Could flying a Royal Jordanian E195 in Crown Class be any better than this?

For some reason I don’t expect much when I am on what is usually a regional jet. Flying on a Royal Jordanian E195 in Crown Class really exceeded my expectations, especially when it came to the meal service. The food on this flight from 2008 is some of the best I have had in the air, and that is saying something!

RJ129 – Amman to Budapest (AMM-BUD)
10 August 2008
Embraer 195 – JY-EMF – “Petra”
Seat: Business 2A
Departure: 11:30 Arrival: 14:25

I arrived in Amman in the pre-dawn hours from Bangkok with Royal Jordanian. Once on the ground, I proceeded to the Royal Jordanian lounge and was told to go to the other lounge on the other side of the airport. I walked through Duty Free in Queen Alia International Airport, which wasn’t anything too exciting, and sat myself in the lounge. The wireless Internet was fast and the lounge was very busy for such an early hour. It was generally full right through to my flight time.

Taking A Bus To The Royal Jordanian E195

Eventually I proceeded to Gate 1 and we boarded our bus to our aeroplane. On board, I got this photo of an RJ A340-200 waiting to fly, and on the way got the other angle.

After passing some other planes, we soon approached JY-EMF, our aircraft for the day, complete with ground staff member sitting in the nacelle. Once on board, I was greeted by our flight attendants, and was very quickly offered a pre-take off juice. They’re always very nice and make a nice change from the usual pre-take off champagne.

Let’s Go!

Crown Class was quite full on this flight, with perhaps three seats free. We had the safety demonstration, and then taxied to the runway. This is what Queen Alia International Airport looks like from the outside.

Along the way we passed some Iraqi Airways aircraft – a Boeing 727-200 and a Boeing 707-300. They look like they’re in perfect shape and ready to fly out. I imagine it would cost a bundle to put them back into service. There were also assorted Tristars and other aircraft sitting around as you can see. We took off fairly swiftly, and we were blessed with awesome weather. The view from the aircraft was amazing as we flew over the Dead Sea, and across Israel.

Lunch Time In Royal Jordanian Business Class

Menus were handed out next and shortly after we were served our lunch. The appetizers and salads listed are not choices – you get it all.

The Poached Salmon, Duck Breast, Mozzarella Terrine, along with salad and breads looked good. Dessert, salad and cheese is also present for later on during the courses. As usual the food was sublime. Next came the main course, and I chose the Grilled Hammour Sayadeya as I’d never had it before, and it was well worth a try. It was amazingly delicious! Also, more bread was served. The French white wine accompanied it perfectly and I was replete with foodie goodness! As I’d been sitting in the lounge for six hours on the back of a 9 hour flight from Bangkok and a 9 hour flight from Sydney, I dozed for the rest of the flight. We arrived in Budapest on time.

Once we deplaned, we were asked to show passports in the jetway, which was a total first. After that, there was no transfer available and I was told I’d have to pass through Passport control into departures in order to get my boarding pass for the next flight. I wasn’t too happy, as I’d had the same experience when I was on the sector in the other direction, but what can you do?

Overall Thoughts

Cabin service was fantastic, and once again a smaller oneworld carrier shows off their excellence. The food service is also well up to alliance standards. I’d really like to fly the RJ A320s with the IFE one day, as the portable hand out screens are just not as good.

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And that’s how I reported things back in 2008. I would love to have that meal again, even if it was on a Royal Jordanian E195. Every time I see a picture of it, it makes me remember just how happy I was with it. Looks like I am well overdue to fly RJ again to experience some of their great meals and service.

Have you flown on a Royal Jordanian E195 before? Or have you flown Royal Jordanian at all? How was it? Thank you for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.

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Featured image via Aviation Spotting.