From Morocco to Jeddah or Medina, travellers can fly a Saudi airline or Air Arabia, or connect through Cairo, Istanbul, Doha or Abu Dhabi. The eight airlines in this guide all list Morocco and Saudi Arabia among their main markets, and their cabin rules have one thing in common: the weight is low.
7 kg on the Saudi airlines
Saudia, flynas and flyadeal all set the cabin bag at 7 kg in their standard economy fare. The size is what differs. Saudia accepts the largest box, 56 × 45 × 25 cm. flyadeal allows 55 × 40 × 20 cm, and flynas 56 × 36 × 23 cm, only 36 cm wide.
What goes on top of the cabin bag
Saudia lets Guest Class passengers carry one personal item on top, such as a coat, a tablet, a handbag, a stroller or a baby cradle, or essential items for passengers with disabilities. flyadeal adds a free personal item of up to 30 × 20 × 40 cm under the seat. flynas works the other way: one cabin piece per guest, and any additional piece is chargeable, so a handbag carried next to the case can cost extra. Air Arabia allows 7 kg in the cabin bag and 3 kg in a 25 × 33 × 20 cm personal item, within a 10 kg total that also counts duty-free purchases.
Connecting through Cairo, Istanbul, Doha or Abu Dhabi
EgyptAir and Turkish Airlines allow 8 kg in Economy. EgyptAir gives the size as a total of 118 cm (55 + 40 + 23 cm); Turkish Airlines allows 23 × 40 × 55 cm plus a 40 × 30 × 15 cm personal item of up to 4 kg. Qatar Airways and Etihad stay at 7 kg, and Qatar Airways' 50 cm length is the shortest of the eight.
Liquids on flynas
flynas asks for a transparent resealable liquids bag of 500 ml at most, half the one-litre bag many travellers use. Each container is still limited to 100 ml.
One bag for the whole trip
If the outbound and return flights are on different airlines, the figures below give the largest bag that all eight accept. Pack it to 7 kg, the limit of every Saudi airline in this guide.