Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - any one what RJ airlines

its one of the most famous airlines in the middle east ..but i never heard about it here.. :mad:

I don't have a lot of experience on Royal Jordanian as I only seem to use them on my BEY-AMM-BEY sections. On that short trip, service is good (can't really go that wrong on a 40 minute flight). Amman's airport is nothing to write home about and is in desperate need of modernization IMHO.

its one of the most famous airlines in the middle east ..but i never heard about it here.. :mad:
Sorry, RJ is definitely not on most peoples radar (or at least, not as famous as you seem to think it is). I never heard of it until recently, but I'll have a small interest since it's joining the oneworld alliance soon.

Of course I can only speak for myself.

I'd have to say that in my experience Egyptair and MEA would be the most known airlines on the Levant side of the ME. Of the three ME, RJ, MS I would have to say IMHO MEA tops the list in terms of service, food, aircraft, airport (BEY) lounge., professionalism......which leads me to the question how did RJ make it on the list of Oneworld? ..what do other ME FF's think?
CJ :cool:

In 1976 and 1977, when I was a wee lad, I had flown on Royal Jordanian, or ALIA as it was known then, a couple of times LHR-AMM and AMM-KHI. They used to operate Tristar's and B-707's on those routes in the mid seventies.

One time, we were stuck in Amman for two nights because my grandmother who was accompanying my sister and I became sick enroute and was taken to the hospital for a few hours on arrival in Amman. We missed our connecting flight to London but ALIA put us up in a very nice hotel at their expense. The hospital bill was also at their expense. That evening, the family of someone important in the airline took us to their home where we stayed overnight. The next day they took us all over Amman and really looked after us, even calling our parents a couple of times so that they knew we were alright.

I've flown RJ between the US and Amman and their transatlantic service was excellent. The staff were efficient and helpful but not overly friendly. I got the sense they pride themselves on doing their job right but not necessarily on being all smiles about it. Special note, it's possible but difficult to earn America West (Now US Airways) miles when flying Royal Jordanian. RJ staff seemed confused when I asked for my America West FF account to be added to my reservation and they either didn't get it right or didn't bother putting it in. When the miles didn't show up I just faxed my boarding passes and receipt to America West and they credited them in a few days. It's a hassle, but well worth it for over 10,000 elite qualifying miles. Always save those boarding passes!
Last thought, the AMM airport is definitely a product of the 70s and could definitely use an upgrade, but the shopping was top notch!

Frankly, I wonder how much begging RJ has done going round the various alliances. Let's look at the competition in the Levant:

- MEA so close to AF, but not enough to be infected by AF's idea of 'service' ;)
- MS government controlled and probably wants to go it alone to make a point
- RB not going to be touched by anyone due to fear of sanctions

Maybe RJ got into 1W by promising to slowy scale back the transatlantic service..?

Maybe RJ got into 1W by promising to slowy scale back the transatlantic service..?

I don't think RJ will scale back transatlantic service, didn't they just increase it to two daily flights recently? Although maybe RJ will feed British Airways flights to places like Los Angeles. Also this might give BA an oppourtunity to redivert resources from places such as Addis Ababa, Khartoum, Aleppo and Damascus to serve more Central Asian destinations?

I think RJ will serve markets carriers such as British Airways don't want to fly to but can feed enough passengers through it's Amman Hub such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq which is proving very profitable for Royal Jordanian ($700+ airfares Amman-Baghdad, with demand constantly outstripping supply).

They are steadily improving with their new "Change is in the air" campaign. http://www.ameinfo.com/94785.html

Their Airbus 340 aircraft do feature flat beds in Crown Class (Business Class) which are FLAT and not on an angle. Seat Pitch is also 83-inches in a cabin of only 24 leather seats.

Any chance RJ will increase flights to Asia? They only fly to Bangkok 5 times per week (and only 3 in summer). One would think they would start flying to Hong Kong and drop Bangkok due to oneworld membership?

RJ definitely has no interest in scaling back their transatlantic flights. RJ has been flying successfully to the US for years now and seems to be doing well. In fact, looking at schedules they've increased service the last two summers in a row with non stop flights to JFK, DTW, and ORD.

I doubt that RJ was going to the alliances begging for a spot in the club. If anything I would gamble that the Alliances were coming after them. All seem to be in expansion mode right now.
OneWorld does make the most sense. In any alliance the largest airline in an IATA region typically has veto or quasi veto rights over another airline from that region joining. Thus, Air France with its close ties to MEA and desire to protect its Middle East and N Africa routes would probably have kept them out of SkyTeam and Lufthansa may have tried to bully them around if they were allowed to joined Star. But with BA pulling down some of their Middle East flying (Saudi Arabia, as mentioned) OW is a good fit. Think about this: from the Middle East to Europe RJ can have routes like AMM to FRA, ZRH, CDG, MUC, MXP, FCO, MAD, BCN to itself. Anyone else flying from the Middle East on OW carriers BA or IB must backhaul over LHR or MAD to get to these destinations. In Star, hubs in FRA, VIE, ZRH, and with SkyTeam the hubs in CDG, MXP and Prague provide direct connections on these types of routes and hence more direct competition with RJ's routes. Very smart move on RJ's part if you ask me! Partner with the Alliance that has the least overlap on your routes! As a bonus, they get to pick up the spill on those routes that BA is dropping.

RJ is also looking for access and feed within the US, and with 4-5 flights a week to JFK tieing up with a strong JFK carrier makes sense there too. That means DL or AA. Add in the flights to ORD and AA comes out on top as a connecting point. DTW can survive on its own as a local market due to the large Middle Eastern Populations there.

Last thought on Asia: Nothing on RJ's website or recent news searches shows any mention of new long-haul aircraft (but I will bet both Boeing and Airbus are pitching their new planes!) so I can't imagine there will be any growth there any time soon. As to switching the current long haul flight from BKK to Hong Kong???? Hong Kong would make sense if most of the traffic they are seeing on this route is North Asia origin and/or Chinese Cargo. But I bet a lot of their traffic is SE Asia guest workers in which case BKK is at least geographically better positioned.