Hello from the United States! I just flew Royal Air Maroc’s Boeing 787-8 business class on the 8hr25min flight from Casablanca (CMN) to Miami (MIA). This flight came after flying Royal Air Maroc’s Boeing 737-800 business class on the short flight from Malaga (AGP).
While I was impressed by my short haul Royal Air Maroc business class flight, the long haul flight wasn’t nearly as pleasant. In fairness, I knew what the seat would be like going into the flight, so it’s not like that was a surprise. While the food was decent and the crew was relatively well intentioned, there were still so many aspects of the experience that were underwhelming.
To Royal Air Maroc’s credit, though, I’ll certainly take this product over what you’ll otherwise find in North Africa. And I’d pick this flight any day over my outbound flight in Air Algerie business class. In this post I’d like to share some initial thoughts, and then soon I’ll have a full review.
Royal Air Maroc’s 787 business class seats are terrible
Let me start by saying that Royal Air Maroc has four different business class configurations on its Dreamliner fleet, and I was on the 787-8 that was purpose built for Royal Air Maroc. Before someone yells at me, let me acknowledge that it’s a privilege to fly in a flat bed across an ocean, so of course this was better than economy. But ultimately I compare airlines to one another.
With that in mind, Royal Air Maroc’s 787-8 business class consists of 18 seats, spread across three rows, in a 2-2-2 configuration.
I call these the “top/bottom seats,” and this is my least favorite flat bed business class product in the world. Go figure I also just recently flew this product on Philippine Airlines, though fortunately that was a shorter flight.
I know the intent is for this seat to efficiently make the most of space, but it’s just so horribly designed. For one, the seat lacks storage. If you contort your body, there’s a small cubby behind you, as well as an exposed area behind the seat. Beyond that, the tray table constantly falls off the side arm rest. And then when you recline your seat, one passenger is basically on top of the other.
I hadn’t really warned Ford what this seat would be like, and when he sat down and started playing with the controls, he asked me if the seats were broken, or if this is how they’re designed. I think that tells you everything you need to know.
Fortunately I was traveling with Ford, but if you were to actually sit next to a stranger in these seats and try to sleep, it would just be downright awkward, in my opinion. Seriously, imagine if the person in the window seat wanted to sleep, while the person in the aisle seat didn’t want to sleep.
The plane had an okay selection of seat back entertainment, but there was no Wi-Fi (though Royal Air Maroc will install Starlink as of 2027). However, as far as flat bed business class products go, I’d consider this to be one of the worst business class hard products across the Atlantic.
Royal Air Maroc’s business class catering is fine
While Royal Air Maroc’s short haul business class catering is impressive, the long haul catering isn’t quite as memorable. However, I must say, it wasn’t bad. The first quirk is that the menu promotes how dine on demand is offered, but the crew simply served everyone at the same time, and never asked anyone when they wanted to eat.
Presumably I could’ve asked to eat at another time, but if you’re going to promote how you offer dine on demand, it would be nice for the crew to also remind passengers of this, ask them what’s convenient for them, etc. But we’ll talk about that more in the service section.
On this flight, lunch was served after takeoff, and that began with some canapés. That included sweet chili prawn with sesame seeds, smoked salmon, and foie gras mousse bites. There were also some packaged almonds and cheese biscuits.
Royal Air Maroc does serve wine, with Laurent-Perrier Brut being the champagne on offer, which is pretty nice. The wine list otherwise consists of two reds and one white (one red and one white are from Morocco). I love when airlines serve local wine, but I can’t say that I loved the white they were serving.
There was then the choice of two appetizers, including the harira and dates, or tuna tataki with mango and wasabi cream. We had one of each.
Then for the main course there were three options, with the Moroccan option being the beef tajine with prunes, dried apricots, and almonds.
There was then the choice of a few dessert options, plus cheese, and between them, we tried one of each.
Given the flight time of over eight hours, the pre-arrival meal was rather modest, and consisted of a couple of small sandwiches, plus yogurt with almonds and dates.
The food was perfectly fine. It was nothing amazing, but also wasn’t half bad, so I think it did the trick.
Royal Air Maroc’s business class service is a mixed bag
Service on North African carriers can be hit-or-miss, to put it politely. For the most part, the crews are friendly enough in theory, but they just don’t perform service by international standards.
The crew was relatively charming. Like, the flight attendant taking care of us would smile. When I’d ask for something, she’d say “of course,” and when I’d say “thank you,” she’d say “you’re welcome.”
But there’s just zero sense of service ever being proactive. This seems to be a common thing in the region, so I just have to accept it. For example, not once would they offer to refill an empty glass, not once would they clear a dish or glass unless they were explicitly there to do that, not once did they proactively come through the cabin to see if anyone needed anything, etc.
Below is what Ford’s tray looked like toward the end of the service. Do you think they’d once stop by to ask if anyone wanted anything else, or if they could remove some items? Nope.
You might say “well, you should just ask.” That’s totally fair. But just as an example, once the main course came out, I asked for another glass of wine. The flight attendant responded with “of course,” but then the wine only showed up 15 minutes later, after I finished my main course (I had neither water nor wine to drink with the meal).
If you ask me, in a premium cabin, each passenger should be dealt with one at a time. Like, if you’re going to serve someone a meal, you should then within a short period of time offer them a drink. Drinks are intended (in part) to be enjoyed with meals… that shouldn’t be so complicated.
Mid flight I ordered a coffee (by pushing the call button), and the flight attendant gladly got that. Do you think the crew once offered a refill? Of course not. Quite to the contrary, they walked past my seat several times, saw the empty cup, and just kept walking.
As another example, Royal Air Maroc actually offers mattress pads, apparently. They’re stuffed in the overhead bins. The crew didn’t once tell passengers about this, or offer to help place them on the seats. It’s a shame to see the airline investing in something like that, but then not actually getting any credit for it, since not a single passenger actually used them.
I hate to generalize cultures, but I find this service level to be the norm on most airlines in North Africa, so it’s not like this was surprising. And at least the crew was actually relatively friendly, which is more than I can say for my flights on some other carriers.
Bottom line
Ultimately my Royal Air Maroc Dreamliner business class flight was fine. It operated on time, and I more or less knew what to expect going in. Royal Air Maroc has maybe slightly improved its food since the last time I flew with the carrier, in 2019.
Unfortunately the carrier’s 787-8 business class seats are among the worst flat bed business class seats out there, in my opinion. With limited entertainment and no Wi-Fi, it was also a pretty boring flight.
The crew was actually relatively friendly, though that didn’t necessarily translate to service that met international standards. Service was just completely reactive, and also lacked urgency for anything. Unfortunately I’ve found that to be a common issue at other airlines in the region as well.
What’s your take on Royal Air Maroc’s 787 business class?
My favourite on their TATL flights is when the meal is served to each passenger, then come the drinks. You can easily finish your meal if you’re one of the first passengers served before you have a chance to see a drink (any drink, there’s not even water served directly with the meal). It’s almost designed to piss you off. And clearly it’s by design, it happened on every flight I was on.
These are not even that efficient considering most other airlines fit 18-20 seats in either 1-2-1 or very spacious 2-2-2 Aura lite seats without foot coffin.
As for service, I suspect it is to do with culture where premium passengers (assuming Govt officials and rich local people as well) are used to ask (read order) the crews so they don't offer service proactively to not be a bother unless called.
While I wish this were a better overall product, I still think it’s pretty cool that RAM flies to MIA. (That top/bottom footwell configuration is wild.) How full was the flight would you say?
But you didn't tell us who was on the top and who was on the bottom. ;-)
@ Jack -- Lol. Well, Ford and I both prefer window seats, but when we travel together, I let him have the window seat, so he was in the "top" seat. No innuendo there, but hopefully answers your question. :p
So what were the wines? You always go into such extensive detail about just about everything except the wines. Seriously. You can't just say they provided a red wine or a white wine. Tell us what kind. Take a picture. You take a picture of everything else. At least show us the menu -- if there's a printed wine list.
As for service flow, ideally, they should take one drink order for pre-order. Then before...
So what were the wines? You always go into such extensive detail about just about everything except the wines. Seriously. You can't just say they provided a red wine or a white wine. Tell us what kind. Take a picture. You take a picture of everything else. At least show us the menu -- if there's a printed wine list.
As for service flow, ideally, they should take one drink order for pre-order. Then before serving the main take another drink order. Then after that drink arrives, serve the main.
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- This is the preview post. As you know, I always post the full menus and drink lists in the full reviews, and this will be no different.
"Before someone yells at me, let me acknowledge that it’s a privilege to fly in a flat bed across an ocean, so of course this was better than economy."
Is this like the frequent flyer version of a land acknowledgement? Why is it a privilege? You're paying for it, whether in cash or miles.
@ FNT Delta Diamond -- Sure, fair enough, but people stumble on reviews online, and some people aren't consistent readers. I acknowledge it would seem pretty tone deaf if I described a flat bed seat as "awful" without context, when a vast majority of people are traveling in crammed seats, where their knees are jammed up against the seat in front. So that comment is intended to at least acknowledge that.