Okay, I think I’ve ranted enough about my recent Royal Jordanian experience, between the bad soft product on the Boeing 787-8, and the awful hard product on the Embraer E190-E2. In this post I’d like to discuss a topic more broadly, which I can’t really make sense of.
In this post:
Royal Jordanian has air marshals on all flights (I believe)
In the United States we have the federal air marshal program, whereby a very small number of flights have air marshals onboard. They’re undercover, and they sit in different parts of the aircraft, so the intent is that passengers don’t know who they are. At this point it’s exceedingly rare to have them, but the program does exist.
Some other countries take a much more extreme approach with this concept, and have them on virtually all flights. For example, EgyptAir has security officers onboard flights, who act as air marshals. They’re in uniform, so they’re not really supposed to be hidden.
Royal Jordanian is another airline that has air marshals on all flights, to the best of my knowledge. Actually, it’s true for Jordanian aviation in general, and some may even remember the story from several years back, when an air marshal pulled a gun on passengers when they tried to go to the cockpit to complain about a delay while on the ground.
However, I find the execution to be odd, as they’re dressed to be undercover, but they are always in the same seats. They’re so consistently in the same seats that Royal Jordanian just removes those seats from the seat map altogether. On narrow body aircraft, they’re generally in the last row of business class in the aisle seat on the left, while on wide bodies, they sit in the last row in the center section.
Go figure I also like sitting in the last row of business class, so I try to be strategic. They’re usually chill guys, and they don’t take issues with me taking pictures of the cabin. However, since I know who they are, I get onboard, comment to them “wow, isn’t this beautiful,” or maybe throw in a “it’s my first time in business class, I’m very excited” comment, just to squash any concerns.
The surprising behavior of Royal Jordanian air marshals
Here’s where it gets interesting, as I see it. These air marshals on Royal Jordanian really, really blend in… down to the fact that they watch entertainment with headphones, and even go to sleep for extended periods of time.
On both flights I almost wondered if I was misinterpreting this and they weren’t actually air marshals, because anywhere else in the world, air marshals are supposed to keep an eye on the cabin, so don’t sleep, aren’t supposed to watch entertainment with full headphones, etc.
But they definitely were air marshals, because in both cases when they went to the bathroom, they brought little bags with them (presumably with their weapons). So, I’m curious… are these guys actually allowed to sleep, or does the lack of supervision onboard just mean they do whatever they want?
I obviously ask this not because I have any bad intentions, but because the most random things make me curious, and I think I can at least pose the question online.
I know Jordan has had air marshals for many decades, but the whole concept just seems so outdated to me. I understand the value in this back in the day, when hijackings weren’t uncommon. But nowadays the biggest preventable risks facing aircraft are pilot mental health and the potential for explosives, and air marshals have limited ability to deal with those.
As I mentioned when discussing EgyptAir’s security officers in the past, if they really wanted to enhance safety, they should put one of them in the cockpit. After all, EgyptAir’s third most recent crash was pilot suicide, and most recent crash was due to a pilot smoking in the cockpit.
Bottom line
Royal Jordanian has federal air marshals on all flights, much like on EgyptAir. However, it’s interesting (at least to me) to note the difference in how they operate. They’re undercover, but at the same time have the same blocked seats on every flight. Furthermore, they seem to sleep and watch entertainment like anyone else, which otherwise counters the trend in other parts of the globe.
Anyone have any insights? Am I the only one who is curious?
I met a former air marshal during my recent visit to Jordan. He said that they're meant to stay awake, but that for some longer flights they would have multiple so they could co-ordinate rest
I'm curious as to how an unfederated state like Jordan could possibly employ 'federal air marshals'.
That should've read 'non-federal country'. An unfederated state is something different!
Hi Ben.
I feel like this is a post you may want to consider removing. I don’t know RJ well but the Jordanian Secret Service is unlikely to enjoy seeing this reported on the internet. Could make for an awkward transit (or visit) next time.
I don't know now but for sure in the '80 of last siecle there was always a secret police member on board of any RJ flight.
I used to fly from Vienna to Amman on 747 in first class and most of the times this guy was always the same and finally we got friend. But he never sleep or watch a movie on the big screen.
That's really cool that you flew them in the 80s. Do you remember, were they still called "Alia Royal Jordanian" or simply "Royal Jordanian" at the point you flew with them? (Long-time avgeek here)
Any wonder why airlines from Muslim-majority countries have to have air marshals? It's because there are 1400-year-old feuds between various varieties of snackbars that no one will let go of and their adherents believe are the most important thing in the known universe. Their culture is definitely not a civilization.
Are you trying to start a holy-war on here?
I'm not starting a holy war. I'm just stating that there is one happening de facto that I'm contributing nothing to. If you think that some Muslims are ridiculous for thinking we're still fighting the First Crusade, the Shi'ites are even more ridiculous by not acknowledging that they lost the Second Fitna in 692. Snackbars carry grudges.
Ah, so, not starting, merely perpetuating. Got it. Besides, the Third Fitna's where it's at, Habibi. (Mostly because it occurred during the year 747... which, is an awesome year for aircraft names, too... if you're trying to tie this back to the focus of the blog...)
How many airlines from Muslim majority countries actually have air marshalls?
"Here’s where it gets interesting, as I see it. These air marshals on Royal Jordanian really, really blend in… down to the fact that they watch entertainment with headphones, and even go to sleep for extended periods of time."
US air marshalls do the same.
Yeah, like, they even use the lavatory, sometimes, too! Wild!
@TravelinWilly, Exactly!
"EgyptAir’s third most recent crash was pilot suicide." Ben, you've mentioned this in the past and I'd like to reiterate that this is (at the very least) disputed.
@ GRKennedy -- Sure, everything is disputed, though. Many people also believe the earth is flat.
Sure it's disputed, but only by the Egyptians. Almost nobody else retains any doubt whatsoever.
Sheesh, Ben. You've been on 'Mr. Toad's Wild Ride': RJ-edition.
YOU. DONT. HAVE. TO. RUIN. EVERY. SINGLE. COMMENT. SECTION. WITH. YOUR. RAMBLES.
Take a few off, FFS.
YOU. CAN. COMMENT. AS. MUCH. OR. AS. LITTLE. AS. YOU. WANT.
Take a few on, for fun sake.
@Roberto, a few quality minutes with your favorite LLM vibe coding a block script can bring you the peace you desire. The right tool for this is a browser userscript that runs whenever you load a {insert blog site} page and rewrites comments from annoying commentators locally before you see them. Install Tampermonkey (Chrome/Edge/Safari) or Violentmonkey (Firefox), drop this script in, and you're done.
Wow, that's impressive, 1969. (I'm assuming Roberto won't see this, because, if he follows your advice, he won't have to... *wink*)
I saw this comment at the top and assumed it was in response to some strange trump related comment. I’m a fan of 1990.