Other Middle East and Africa Frequent Flyer Programs - Royal Jordanian Airlines - Horrible Experience

Flights booked through AA.com
OUTWARD FLIGHT FROM CHICAGO TO DELHI
12/15/07 – Original Flight as per booking was AA6299 – conveniently changed by Royal Jordanian Airlines to RJ264 - Scheduled departure from ORD (Chicago) – 9.30pm
Called the local 800 223 0470 on 12/15/07 at 1pm and confirmed that we were allotted seats 15J & 15H and were supposed to be airport 4 hours before departure time.
We reached the airport at 5.30pm being one of the first one to the RJ counter, only to find the RJ counter unopened. After an hour wait we find out that flight was delayed and would leave at 3pm!!!! . Luckily at 7pm the counter opened and there was total chaos – no lines – all passengers trying to reach the counter at once, If you spoke Arabic you could jump lines we checked in our bags at about 7.30pm. We had requested aisle seats 14J – 14H but without reason to 6J – 6H as the allotted seats were assigned to someone else!!!
We are still waiting at the gate when we learnt that flight was still delayed – we board the aircraft at about 6pm instead and are waiting in the aircraft for another hour - flight takes off about 7.30am (8 hours behind schedule – 14 hours after we have arrived at the airport) – what a great start to our trip.
No one from RJ is really concerned about the passengers except for the – sorry for the delay announcement.
Arrival time at AMM scheduled at 5.30pm 12/16/07 – we wake up at 2.30am 12/17/07 to learn that we have landed at another domestic airport in Amman due to fog conditions. We wait for 45 minutes on the tarmac – then we are unloaded from the aircraft and wait patiently for another 30 minutes in dark conditions on the runway for a shuttle to take us to the terminal.
Total chaos at this domestic terminal – Armed guards walking all over – only one Immigration official person speaks English – and very hard to get to as over 100 passengers are trying to reach him. No signs of any RJ Official. They separate all passengers travelling to DEL (Delhi) and they put transit stamps on our passport and then would not return our passports. The customs official cannot speak English – he has a name tag – but not in English - he has all our passports in his hand and keeps on disappearing and appearing with them in his hands – keep on following this customs official - we are all panicky. After being able to reach the only English speaking lady customs officials she tells us that they will give it back to us when we board the connecting flight from the main International airport. They say they are working on a shuttle bus to the international airport - no one knows what is happening to our luggage. It is about 8am (5 hours after we have landed – no food - no vending machine – no cafeteria - no nothing) when the first RJ official who speaks English arrives and starts to organize retrieval of our luggage from the aircraft. After 2 hours it is about 10am when we have identified our luggage and they seemed to have whisked away the luggage to the International airport – we are still waiting for conveyance to the International airport. It is 11.00am when we board a shuttle bus for the International airport – we are so much relieved to find the custom official with the passport accompany us in the shuttle – we make it to the airport at about 11.30am. On reaching the airport they say that they are announcing the boarding of our flight to DEL RJ192 – so we need to rush through getting boarding pass and security. Unbelievable delay at the ticketing counter – RJ clerks seem not to know what they were doing – and wanted us to rush to the plane!!!! No time to eat food – we buy candy bars- drinking water at our expenses at the airport – No food offered by RJ since we landed at the domestic airport earlier night at 2.30am. We pass through security and finally board the aircraft about 4.30pm – waiting for 30 minutes – we are advised that the time limit as per regulations was over the limit for the crew was over and they would not be able to fly us out … they would be looking for alternate crew – 30 mins later they cannot find the crew and we are forced off the aircraft and back into the security area. Cannot access any payphones to call anyone about our impending delay – no access to the fast food area – miraculously someone from RJ brings in some packed food – there are over 100 passengers and only about 50 food packets – all passengers crowd like bees on the cart – which is gone in 60 seconds… subsequently more food arrives on request – when I suggested that we were vegetarians – I was given a funny look – we were compelled to pick the vegetarian part from the non vegetarian meal offered. We return to the aircraft one hour later when they find an alternate crew.
We were allotted seat numbers 20J – 20H inexplicably even though we were assigned 11J – 11H.
But we were so desperate to get out of Amman we really did not care – I would have left standing on the plane if there were no seats available!!!
Surprisingly rest of the flight was uneventful – as we just ate and slept through the flight after the stress of being in Amman and landed at Delhi at 2.30am 12/18/07 – instead of 5am 12/17/07 – only 21 hours late!!!

RETURN FLIGHT FROM BOMBAY TO CHICAGO
1/24/07 – Original flight RJ187 scheduled to depart at 5.55am moved to 5.40am but finally took off at 7am.
When we reach Amman – we go to the transit counter to take RJ263 and we find there is no concept of a line in this part of the world – everyone flocks on to the counter – and if you know Arabic – you are answered – otherwise you are requested to stand in the line – after standing in something that looked like a line – find out that this line is not for Chicago – I need to go to another line – the new line does not move for 45 minutes – it is evident that the RJ people are diligently working for the 45 minutes but are not able to check in ANYONE – I don’t know what they were working so hard, other people in the line say this is quite normal !!!. There was another officer overlooking them all the time but to no success – they must be training new hires everyday!!
On this part of flight except that we were again moved from the allotted 11J – 11H to 26F – 26H and they were not able to give me any good reason why they would do that. We were confirmed vegetarian meals for all the four legs of our flight iternary and to our surprise we were served Non vegetarian food as they ran out of the vegetarian meals – the hostess said I did not request vegetarian meal as per his list – I had nothing to argue with him – so we had to be content with salad – drink – bread rolls for our dinner. On the second meal – the hostess was nice enough to salvage two vegetarian meals in advance.

The thing that strikes to me that after such difficult and inconvenience – none of the RJ crew is sorry or offering any make up for the inconvenience caused to the passengers. Everyone in the group was vowing never to fly Royal Jordanian ever in their life and also spread the word that no one else would too.
I feel I should be credited in full either in cash or Flying dollars for the trip without questions asked for the inconvenience and grievance suffered.
Royal Jordanian should be removed from the One World alliance as their service standards are that of a backward developed country.

Wow, this sounds beyond terrible... I would forward a copy to Oneworld :)

I would forward a copy to RJ, OW and maybe even AA by all means. If you would like a response, I would highly recommend removing the quasi [maybe accidental] racist/regionally disparaging remarks.

Also you might want to consider that:

1.) People are going to speak Arabic....in Jordan. Try speaking Arabic at the WN ticket counter at ISP and see how quickly you are helped. Next, think of yourself at a ticket counter at AMM.

2.)"that part of the world" might be different, but I can give you similar stories at CDG, LHR, JFK, ORD, DFW, etc etc etc.

I'm not saying that there is any excuse to be stranded without food and water as you were, but I am recommending that you might want to read over your letter a few times before hitting send.

I have flown from Middle-East airports a few times and the experience is the same: the concept of queuing at check in is virtually non-existent if you check in yourself. I experienced this with Royal Jordanian, MEA and, very recently, EgyptAir. In all cases it was when "fixers" were hired by regular travellers to check in for them. The fixers gather round the front of the check in desk, holding fist fulls of passports and luggage tags, arguing amongst themselves. Meanwhile, their clients are sipping cups of latte in the cafe, oblivious to it all. My conclusion is it is just part of the culture (not to mention a very dodgy security set up), though it can be annoying. We decided on the latte option last time we passed through Cairo and hired a fixer, and let me tell you it is far less stressful :)

Middle-eastern airports can be stressful at the best of times and can be shocking to someone used to (and expecting) well-trained, efficient staff.

I found the advice and assistance of FTers (hey, CJ!) following my first mid-east airport debacle in this forum very helpful.

Hopefully you will have some FTers read your story and offer assistance in a way that will maximise your chance of compensation from the airline, if the airline or its employees failed you on your journey.

When in doubt, ask a question here as most people will have had some hairy experiences at the airport or with an airline employee, and may be able to advise you on how to minimise the hassle before you fly.

This knowledge can make a difficult trip a lot more bearable and reduce the amount of hassle or delay, or increase your comfort level while you are there.

What would a trip to the mid-east be like without a few war stories? ;)

I have flown from Middle-East airports a few times and the experience is the same: the concept of queuing at check in is virtually non-existent if you check in yourself.

The skill of parrying the line cutters without showing aggression is one of the finer arts I've learned in the mideast (and I am still just an apprentice at it).

Lets be honest, if you travel via the ME, people speak Arabic and queing is not part of their culture. So if you have a problem with that, why fly ORD to DEL via AMM? In addition to a non stop AA flight, there are numerous options through FRA, LHR, AMS (where they speak English and line up nicely ;) ) and probably lots more. I thought the Royal Jordanian option might be especially attractive from an economical point of view (i.e. cheap), but looking at a random date on ITA that does not seem to be the case. So why AMM????:confused:

Not a good trip but not surprising from RJ. It is a lousy outfit with a few who are trying hard. Majority of staff are a lost cause.
In the ME one just needs to be very pushy and use your tone of voice in the right manner at the right time. I would never recommend flying anything but F/C in that part of the world. They all know Y tickets were purchased because of price and don't care if people are unsatisfied.
However it is a great part of the world once you have it figured.

Flights booked through AA.com
OUTWARD FLIGHT FROM CHICAGO TO DELHI
12/15/07 – Original Flight as per booking was AA6299 – conveniently changed by Royal Jordanian Airlines to RJ264
Your first sentence simply spells out your brightness. American Airlines nor, Royal Jordanian "changed" your flight number. You booked a code share ticket, sold by American Airlines, but to be operated by Royal Jordanian. :rolleyes:

Coming from a Middle Eastern country, I find it degrading that people think that 'queueing is not part of their culture' and that as a result the country is backward.
I'm sorry that you had an unpleasant experience with RJ and yes, the 'fixers' don't help security.
Yes, ME airlines can be awful and the flyers are queue-jumping SOBs. But its unfair to suggest or think that people are like that because they are Arabs or because there are wars in the region.
Just my opinion....

My experience from RJ was that the actual flights (the planes, especially the brand new A320s with PTVs, and service onboard) were good, but booking, check-in, rescheduling of flights without notifying me about it (almost missed my flight FRA-AMM) and AMM airport left much to be desired.

I would imagine that once they get the 787s, the actual flight will become even better, but they really have to do something to the other parts of the product.

I recall my shock horror at RJ being allowed into OW. They are simply not ready to deliver to standard OW expectations. As for English language proficiency in the Middle East, Dubai and Beirut are where nearly everyone speaks English to a very good level. All other ME airports have English speakers to a lesser extent. Generally the Gulf region is better than the Levant end in this regard.

And to director guy, I too am also of ME heritage and would like to say that while the concept of queueing is not just an issue in the ME, it is definately a major area of defecit and appauling to be exposed to esp in an airport after a long flight..and def needs improving(wishful thinking).

ME has joined Skyteam as a provisional member with view to full membership very soon..and that's how it should be-qualifying period. Aircraft, crew, airports can be A1 but the airlines processes are what really need to be perfected and operate seemlesly.

CJ:)

Coming from a Middle Eastern country, I find it degrading that people think that 'queueing is not part of their culture' and that as a result the country is backward.
I'm sorry that you had an unpleasant experience with RJ and yes, the 'fixers' don't help security.
Yes, ME airlines can be awful and the flyers are queue-jumping SOBs. But its unfair to suggest or think that people are like that because they are Arabs or because there are wars in the region.
Just my opinion....

I did make the remark about queueing and culture, but I did not say - nor intend to suggest - that this would make the country 'backward'. The queueing thing is a statement of fact (borne out by a few people in this tread), there was no value judgement ("backwardness") attached to it.
I personally like the idea of queueing rather than pushing and shoving, but living in a country with a very significant cultural diversity I understand / realise very well that MY culture is NOT 'superior' to that of others and therefore any country practising another culture is not backward (at least not on account of that fact alone).

Although RJ HAS come a long way since the 1990s, its entry into the Oneworld alliance is premature. Although they were turning around, their service leaves a lot to be desired.
Although DXB airport can be a bit of a hassle, since it is run by a multi-national workforce, they work better together than if it was operated solely by Arabs (hence, queues are taken seriously).
I read your story again and I can't believe that RJ did not even offer a glass of water while waiting. Flying on MS (EgyptAir) frequently I've experienced several delays explained by inadaquete excuses but they ALWAYS provide refreshments.

RJ is a lot like Air India...the flight can be quite nice when everything goes well, but they don't have the staff or the training to handle irregular operations properly.

My parents have taken RJ between India and the US and everything went smoothly. During their overnight layover, their passports were retained; that is Jordan's policy for people without visas, nothing to do with RJ.

Immigration officials in non-English-speaking countries should not be expected to speak English, but airline employees should (and RJ staff usually do).

I have taken RJ on short hops in the region, and again, for normal operations they are fine.

I have flown from Middle-East airports a few times and the experience is the same: the concept of queuing at check in is virtually non-existent if you check in yourself. I experienced this with Royal Jordanian, MEA and, very recently, EgyptAir. In all cases it was when "fixers" were hired by regular travellers to check in for them. The fixers gather round the front of the check in desk, holding fist fulls of passports and luggage tags, arguing amongst themselves. Meanwhile, their clients are sipping cups of latte in the cafe, oblivious to it all. My conclusion is it is just part of the culture (not to mention a very dodgy security set up), though it can be annoying. We decided on the latte option last time we passed through Cairo and hired a fixer, and let me tell you it is far less stressful :)

Your response is spot on. My experience in Amman was that I need a "fixer" to take me to the front of the line, deal with the check-in, etc. It was clearly worth the tip for his compensation. Otherwise, you can use the Crown Class lounge which seems to smooth the process.