What delights are in business class on a Royal Jordanian A310 in 2008?

Sitting in the first row of a Royal Jordanian A310 meant you had a colossal amount of space to play in. However, since the flight departed just after midnight and I was tired from my previous flight, I took it easy and this short report from 2008 illustrates that. Enjoy!

RJ183 – Bangkok to Amman (BKK-AMM)
10 August 2008
Airbus A310-300 – JY-AGN – “Prince Faisal bin Al-Hussein”
Seat: Crown Class 1A
Departure: 00:30 Arrival: 05:00

I arrived in Bangkok from Sydney on British Airways, which you can read about here. On arrival, I went to the oneworld transfer desk and waited in line for ages before being served. I was immediately directed to the person responsible for RJ – who had no queue the entire time! 🙁 Anyway, I was issued with two boarding passes (BKK-AMM and AMM-BUD) along with an invitation to the Thai Airways lounge.

The guys I was sitting with from the previous flight had bought cigarettes, so we popped into one of the smoking rooms in the airport for a fag. The smoking rooms should be called choking rooms as the air quality is pretty bad. Anyway, we all got chatting to some German guy who was on his way home from Australia.

On Board The Royal Jordanian A310

I said goodbye to the guys after they took my number, and toddled off to my departure gate after a quick peek at the shopping. No-one was waiting, meaning everyone had boarded, so I got on and sat down in 1A.

Row 1 is the choice of those in the know on the Royal Jordanian A310, as there is loads more legroom due to no seat being in front of you. The load was light in Crown Class, probably about half full. The lead Flight Attendant came around with newspapers (I took a Jordan Times), as well as the pre-take off juice. I asked if I could take her picture (for the traditional Jordanian uniform, like on this flight) and I was told that it was not permitted. She was Jordanian, so she probably just didn’t want her picture taken. We had the safety demonstration in Arabic and English, and we pushed back and were in the air on time.

A Midnight Feast!

The seat belt sign stayed on throughout service as there was a bit of turbulence about. Once the tray was delivered, the flight attendant arrived brandishing two bowls and I selected the thousand island dressing which she dolloped on with a spoon.

The rest of the starter was glorious tasting, I have to say. Full marks as always for RJs food! Next, we had the main course, naturally. Gorgeous beef without an ounce of fat on it, mushrooms, vegetables, carrots and rice. The champagne was Moët, which is completely fine in my book.

Views In The Small Hours Of The Morning

By this time I was fading fast, so I hit the loo and put my seat into the angled flat sleeping position. The pillow issued was fat and didn’t sag under the weight of my head, so I was quite pleased, and the blanket was comfortable. I do believe I actually slept, because I missed the handing out of the portable PTV units.

I awoke much later and peeped out the window to an astonishing view. We were flying right down the Persian Gulf at 34,000 feet and visibility was amazing! I spotted Bahrain, and then later took a shot of some of Saudi Arabia.

Breakfast, And Time To Land

I asked for some water, received it, and then lay back for a little while as I knew breakfast would be served shortly. It arrived soon after and for once I didn’t eat much of it as I was pretty stuffed from all the food I had thrown down only 6 hours earlier.

When visiting the toilet, some of the blue loo stuff was all over the floor. I was in socks and not particularly pleased about that! Everything was collected and the passengers were issued their Crown Class present. We began our descent to land in Amman, and landed on time early in the morning.

Overall Thoughts

I’m presently ensconced in the RJ lounge waiting for my next flight as I write these words. The RJ flight was excellent as usual, though I thought the cabin crew could have been friendlier. It was the first time I’d encountered RJ crew who were not super friendly. Don’t get me wrong, they weren’t surly or anything, they seemed to just be phoning it in rather than any enthusiasm.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the report – short and sweet as it was 🙂

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And that’s how I wrote about another Royal Jordanian A310 experience back in 2008. Writing reports directly after the flight is always a good way to kill some time on a long connection, plus everything is fresh in your mind. The flights I took in 2007 and 2008 with the Jordanian airline are memorable as I was always treated well and the food was top notch.

Have you flown on an Airbus A310 before? There are only a few left these days! Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image by Kambui via Wikimedia Commons.
Airbus A310 seats by Oliver Jie Lu via Jetphotos.net