wheelair

All airlines Middle East

Saudi Arabian Airlines

IATA SV ICAO SVA Saudi Arabia · SkyTeam · www.saudia.com (opens in a new tab)

Powered wheelchairs accepted · carried free.

Advance notice
Not published
Powered wheelchair
Yes
Lithium, battery installed
Not published
Cost to carry
Free

Who to contact

Transcribed from the airline’s own pages, exactly as it labels them.

Saudia's designated accessibility officer is the Manager – Policies, Governance & Compliance, Saudia Head Office, Khaledia District, PO Box 620 Loc 130, Jeddah 21235; accessibility feedback post goes to 'Saudia Accessibility Plan Feedback, Attention: DOT/CTA Task Force, 8081 Wolftrap Road, Suite 200, Vienna, VA 22148, USA'. There is no separate disability reservations line — accessibility needs are raised through the ordinary sales call centres.

Powered wheelchairs & batteries

The part that goes wrong. Battery chemistry and watt-hours decide whether your chair flies, and the rules differ depending on whether the battery can be removed.

Powered chairs accepted
Yes

'Saudia accepts up to two pieces of mobility equipment per guest with a disability or reduced mobility, including electric wheelchairs, in addition to the standard free checked baggage allowance.' No prior-approval condition is attached on the page.

Special baggage — Special baggage allowance for guests with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Lithium-ion batteries
Not published

Not published for mobility aids. Saudia accepts electric wheelchairs but publishes no battery-chemistry rule for them; its only lithium prohibitions concern self-balancing devices (hoverboards, balance wheels, air wheels, solo wheels), which are refused on all flights as carry-on and checked baggage.

Watt-hour cap — battery stays in the chair
Not published

Not published. Saudia accepts electric wheelchairs but prints no watt-hour figure for a battery left installed in the chair; the only battery numbers on saudia.com are for portable oxygen concentrators. ICAO/IATA default applies — see global rules.

Watt-hour cap — battery removed into the cabin
Not published

Not published; Saudia does not say whether or when a wheelchair battery must come into the cabin. ICAO/IATA default applies — see global rules.

Watt-hour cap — spare battery
Not published

No mobility-aid figure published. The only spare-battery rules Saudia prints are for portable oxygen concentrators (batteries in hand baggage, protected against short circuit, maximum two spares).

Spare batteries permittedmaximum number under any published configuration
Not published

Not published for mobility aids. 'A maximum of two spare batteries is permitted in carry-on baggage' applies to approved POC/medical devices only.

Battery must be removed
Not published

Not published — Saudia does not say whether a wheelchair battery must be removed. (For a checked oxygen device, all batteries must be removed and carried in hand baggage.)

Non-spillable batteriesgel, AGM, sealed lead-acid, dry cell
Not published

Not published — no gel / AGM / sealed-lead-acid mobility-aid rule.

Wet / spillable batteries
Not published

Not published — Saudia gives no wet/spillable wheelchair-battery rule or upright-stowage instruction.

Terminal protection & immobilisation
Not published

Not published for wheelchairs. For POC/medical device batteries Saudia requires protection against short circuits 'by covering terminals or packing each battery separately', but states no wheelchair equivalent.

Paperwork the airline wants
Not published

No battery spec sheet or MSDS demanded for a mobility aid. MEDIF clearance is required only for medical conditions (stretcher, oxygen, in-flight care), not for using a wheelchair.

Size limit for a powered chair
Not published

Not published — Saudia gives no powered-wheelchair size limit or hold-door dimensions. (It notes only that oversized sports equipment may be accepted on B777 and B787 aircraft.)

Weight limit for a powered chair
Not published

Not published — no weight cap for a powered wheelchair.

Returned at the aircraft door
Not published

Not published — Saudia says mobility aids are returned 'upon arrival according to airport procedures', without specifying the aircraft door.

Saudia accepts electric wheelchairs but publishes no battery rules at all for them — the single biggest gap in an otherwise reasonably detailed policy.

Manual wheelchairs

Manual chairs accepted
Yes

'Guests who use wheelchairs or crutches may transport these mobility aids free of charge. Wheelchairs and crutches are normally checked and carried in the aircraft hold.'

Special baggage — Special baggage allowance for guests with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Folding chair may travel in the cabin
No

'Wheelchairs and crutches are normally checked and carried in the aircraft hold. They must be handed over before boarding and will be returned upon arrival according to airport procedures.' No in-cabin wheelchair stowage is offered.

Special baggage — Special baggage allowance for guests with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

In-cabin stowage limit
Not published

Not published / not applicable — Saudia checks wheelchairs into the hold and describes no in-cabin stowage space.

Size limit for a checked manual chair
Not published

Not published — Saudia gives no maximum wheelchair dimensions.

Weight limit for a manual chair
Not published

No weight limit published for mobility aids. Saudia's general rule is that a single item over 32 kg (70 lb) that cannot be split — 'such as musical instruments, sports equipment, or medical devices' — must be notified in advance, but wheelchairs are not named in that rule.

Returned at the aircraft door
Not published

Saudia says the chair 'must be handed over before boarding and will be returned upon arrival according to airport procedures' — it does not commit to returning it at the aircraft door or jet bridge.

Guide dogs may accompany blind or deaf guests but are carried in the hold in an appropriate kennel or cage — Saudia states guide dogs are not permitted in the cabin.

Booking & cost

Advance notice requiredhours before scheduled departure
Not published

Saudia publishes no advance-notice deadline for wheelchair assistance or for carrying a mobility aid; it only asks guests to self-identify their needs at booking. Deadlines it does publish are for medical cases: MEDIF requests at least 3 days before domestic and 7 days before international departure, POC physician's statement at least 48 h before departure with check-in no later than 3 h before, and advance notice for any single item over 32 kg.

How to request assistance
Self-identify your accessibility needs when booking — through the Saudia website, a reservations/ticket office or the call centre — so trained staff can arrange assistance

Accessibility Plan: 'Our guests are advised to self-identify their accessibility needs through all our guest touchpoints, from flight reservations to arrival so that our trained staff can assist them as needed at any point of their journey.' Customer Service Plan: passengers with disabilities may request services through the website or by calling the toll-free numbers.

Accessibility Plan and Feedback Process (Accessible Canada Act / ATPDR) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29  Customer Service Plan — accommodating passengers with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Charge for carrying the aid
No fee

'Guests who use wheelchairs or crutches may transport these mobility aids free of charge.' FAQ on the same page: 'Are mobility aids included in the free baggage allowance? Yes. Approved mobility aids are carried free of charge and do not count toward the standard baggage allowance.'

Special baggage — Special baggage allowance for guests with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Mobility devices carried free
2

'Saudia accepts up to two pieces of mobility equipment per guest with a disability or reduced mobility, including electric wheelchairs, in addition to the standard free checked baggage allowance.'

Special baggage — Special baggage allowance for guests with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

If they damage your chair
Not published

Saudia publishes no mobility-aid damage-liability rule or figure. It states compliance with 14 CFR Part 382 on flights to/from the USA and with the Canadian ATPDR (SOR/2019-244) Parts 1 and 2, both of which contain mobility-aid damage provisions, but quotes no limit of its own; the general baggage-liability text sits behind a JavaScript-only baggage page.

On board

On-board aisle chair
Yes

Accessibility Plan: 'Saudia's aircraft have on-board wheelchairs and wheelchairs accessible lavatories on selected aircraft.' Availability is aircraft-dependent and Saudia does not list which types.

Accessibility Plan and Feedback Process (Accessible Canada Act / ATPDR) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Accessible lavatory
Yes

Accessibility Plan: on-board wheelchairs and 'wheelchairs accessible lavatories on selected aircraft'. No list of which aircraft types is published.

Accessibility Plan and Feedback Process (Accessible Canada Act / ATPDR) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Crew help you transfer
Yes

Accessibility Plan: Saudia commits to 'provide accessibility assistance for guests who self-identify as having disability during the booking process, on the ground at the airport and in the air while on board the aircraft', with sensitivity training for frontline employees.

Accessibility Plan and Feedback Process (Accessible Canada Act / ATPDR) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29  Customer Service Plan — accommodating passengers with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Seating & movable armrests
Certain aircraft types have passenger seats with moveable armrests, placed throughout the aircraft

Accessibility Plan, 'The Built Environment': 'Certain aircraft types have passenger seats with moveable armrests, which are placed throughout the aircraft.' Saudia does not say which types or how to book them.

Accessibility Plan and Feedback Process (Accessible Canada Act / ATPDR) (opens in a new tab) · read 2026-07-29

Worth knowing

Saudia's mobility-aid carriage terms are clear and generous: wheelchairs and crutches are carried free, up to two pieces of mobility equipment per disabled guest INCLUDING electric wheelchairs, over and above the standard free checked allowance, and they do not count toward it. But Saudia publishes no wheelchair-battery rules whatsoever — no watt-hour figures, no spillable/non-spillable/lithium instructions, no removal or terminal-insulation requirement — so a powered-chair user must confirm battery handling with the airline. Other points: guide dogs are carried in the hold, not the cabin; lithium self-balancing devices (hoverboards, balance/air/solo wheels) are refused on all flights; the TTY service promised in the Accessibility Plan has a target completion date of June 2026 and no number is published; a 'Passengers with Disabilities' tab exists on the Special care page but its contents load only via JavaScript and could not be read — a human should re-check that tab. www.saudia.com blocks direct fetches (bot wall) and its Arabic (ar-SA) pages could not be retrieved even through the reader proxy, so the Arabic site was not compared. gaca.gov.sa (the Saudi regulator Saudia links to for passenger rights) was unreachable from this network.

Sources

Every figure above traces to one of these.

  1. s1 Special baggage — Special baggage allowance for guests with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  2. s2 Accessibility Plan and Feedback Process (Accessible Canada Act / ATPDR) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  3. s3 Baggage — Prohibited items (self-balancing devices, lithium batteries) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  4. s4 Medical Certificates (MEDIF) and medical devices (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  5. s5 Special Assistance and Care Services (Special care) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  6. s6 Customer Service Plan — accommodating passengers with disabilities (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  7. s7 Contact Us — Saudia Sales Call Centers (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29
  8. s8 Baggage — Permitted items (single items over 32 kg) (opens in a new tab) · official · read 2026-07-29

Record quality

Record status researched · confidence medium · 8 official sources · 8 contacts · 31% of the fields this reference tracks are answered. Newest source read 29 July 2026, the day before this page was built. What these mean.