Review: Royal Jordanian Business Class 787 Amman To Kuala Lumpur

The seats are identical with TG's 787, and I always go for first row where the foot rest is 3x wider.

Wow. A Muslim airline that serves alcohol. They are going to hell.

All airlines should be allowed to impose their religious views on others and all Muslims in the west should be forced to go to church on Sunday.

Credit, plenty of "Muslim" airlines serve alcohol. Lucky, I'm amazed that you called this flight pleasant given the bathroom situation. It would have been my version of hell. I traveled to Jordan in 2016 and chose to fly Qatar there and Etihad back (was my first time on both of these airlines - really wanted to try them out), after reading this I'm very glad I didn't book with Royal Jordanian (although it would have been a non-stop flight vs. transiting through Doha and Abu Dhabi)

sounds like some of the business class passengers were 3rd world toilet experts

Interesting they didn't seem to upgrade people with status vs irregular Haj flyers. Guessing this means the plane was almost compelling full of pilgrimage folks.

I flew a 787 RJ from HKG-BKK for around $200 RT and bid to upgrade to business for around $50 each way. I agree with service - it was authentic but not necessarily polished. My business class was 1/2 full so that helped. I would be interested to try them on a longer flight but the bathroom situation sounds miserable.

Lucky is being way too generous towards RJ. That lavatory situation was completely unacceptable. Was the cabin crew completely oblivious to it? This was a massive fail and certainly justifies RJ being put on my "no fly" list.

On a happier note: our dear @Credit once again made me smile & chuckle.

That must have been the world's longest safety video to play for twelve hours and five minutes!

In 1980 I flew ALIA (as Royal Jordanian was called in those days) from Amsterdam to New York, after my Trans International Airlines flight was cancelled. It was 8 hours of sheer hell. Every toilet was just as you described Lucky, and every male passenger smoked (while standing in the aisles) one cheap Middle Eastern cigarette after another. The air was so thick with smoke that it looked as if the 747's cabin was on fire. I thought I'd choke to death. More than three decades later I still shudder when I'm in an airport and catch a glimpse of a Royal Jordanian plane.

You young non-smokers have no idea what it was like in the 'old days' when scores of fellow passengers puffed away hour after hour. The "No Smoking" zones were a joke, because in a sealed metal tube the smoke went everywhere. I almost always deplaned with a splitting headache and clothes that reeked.

How did you know it was 2 different peoples number 2s?

I think it's not RJ's fault , but the route-problem full of hygenical retards! Take the same route on any discounted ME carrier and you will have a similar experience. for me that's terrible but I also understand the FA to feel disgusted cleaning that up.

For all you spoilt westerners, and I am caucasian, this is a disparaging report. Moral of the story dont travel during Haj. It is not all year just a short period. I have travelled on RJ recently, several times outside Haj and found them to be better than most western airlines in business. At least you don't get snotty nosed cabin crew acting like sergeant majors. Yes they are Jordanian crew for the most part. The way they behave is their culture. If people do not like it, do not fly them. I would fly them any day (outside Haj) when the toilets can be as clean or disgusting as any 'western' airline. Jordan is by the way a staunch ally of the west. Any visit to the country will re-assure you of that fact. That is my six pennies worth.

There have been several recent comments about crews being "not polished". Can we get an actual definition of what any of these bloggers means? Kneeling down to talk to pax? Presenting the champagne bottle before pouring? What? Just saying a crew was (not) polished doesn't mean anything without a reference.

@AdamR

When they go on OMAAT, they comment like you.

@betterbub:

Not sure I follow. When the crews go on OMAAT? When the bloggers or commenters go on OMAAT? Am *I* an unpolished flight crew because I asked a question? Can you clarify?

I have flown Royal Jordanian a number of times and I agree with the majority of your review. It is a perfectly respectable airline particularly their 787s, perhaps not as 'polished' as Emirates, Qatar, Singapore etc.. but a solid airline and if the price is right, I would happily go for it. The toilet situation you described is unfortunate, but perhaps that is really connected with the passengers on this particular route and not something that can be applied to the airline as a whole, although of course it shouldn't be allowed to happen, particularly in business class.

Flew RJ from HKG to BKK last October and it was perhaps one of the most awful flight experiences I have ever had. Not only the food was poor (only cold sandwiches being served on this 2.5-hour flight), the headphones were also unresponsive. Will seriously consider flying the same route again even though the price is really attractive

I flown RJ Business Class from DXB-AMM-JFK return a few times, using AA advantage points, and recommend it. Highlights are the food served directly from the little cart - you can pick your entrées and have as much as you want. When they run out, they prepare more. Service has always been professional and an appropriate level of friendly. The Amman Crown lounge is great. Plenty of room and decent snacks/beverages.
The only negatives I can point to are the boarding, which often does not include priority boarding, which is both unacceptable and fixable. Also the IFE is somewhat sparse. As for the bathroom issues discussed in the review - that looks to be an unfortunate result of the Haj timing. Nevertheless, the airline should take proactive steps during that month on routes where they are aware of high pilgrimage capacity levels, if their experience warrant this.

@Credit - As a Muslim living in the West, I would be happy to be 'forced' to go to Church on Sundays...
As long as you can get the Christians to go along 🙂 and while we are at it, which one of the hundreds of denominational Churches would you nominate for Muslims to attend?! Can we pick Kingdom Hall over Latter-day Saints?!

I never recommend Royal Jordanian Airlines to anyone as I had the most unpleasant experience that happened to me with them while I was going from Madrid to Cairo on April 18th, 2017, as I was supposed to have a one night transit in Amman under the impression that I have a free night stay at the airport hotel but once I arrived to Amman they refused to give me the free night and said that I have to pay USD 163 in order to get a room!! Knowing that I already told them that I lost my wallet in Madrid with all the money and cards, and all I have is only JOD 7!!! They were treating me as if I'm begging and they were very rude and unwelcoming!! No one helped me and I ended up sleeping on the floor of the airport as if I'm a beggar!
I went to their transit office and regular office at the airport and no one helped!! After then i visited their office at the hotel and they told me it's not our problem!!! I wonder how they deal with their customers like that!!! Good service doesn't mean smiling cabin crew or good food on flight! But means helping and assisting your customers when in trouble!! I'm really sad and upset, and will never ever fly with them again!!!

I thought you'd never fly RJ again after your 2013 "flight from hell"? Change of heart?

Royal Jordanian quite ok for me. Flew with them a couple of times. Some cabin crews are friendly and some just deliver their service.

Anyway , nice review Ben as always.

Regards..

Have flown RJ a few times and never had problems with the bathrooms

I flew ORD/AMM last year on 787 and found it to be a pretty good product. I like 2x2x2 as I'm almost always traveling with partner and I like window seat. Agree that the service isn't completely polished but was more than adequate for me. I didn't want for anything. Found it interesting they kept announcing partnership with US Airways during PA announcements even though that name had retired in 2015 (? I think). Also lead F/A came by and said "if you have any problems at all, you let me know"......Funny way to say "Let me know if you need anything"

@credit idiot, that's all.

This is a very generous review considering my experiences on RAJ. It was literally the worst experience of my flying life, I can’t even imagine what economy must be like. The food was inedible and they completely skipped the trolley. It was a choice of two mains and I couldn’t eat it because it was actually awful (and not just aeroplane awful). The “club” was an absolute disgrace - people asleep on the floor and couches everywhere, stale food and having to pay to use the dirty and desperately in need of renovating showers. I was on the Dreamliner - I still find it hard to believe that any business class long haul doesn’t have aisle access on every seat. Luckily no one was next to me or it would have been terribly claustrophobic. I’m glad you’re experience was clearly better than mine. I would addamently stress to anyone not to fly RAJ. I waste of a business class ticket and just an overall pathetic experience.

Right now in AMM and completed my 3rd segment with them. Main issue I have with them ist that the crew seems not to be trained for business class service at all. Actually they provided a more basic service on all 3 segments than I have received in Eco many times. Nearly no proactive service at all, everything must be requested by the passengers. I was asked max. once on a 8hr flight if I would like to have a drink. No coffee or tea offered for breakfast. During the last flight they not even had a scheduled dinner service, they were waiting for the passengers to request for dinner, despite having taken meal orders after take off. So only very few passengers requested dinner. Less work, yay. Let's throw those meals in the trash. When my requested dinner was served (with an unpleasant facial expression by the female flight attendend, because she suggested I should better wait an hour till breakfast is served instead of having dinner), It was served without the pre-ordered drink, actually no drink at all and none was offered.

Seriously, I don't understand what they are doing here. RJ should put some managers equipped with note books and pencils on a Qatar flight.

@Credit
Some people make laugh and some others even if they try hard they possibly can't. This is one of the most stupid comments/statements I have read so far. Avoid commenting and let people think you are dumb, because if you do comment then you make all doubts disappear.

I had to laugh when you talked about a longer flight from the US. You know a flight from NYC to Amman is 10 hours 40 minutes, compared to your flight from Amman to Kuala Lumpur which is 11 hours 10 minutes?

Granted it is a 16 hour flight from Los Angeles (tinsel town) to Amman, but keep in mind nearly half of the people in the US live in the eastern time zone, the eastern 1/4 of the continental section of country (nearly all of Michigan in the NW, most of Alabama to the SW, Main NE, and Florida SE). Nearly 2/3 of the population live in eastern and central time-zones combined. Once you go west of the Mississippi River the population drops like a rock. Only about 15 percent live on the west coast (tinsel town, Vegas and Seattle, etc). With the small remainder living in ranches upon the range in the mountain time zone (Colorado, Montana, New Mexico, etc.).