- Introduction: Flying With Royalty (Or Not)
- Review: Air Canada Premium Rouge 767 Tampa To Toronto
- Review: Sheraton Gateway Toronto Airport
- Review: EgyptAir Business Class 777 Toronto To Cairo
- Review: Cairo Airport Lounge Terminal 2
- Review: Royal Jordanian Business Class Embraer 175 Cairo To Amman
- Review: Grand Hyatt Amman
- Review: Royal Jordanian Lounge Amman Airport
- Review: Royal Jordanian Business Class 787 Amman To Kuala Lumpur
- Review: St. Regis Kuala Lumpur
- Review: Plaza Premium Lounge Kuala Lumpur
- Review: Royal Brunei Business Class A320 Kuala Lumpur To Bandar Seri Begawan
- Review: Radisson Bandar Seri Begawan Brunei
- Review: Royal Brunei Lounge Bandar Seri Begawan
- Review: Royal Brunei Business Class 787 Bandar Seri Begawan To Dubai
- Review: W Dubai Al Habtoor City
- Review: St. Regis Dubai
- Review: Emirates Business Class Lounge Dubai
- Review: Emirates Business Class A380 Dubai To Los Angeles
This flight’s adventure started before I even got on the plane. At the end of the jet bridge there were three guys in hoodies. As I approached them they pointed at my bag and said “we check.” It had been a long travel day and my brain wasn’t working properly, so I thought they were telling me I needed to gate check my bag since it was a regional jet.
“No, it will fit.” After a bit more discussion they grabbed the bag out of my hand, at which point I became a bit irritated, since I didn’t understand what they were doing, and the whole situation struck me as shady, as they didn’t have visible badges or anything. Then the flight attendant apologized and explained that they were just doing pat downs and bag searches on the jet bridge. Ah, that kind of a “check.”
I don’t understand why they don’t have badges and/or uniforms. Interestingly they were actually Jordanian security officials, as they flew back to Amman with us.
Royal Jordanian 502
Cairo (CAI) – Amman (AMM)
Wednesday, January 4
Depart: 12:10PM
Arrive: 1:25PM
Duration: 1hr15min
Aircraft: Embraer 175
Seat: 4A (Business Class)
At the door I was greeted by two fairly young (and attractive) flight attendants. Royal Jordanian’s Embraer 175 business class cabin consists of 12 seats, spread across four rows in a 1-2 configuration. This is very similar to the configurations we see at U.S. airlines for similar jets.
Royal Jordanian Embraer 175 business class cabin
I had assigned myself seat 4A, the window seat in the last row. As you can see, there was a pillow waiting on my seat.
Royal Jordanian EMB175 business class, seat 4A
The legroom was quite good, and the seat even had a legrest, which I didn’t use.
Royal Jordanian business class legroom
There was also a power port on the side of the seat.
Royal Jordanian business class power port
There were a lot of people boarding over the next 10 minutes, though eventually the flight attendant came up to me to say I was the only business class passenger, and that I could choose any seat I wanted.
Royal Jordanian Embraer 175 business class cabin
Royal Jordanian EMB175 business class cabin
As boarding finished up, the flight attendant said she could serve me any drink after takeoff, but only Arabic coffee on the ground. When I asked for some, she seemed surprised, said “really?” and had a big smile on her face. She even offered me a refill.
Royal Jordanian business class Arabic coffee
The cabin door closed at 12:05PM. At this point one of the security officers who gave me a pat down and checked my bag moved from economy to business class. Moments later we began our pushback.
View on pushback at Cairo Airport
The lead flight attendant made the welcome aboard announcement (there were no announcements from the cockpit), and informed us of our flight time of one hour. At that point the crew did a manual safety demonstration. There were three flight attendants on the plane — U.S. carriers have two on the same plane.
View on pushback at Cairo Airport
I enjoyed looking out the window as we taxied past Terminal 2, and in particular seeing some airlines I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.
Cairo Airport traffic
Taxiing past Terminal 2 at Cairo Airport
We had a long taxi to the departure runway, which I didn’t mind one bit, given the unique plane spotting opportunities.
Taxiing Cairo Airport
EgyptAir A330 Cairo Airport
Taxiing Cairo Airport
Taxiing Cairo Airport
Finally at around 12:35PM we were cleared for takeoff on runway 23C.
Taking off Cairo Airport
I loved the views on our climb out.
View after takeoff from Cairo
View after takeoff from Cairo
A few minutes after takeoff the seatbelt sign was turned off. At that point I moved over to the window seat on the opposite side of row four, as I wanted to get my bag from the overhead bin and place it on the seat next to me.
At this point service began, and the flight attendant offered me a warm towel.
Royal Jordanian business class hot towel
She then asked if I wanted a snack, and said “I have cheese, salmon, dessert.” I wasn’t sure if she was offering me one or all of those, so I said “whatever you think.” She placed a tablecloth on my tray table.
Royal Jordanian business class tablecloth
Then she brought me a tray with all three.
Royal Jordanian business class snack service
There was a piece of bread with salmon, a piece of bread with tomatoes and cheese, and a bagel with salmon.
Royal Jordanian business class snack service
Then there was a salad with artichokes, cheese, sundried tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and olives.
Royal Jordanian business class snack service
Lastly there was a dessert with some sort of chocolate and strawberry cakes.
Royal Jordanian business class dessert
I just wanted some water to drink, so was offered a bottle. While Royal Jordanian isn’t a dry airline across the board, I believe they don’t serve alcohol on short-haul flights.
Royal Jordanian business class bottled water
For the rest of the flight I just gazed out the window and enjoyed the views.
View enroute to Amman
I noticed that the overhead bin above my seat had a sign saying “for cabin grooming use only.” That confused me at first — while the flight attendants’ eyebrows were on fleek, I didn’t think they needed a dedicated overhead bin to accomplish that. But perhaps that’s not what grooming refers to in this context.
Royal Jordanian business class overhead bin
The crew was attentive for the short flight, though they already fully prepared the cabin for landing more than 20 minutes out, meaning that really they were only up for about 35 minutes.
View approaching Amman
View approaching Amman
We touched down at Amman Queen Alia Airport at 1:30PM.
View on final approach to Amman
From there it was just a quick two minute taxi to our arrival gate.
Taxiing Amman Airport
Arriving at gate Amman Airport
Amman Airport is gorgeous, and the arrivals experience was easy. There was no line for immigration, and the process of paying for your visa on arrival and getting stamped is seamless.
Amman Airport
Royal Jordanian business class bottom line
Aside from the jet bridge kerfuffle, this was a very pleasant, quick flight. In general I love the Embraer 175, though this one was especially comfortable — the business class cabin had plenty of legroom and power ports, and being the only passenger was nice as well. I’d gladly fly this plane again, even on a longer route.
Ah, that's a Jazeera Airways A320!
Flew them once, DXB-KWI. Not a bad budget airline.
"She then asked if I wanted a snack, and said “I have cheese, salmon, dessert.” I wasn’t sure if she was offering me one or all of those, so I said “whatever you think.”"
Why not just politely ask her to clarify what she meant?
+1 paul.
Hosea is easily the funniest troll ive seen in a while. Even funnier because so many people don't get his sense of humour
The "cabin grooming" is just a really bad translation from the original Arabic. As Timtamtrak points out, it just means that particular bin is for items used to clean the cabin.
"seeing some airlines I don’t think I’ve ever seen before"
That first airline is Jazeera Airways, a Kuwaiti airline. It is a LCC, though as in the norm with some LCCs, they offer business class on some routes too.
Ah yes, flying RJ on an RJ.
I flew AMM-CAI on Royal Jordanian ~20 years ago, in economy. As soon as the plane took off, everyone around me lit cigarettes. This was before planes because entirely non-smoking; on the other hand, we were in fact sitting well inside the non-smoking section. The FAs tried to control it, but could not. Maybe it has changed...or maybe not.
"Cabin grooming" means cleaning the plane. I don't know why they don't say cleaning specifically but in the US it seems the cabin crew "grooms" planes as in crosses seat belts, picks up big trash, etc whilst cleaners actually vacuum and properly clean the restrooms etc. I presume the bin contains the necessary items to clean the plane at outstations. Interesting they would place these items in business and not at the back of economy.
Lucky, an interesting article on marshals and tasers (and Korean Air's incident involving Richard Marx).
A big shout-out to Hosea, whose creative trolling sometimes makes me snort out loud.
Not sure I'd trust those cakes, but I also would have appreciated pics of the attractive FAs. :)
I demand flight attendant eyebrow pics!
Cabin grooming is RJ's term for cabin cleaning/upkeep. When you are at AMM you can see trucks (like catering trucks) elevated to the aircraft doors marked "cabin grooming". It was probably a locker for spare blankets/pillows etc.
Flying CAI-AMM in Business Class last year, juice and water were available before departure as well. After departure, they served Taittinger champagne, which is also available on their medium and long haul flights. I also remember the strange additional security screening at boarding. Screening was only performed in CAI, not in FRA and not in AMM.
Was the officer who patted you down and checked your bag not a business class passenger as well?
I believe you. Arabic women are hot. That's why guys there force them to wear burqa and hide.
I love how they use the white/cream leather seats in the business cabin, it looks bright and clean.
Lucky, do you know if they provide tablets for IFE? or do they just entertain you with food for that short flight?
" two fairly young (and attractive) flight attendants" no one believes you without pics
Is serving Arabic coffee on the ground a Jordanian custom? Elsewhere in the Middle East it's generally placed on the table.