee of 250 Saudi riyals plus VAT)
• SAB AlFursan Platinum Credit Card (annual fee of 750 Saudi riyals plus VAT)

Once again, you aren’t eligible for any of these credit cards if you aren’t a resident of Saudi Arabia. But, if you are a resident of Saudi Arabia, signing up for one of these credit cards is a great way to rack up AlFursan miles quickly.

Many of these credit cards also offer excellent benefits for Saudia AlFursan members such as lounge passes, fast track elite status and much more.

Transfer Partners

The Saudia AlFursan program allows transfers from several other rewards programs. Unfortunately, you can’t transfer points into the AlFursan program from any of the major U.S. transferrable credit card rewards programs (such as American Express Membership Rewards, Capital One Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards). This means that the Saudia AlFursan program won’t be of much help to most U.S.-based points-and-miles enthusiasts.

Still, there are several programs from which you can transfer rewards into the Saudia AlFursan program. The following table includes some of those transfer partners and their respective transfer ratios:

In general, making points transfers from any of the rewards programs mentioned above isn’t a good idea. Most of these rewards points are more valuable when redeemed through their native program. However,if you happen to have points in any of the aforementioned programs that you aren’t going to use, you may as well transfer them to the Saudia AlFursan program.

Buying Merchandise

Like many other frequent flyer programs, the Saudia AlFursan program allows you to earn miles by purchasing merchandise from certain partners. The following table includes these shopping partners and how many AlFursan miles you could earn with each one:

Shopping with these partners probably won’t earn you a ton of AlFursan miles. However, if you tend to make purchases with any of these three retailers anyway, then you may as well earn some AlFursan miles while you’re at it.

However, it’s worth mentioning that The Bicester Collection (a collection of luxury shopping villages around the world) is partnered with many other frequent flyer programs. So, before you decide to earn AlFursan miles while shopping at The Bicester Collection, you should consider whether you wouldn’t rather earn a different airline rewards currency instead.

Other Partners

The Saudia AlFursan program has several other partners with which members can earn miles for eligible spending. The following table includes those other partners and their respective AlFursan miles earnings rates:

If you happen to use any of the three services listed above, then you may as well link your Saudia AlFursan account and start earning some miles.

Buy Miles

Saudia AlFursan members also have the option of purchasing miles with cash. However, doing so is almost never a good idea. In most cases, the cash price per mile will be higher than the amount of value that you’ll be able to get per mile. If you need just a few thousand miles to reach a specific reward, however, you may want to consider buying miles as an option.

When purchasing miles, the minimum required quantity is 1,000 miles per transaction, and there is a maximum purchase quantity of 80,000 miles per calendar year.

According to the Saudia website, you can purchase miles by logging into your account, selecting “Miles” from the tab list, selecting “Purchase thousands,” choosing the number of miles that you want to purchase and then entering your payment details. However, this function doesn’t seem to be working at the moment. So, if you’re really desperate to purchase AlFursan miles, you can try calling Saudi customer service.

But, once again, purchasing miles from Saudia AlFursan is almost never a good idea.

How to Redeem Saudia AlFursan Miles

Now that you’re familiar with all of the different ways to earn Saudia AlFursan miles, let’s take a look at the different ways that you can redeem those miles and which redemption methods offer the highest value per mile.

In general, if you want to maximize the value of your AlFursan miles, you’ll want to stick to redeeming for award flights either with Saudia or one of its airline partners. You can also use AlFursan miles to book upgrades on Saudia flights. However, redeeming this way tends to provide less value per mile than redeeming for award flights.

Let’s look at the different ways to redeem Saudia AlFursan miles.

Flying with Saudi

Of course, the most straightforward way to use AlFursan miles is to redeem them for flights on Saudia. Award flights operated by Saudia are priced according to a zone-based award chart that lists two separate award rates for two types of awards: Rewards and Rewards+.

While Rewards+ award flights have much greater availability, they are also twice the price of Rewards award flights. Unfortunately, Rewards award flights have much less availability. Rewards+ and Rewards award flights are available for both economy and business class flights. First class flights, on the other hand, are only available as Rewards awards.

Here is the award chart for Saudia-operated flights:

The award rates listed above are for one-way flights marketed and operated by Saudia. If you want to know the price of a round-trip Saudia award, you can simply double the value listed in the award chart above.

There are many rates in the award chart above that appear favorable. For instance, the ability to fly between Saudi Arabia and North America (New York,Toronto and Washington, D.C.) for 44,000 miles in economy class, 130,000 miles in business class and 210,000 miles in first class appears lucrative.

You can also fly round-trip between Saudi Arabia and Los Angeles for 50,000 miles in economy class, 160,000 miles in business class and 240,000 miles in first class. This can be a great deal as well, especially considering that cash prices for round-trip Saudia-operated flights between Jeddah (JED) and Los Angeles (LAX) can be around 7,500 Saudi Riyals (nearly $2,000) in economy class.

Unfortunately, finding award availability through the Saudia website is extremely difficult. Either award availability is scarce through the Saudia AlFursan program or the Saudia website is glitchy. Regardless, if you have some Saudia miles and you want to book an award, you’re better off calling the Saudia customer service phone line than searching for award flights on the Saudia website.

For this reason, it’s difficult to identify actual sweet spots in the Saudia AlFursan program, as it’s unclear which award flights are actually available.

Flying with SkyTeam Partner Airlines

Saudia AlFursan miles can also be redeemed for award flights operated by any SkyTeam Alliance airline. All SkyTeam partner award flights are priced according to the same zone-based award charts. Saudia published one award chart for economy class awards, one for business class awards and another one for first class awards, all of which you can view on the Saudia website.

Here is the award chart for all SkyTeam partner flights going to or from Saudi Arabia (in economy, business and first class):

The award prices listed above are for one-way travel. If you wish to know the price of a round-trip award between each zone and Saudi Arabia on a SkyTeam partner, you can simply double the value in the award chart above.

The chart above also includes descriptions of each award zone. These same zones are used to price all SkyTeam award flights.

If you want to book a SkyTeam award flight through the Saudia AlFursan program, the best way to do so is by identifying award availability through another SkyTeam partner’s website and then calling the Saudia customer service phone line and requesting to book that award with AlFursan miles.

We recommend using either the Air France website or the KLM website to search for SkyTeam awards. These websites (which both use the Flying Blue rewards program) have some of the best tools for finding SkyTeam awards online.

However, as it’s unclear which SkyTeam awards are available through the Saudia AlFursan program, it’s impossible to identify sweet spots in this program. For most travelers, we recommend crediting your SkyTeam Alliance flights to another frequent flyer program that’s easier to use (such as Flying Blue), which will make it much easier to identify sweet spots and maximize the value of your rewards.

Saudia Upgrade Awards

In addition to booking award flights with Saudia, you can also use AlFursan miles to book upgrades on Saudia flights. Unfortunately, at the current time, AlFursan miles cannot be used to book upgrades on partner flights.

In order to redeem AlFursan miles for an upgrade on a Saudia flight, you must already have a confirmed booking on that flight. You can only upgrade to the next higher class of service (for instance, from guest class to business class or from business class to first class). Upgrade awards cannot be booked on guest “Saver” tickets, special fare tickets, free tickets or discounted tickets.

Here is the award chart for upgrades on Saudia flights:

The upgrade award prices listed above are for upgrades for a single sector. If you have a flight itinerary consisting of two sectors, you’ll need to pay double the number of points listed in the chart above.

In general, redeeming AlFursan miles for upgrades tends to provide less value per mile than redeeming award flights. So, we recommend saving your miles for award flights and purchasing your upgrades with cash. This is especially true since Saudia has started allowing AlFursan members to bid on upgrades through the My Upgrades portal, which makes it possible to get upgrades from economy to business at a fraction of the full price if you’re lucky.

The Bottom Line

All in all, the Saudia AlFursan program is really only worth paying attention to if you fly with Saudia often. If that’s the case, you can credit Saudia and SkyTeam flights to your AlFursan account to earn Tier Credits, which can help you earn elite status, which can make your experience of flying with Saudia much more enjoyable. Saudia elite status comes with valuable benefits such as bonus rewards miles on flights, complimentary seat selection, extra baggage allowance, priority treatment at the airport, airport lounge access and more.

However, if you don’t fly with Saudia frequently, then you’re better off crediting your SkyTeam flights to another frequent flyer program. The Saudia AlFursan program makes it difficult to find award availability on both its own award flights as well as partner award flights. Plus, the Saudia AlFursan program isn’t a transfer partner of any of the major transferable credit card rewards programs (such as American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards), which makes it much more difficult to accumulate Saudia miles.