A short Malaga-to-Casablanca hop in Royal Air Maroc's 737 business class turns out to be a pleasant surprise, with real seats and a surprisingly good snack.
Royal Air Maroc is not an European airline, then why reference them?
And why always this shitstorm on European business class. I get it, just a blocked middle seat. But then also mention you get served food (most of the time more substantial than in the US), and - most importantly - regular lounge access just with the ticket.
@ Matthew -- I reference European airlines (and the business class products they offer) because:
-- A large percentage of Royal Air Maroc's 737 network is to Europe, where the airline competes head-to-head against European carriers
-- Royal Air Maroc largely sells itineraries where it competes against European carriers, like North America to Europe routings, given Casablanca's good geography; AAdvantage even lets you redeem miles from the US to Europe via Casablanca, using the standard award costs
-- Even other North African carriers offer an intra-Europe style business class on some of their narrow bodies, so it's a competitive advantage for Royal Air Maroc
So it's a relevant comparison, in my opinion. Regarding your other comments about intra-Europe business class, I can only speak for myself, but I do always reference how it offers lounge access and food, like in this post:
https://onemileatatime.com/insights/regional-business-class-usa-vs-europe/
A better comparison is domestic flying in the US to domestic flying in places like Canada and Australia, where you get all 3: lounge access, the seat, and non-packaged meals on shorter flights.
I like the idea of a business class bus to a remote stand. Didn't get that on Qatar which is supposed to be one of the best.
The meal served on that flight is more substantial and better looking than the meal Delta served me in first class between DTW and SEA earlier this week.
I think you set too low expectations for them.
Being part of oneworld does have some standards.
I was told it’s… three times!
(Even with the new features, edit/delete buttons for 5 minutes, I still missed it.)
I see the overhead TV monitors and immediately expect NBC Universal on American Airlines. That aside, like the old-school look/feel of the cabin. Nice meal service.
This column breaks up flight reviews into several parts. Can’t you just publish the full review at once like EVERYONE else?
@ TMS -- If you don't want a preview and just want the full flight review, you can just read the full flight review. Isn't that simple enough?
I prefer the previews, since they're short enough to read every preview. Then read full review only if it's an airline I care about
@ Noa -- That's the intent. The internet's attention span has become much shorter over the years, so the idea is to have something that's more widely palatable with the previews, and then the reviews have all the nitty gritty, for those who are interested.
@ Jack -- I can assure you that in terms of time and money invested, flight reviews have the lowest ROI of any content on this blog. I write them because a) it's my passion and b) I know some long time readers very much enjoy them. If it were about clicks, I'd just be posing stories about people stripping naked at airports.
@Lucky. I want to give you full credit for those “short/initial reviews” you have been writing. For me, those are always detailed, often I am thinking: “what else can he add to make it more thorough for the “final/detailed” review?”.
Please keep doing it the way you have always done those.
Yeah!…. and while you’re at it STOP SMILING while you type Ben! Can’t you be miserable doing this, like EVERYONE else?
My shorthaul experience with them was definitely way better than my longhaul one.
Interesting, I would have rated Royal Air Maroc as the worst airline I have flown on (and I flew an LCC in Thailand) when we flew from Venice to Casablanca, although we were in Y. Very rough equipment, chaotic boarding process and flight attendants who seemed intent on making sure the old white guys knew what it was like to be discriminated against. Treated our two black children like princesses, treated me and my father in law like, well, the way my black children are sometimes treated in the southern US.
I have flown RAM on quite a few occasions, short legs like AGP-CMN, also long hauls from DOH, JFK and MIA to CMN. The business class on flights to europe are good, with good service , champagne and good food. The crew in general are friendly. The long haul flights make you realize that they are not Qatar QR but more like AA DL or UA
Ben - i think you should take PIA and write a review (maybe you already have, and I missed it). I think they might compete with Air Algerie for the worst rating on here.
The RAM flight sounds really nice and incredible for a 45 minute leg!
@ FLLFLYER -- It might be time to give the airline another shot, but I did review them a decade ago:
https://onemileatatime.com/pakistan-airlines-business-class-777-review/
Honestly, between seats, food, pre departure beverage this looks like one of the best short haul flights of any carrier I have seen.