Update: Read my full Royal Jordanian Business Class Embraer 175 Cairo To Amman review.
Hello from Amman!
After an Air Canada Rouge flight from Tampa to Toronto, EgyptAir business class flight from Toronto to Cairo, and amusing transfer at Cairo Airport, I flew from Cairo to Amman on Royal Jordanian.
The flight was operated by an Embraer 175, which is my favorite regional jet.
There was a bit of an adventure on boarding. I was the first to walk down the jet bridge, and there were three guys in hoodies standing on the jet bridge near the door to the plane. 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 explained that they were just doing pat downs and bag searches on the jet bridge. Ah, that kind of a “check.”
I think it’s ridiculous that the people doing these searches don’t have uniforms, or at a minimum, visible badges.
Royal Jordanian’s Embraer 175 business class cabin consists of a total of 12 seats, spread across four rows in a 1-2 configuration.
While the Embraer 175 is a comfortable regional jet in general, this configuration has to be the most comfortable yet, as the seats even have legrests and power ports.
The flight attendant told me on boarding I could have any seat I wanted, as I was the only business class passengers (however, the three guys doing security checks on the jet bridge were on the flight to Amman as well, and one moved to business class when the door closed).
Before takeoff the flight attendant said “I have Arabic before takeoff if you want?” I said “sure,” and her face lit up as she said “really?” I guess she was surprised I wanted some.
I enjoyed the views of Cairo Airport’s new Terminal 2 on the taxi out, including of the A380 gates they now have.
The flight time was just one hour, and after takeoff I was offered a snack. It consisted of a mini-bagel with cream cheese, a piece of bread with cheese and a tomato, and a piece of bread with salmon. Then there was also a salad and some dessert.
I spent the rest of the flight gazing out the window, and within about 30 minutes we were landing in Amman.
This was my first time passing through Amman Airport… it’s gorgeous.
Overall this was a pleasant and quick flight, aside from the search on the jet bridge. The Embraer is my favorite regional jet, and Royal Jordanian’s configuration is especially comfortable. The flight attendant working business class on this sector was also very nice.
This was my first time flying Royal Jordanian since my “flight from hell,” so I’m happy to have had a good experience.
Is anyone else amused by the fact that a Royal Jordanian E175 is an RJ RJ?
"Best configuration of ERJ yet..."
But isn't it identical to Air Canada and Delta's E170/75/90/95s? I don't recall, maybe DL doesn't have the footrest? And AC took out a few inches of pitch recently.
I just flew from
AMM TO CAI same aircraft and loved it - Like you I thought for a short flight a really nice business class - I was expecting one of those planes wear they change the rubber bands before every flight
Loved Royal Jordanian - better airline then expected
Singling out a young white German-American man for extra baggage checks! The nerve of these Arabs! LOL :p
Hang on.. you last said "For one, I’ll never fly Royal Jordanian again" after your flight from hell post.
You just flew them again?
I have to fly the E170 regularly and once I was sitting next to a pilot on a boeing who flew both and he reckons embraers are pieces of shyte. Interested to find out why it's your fav? I'm nervous about flying it now.
"I’m going to think twice about which airlines I fly. For one, I’ll never fly Royal Jordanian again. Any airline which has pilots that display such a high level of unprofessionalism and don’t even make a single announcement aren’t worth flying."
Never say never, I suppose.
@yyc - probably shoudl have specified i was flying a Lebanese airline not Royal Jordanian.
Sorry. Either way, even looking at my flight radar 24 app i'm seeing a lot of avoidance of Israeli airspace at the moment.
I love the 1 - 2 configuration, always good if your a single person.
@Alex, both Egypt and Jordan recognize Israel as a state and maintain diplomatic ties so I don't think there would be any issues flying over Israel. Perhaps when you flew from AMM they were trying to avoid the airspace between Lebanon and Israel as the two are still technically at war.
Oh, somehow I’ve always imagined Royal Jordanian Embraer between CAI and AMM is a very small, “old” jet, but in fact it looks quite nice (and nice leather seat too) ! Most of time I usually take QR B777 F CAIDOH which gets boring to me, but next time I must try this : RJ & QR CAI-AMM-DOH. What a fun. Thanks for the review !
Nice to see the new airport turned out nice. The old one of a few years ago was a DUMP.
Curious what routing they took? It's always intriguing since given regional conflicts and their relations with Israel they can sometimes take very convoluting routes.
A couple years ago i flew Amman to Beirut (used to be able to drive this, of course its not recommended anymore). Despite being ~200 miles apart the flight took nearly 2 hours as they went South through Jordan, West over Egypt and then North along the Israeli coast.