Tag: Amman

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Flight Review – Royal Jordanian Business Class, Amman – Bangkok

After a short stroll around Amman and a few hours of rest, I was ready for my overnight flight to Bangkok.

The experience began with a relaxing visit to Royal Jordanian’s Crown Lounge in Amman.

The lounge is in a pleasant setting on a mezzanine level, overlooking the terminal.

This is quite an expansive lounge and offers a variety of food options, including a pizzeria, bakery and ice-cream station.

The lounge also has shower suites at a cost of $20 (£16). As I had come straight from my hotel, I opted not to avail myself of this and headed instead to the serviced bar.

After a couple of hours relaxing in the lounge, it was time to board the Boeing 787-8 for the 1:40am departure to Bangkok, a flight time of a little over eight hours.

The business class seating on the Royal Jordanian Dreamliner offers a flat-bed option and is arranged in a 2-2-2 configuration. As always with such a configuration, my preference was for the centre pair of seats, which offer direct aisle access to both passengers.

The footwells for these pairs of seats are at least separated and not angled towards each other, which was an improvement on my earlier Eurowings flight.

The seat adjacent to me was occupied for this flight. However, I was unconcerned by this, as there was sufficient space between the seats and adequate private screening when in flat-bed mode.

As it was now around 2:30am, local time, a light meal of hot and cold appetisers and dessert was offered, comprising both western and oriental options.

I chose the western menu of mozzarella salad, risotto and lotus mousse, all of which were fresh and tasty.

A variety of drinks are also offered.

The menu does not proactively offer alcohol, but beer and wine are available on request. Due to the late hour and relatively short flight time, I chose not to imbibe, preferring to maximise my sleep time.

After around four hours of reasonably comfortable sleep, I awoke around an hour and a half out of Bangkok.

Again, there were western and oriental options for the breakfast service.

I chose the western menu with a Spanish omelette, chicken sausage, mushrooms and tomatoes, served with a croissant and fresh fruit.

In conclusion, Royal Jordanian’s Crown Class, whilst not a top-tier business class product, provided a perfectly satisfactory experience for a relatively short overnight flight.

It was certainly superb value for money at £508 ($648) for a three-sector journey from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur.

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Destination Review – One day in Amman, Jordan

In between my Royal Jordanian flight from Cairo and my connection to Bangkok, I had an enforced layover of 17 hours in Amman.

Since this was a largely daytime layover, I decided to head into the city and take some time to get a taste of the local sights.

In view of the length of the layover, I chose to book a cheap hotel room for the day, if only to have somewhere to shower and rest for a while, as well as having access to power for charging purposes.

I chose the centrally located Hotel Pasha, at a cost of around $34 (£26). The hotel also arranged a private airport transfer for $21 (£16) each way.

The hotel was quite basic, but it was clean, secure and had everything I needed for a one-day layover.

After depositing my hand luggage in the room and taking a quick shower to refresh myself from my early start in Cairo, I was ready to begin exploring the city.

I began at the Nymphaeum, the ruins of a Roman fountain, a short distance from the hotel.

Moving on, I strolled around the city markets, located in the heart of the city and selling everything from spices to textiles.

A short distance from the markets, I stopped at a local bakery for a light lunch, trying some the delicious savoury flatbread.

I rounded this off with some of the local ice cream, which was definitely welcome after a couple of hours of walking.

Next was the Sha’aban area, with the colourfully decorated Rainbow Street.

I finished my short tour with a visit to the Roman Theatre, across the road from my hotel.

Feeling the effects of my early start in Cairo, I then retired to my hotel for a few hours of sleep, before my overnight flight connection.

In total, I spent around four hours meandering around the streets of Amman.

Obviously this is not nearly enough even to scratch the surface of what Jordan has to offer. However it proved to be a pleasant transition from the chaos of Egypt to the serenity of Malaysia, my next destination of the season.

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Flight Review – Royal Jordanian Business Class, Cairo – Amman

After my Nile cruise and Pyramids tour, my Egyptian adventures had come to an end, and it was time to continue eastward for the next phase of my winter wanderings.

For the princely sum of £508 ($648), I had secured a one-way ticket in Royal Jordanian’s Crown Class from Cairo, via Amman, to Bangkok, connecting with Malaysia Airlines to Kuala Lumpur.

This review will focus on the regional sector from Cairo to Amman.

Having originally booked a semi-civilised 09:05 departure, I was hit the dreaded schedule change and ended up with a decidedly less palatable 06:25 flight.

This eventually worked in my favour, as my dephased body clock had me retiring at 7pm the previous evening, and the extended layover allowed me the chance to take a short tour in Amman.

The check-in process at Cairo Airport was somewhat chaotic, with scanners and baggage x-rays at the terminal entrance. Having paid the ubiquitously required baksheesh to the dubious characters manning these checkpoints, I made my way airside, to the generic VIP lounge.

The lounge itself was relatively well equipped, with ample seating, a breakfast buffet and a selection of beverages.

Once at the gate, the boarding process was much smoother and more efficient, and I was soon settled into the business class cabin for the 90-minute flight to Amman.

In sharp contrast to flights of this length in Europe, Royal Jordanian offers spacious recliners, in a 2-2 configuration on its A320neo aircraft. These seats feature an extended pitch, with ample legroom for a short flight. The window seat next to me remained unoccupied for this lightly loaded sector.

Once airborne, an Arabic breakfast was served, with a selection of breads, cheeses and jams, fruit juice and coffee.

By the time I had finished my third breakfast of the day, the descent into Amman had begun.

The infernal obstacle course that is Cairo Airport aside, this was a pleasant and relaxing flight once on board, and certainly a far superior experience to intra-European business class products.

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