Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - The RJ experience - unbelievable.

Sitting in the Crown Lounge in AMM I just had to share my first experiences on RJ. Never seen anything like it... We boarded late and because the flight came from HKG the boarding on the plane was chaotic. That is always the case with flights that stop on the way but this was ridiculous. The crew were all over the place except dealing with pax (flight was 100% full) and we got a welcome drink after about 10 mins. But no, that is not what I was surprised about.

Lots of passengers were sleeping. I mean 'seat flat' sleeping and even when we left the gate the crew were still running around doing Allah knows what except preparing the cabin for takeoff. Passengers were still asleep during the safety demonstration which was given by only one very disinterested crew member whilst the rest were still running around like the headless chickens.

I could see the turn for the runway fast approaching when the cabin electrics failed so also the seat power and controls. I was not upright, my neighbor was not upright and at least 2 pax were still sleeping... The captain called for the crew to take their seats as he turned onto the runway and at that exact time someone noticed that people were still fully flat and snoozing. Whilst accelerating down the runway one of the cabin crew woke up the passenger, got him out of his seat, adjusted the seat manually to upright, threw the passenger into the seat and at rotate the totally groggy pax was sitting there without a seatbelt (that had gone missing in the seat adjustment) and the crew were still walking back to their seats. IMHO it would have been safer to have left him. There was at least 1 other pax sleeping and nobody's seat was in the upright position. Also, all luggage (including mine) was left on the floor.

This 'easiness' with safety continued when landing. Nobody took any notice of the seatbelt sign. Crew did not intervene when passengers got up a mere minute before touchdown to get something from the overhead, seats where all over the place as was luggage...

Now, I slept like a baby (best angled lie flat seats I ever experienced) and we were there on time. I did not eat since we left at midnight so I can't comment on the rest but I am stumped by the way the crew behaved...

Just wanted to vent to the crowd here. It is good that BA is more safety conscious. Wonder if I am allowed in the cockpit for my flight to AMS.

PS I was tempted to get my phone out to film the experience but oddly enough I felt too embarrassed.

It sounds an "interesting" experience...

I was actively considering an RJ return to HKG for later this year, however this does give one pause for thought.

I know as passengers we have a tendency to grumble when seatbelts are checked, jumpers have to go into the lockers etc but this kind of experience does make one appreciate the safety culture at airlines like BA even more...

Glad you made it there safely though!

TK is worse, trust me.
I've seen people walking in the aisles while the plane is sitting on the active runway.

Also on AA, since the seatbelt sign tends to be on for 75%+ of the flight, a lot of people just ignore it. No FA intervention. Sadly, I've started to do the same, as after one minor bout of rough air the sign is on for the next 45 min.
As opposed to BA, where I have been sitting in my seat flabbergasted that the sign was not yet turned on.

Very interesting indeed. Should have filmed the experience so we could have seen it our selves! :D

Airlines should try and be more serious about safety! :mad:

I remember one time reading Philippine Airlines making a dance when doing the safety demonstration which I frankly disapprove! but I'm glad I listen just in case I needed to use the exits! :D

/AE

Very interesting indeed. Should have filmed the experience so we could have seen it our selves! :D

Airlines should try and be more serious about safety! :mad:

I remember one time reading Philippine Airlines making a dance when doing the safety demonstration which I frankly disapprove! but I'm glad I listen just in case I needed to use the exits! :D

/AE

This sounds like Cebu airlines (who were awful the last time I flew with them)..

The did a 'special' Christmas dance to keep passengers focussed too...

http://blogs.wsj.com/scene/2011/12/21/in-the-sky-an-airlines-christmas-show/

Who are TK?

I remember one time reading Philippine Airlines making a dance when doing the safety demonstration which I frankly disapprove!



That was Cebu Pacific. Philippine Airlines were not guilty as far as I know :D ! There are two versions on YouTube, one with chaps and one with girls. I must ask someone working there if dances are the norm or the exception - it might simply have been a publicity stunt - and also how their general attitude to safety is because it's tickled my curiosity now.

I normally disapprove all forms of Michael-taking of safety issues, particularly in aviation, but I feel somewhat undecided about that one, due to the fact that so many people ignore safety demonstrations and therefore any attempt to attract more attention did not seem like a bad thing - a bit like the ANZ body paint job. At least I bet many people watched. The problem I have is that many may not have remember what it was even about!

Anyway, I would not be happy seeing what was done on henkybaby's flight. I doubt if it would ever happen on BA or most European carriers.

Someone mentioned TK and seat belt signs. Out of the 8 or 10 sectors I have flown on TK, the seat belt sign remained on for the entire flight on at least two sectors. Needless to say it was impossible to observe them on long haul flights unless you have dehydrated yourself. I asked the cabin crew members if it was OK to get up, and they just shrugged their shoulders and said of course it was, we were in cruise. "But the seat belt sign is on" was what I said, which was met with a bit of a funny look and told to ignore them, so I did get up. But it really made me wonder - and by the way the flight was completely smooth, and while I entirely respect that it was possible that the pilots saw something passengers did not know, it seemed a bit odd to have them on for the whole long haul flight, and to be told to disrespect the seat belt signs were particularly odd. Maybe they were permanently stuck on, but somewhat baffling.

Who are TK?


Turkish Airlines.

Who are TK?

TK is the IATA code for Turkish Airlines.

It's funny, Smirnoff never warned me of any of this before my RJ flights last year... But I have to say, neither did I see any of this. It was fairly professional, apart from the cockpit door being left open a lot.

Tell me HB - did you see a couple of Air Marshalls on board? That seems to be the norm with RJ.

And how did you like the full-on dining experience at your seat, where they bring the buffet of food to you?

And more importantly, were there any Falcons on board?

My experience with RJ was very different. Everyone very civilized in their seats in the normal manner as far as I could tell, on all 4 segments I flew with them.
FAs were all between good and outstanding. Service on board is indeed a wonderful experience. You are effectively dining à la carte.
And transiting in AMM is really easy and civilized as it's a small airport.

Let's move this thread over to the Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs forum.

Prospero
Moderator: BAEC forum

Our famous HB timid???? :D, and am I bringing up cliques??? ;).

Anyway, in my life I've been on worse airlines, just recently a kid who kept going from one parent back to the other (sitting one behind the other) and literarily on take off the mother gets up to pick up her son who fell.

My experience with RJ was very different. Everyone very civilized in their seats in the normal manner as far as I could tell, on all 4 segments I flew with them.
FAs were all between good and outstanding. Service on board is indeed a wonderful experience. You are effectively dining à la carte.
And transiting in AMM is really easy and civilized as it's a small airport.

I've flown dozens of RJ sectors and never seen anything like that.

One thing I would say is that in that part of the world there is a definite pecking order, with cabin crew being near the bottom, and certain Jordanian people of status being at the top. So there are certain passengers who the crew would never "tell" what to do.

The cockpit door is often left open for long periods, but with 1-2 marshalls on board every flight, I wouldn't worry too much about that.

RJ rocks. :)

There are no complaints regarding the service on board. Just landed in AMS and the flight here was an absolute pleasure with service at par with BA F if not better.

No falcons, no problems and I counted at least 3 marshals on this flight and the same on the other. Most of the time at least one was fast asleep. :)

...

I could see the turn for the runway fast approaching when the cabin electrics failed so also the seat power and controls. I was not upright, my neighbor was not upright and at least 2 pax were still sleeping... The captain called for the crew to take their seats as he turned onto the runway and at that exact time someone noticed that people were still fully flat and snoozing. Whilst accelerating down the runway one of the cabin crew woke up the passenger, got him out of his seat, adjusted the seat manually to upright, threw the passenger into the seat and at rotate

...

I have flown RJ many times - but never experienced what you saw... but then I have not flown on a late night departure :)

You say your seat was not upright when the electrics failed... did the failure cause your seat to recline somehow? That is not good. Otherwise, your seat should have been upright from the beginning of taxi.

Overall... I'm not too concerned about reclined seats where seats are within shells... unless the passenger is reclined between me and the aisle.

Locking seats upright is for the safety of the passenger and those behind them should they need to adopt the brace position. If there is no one behind you, then you're not endagering them... only yourself. That doesn't bother me a bit. (However, if you are between me and the aisle in a bed situation then I would say something lest you impede my access to the aisle!)

As for crew being in the aisle during take-off... I have only seen that twice. Once on a United flight out of Chicago... we had a one hour taxi/hold... all the crew were chatting in the galley. Captain turned onto the runway and powered up. Two crew sat at the door, the rest went and sat on the floor, with their backs to the bulkhead, facing the passengers seated in the front row! (Forget about legroom!) The other time was on landing on American Airlines, same thing... crew too busy and forgot about the landing.

On the United flight, at least three emergency exits (747) were unattended for the takeoff!

I have flown with RJ 6 times in J and every time it was good. I am assuming that passenger that was reclining and wasn't bothered is one of the marshals. You gotta understand that they fly the whole route and do not disembark.

On a side note, do not be horrified. Wait till you fly in a private jet. I once had my tea served on final approach, while half of the crew were in the galley, some passengers in the aisles smoking and a chap in the toilettes for a quickie.

I did RJ BKK-AMM-DXB in J last Nov (roughly 12:30am departure), joining after the initial HKG-BKK segment. I was the only new J pax to board, and found the cabin to be generally in disarray, though to some extent that had to do with the fact it was full. My seat, however, had been used on the first leg, with a used pillow/blanket on it and still reclined. The FAs were, for some reason, confused at this and it took them a little while to come back with fresh amenities.

That being said, it was one of the most comfortable non-lie flats I have ever been in. I was out cold most of the flight.

The lounge in AMM was fairly nice, with the exception of the bathrooms which were quite dumpy, pun intended.

Flight AMM-DXB was very nice though, the regional J seats are some of the best I've ever experienced. Food was great, service was great. I would absolutely fly them again and treat the hiccup in BKK as an anomaly.

And not use the bathrooms in AMM.

I just did a Qantas/Royal Jordanian J SYD-BEY-SYD.

Forward leg was transfer in BKK and return in HKG. I was lucky enough to be upgraded to First Class on the QF sectors.

RJ definately lack professionalism. They are however, very friendly and eager to serve. The old style silver service is a great treat too when you can choose from all the mains and have a bit of each rather than order a dish from menu and thats it. The seats are terrible and I didnt like them at all in J class.

The toilets in AMM are disggusting esp the male disabled toilet!
The air marshals are a bit OTT starring you down each time you go to the forward lav. I scored a dirt cheap D class fare and coupled with the QF F sectors this was great value fare to Beirut. I would not fly RJ at C or J fare level- not worth it.

CJ glad to hear again from you. Did you book this a single fare? Because if not, I know OW to you means a lot but from BKK you could have taken EK/QR/EY (even TK or MS for that ride on the wild side).

Seriously though on BKK-BEY nothing beats EK.

CJ glad to hear again from you. Did you book this a single fare? Because if not, I know OW to you means a lot but from BKK you could have taken EK/QR/EY (even TK or MS for that ride on the wild side).

Seriously though on BKK-BEY nothing beats EK.

Hey Edy!
You know me well - Oneworld or bust ...EY, EK overrated for fare payed, QR-I dont support dictatorship style carriers...TK, no interest and MS are you KIDDING?? ;):D

CJ