Family member passing through airport - can I see her?

Nope, but you can try to talk to the airport supervisor and mention your circumstance.

You should have a wasta for you to go in

There is no chance as I tried before for my MOM either while she was going to Umra Makkah, I tried in Jeddah airport.

I agreed with Mr. Hamudi ''have chance 50/50''.

Is it possible for my family member to get a transit visa, so that she can come out of the transit area and see me for a few minutes?

Unfortunately you can't but there is a possibility in one case.

The practical way i think of is suppose you book a domestic flight which is not really expensive and probably you may book one way , get into the terminal and drop you flight and see your friend
i havent been to Riyadh airport hence i am not too sure if the domestic and international flights has the same terminal , if it is the same terminal then i am sure you can try this , trust this works for you and you see her good luck.

ali.hamza2099 wrote:

The practical way i think of is suppose you book a domestic flight which is not really expensive and probably you may book one way , get into the terminal and drop you flight and see your friend
i havent been to Riyadh airport hence i am not too sure if the domestic and international flights has the same terminal , if it is the same terminal then i am sure you can try this , trust this works for you and you see her good luck.

I was also thinking the same...however,  International flights are in terminal 1 & 2 while domestic flights are in terminal 5.

So I'm not really sure if that would be possible...

Glamorous wrote:

Is it possible for my family member to get a transit visa, so that she can come out of the transit area and see me for a few minutes?

IIRC transit visa applies to more than 12 hours and less than 72 hours.

conniesky wrote:

ali.hamza2099 wrote:

The practical way i think of is suppose you book a domestic flight which is not really expensive and probably you may book one way , get into the terminal and drop you flight and see your friend
i havent been to Riyadh airport hence i am not too sure if the domestic and international flights has the same terminal , if it is the same terminal then i am sure you can try this , trust this works for you and you see her good luck.

I was also thinking the same...however,  International flights are in terminal 1 & 2 while domestic flights are in terminal 5.

So I'm not really sure if that would be possible...

even with international flight i would to do to book a short flight say riyadh - bahrain or riyadh - dubai one way ticket wouldnt be more than few hundred Riyals

If she is on an inbound flight originating from abroad and destination is inside KSA, she will have her immigration done at Riyadh airport and will have to come out of international terminal, go to domestic terminal. You can see her without a problem.

If she is on outbound flight originating from inside KSA, she will have to get to international terminal so you can see her in that case as well.

I have not experienced the third scenario, that is to fly from one country to another via Riyadh, I cannot provide you feedback on that.

ali.hamza2099 wrote:

conniesky wrote:

ali.hamza2099 wrote:

The practical way i think of is suppose you book a domestic flight which is not really expensive and probably you may book one way , get into the terminal and drop you flight and see your friend
i havent been to Riyadh airport hence i am not too sure if the domestic and international flights has the same terminal , if it is the same terminal then i am sure you can try this , trust this works for you and you see her good luck.

I was also thinking the same...however,  International flights are in terminal 1 & 2 while domestic flights are in terminal 5.

So I'm not really sure if that would be possible...

even with international flight i would to do to book a short flight say riyadh - bahrain or riyadh - dubai one way ticket wouldnt be more than few hundred Riyals

right. he can check-in, pass through immigration, go to boarding area and look for his relative then pretend he fell asleep and missed the plane.

the only hassle would be he will be hearing his name being called at the overhead speaker or an airline representative will be screaming for his name plus not sure if he can still use his ticket if he already checked-in.

worth trying if you would see a relative you haven't seen for a while