Review of Royal Jordanian flight from Bangkok to Amman in Business

Background

This flight was booked for $367 as part of a Kolkata-Bangkok-Amman routing, all in business class. Nope, I didn't miss a digit in that price and there were no miles involved, you can read about it in my CCU-BKK flight report.
After one day in Bangkok after arriving from Kolkata, it was time to head back to the airport for the connecting flight to Amman, the capital and largest city of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
This flight would be be my first time on Royal Jordanian as well as my first time on a Middle Eastern carrier besides the ME3 and one flight on Egyptair. Also only my third OneWorld flight in 2024 (after CX PER-HKG-BBK).
This leg of the trip would get me 5,250 Qantas Frequent Flyer miles.

Suvarnabhumi Airport

Even this late at night, BKK was fairly busy.
There is a massive Christmas tree in the departures hall.

Check-in for Royal Jordanian is almost at the end of the terminal.

Bags were checked through to BKK but they couldn't issue the boarding pass in CCU.

The RJ logo and colors are simple but did a good job of making me excited for this flight!

There was a very short wait for check-in, during which I took a few pictures of the famous statues and an image of the Phra Pathommachedi stupa which is displayed throughout the departures area.

The business ticket included fast track in Bangkok and Amman and lounge access in Bangkok.

Security and immigration were very fast. At least with fast track there was no wait at all for either of them, leaving a few minutes to check out the lounge.

Miracle Lounge

Royal Jordanian business passengers have access to the Miracle Lounge in Bangkok.

The lounge was extremely crowded, it took a few minutes to find a place to sit. It wasn't a particularly great lounge, although the showers would have been nice if I was there for more time.
There was a small selection of food/drinks.

I just got a fanta and some water to take.

Within a few minutes it was time for boarding.

Aircraft/Seat & Departure

Our aircraft was a 10.2 year old 787-8 Dreamliner registered JY-BAE and named Prince Hashem bin Abdullah, after the youngest child of Jordan's King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein bin Talal bin Abdullah. Sadly I wasn't able to get a single picture of it in BKK.
The gate was very close to the lounge, I got there just before priority boarding started.

Exactly the same seat as on the previous day's Thai Airways International flight.

The crew were still preparing the cabin and put the headphones in as I was sitting down.

Each seat had a pillow and blanket…

…an IFE screen…

…a remote for said screen…

…a shelf and ottoman…

…a pocket on the side of the seat…

…personal lights and air vents which I now realize I didn't get a proper picture of…

…a storage area that had headphones, a water bottle (something that Thai should have done), and charging ports.

There were also controls for the seat.

Excellent noise-cancelling headphones.

The crew handed out amenity kits during boarding. 

Amenities included an eye mask, socks, pen, toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, ear plugs, mouth wash, hand cream, and lip balm, nice amenity kit overall.
The socks had little airplanes all over them.

By this point economy passengers were also coming through the business cabin, even though there was a separate airbridge for each cabin.
I looked around a bit more and noticed that the water bottles came from Jordan which was a surprise, I would have expected them to just pick up water in Bangkok.

A welcome drink of coffee was served from a silver jug and with fancy cups, I didn't take any though.
IFE didn't start working until after takeoff, instead a video of different places across Jordan played from every screen. It was a nice video but I would have preferred if the IFE had been available.

you might notice some plastic on the shelf, the crew did collect rubbish from other seats but not from mine strangely, you'll see the plastic there in a few pictures

I had a look at the contents of the seat pocket, which were inside a plastic cover.

There was a magazine, safety card, sickness bag, and customs information card.

The magazine and customs card had Arabic on the other side which was good.

The crew handed out menus.

I had a pre-ordered Asian Vegetarian Meal anyway but the menus were still nice to have. A bar menu was also offered.
Eventually the safety video was played.

We pushed back, passing a Korean Air 777

A Malaysia Airlines 737-800

And a Cathay Pacific A330-300

And then we were off to Jordan!

Dinner

Service commenced soon after takeoff beginning with a warm towel, drink orders were also taken.

Next, tables were set.

My special meal and the mango juice I requested were brought out and placed on the tray.

The meal was a bit small but had great presentation, better than it seems in the picture.

I love the RJ logo on the glass.

The salt and pepper shakers were nice as well.

The logo was also present on the cutlery, and, as I noticed later, the bowl.

It was a really good meal, although I'm still not sure what the two tubs of margarine were for since there was no bread.

After a meal a cart was rolled out with desserts. There were lots of nice cakes and pastries but sadly all of them contained eggs and so I couldn't try them.
I'd like to mention that the crew were all extremely friendly, the man who did most of the service on my side of the cabin always had a smile on his face, he tried to adress everyone by name, and was very professional and helpful throughout the flight.

IFE & In-flight

Royal Jordanian has a limited IFE selection, especially in English. It was more than enough for this flight but after a few long hauls I would have started running out of things to entertain myself with.

I really like how the crown is present everywhere.

I used the bathroom after the meal, it was clean but had no additional amenities.
After that I decided to get some sleep.
The seat converts into a fully lie-flat bed.

It was very comfortable, especially with the pillow and the soft blanket. My only complaint is that the end of the bed angles downards a little, rather than being at the same level as the ottoman. It's a very small issue though, and I had a long, peaceful sleep.

Breakfast

I woke up soon before breakfast. The second meal service also started with a warm towel, although it was a bit dry this time.

A cloth was put over the tray table.

There was no choice of beverage this time, everyone was given orange juice.

It was a very small meal, just the fruit…

…and the breadroll.

And of course the orange juice.

The fruit bowl also had the crown on it.

I was given little jars of marmalade and honey for the bread.

Deserts were brought out on a trolley again, this time there were muffins and pastries. There was also something I could eat, luckily.

Nice meal overall, especially the dessert, but the portions were a bit small. Also, from what I saw there weren't any hot options (or any options at all) even for those that didn't order special meals.

By the time breakfast wrapped up, we were almost in Amman.

Arrival & Queen Alia Airport

Welcome to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan!

I got some blurry pictures of planes in AMM, including FlyJordan's sole aircraft, a 25 year old 737-300 registered JY-SOB and a Jordan Aviation 737-300.

The sun began to rise around the time we landed.

Some Royal Jordanian E190s

RJ E190 and Jordan Aviation 737s again

And at our neighboring gate, a British Airways A320neo recently arrived from London-Heathrow. I'd looked at taking this flight before but I don't think I could take a BA narrowbody for such a long flight. RJ manages to fill 787s to London, I wish BA would upgrade too.

It took a little while to commence disembarking.
The only picture I got of our plane:

Now immigration was quite confusing. There were lines for regular immigration and fast track, and before that, for Jordan Pass holders. Jordan Pass helps you get entry to tourist sites across Jordan and also gets your visa fees waived if you stay at least three nights. I had Jordan Pass but I also had fast track because of the business tickets, so I thought I should go through the fast track line. Unfortunately, the immigration office said to go back to the Jordan Pass line, and by that point the Jordan Pass line had filled up so there was a long wait.
Nice view of the sunrise though.

While waiting the crew from our flight walked by, I saw the FA who had been serving my side of the plane and nodded at him, he smiled and nodded back.
After getting to a Jordan Pass booth, the officer there said to go to a different booth. After the next officer checked the Jordan Pass and visa it was time to go back to regular immigration. Luckily there was no line.
I took a few pictures of the bagage claim area.

There was a little Christmas tree in the arrivals hall.

While waiting for the rental car I noticed a lady cleaning all the seats and wiping them down, you rarely see that in airports.
After getting the keys it was time to step out into the cold morning air of Amman, before heading down to Petra!

That concludes this flight report, thanks for reading.