747_not_777

Monday 13 June

It’s probably been asked four or five times on the BA forum so far this year already – including once by me. What’s Royal Jordanian’s J class (AKA Crown Class) really like? And most importantly, how does it compare to BA’s premium products etc…

Well, on the back of the positive feedback from fellow FT’ers to that very question (thanks Smirnoff!), four of us booked to travel LHR – CMB, via AMM, to get to an important family occasion in Colombo. With four of us travelling, we scooped up two return tickets with BA Miles and paid for two. For the two on BA Miles, it totalled 200k BA Miles £693.66, and for two paid-for J tickets it came to £3,952.66. The revenue tickets generate a very nice 480 (4 x 120) ^ Exec Club tier points and a good handful of BA Miles. For the records, points and miles posted within a range of 24-72 hours.

Flight number RJ112
From LONDON - HEATHROW Terminal 3
To AMMAN - QUEEN ALIA Terminal 1
Depart 13 Jun 2011 17:05
Arrive 14 Jun 2011 00:15

Flight number RJ194
From AMMAN - QUEEN ALIA Terminal 1
To COLOMBO - BANDARANAYIKE INTL
Depart 14 Jun 2011 19:15
Arrive 15 Jun 2011 04:20

RJ112 to AMM was due to depart LHR on a Monday at 17.05. I tried online check-in at T-24 but I could not get it to work on the RJ website. I wasn’t overly fussed, as we had already confirmed four seats together for both flights, which had been arranged via a phonecall to BA after the bookings had been made.

We arrived at T3 at 1.45pm, and were pleasantly surprised to find the check-in desks were already open (none of the nonsense of waiting until 2 hrs 30 mins before take-off, as is the case with the first BA flight of the day from SYD, for example). Check-in was in Zone D, and there was no queue at the Crown Class check-in desk. As we entered the RJ check-inn zone, a porter working for the airline approached us and offered to lift our bags up to the check-in desk. A nice touch, but we didn’t need his help.

Check-in was a breeze and handled by AA agents. Despite the website saying Crown passengers may have up to 30kg of luggage in the hold, the check-in agent said they actually allow up to 40kg each – and keep the 10kg excess back so passengers at or near the stated limit on the website don’t have a problem... It would have been useful to know that in advance, as it could have affected how we packed and what we took.

Invitations to BA’s Galleries Club lounges were offered, but not needed as we had Silver/Gold BA cards between us and knew the lounge location well.

The security fast-track lane at T3 was a breeze – and we were through security quicker than I have ever managed at T5. I wasn’t expecting such efficiency from a terminal I really don’t like!

I won’t report on the BA lounge as it was the usual BA fare – and more than acceptable. And, in fact, very comfortable for several hours and quiet as we were there before passengers for Kangaroo runs start arriving in earnest. I’m writing this trip report primarily for BA members thinking about giving RJ a try, so let’s assume you know all about Galleries Club.

The RJ flight is displayed on the LCD screens in the BA lounge, but no boarding announcement is given. Boarding was from Gate 29 and was again handled by AA agents.


It was strictly by seat row, even for Crown Class passengers. In all, they boarded the flight in five tranches – allowing only a few rows to board at a time – citing the fact that it was an A321, with a single aisle only. We tried to board early, but were politely told that all Crown Class passengers were being asked to board last. Heaven knows how BA manages it with a scrum of passengers to GLA each morning on similar metal (!).

Suffice to say, it did make for a relaxed boarding process and when we got on board there weren’t scores of people trying to push pass to get to their seats. And luggage space in the lockers was plentiful – despite the fact that RJ use the Crown Class area to put crew cases, store blankets, newspapers, spare cushions and an assortment of other miscellaneous items. It just seemed that most other passengers were travelling with very light hand baggage.


On entering the plane, we had to pass two air-marshals – both fairly stocky fellas dressed in grey suits, carefully looking at each passenger who got on board (one standing either side of the door). I’d forgotten to expect this as I have never travelled with a Middle Eastern carrier before.

The Crown cabin was five rows of 2-2 configuration.


As a foursome, we were in 2H/J and 3H/J. Seats were comfortable and plenty of leg room, although the leg rest which comes out is useless if you are tall. I’m 6ft 3” and my legs don’t touch it at all. There was decent recline, but it was very much a cradle seat, and not anywhere near being fully flat or angled lie-flat business class product. But it was more than adequate for the short 4 1/2-ish hour flight to AMM; I just wouldn’t want to do a truly long-haul sector in it.

For the record, there was no comparison between the RJ Crown product on the A321 and BA’s New Club World (new or old) – BA’s seat would win hands down. However, compared to Club Europe, Crown Class would be an easy winner for seat comfort.

Soon after boarding a choice of water, apple juice or orange was offered, plus a bowl of mixed nuts.


Orders for pre-dinner drinks were also taken, so they could be served swiftly once airborne. Working our cabin were a team of three crew – each wearing a different type of uniform (some were traditional cabin crew-type uniforms – one dark blue, one red, and then a lady who I guessed to be the CSD wearing traditional Arabic ‘robes’).

At the front of the cabin were two main screens showing route information and the safety video – there were good sized personal TV screens with an AVOD service in each arm-rest.

The screens were far better quality than those in BA’s Old F – probably on a par compared with Club World – but the ‘remote control’ in my seat was a little worn and some buttons needed to be pressed hard. It also wasn’t all that intuitive to use as the buttons were fiddly. Headphones were of a good quality, but came with fiddly hygiene covers which you could try to hook over the ear pieces if you wanted to – in practice I found this very hard to do. It appears, although I do not know, that the headsets remain on the aircraft and are not taken off for cleaning / re-packing after each flight. I think the crew simply collect them up, re-wrap them and put a new hygiene pack in with each set. Can any RJ regulars confirm?

Overall cleanliness of the cabin was very good.

Wash bags were handed out, but since it was only medium-haul, they were fairly basic – consisting of a toothbrush and small tube of Colgate, eye mask and socks.


Club World wash bags would win hands-down (even after BA’s cost-cutting). Hot towels also followed.

Menus were also handed out pre take-off. They were in English and Arabic.


Starters:

Selection of Continental and Middle Eastern appetizers
Seasonal salad

Main courses
Lamb Ouzi – Braised lamb on a bed of oriental rice, served with chilli sauce

Grilled chicken breast – Served with wild mushroom sauce and sundried tomatoes

Rainbow trout – Baked rainbow fish served with shrimp and cockle cream sauce

Tricolour Fusili – Colourful pasta served with basil sauce and shaved Parmesan cheese

Side Dishes
Buttered garden vegetables
Baby new potatoes
Basmati rice mixed with fresh coriander

Desserts
Selection of desserts for Arabic ice cream

Juices and soft drinks
Orange, apple, mango, tomato

Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Seven-Up, Diet Seven Up

Tonic, Soda, Bitter Lemon, Ginger Ale, Perrier, Mineral Water

Beer
Amstel, Henninger

Apertifs
Martini Sweet & Dry
Campari
Johnnie Walker Black Label
Gordon’s Gin
Russian Standard Vodka

Liquers
Cointreau
Drambuie
Bailey’s Irish Cream
Cognac X.O or V.S.O.P
Fine Port Wine

Champagne
Moet & Chandon

White wine
Machareus
Laroche Chablis

Red wine
Vin D’Ammon
Amancaya Malbec Cabernet Sauvignon, Lafite, Argentina

They also had a special Nespresso coffee menu. I don’t drink coffee, but the options were:

Ristretto (Intensity 9)
Espresso Leggero (Intensity 6)
Lungo Leggero (Intensity 2)
Espresso Decaffeinato (Intensity 7)

Drinks were served shortly after take-off, followed by the arrival of the dinner trolley. They started serving at row one – two servers, and one stewardess in the galley who continually replaced any dishes which “sold out”. It was very professionally done, and it made a nice change to be able to see the food and chose exactly what you wanted. As a fussy eater, I could also ask them not to serve ‘bits’ I didn’t fancy having on my plate.


For starter I had some chicken and smoked salmon, served with beautifully fresh choice of white or brown rolls.




For main course I had the fish with rice and it was absolutely superb, and Mrs 747_not_777 had the Chicken. The portions were on the large side, which makes a change compared with some airline food – and the food was very tasty. Throughout the meal service wine was available, but it was not offered “generously” – and if you wanted a top-up, you certainly had to ask. They didn’t come round with the bottle and offer it.






The dessert trolley contained a selection of Arabic dishes, which I won’t attempt to describe or pronounce. Being the unadventurous type I chose the Arabic ice cream, which was one scoop of ‘milk’ (tasted like vanilla) and one of ‘mango’.


A second hot towel followed the meal service, and then the cabin was darkened to allow people to sleep.

There was one toilet for the Crown cabin in the front galley. There was never more than a queue of one person.


Comment cards were also given to all passengers in the cabin, which I duly completed. This became consistent on all four flights – interestingly the reply envelopes were addressed “President / CEO” – yeah right, I’m sure he reads them all!!!

Before arriving into AMM on time, one thing really surprised me. A passenger went up to the cockpit and was given a ‘guided tour’. Throughout this, the cockpit door remained wide open. After several minutes the passenger was invited to sit in the jump seat and remained there until after landing. During the several minutes the door remained open, people continued to go up and use the toilet next to the cockpit. Granted, there was an air marshal standing in the galley throughout, but having not seen this practice on board aircraft for years, it shocked me! I am sure other FT’ers can comment – but is it even legal to allow this practice on board?

747_not_777

Tuesday 14 June

Nothing untoward happened (!), and we landed minutes later – at about twenty passed midnight. However, it was not until about two minutes (max) before touch down that the cabin crew asked the final few passengers to remove headsets and put personal video screens away. It all seemed to be left until the very last minute, literally.

After landing the curtain between Economy and Crown Class was drawn shut again (it had been all flight too, only opened for the landing process) and Economy didn’t disembark until Crown Class was empty. BA F passengers rarely see such attention!

It was a short walk to immigration, where (without asking), there was an employee from the Golden Tulip airport hotel holding up a placard with our name on it. We were expecting to have to call for the hotel shuttle on arrival. Amazing service! Despite indicating we needed to apply for our visa on landing, as we had been told, this hotel representative told us we did not as we were transiting the following afternoon to Colombo. He took us to the Royal Jordanian Transfer Desk, who gave us transit passes and we left through customs and got into the hotel’s MPV outside (I think it did help that we already had our boarding cards for the next sector – even though it was some 17 hours later). We were told, quite strictly by staff at the airport, that we must remain at either the airport or the airport hotel. Quite amazing and not at all the process we expected – it certainly saved $$ not having to pay for four visas!

For the record, despite the 17-hour connection, we paid for our hotel rooms. They were never offered by RJ free of charge. I wouldn’t expect this for the BA Miles flights, but for the two paid-for tickets others have suggested RJ may well have offered to cover the cost of this. Suffice to say, we didn’t ask.

The airport hotel was about what I expected. Full of transiting passengers, staff in no hurry etc, but clean rooms and that’s what counts. Walls around the hotel were paper thin though – as the advice on tripadvisor warns – and we could hear kids crying from nearby rooms and running around in the rooms above us. Not ideal.

Breakfast in the morning (for us) was a disaster. We saw a sign next to the lifts on the ground floor pointing to The Tulip Restaurant and went in there – but what greeted us a dismal room full of tables, and the remnants of a nasty looking Arabic-only breakfast. The food looked totally unappetising. We hastily retreated to the café in reception and had a Kit-Kat and a drink there instead. It was only later in the day we realised we’d gone to a room set-up for an Arabic tour group only, most of whom had already eaten, and the far nicer hotel breakfast room and its large buffet breakfast had been on the opposite side of the hotel. Doh!

Ah well, lesson learned. We spent the morning in the hotel and were allowed to keep our rooms until 3pm, and then caught the courtesy shuttle back to the airport.

The hotel is a bit of a building site – massive construction going on. There is a very smart Crown Class private check-in area available a few steps from the kerb, with its own security screening. When we checked for RJ194 there were no other passengers there at all.


From there it was a short walk to have passports checked and then up to the RJ lounge on the third floor. The lounge was very spacious, clean and quiet, although the air-con could have done with being a notch or two cooler. Highlights included a pool and table-football room, personal televisions, and plenty of relaxed seating and food options. What it did lack was plug sockets, so charging laptops is not easy if the handful available are already taken. Washrooms were clean and showers were available for a small charge, as were CCR ‘Cabana-style’ rooms for longer periods in the lounge.






Boarding for the next flight – scheduled to be about 6 hrs 30 mins – was from Gate 3 and again was done strictly by seat rows, but this time with the proviso that Crown Class passengers could board at leisure




On board the Airbus A310, Crown Class consisted of three rows, in 2 x 2 x 2 configuration. The cabin was only two thirds full. There were two toilets at the front in the galley. We were seated in 1J/K and 2J/K.

The seats looked better than on the A321, but looks can be a bit deceptive. They were angled lie-flats – and more on that to come!






The cabin was also like a sauna on board, and didn’t cool down to a reasonable level until 5-10 mins after take-off. There was simply no a/c running on the ground. If you thought BA have their planes hot sometimes, then this was truly something else – and no apology or comment was made by the crew.


Service was very similar to the outbound. Drinks on boarding, pre-dinner drink orders taken, and a hot towel before dinner. Newspapers were offered – a choice of four. Only one was in English, and that was the Jordan Times.

Personal video players were also offered as there were no in-seat screens, but there was also the option of a movie playing on a screen at the front of the cabin and above row 2, for row 3 passengers. The personal video players were pre-programmed with games, movies, tv shows, music etc – again, quality was better than the screens in BA’s Old F. In fact, I really liked them ^– and the touch screen system was very easy to use. I had no problem with the battery performance, although the guy behind me sent the first two units back saying the batteries were not charged.


Menus were given out (and then collected back in again towards the end of the flight – they aren’t “gifts” to keep as they are on BA). It consisted of:

Starters:

A choice of Western or Middle Eastern appetizers
Soup of the day

Seasonal salad

Main courses
Traditional Jordanian lamb mansaf

Grilled chicken with pineapple sauce

Sautéed shrimps with light ginger garlic sauce

Rigatoni pesto with parmesan

Side Dishes
Buttered garden vegetables
Baked potatoes
Basmati white rice with pine nuts

Desserts
Selection of desserts for Arabic ice cream

Drinks choices were identical to the flight to AMM, so I won't repeat...

On this occasion starters were not served from the trolley, but mains and dessert were. Food was of a very good quality, and very tasty.^ The only downside to the trolley is that food perhaps isn’t as piping hot as you’d like it to be, unless you’ve been one of the first passengers served, or your choice has just been ‘refreshed’. I mixed and matched what I chose, and it tasted lovely (although was a major carb-overload).






Wine service for people wanting wine (my travelling companions) was slow to come and then needed to be chased for refills.

The person sitting behind me also became a rather troublesome passenger. When the dinner trolley reached him (as the final passenger), he ranted over how he was the last passenger in the cabin to be served and there wasn’t enough pasta left. He went on and on about paying thousands of $$$$ for his seat and claiming the service was appalling. To be fair, the stewardess offered to make up his pasta from fresh, if he waited 20 mins for it to cook. He reluctantly agreed, and 20 mins later was served with a massive piping hot portion. To be honest, the crew were lovely to him and he just seemed to be a moody DYKWIA who didn’t even have the grace to say thank you. The crew dealt with him well, but his rudeness and tone was uncalled for. He also complained that the red wine he had been given was ‘undrinkable’ – so the crew served him from the other Red they were carrying on board.

Dinner service was followed by another hot towel.

After dinner, it was time to try and sleep. And this is where the older seats on the RJ product fell down in comparison with BA New Club World (old or new-style), and indeed BA Old F. They were fine for sitting and eating – but all four of us found it nearly impossible to sleep in them. In fact, it was more comfy to sit in them in ‘economy style’ – when they were ‘angled flat’, you just slide to the bottom and it’s most uncomfortable. I fiddled about with the seatbelt, and used it as a harness around my backside(!), when lying on my front, to try and “hold me in place” – but that was only partly successful.


So instead of sleeping I watched movies and listened to music. This was a long flight, and no further food was served – and there were no snacks available. It would have been nice to have been able to “Raid the larder”, or at least have been offered some biscuits or small snack towards the end of the journey.

What was fairly novel was as the flight neared the end, cabin crew gave each customer a gift, courtesy of Royal Jordanian. The gift on this flight was a very nice piece of pottery. I’m not sure what the criteria for gift-giving to Crown Class passengers is – it’s probably dictated by flight length, as neither of the two legs I took between LHR – AMM and AMM - LHR qualified.


At least on this occasion the cockpit door remained firmly shut throughout the flight. Cabin crew still left it fairly late to prepare the cabin prior to landing in CMB. And as soon as we touched down, a lot of the Economy cabin were on their feet trying to get bags down – with cabin crew rushing up to tell them to sit down. How can people not know the process of watching a seat-belt sign?

747_not_777

Wednesday 15 June

Disembarking was prompt, with a lovely welcome from CMB ground staff, all dressed in beautiful saris. Immigration was empty, so we were through quickly, and bags came out within 10-15 minutes.

CMB is an ‘amazing’ airport – before you exit landside there are scores of duty free shops open (even in the early hours), selling LCD TVs, fridges, washing machines, dishwashers – you name it, any high-end electrical item or piece of white goods, you can buy it. So there are loads of people pushing huge boxes through Customs on their luggage trolleys. It’s quite a sight!

Our driver for the week was waiting in Arrivals, and our trip to Sri Lanka was about to start in earnest.


But that’s not really something for a trip report… The aim of this was to share with you the experience of flying Crown Class from LHR to CMB.

Conclusion
So, what was RJ like? I’d say a very smart and professional airline, with excellent catering, clean aircraft and a feeling of quality. The A310’s are let down by their angled lie-flats, but I supposed these are only on a couple of aircraft and not on the “flagship” routes. In terms of the LHR route, I think this is served on other days by larger aircraft, as passengers behind me on the first flight commented that they had been in “much better seats” on “a bigger plane” when they had flown into LHR with RJ days earlier.

All four sectors we flew (only two reported here in detail) departed and arrived on time, if not a little early. Having seen countless departures delayed from CMB and AMM, I found this excellent from RJ. ^^

As a way of getting to CMB it was cost-effective, interesting and allowed us to use BA Miles for some seats, and earn significant BA tier points for the two paid-for seats. The outbound is a hassle as you have to endure a 17-hour connection, but at least this provides time to sleep. The return is much better, as you get 1hr 55 mins in AMM, so it’s only slightly longer than a direct routing. Until BA add-on a leg from the Maldives to CMB, it’s an excellent way to get there all the way with OneWorld. Getting to CMB by Flying to Chennai (or similar) and onwards with Kingfisher always appears massively costly when priced up on BA, and I don’t much fancy the hassle of going via India – for many many reasons…!

I’d also consider RJ as an option when flying to other long haul destinations, particularly when using BA Miles (if availability is lacking for BA’s direct options).

Where RJ let itself down, based on these two flights alone, was on the seat comfort in comparison with BA’s long-haul products. Wine service was also too slow, and the whole ‘cockpit doors being left open’ thing – in this day and age I feel it is a complete no-no (unfortunately).

However – on the whole – it was a fairly positive tick in the box for RJ. I enjoyed the trip with them, would recommend them and would fly with them again if a BA option wasn’t available.

Final thoughts

Whilst this trip report focussed on the outbound, my experiences on the return were fairly similar. However, a few additional observations I would make include:

* Cockpit doors were left open for minutes at a time on the return from CMB to AMM, and AMM to LHR.

* The RJ lounge in AMM was much busier at 10am in the morning, on the return, that it had been late afternoon the week prior. Still plenty of seats, but 3 times as many occupants.

* Once again the plane was incredibly hot on the tarmac in AMM, for the final sector home – despite the outside air temperature only being mid-70’s, It truly felt like walking into an oven, and no a/c became evident until shortly after take-off. Even the Nigerian ladies across the aisle from me were fanning themselves, and I’d suggest they are used to the heat! For sectors originating at LHR and CMB, a/c had been working on the ground fine.

* Towards the end of the final AMM – LHR flight, I found the crew in the galley “washing up” all of the dirty cutlery. Is this something RJ does “in-house / in-flight” to save money (in addition to repacking the headphones!)?

* AVOD on the return AMM – LHR played up. It needed rebooting several times early-on, and never did work 100 per cent.

* Wine service was painfully slow and hard to “get hold of” on the final sector home. Not good enough RJ!

* On the final sector, two parents were seated in row 1, with two very young kids (I’d guess 4/5 and 6/7) sitting alone in Economy. The kids continually came through the curtain to see their parents, crying, screaming and pushing passed the dinner trolley. At no point did the crew say anything, despite the disruption. Not good enough.

(oh, and if you got this far - well done!)^

BrewerSEA

Great TR!

The LHR-AMM route is usually operated by an A330 with similar seats to your experience on the AMM-CMB route. Unfortunately, your plane was temporarily moved to the RUH-AMM route (I believe due to the demand of a large Middle Eastern business conference in Amman last week). Consequently, I got to ride on the widebody meant for your route on the 15th . I'm curious to see how my experience AMM-LHR this coming Saturday on the A330 compares to yours.

wainza1

Awesome report!

Smirnoff

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. I was afraid you were going to thump me for sending on the flights from hell.

As for the Alia Hotel, I should have warned you, it is a dump, and the breakfast room is scary. Much better to sleep in the Lounge "bedrooms" right in the terminal.

I wouldn't worry about the cockpit doors, I don't think anyone would make it past the marshalls alive.

Glad you had a good trip. ^

Bretteee

Is it worth visiting Sri Lanka? The beaches / ocean seem rough.

snod08

This is pretty common in some South Asian and Middle Eastern countries.

Nice TR though! Enjoyed it!

747_not_777

No worries there Smirnoff! Thanks for all your help with it.

It's an amazing country with wonderfully friendly people. However, it wouldn't be my personal choice for vacations, as I'm more of a 'western world' person with a preference for US and Oz-based fly-drive holidays, or the Carribean for beach-based relaxation. But since I have close family now living in Lanka, I'll be visiting again.

The seas looked rough when I was there, but I'm told this is out of season, and seas calm down and become much more "blue", rather than churned up "grey" during the less stormy times.

jaguarpig

Fantastic report thanks, think we will give them a try to the far east ^

smokie36

I stayed at the hotel for a few hours in June. The hotel was free and the Golden Tulip restaurant breakfast was decent enough....although I was first in line....I can imagine it being quite unpleasant after an hour or two.

The room was dingy and hardly condusive to a pleasant dining experience but when smokie is hungry....

Oh I travelled in Economy on that trip...LHR-BKK return for £406...cheapest in a long while!

Junior_2J&K

Cool report ! Thanks for sharing.
Just had dinner at that Golden Tulip last week. Ate from the restaurant menu but in the pub rather than restaurant room, as that room was huge and empty and just looked too depressing !

SFO777

Excellent report. Thanks for posting.

rankourabu

Thanks for posting.

Will be flying RJ crown class next year, good to know what to look forward to

leisureflyer1234

I flew crown class last month on this route. My experience was simillar but np problems with access to wine or hot cabins. On the 9hr+ sectors you do get a second meal service. On the 90 min BKK-KUL there was an amazing 3 course meal. Pre plated but served as separate courses with 4 choices for main. That made Club Europe look like Ryanair!

My problem was AMM-KUL was resheduled from 02.10 to 06.30 and then delayed to 07.45. I found out in the lounge at LHR when I happened to look at the onward BP. I paid for a room in the lounge at AMM.

The seats whilst not as good as Club World are pretty much akin to those on TG, LH and IB

My HKG-AMM flight was on the last day of my membership year. They didnt initiall credit (outbound had credited in 48hrs). I was 10 tier points short of requalifying for silver. BA said I would be going back to blue and wouldn't credit the points on the basis of the e-ticket I sent them. But after 2 weeks it credited automatically so OK in the end.

I will consider using RJ again and they have some very cheap business class fares for this route