Originally Posted by
RockyMntFlyer
Thank you all for the responses.
Update: I called RJ. On the positive, they said that our bags are checked through and we would not need to claim and recheck in AMM. The RJ reps (2) I spoke with both said 30 min at AMM is not sufficient. Unfortunately my only flight option is now an 8:30am flight from AQJ to AMM. There are no other flights mid day. Its not about availability, there are actually no other flights. So, we now have an 8.5 hour layover in AMM for a 1.5 hour flight from AMM to LCA. A bit of a waste of a day of vacation. RJ changed other flight times after we booked as well, which have resulted in other longer layovers on different legs of our trip.
We will have already visited AMM at this point, so I will be looking for some way to spend 8.5 hours that is useful (maybe a hotel pool somewhere?). Suggestions are welcome and appreciated!
Get RJ to cancel AQJ-AMM and drive? It's not that far, I want to say 3-4 hours if memory serves me correctly and the highway is pretty good... though incredibly boring. Almost all just baren desert. You could also hire a driver, I'd be surprised if you can't find one for 100-150 JD for the whole car. (As a matter of fact I know a good driver with a Hyundai Elantra that would do it, though I don't know his price for that trip, PM me if you'd like.) If you've already seen AMM and the surrounding area before, agree that that long of a layover would be quite boring.
The LCA flight times vary by day, but by the length of your potential stopover sounds like you're on the 4:45pm one, you could leave Aqaba at 10:30-11am and still have enough time vs. checking in at 7am meaning leaving your hotel by 6:30am. I have somewhat limited experience at AMM airport, but haven't seen any significant queue into security and immigration the few times when I've gone inside from the city, it's not an airport you'd need 3 hours prior to your flight for.