Greetings from Amman. I’ve flown from Kuala Lumpur to Amman via Bangkok, all on Royal Jordanian. Here’s my first impressions of RJ’s 787-8 in “Crown” business class.
First, the B/E Diamond seats are fairly common, available on airlines including Aeroflot, American, Delta, United, and Qatar Airways. The seats are comfortable, though the soft pillow and duvet certainly aid in the sleep process (one side of the blanket is fleece, making it one of the best blankets I have experienced on an airplane).
I like the open-feel of the cabin. As you enter the aircraft, you’ll find an open area (sort of like the Qatar Airways A350) that has a buffet table with the Royal Jordanian logo next to it.
I wrote about the short Fifth Freedom leg from Kuala Lumpur to Bangkok here. We only picked up a few passengers and business class and the cabin went out less than half full, including the seat next to mine.
The man without socks remained onboard…and literally kept his feet on the console in front of him for a couple hours.
Despite the late house, I could not resist the Arabic coffee. Thankfully, it did not keep me up!
I was expecting meal service via cart, like Pakistan International Airlines, but instead we were offered a choice of four items from a menu. Frankly, I thought this was a better approach than the “buffet cart” because 1.) it was 1:30 AM and most passengers were sleeping and 2.) the food arrived piping hot.
I ordered veal and it was excellent, as was the tiramisu for dessert. Dessert and coffee were served by cart.
After the meal I was able to quickly fall asleep and was gently shaken awake about 90 minutes before landing by a flight attendant, who offered me breakfast. With a four hour layover ahead of me in the RJ lounge, I would have preferred to sleep through, but I enjoyed a strong cup of coffee, some fruit, and a croissant.
Despite our late start, we landed on-time in Amman.
CONCLUSION
Based upon other trip reports, my expectations were admittedly low, but I was pleasantly surprised. The crew was lovely, food very edible, and I slept just fine. All things considered, I would not hesitate to fly Royal Jordanian again.
Love your reports. They are well written and very informative…..thank you.
Seats look A LOT …no make that identical to UA Biz class pre-Polaris hard product
This is an off the shelf product that probably a dozen airlines use (as Matthew said in literally his 1st sentence of the body of the review).
Great report. I’ve flown RJ a few times in J to/from the US using miles and cheap fares (Cairo). Your report is spot on. Very comfortable way to get around without the frills of Qatar and hence wider availability. I feel it’s important to caution to all of those considering taking RJ: AMMAN AIRPORT IS NOT SET UP FOR HANDLING IRROPS, PERIOD. Just be very careful if connecting through Amman. They have a single “transit desk,” and the majority of their US inbound aircraft arrive around the same time. It’s madness if there is a weather delay (sandstorm in my case) and the ground staff aren’t as fluent in English coupled with the middle eastern mentality of “what line? there is no line!” it can be quite overwhelming. I promise I am not bigoted, My wife is Palestinian and we go to the ME at least once a year it’s just the nature of the ME.