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.
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- Cars and an RJ Airbus A340
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- I wonder if it’s the one I went on in 2007?
After passing some other planes, we soon approached JY-EMF, our aircraft for the day, complete with ground staff member sitting in the nacelle.
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- Aircraft at Amman airport
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- Keeping out of the sun in the engine!
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.
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- Queen Alia International Airport Amman
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- Some Iraqi Airways aircraft
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.
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- Looks a bit like an aircraft graveyard to me!
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.
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- There are four choices of main course!
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.
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- It’s a really pretty looking array of food. Tasty too!
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.
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- I don’t have words to describe how gorgeous this was!
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.
This is completely ridiculous to be posting flights from 2008 without making some indication in the title. Awful practice. Matthew tried this garbage and finally stopped without giving some “vintage” indication. Please stop.
Thank you for your feedback, it is much appreciated. The majority of the batch I am working through do have the year in the title, but you are right, not all of them do. I always make a point of mentioning it in the first line and in the description that search engines use. You will be happy to know I only have a few more to get ported across to here and then I’ll be up to date.
I have flown several times on RJ Dreamliner from Montreal YUL to Amman in Crown class. Excellent plane and crew. The food is not bad either. Depending on season the flight can originate in Detroit.
They have a new airport in Amman with a fantastic RJ business lounge.
Hopefully you will get to experience it soon.
I have heard about the changes in Amman, so I am looking forward to flying them again soon. Nice that you’ve flown their Dreamliner and find it to be pretty good. Thanks for the comment!