My review of Royal Jordanian’s A321 business class

I’m going to Jordan to see the Dead Sea! I did my homework, and decided to travel on Royal Jordanian from Frankfurt. Cost-wise it’s only 22,000 Avios + £179 (business class), comparing to 38,750 Avios + £312 from London. Don’t even get me started on BA: for this 6-hour flight they operate a narrow-body, so expect the pathetic Club Europe seats if you paid for business class!

I arrived into Frankfurt (on BA) the night before, but not my bag. Frankfurt might somehow be my nemesis – in 2018 I was also here to transfer before Christmas, and my RJ flight was cancelled due to poor weather conditions in Amman. They rebooked me to Qatar’s QSuite though, so some silver lining there.

The check-in desk was opened three hours before departure, where I got my boarding pass and lounge invitation.

All passengers at Frankfurt T2 pass emigration first, and security check is near the boarding gates. The only Oneworld Lounge here is Japans Airlines’ Sakura Lounge, which is small but decent. The Goulash and Japanese Katsu Curry are quite good, but forgive my camera shot…

Time to board:

It is also a narrow-body (A321), but they’ve installed proper incliner seats in business class unlike the European airlines. There are 20 seats in five rows.

I’ve got the 1A seat.

The cushion and throw are already set up, and the leather seat is comfortable. Amenity bag:

Not too shabby for a short four-hour flight. I didn’t get a chance to take a proper photo of the recliner mode, but here it is:

As you may have noticed, there’s no IFE at the back of the seat. Each business class passenger is handed an iPad instead.

You can also connect to the in-flight wifi to access the same entertainment system. The wifi is only an Intranet, so you can’t really browse other things.

Let’s check out the menu, which has got a festive design for Christmas.

There are traditional local specialties such as Mansaf, but also Asian cuisine including rice curry and chow mien. Curiously there’s no pasta or steak, which are probably the most common dishes you see on an airplane.

How they serve the food is true novelty – from starter to dessert everything is served out of a trolley, and you basically mix and match whatever you want. I saw a trolley on Gulf Air too but it was only for dessert.

It is quite interesting, and convenient if you want to try a bit of everything. I had the Mansaf (lamb with yellow rice) but it’s quite different to what I had in my mind.

In all honesty, food quality is below average to my preference although I like the dessert and cheese. But they’ve really put their heart into serving the food, and the whole “ritual” took one hour and a half, a big chunk of the flight time.

There’s no fast track for premium passengers on arrival, but there were very few foreigners passing immigration anyway. Landing visa costs 40 dirhams, and the staff picked DCC without my consent so be wary. I booked airport pickup via Royal Jordanian, very reasonable at 19 dirhams.

Although it is a short flight and there’s no lie-flat seat, it is a very wholesome experience and definitely in a totally different league with BA’s alternative.