dickerso

Alright, not really Mars, but a trip to Jordan including the exceptional and otherworldly natural area of Wadi Rum which was one of the chief shooting areas for the recent flick The Martian.




Booking logistics:

The genesis of this trip was my sister’s intention to run the New York City Marathon which my mom and I wanted to go out and cheer for. For a while now, I had been drawn to visit the Middle East, but political and security concerns coupled with our tolerance for risk precluded many options. Research online suggested that Jordan offered a number of places to hike or otherwise enjoy the outdoors and the trip began to coalesce.

Against my urging and in spite of having the points, my mom wanted to go in economy on a cash ticket so we snagged a convenient itinerary for her with direct flights from JFK-AMM-ORD on Royal Jordanian issued on American ticket stock. I snagged a business award on the way back from AMM-ORD-DTW figuring I’d buy an award ticket when JFK-AMM opened up or buy a not-unreasonable economy one-way for ~$650 if necessary.

A week later, I received the dreaded, “Please call American Airlines reservations regarding your ticket for…” voicemail. Uh oh. Some sort of crazy computer interface mix-up between American and RJ had allowed us to get a ticket for the direct JFK-AMM flight on a date that it didn’t really operate (apparently it actually only flies about three times a week and not on the evening after the marathon). AA offered some truly outlandish options to “fix” the ticket such as 16 hour layovers in LHR without hotel or meals. Grrrr.

A multitude of phone calls and even a DOT complaint later, we finally found an agent on AA’s end willing to rebook my mom on British and Royal Jordanian metal on an itinerary that wasn’t totally outrageous. With her revenue ticket finally set, I was able to start seeking out options with miles to get from JFK to AMM. I had a ticket for insurance with Singapore (JFK-FRA-AMM) but its 8:15 pm departure would have seriously cut into my ability to hang out after the race. When a booking on Emirates with Alaska miles in first class opened up at T -5 days, I jumped on it without hesitation and I cancelled the Singapore booking for a very reasonable $30 fee. Woohoo! The freedom to hang out after the race until an 11:00 pm departure from JFK and try out Emirates first in the A380 for a reasonable round-trip price of:

-90,000 Alaska Mileage Plan miles (JFK-DXB-AMM on Emirates First)
-67,500 AA miles (AMM-ORD on Royal Jordanian business)
~$107.60 in taxes and fees

The Route:

dickerso

NYC Marathon



Why flying into LGA is the best



One of AA’s newer E175’s that took us into LGA



Grabbing a bagel at the Admirals Club before heading into the city



AA logo and script now versus 60 years prior



View from the IC Times Square, a great value from the old Into the Nights promotion



Strolling on the highline prior to my sister’s big race



Click above for video
Whitney Museum from the Highline



Photos in front of the pro men’s field






Coming off the Queensburo Bridge



A brief rest for encouragement












Congratulations to all of the 2015 finishers!

And, congrats to my sister who did very well at this race at under 3:22 (so much so that we were nervous watching her splits because they were so much faster than her anticipated times we were fearful of a DNF, but she was in high spirits at the end and more than able to maintain the blistering pace she started at).

dickerso

New York to Amman, Jordan

Emirates First
EK 202, JFK-DXB Scheduled 2300-2015, A380-800
EK 905, DXB-AMM Scheduled 2200-2340, A340-300

Emirates First Class has been covered to death in various venues so I’m not going to try to provide an encyclopedic review. Instead, just the things that struck me:

I’ll start with the service: Let’s say that most of us agree that it’s good when workers have freedom to leave jobs with their wages and visa status intact; free markets don’t work when only a single side has all the power. Let’s also agree that perhaps many of these conditions aren’t present to the degree they ought to be in the UAE (granted, other emirate states and other Middle Eastern airlines are worse).

Here’s an example of how this insinuates itself into the service in a way I find distasteful: At the start of the flight I tried to cross the heavy curtains at the front of the plane to reach the shower suites and switch into pajamas but had difficulty pulling them from the left or right. Disinclined to go about ripping apart an airplane I don’t own, I walked back to the galley to gather some pointers and a helpful crew-member who I later learned was the purser showed me the subtle white arrows pointing out a break in the curtains. NBD.

20 minutes later, “my,” flight attendant dropped by to offer a number of apologies, “I’m so sorry that I failed to adequately explain the features of our A-380 aircraft to you; I was under the mistaken impression that you had flown with us before. I will do a better job introducing you to the features of our wonderful aircraft.”

Bizarre. I never expected that a flight attendant should have to walk me around the plane to say, “dear Mr. Alaska Airlines credit card holder, let me show you how to open a curtain.” If I can’t figure it out I’m happy to have the help of any random nearby crew-member. More so, is it necessary for a purser to give feedback to a crew-member that they failed to adequately show a passenger how to use a curtain? But the idea that a flight attendant would be instructed to return to a passenger in order to apologize? Crazy town. Certainly this partly reflects the power-dynamics between labor and management for an airline based in Dubai?

This isn’t to say that I’ll avoid ever buying a revenue ticket on a ME3 carrier. I think that engagement (travel) and discourse are powerful tools for advancement of corporations and societies. If everyone held their nose about engaging with nations that make some morally questionable choices, well there are plenty of examples of some resent troubling behavior on the part of “progressive,” modern democracies. But we shouldn’t be afraid to leverage those connections to improve conditions where we can. Qatar Airlines behavior towards its employees is doubtless better thanks to having something to lose in the face of criticism for draconian policies. In the two opportunities I had to speak with a FA one-on-one, one was a woman from the Philippines who had been working for Emirates for 9 years, 5 of them in the first-class cabin) and she seemed earnest in proclaiming that she enjoyed working for Emirates. Her seniority allowed her to bid successfully on routes to Manila for about 60-70% of her flying and see family frequently. Another FA from Brazil was less successful in getting the routes she wanted due to less seniority, but she seemed to describe a rather open working environment and none really gave the vibe that overnight you could discover you had been fired when your passwords and key-cards stopped working and you were deported from the country without the opportunity to gather your wages and savings.

Okay, long discourses on labor relations aside, back to some general impressions of Emirates First Class: the aesthetics aren’t to my taste, but it’s significantly less busy and tacky than the photos make it seem. The food was almost universally spectacular, heads and shoulders above typical premium cabin meals and well worth eating lightly the day before flying for. The shower is amazing and a wonderful way to punctuate and feel refreshed in spite of a 13-hour flight; the 5 minutes of allotted time is more than enough (I was able to get ready to go in a ¼ of the time and was happy to step out after relaxing for a few minutes at just the ½ way point.



Click on the image for video
Pretty much everything you need to know about Emirates First Class right here…




















Terrific amuse bouches (especially goose liver figaro) with the 2005 Dom






Yum! I checked in at the end of the flight and some extras were catered so I indulged in a second round.



Poached lobster with celeriac mousseline



Salmon fillet with saffron risotto. The only meh part of the catering.



Outstanding.



Lemon tapioca sponge



Mid-flight snack 1: Chocolate and caramel torte with kumquat compote



Ruining it for everyone on FT: a glass of Hennesy Paradis. Nice but not really for my palate. I’m sure that by the time that some Dubai number cruncher realizes that the reimbursement from Mileage Plan members redeeming for first class isn’t covering their marginal costs in liquor consumption, these awards can’t live forever.



Onboard shower!















An offering of hot tea to complement the “onboard spa” component of the shower






Waiting at your seat after the shower



Sunset over the Mediterranean



Snack before landing



The onboard bar was closing up shop by the time I made my way back there



Hokey, but I love the effect: “Arabian nights” on the ceiling of the A380 with fiber optics



Landing in Dubai



Pulling into our gate



I popped into the cockpit on the way out but the staff seemed pretty ready to hit the road after the long flight so I didn’t linger

dickerso

Emirates First Class Lounge, Dubai, Terminal A

While Emirates A380 First is excess personified that still manages to redeem in plenty of aspects, the Dubai First “lounge” (really a complete terminal level) lounge just feels like an anteroom to hell. Alright, that’s an overly harsh judgement, but the lounge is just as likely to reflect an attempt at a competitive advantage for Emirates First as it is a piece of modern performance art, meant as a modern adaptation of Metropolis to demonstrate how absurd the behavior and functional result of a large multinational corporation can be. The lesions of employees needed to man the lounge and stand as security guards over the ridiculous Veblen goods offered in its duty free shops such as $20,000 Vertu candy-bar phones (1998 has called and requested its Nokia 6220 back) and 15 liter bottles of Moet and Chandon champagne. Employees with only perpetual texting and cell-phone games to stave off the sheer boredom, so listless and disengaged that none of the half-dozen employees I came across even attempted eye contact let alone a smile. The true absurdity of the lounge lies in its total desolation aside from the staffers; I saw literally only two other passengers in the entire lounge over 90 minutes and walking its entire length. Just empty business centers, empty (but well stocked) eating areas, empty seating/lounging sections, and TVs blaring out for no one. An entire terminal level finished with gaudily expensive touches such as ceilings stuffed with Chihuly glass yet not a single flat day-bed to take a nap on. The design decisions behind the Emirates First lounge totally escapes me, but I can’t imagine that human beings (passengers or otherwise) were anywhere on the list of considerations.





Hello! Anyone there?...












This screen could apply to the whole lounge



Ridiculousness



Row upon row of expensive foods carefully presented and destined to go uneaten



Got to try Balik salmon. Good but not especially better than the smoked salmon from Costco; unlike the caviar in flight, I won’t go out of my way to seek it out again.






Boarding directly from the lounge

dickerso

DXB-AMM

Boarding came as a relief from the lounge; even though the First cabin of my A330 was also otherwise empty, I was pleasantly surprised to come across a slightly sassy flight attendant. She was planning in the coming weeks to use her free annual confirmed Emirates round-trip ticket (what she regarded as the best Emirates perk for cabin crew) for a trip to Peru including Machu Picchu and Cusco; she had a clear passion for travel and this upcoming trip which was a welcome relief to forget for a little while the zombie-like interactions with the lounge employees.

After the excellent catering from New York, the meal from Dubai was a letdown, middling quality and flavor at best.



If luxury car dealers from New Jersey wearing gold chains decorated an airplane…


No surface too small for faux walnut…


[
Nor too large


Gold trim on everything






Not so hot.



Better



The espresso was good at least.

dickerso

Jordan

Some photos and a few impressions of travelling in Jordan:

Petra was a first-rate historical and archeological site, but the cost for entering the park was extortionate (50 JD, about $70 USD).




















King Abdullah II at the entrance to Petra.

Jordan is a monarchy, but as monarchies go, a pretty progressive one with a separate parliament and a ruling family that seems rather conscientious about both stability, respecting human rights, and reform. Jordan has been ranked as the most advanced in terms of democratic reforms among Arab states as well as ranking as the highest Arab state in the 2015 Human Freedom Index (although only the 78th worldwide). The Corruption Perception Index ranks Jordan as 55th out of 175.

Wadi Rum

The true highlight of our travel in Jordan was Wadi Rum. We booked a trip through an agency called Jordan Tracks run by several Bedouin locals from the Wadi Rum village. The price was very reasonable, about $200 for two days of room, full board, the camels, and a guide.

Coming back from hours on top of a camel to solar heated hot showers, clean bathrooms, and a solid meal felt like absolute luxury. Camel back feels like the perfect pace to take in the astounding natural beauty which is everywhere in Wadi Rum. It’s slightly faster than typical walking speed but the camels never tire so you can take in many more kilometers and destinations than even a strong hiker would feel motivated for in hot weather on sand. That said, the temperatures during our visit (early November) were surprisingly comfortable; I was only drinking about an extra half-liter of water in a day to stay hydrated.

I enjoyed getting to know the camels and see a creature operate in an environment they were so well suited to, able to spend weeks in the dessert grazing on dry, woody shrubs with minimal water. Every aspect of the creature is adapted to the desert down to their flat, broad footprints to minimize sinking into the sand.

Unlike horses that I’ve ridden, I never really got the sense that a camel had much intelligence or a desire to team up with a rider and act as a unit. Rather, the camel’s natural behavior is to saunter through the desert munching on as shrub as practicable. If you’ve managed to fasten yourself to its top-side while doing this, the camel can tolerate you but it isn’t seeking your warm affirmations or a carrot at the end of the day. Our Bedouin’s guide’s attitude towards the camels was not suffused with progressive ideas about influencing pachyderm behavior; their compliance was ensured through not infrequent smacks. The most stressful time for camels and humans alike was loading and unloading; the camels seemed to feel vulnerable in the awkward, low prone stance to allow a rider on and weren’t shy about bellowing to express their displeasure when forced to stoop. The camels also weren’t shy about stealthily inserting a snout to intercept pita bread on the way to your mouth (which they went totally nuts for when tossed the excess pita from the packed lunches). Camel intelligence and amiableness aside, I want to reiterate how fun they were to ride and to observe working up close as well as how much they contributed to enjoying the sights of Wadi Rum.


Strolling out of Wadi Rum village.






Exploring the base of one of the many deep siqs (canyons) dividing the rock formations






This happens.



















































Apt demonstration of camel intransigence as our guide attempts to position them for a photoshoot















Few nearby cities and a dry environment make for excellent dark sky conditions



Hitching a ride back into town while another set of guests at the camp get to take the camels back to the village


Click above for video



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Unloading

dickerso

Other parts of Jordan


View from the top of the canyon in the Dana Biosphere Preserve



Young man herding goats in the canyon



A good looking specimen of goat, no?

[url=https://flic.kr/p/AC3inC]
The view from the Dana Guesthouse which is run by the Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature (basically the national park service).



The drive on the King’s Highway up to Al Karak



Descending to the Dead Sea


DSC05557
The bottom of the Wadi al Mujib reserve. In the summer, canyoneering trips can take you through the gorge itself.






Ceiling of the visitor center under construction at the outlet of al Mujib

On the way out of the country, we spent our last evening on the Red Sea at the Crowne Plaza Red Sea Resort (about a 90 minute drive from the Amman Airport including some maddening Sunday morning traffic on the outskirts of Amman). More so here than at other tourist destinations, there was a palpable paucity of tourists due to instability in neighboring countries (and perhaps some seasonal variation as well). We were treated extremely well at the resort; I’m a credit card IHG Plat we were upgraded to a large, ~600 square foot suite with a complimentary mini-bar on a 20,000 point award stay. One minor annoyance: the beach “closes” at 5:00 pm and it seemed that the security people assigned to the area were rather serious about enforcing this limit. As we got in late and had to fly out the next morning, this meant I only had the chance to dip in for 5 minutes to experience the hyper-salinity which really was something. The water was so dense that it was actually difficult to balance. Normally I tread water with my feet down and kicking but the density of the water lifts you up so that you become top-heavy in that position and tend to topple over in any direction; laying on your back or side in the water was easier.















Suite upgrade on an award stay.









The lobby of the Crown Plaza

dickerso

Amman, Jordan to Chicago
Royal Jordanian Crown Class (business)
RJ 7301, AMM-ORD Scheduled 1030-1615, B787-800

Overall, Crown Class on Royal Jordanian is a totally solid business class product. I was excited to get in my first 787 flight on this segment. The seats are reasonably comfortable although arranged in 2-2-2 meaning that the window seats lack direct aisle access. I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to snag many cabin photos as we boarded late, but the seats are basically the same ones as United’s current business class product.

I thought the food was very good; not quite to the quality of Emirates leaving JFK but better than Emirates leaving DXB and comparable to several of the meal we had on the ground in Jordan. Royal Jordanian serves entrees from large bins of food “catering style” which I like because you can mix and match different amounts of entrees in case one is a bust. Also, many dishes probably benefit from being scooped out at service instead of being subject to dehydration and damage from being individually reheated. One catering disappointment: they forgot the Port in Amman so I had to go without on the cheese course which wasn’t that exceptional anyway.




The Crown Lounge in AMM, also accessible with Priority Pass



AMM’s modern terminal building













Flying the Dreamliner, finally!



Scraped Rich Airways L-1011 next to the taxiway






























Flying over the Alps

I really enjoyed the Dreamliner. Perhaps it’s psychological, but I felt that I didn’t need to drink water as often as other planes. One minor complaint about the Dreamliner: the flight attendants tend to dial in a “maximum” brightness level for the windows from a central control. I asked a member of the cabin crew about it and he was initially a little perplexed by the request but came back 20 seconds later and said, “try it now.” I am conscientious of not introducing too much light into the cabin, but a window is an important amenity for me and I think passengers should have the ability to control their own window. In this case, due to being very close to sunset and on the northern side of the plane, it emitted no more light into the cabin than an IFE screen so I was happy to have the window unlocked to enjoy hours upon hours of sunset as I finished Jonathan Franzen’s Purity on my Kindle and we chased west across a high-arc, passing over the Swiss Alps, cliffs on the shores of England, Iceland, the mountains of Greenland, and the thousands of lakes in Quebec before the darkness was complete when we landed in Chicago. In this case it worked out well, but overall it’s a slight demerit to the Dreamliner if the practical effect is that flight attendants just lock everyone’s window and don’t allow exceptions when people want to use their window and it’s dark enough outside to permit this without disturbing others.



The unlocked window

HangukStyle

Thnx a lot for posting this TR, I enjoyed it

ABax

Thanks for this TR!

In particular, it's great to see a review for RJ J, since there don't seem to be too many of those in the TR forum. I'm flying Crown Class next week (they're the DXB-AMM-LHR legs on an LHR-AUH/DXB-MCT-DOH-DXB-AMM-LHR itinerary).

Out of curiosity, on an AA award ticket, how and when from can you check-in online for RJ flights? I'm able to log into my booking on the AA website, but the RJ website doesn't seem to recognise the booking reference.

DanielW

An excellent TR, dickerso. Looks like you had a great time in Jordan, as well as the journey to and and from getting there. I loved the photo's too, great stuff.

3:22 is pretty impressive time for a marathon for your sister, you'll have to try and match her next time.

I think you're reading too much into the whole 'oppressive UAE airlines/govt' thing. The labour market here is not perfect and obviously very different to the U.S., but the tax-free salary of the Filipino FA you talked to is going to be multiple times more than what she would earn back home. This alone is a great motivator for performing and providing exemplary service.

Wadi Rum looks amazing, will definitely have to add it to my bucket list now. Petra is eerily devoid of tourists. Not so great for Jordan, but perfect for you guys though.

Bretteee

I would love to go to Jordan but too scared now.

So much to visit. Never heard of the Dana Preserve. Did you go to Jerash and Aqaba? My father went 20 years ago when things were relatively calm.

The tourist sites look completely empty.

If I am correct your hotel in Wadi Rum is made up of tents? Was it comfortable? I don't like to camp.

krazykanuck

I agree, while the rules and regs seem odd compared to the US/Canada, the FA position is pretty economically appealing. From what I've heard and read online, ME3 FAs are provided with free housing, salaries are likely tax free or barely taxed, and you spend your time flying around the world! IMO way better than most entry level jobs in the US, which lets be honest, junior FAs don't need many skills beyond being personable and being able to reach the overhead bins. Would I rather be a front desk person in some office, or a flight attendant for Emirates? Obviously the latter.

Rami Tamimi

At T-24,but sometimes it opens earlier. You can use ETKT number for check in.

You can not log in on RJ website because RJ uses Amadeus and AA uses Sabre,so I beleive you should ask AA to give you the RJ (Amadeus) booking ref.

Rami Tamimi

Thanks dickerso for the intresting TR on Jordan and RJ