LONDON HEATHROW to AMMAN (LHR-AMM) on Royal Jordanian A310-300 A321-200 in business class
The monitors showed "gate closing" but when I reached the gate at the announced boarding time there were only about 20 passengers there.
With a light load boarding commences late. The crew are very busy pre-departure, with drinks (5 different juices), menus, headsets, amenity kit (socks eye mask and toothbrush & toothpaste), newspapers and magazines to offer.
I noticed in the magazine that there are similar numbers of business class seats on all of Royal Jordanian's shorthaul aircraft, which must make it easier to swap aircraft types to match loads.
The seats are comfy and quite good for shorthaul. There is a decent recline, but watch out there is no one behind you as in fully reclined position it will likely whack the knees (and hit the tray table + monitor if these are in use). There is a nice AVOD IFE with a funky little controller and about 100 options.
After take-off there is a nice scented hot towel, beautifully moist and just the right temperature (ie piping hot). Post departure drinks and warm nuts in a ramekin bowl are served, followed by dinner. An unusual touch is the mains are served from containers on the cart, thus you can mix and match if you wish and also have more control over the quantity.
By the time dinner was over the movie I was watching had finished and I then dozed the next little while. I awoke on descent to find a survey for me to fill out and a little gift of a mini optical mouse.
The crew were fantastic although some passengers were rather demanding - fancy asking for a coke 3 minutes before landing on most airlines and you'd get short shrift.
Our descent was over Israel and Palestine/West Bank. We landed 30 minutes late.
This was my first flight on Royal Jordanian and I was very impressed.
Time for some more useless trivia. Royal Jordanian is the 9th airline I have flown to and/or from London Heathrow airport, the 3rd most behind AKL & LAX (both on 11) and equal with SIN & SYD. Amman is I think the 200th airport I've flown to and/or from.
Last edited by Kiwi Flyer; Dec 30, 2008 at 8:44 am