Royal Jordanian Boeing 787 Business Class Review

Royal Jordanian is probably more of a niche airline for Australians, but the airline offers good connectivity to the Middle East and Europe. Better yet, it’s a Oneworld alliance member so you can redeem Qantas points for their Business Class, called Crown Class.

The airline doesn’t fly to Australia – the closest it gets is Bangkok. However, there is decent Classic Reward availability in Business Class on the Bangkok-Amman route. From there, a stopover in Amman is a great way to see the ancient city of Petra – or you can continue directly on to more than a dozen cities in Europe.

While not as glamorous as other airlines in the region such as Qatar Airways or Emirates, Royal Jordanian offers a comfortable product in Business Class. The few travellers I spoke to onboard were all travelling to Jordan – and were happy to fly Royal Jordanian over other options in the Middle East that would have required an extra stop.

After an enjoyable flight in Qantas (well, really Finnair) Business Class to Bangkok, I then flew to Amman in Royal Jordanian Business Class, which I’ll cover in this review.

Flight Details

Flight number	RJ183
Route	Bangkok (BKK) to Amman (AMM)
Aircraft type	Boeing 787-8
Class of travel	Crown (Business) Class
Seat number	3A
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

This was the fifth in a series of six flights that I took on a round-trip Business Class ticket from Cairo to Sydney. Beginning my journey in Cairo allowed me to save a lot of money.

In total, I paid $4,151 for those return flights, including a four-night stopover in Amman. For what it’s worth, typical Business Class fares on Royal Jordanian between Bangkok and Amman (as a standalone journey) are approximately AUD3,800 return.

I credited this flight to Qantas Frequent Flyer, earning me 120 status credits and 4,250 points.

You could alternatively redeem Qantas Points for this flight. In fact, it’s not a bad way to get to Europe from Asia. For Bangkok to Amman, you’ll pay 75,000 Qantas points + taxes & carrier charges for Royal Jordanian Business Class. But if you simply transit in Amman, you can get all the way from Bangkok to Rome in Business Class for 90,000 points + taxes and carrier charges. Note that Royal Jordanian does pass on somewhat high carrier charges.

Airport Experience

After arriving into Bangkok on QF295 six hours prior to my Royal Jordanian departure, I made my way to the transit counter. Qantas couldn’t issue a boarding pass for the Royal Jordanian flight in Sydney, and Royal Jordanian didn’t staff its transit check-in desk until three hours before departure.

Luckily, Royal Jordanian did allow me to check-in online, allowing me to get into the lounges available.

My first stop was the Qatar Airways Premium Lounge at Bangkok, which I could access due to Royal Jordanian’s Oneworld membership. This is easily the best Oneworld lounge in Bangkok, although it does only open for a few hours before every Qatar Airways departure – and you need a Oneworld Business Class ticket to get in. (Just having Oneworld status isn’t enough.)

The lounge is fantastic, with separate sitting and dining areas. There are fantastic buffet and a la carte dining options but I wasn’t too hungry, so I enjoyed some lighter snacks at the buffet.

You can also find a staffed bar, business centre and bathrooms with showers. The centrepiece is the water feature at the entrance. It’s a little smaller than the one in Doha’s Al Mourjan lounge, although most are!

When the Qatar Airways lounge closed, I went for a wander around Bangkok Airport and visited the Japan Airlines Sakura Lounge. There, I tried a small made-to-order pork donburi, which was great.

For what it’s worth, Royal Jordanian contracts the Miracle Lounge for Oneworld Sapphire, Emerald and Business Class passengers. This contract lounge is also available on Priority Pass, and other airlines such as Qantas and Finnair use it as well. However, I think it’s decidedly inferior to the Oneworld airline-operated lounges at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport.

After some lounge hopping, I made my way to the gate about 40 minutes prior to departure. Passengers filled the gate area, and the staff struggled to enforce priority boarding when it began.

The Hard Product

Royal Jordanian Business Class on the Boeing 787 is in a 2-2-2 configuration with four rows. There’s also a small bench at the back of the cabin, which helps divide the cabin from Economy Class.

I was in 3A, a window seat. The seat does face away from the aisle somewhat, which does actually give an extra sense of privacy.

The pairs of window seats – A & C and H & K – are great for couples, allowing you to sit both next to the window and together. For solo travellers, one of the seats in the middle pair will get you exclusive aisle access.

The seats themselves are fully lie-flat, and are comfortable enough, although I did see substantial wear on the seat and footrest. The footwell itself is quite tight, which makes side sleeping a bit difficult.

The seats themselves have limited storage options, with only the console next to the seat, and a small pocket under the entertainment screen.

The entertainment screen was of good quality, with an easy to use touchscreen. The content was adequate for the flight, although not terribly exciting. There was a small selection of Hollywood films, and some random episodes of TV shows.

Power outlets were above the small console on my left, as well as USB-A ports. There was no Wi-Fi available on this flight. Also, the small Business Class cabin only had one dedicated lavatory, at the front of the plane.

Overall, the seat is good enough to get some rest. That’s probably the most important consideration for any Business Class seat. But it’s definitely a step below the more modern Business Class seats on other airlines.

The Soft Product

Waiting at my seat was a pillow and blanket, which were basic but comfortable. There was also a pair of noise-cancelling headphones, which were surprisingly effective.

Royal Jordanian provides an amenity kit for their Business Class passengers. The kit itself was quite nice, but the contents inside felt… cheap. They included socks, earbuds, an eyemask, moisturiser, mouthwash, a small comb and a dental kit.

Menus were also waiting at my seat, which read as follows:

This was the wine list:

Royal Jordanian also offered a selection of beer and cocktails.

Prior to departure, the flight attendants brought around Arabic coffee.

Dinner started about an hour after takeoff, with everything served on one tray. I chose the duck curry for the main, and a glass of apple juice.

Unfortunately, this was a pretty average meal. The curry itself was flavourful, but the small amount of duck was tough. (There was rice was under the lettuce.) The cooked vegetables with the curry felt like an afterthought.

The salad was fine; it was exactly as it looked – a bunch of vegetables.

I don’t actually know what the dessert was but it tasted like a custard tart, which was fine by me!

The flight attendant cleared my main course as I was finishing up the meal – the same with dessert.

After this, I set the bed up to sleep. Royal Jordanian gives out stickers, to signify if you’d like breakfast or not.

I chose to have breakfast, although I didn’t need the wake-up. The crew served breakfast about 1.5 hours prior to landing, offering a simple selection of pastries, plain yoghurt and fruit.

This was the only choice for the flight. It all tasted fine, but overall it was a bit underwhelming for a nine-hour Business Class flight.

The flight attendant cleared my tray super quickly; I was still finishing the last bit of croissant when they took it.

Outside of the meal times, I didn’t see the crew at all. They were polite and extremely efficient, but not as personable as you might expect on an Australian airline.

During the final checks before landing, the crew handed out fast track cards for immigration. While nice to have, I didn’t need this as there were fortunately no lines anyway when we arrived early in the morning.

Wilson McTaggart

Wilson's love of travel started from a young age, but his love for points developed after figuring out ways to travel on a gap year for less - leading naturally towards Australian Frequent Flyer! Wilson's hobbies include skiing, cricket and planning trips, both with and without points.

Wilson posts on the AFF forum as @WilsonM.