Review: Royal Jordanian short-haul Crown Business class, booked with Avios

This is my review of a Royal Jordanian A320 short-haul flight to Amman.

Royal Jordanian has a surprisingly low profile amongst Head for Points readers.  They would have been further off my own radar if I didn’t have a friend who uses them regularly and is a fan.

This is why Royal Jordanian should be on your radar:

As a member of the oneworld alliance, you can earn and redeem Avios for their flights

Royal Jordanian operates brand new Boeing 787 aircraft to Heathrow Terminal 3 with its latest business class seat

Via its base at Amman in Jordan, you can fly to various parts of the Middle East and Asia, including Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur

I recently flew back from Dubai to Heathrow on Royal Jordanian.  This article covers my A320 short-haul flight to Amman.  Future pieces will cover the Crown Lounge in Amman (click here) and the Boeing 787 business class service to London (click here).

Flying Royal Jordanian short haul

Royal Jordanian uses Terminal 1 at Dubai International Airport which is the same terminal as British Airways.

Check in was a breeze as you would expect at 5.45am for a 7.45am departure.  I was given a pass for the Royal Jordanian lounge which is actually a shared facility.  However, due to the poor signage in the terminal, I headed in the wrong direction and found myself outside the British Airways lounge at a few minutes past 6am.

oneworld airlines have reciprocal lounge access so British Airways was happy to let me in.  I was totally alone.  It was a bit weird.  Everything was set out, including an extensive hot breakfast buffet, but there were no guests.  I stayed for an hour and in that time not a single other person entered!  The first BA flight is not until 10am so it isn’t surprising that no-one had arrived by 7am when I left.

I usually don’t like the new BA Dubai lounge because it is too small – substantially too small if we’re honest.  When you’re on your own that isn’t really a problem and this was my best visit yet.

Seating

Royal Jordanian has ‘proper’ short haul business class seats in Crown Business as is common in the Middle East.  If you only remember one thing from this review, let it be this.

As per the seat plan here:

there are four rows of 2 x 2 seating.  Here are a couple of shots of the seat:

…. with this one showing the seats when reclined:

Design-wise it is far too beige for my liking.  What the seats lack in style they make up for in size and comfort however.  Whilst I didn’t use it, there is also IFE with a monitor built into the seat arm.

Unfortunately, I had a problem with my seatmate as you can see:

I assumed the guy had boarded wearing sandles.  However, when we landed, he pulled out a pair of trainers and socks from under his seat.  He had clearly decided that his feet needing some fresh air.

I also had issues with my neighbour across the aisle.  When I flew Qatar Airways First Class a couple of years ago I had a problem with my seat mate watching videos on his iPhone without headphones.  And guess what – I’ve no idea if it was the same guy, but yet again I was sat near someone who had no qualms at all about watching iPhone videos with no headphones.  No-one else seemed to care.

Meal

At just over three hours, Dubai to Amman is realistically more medium haul than short haul.  We were only offered a one plate platter which was a little disappointing and, to be fair, is a lot less than British Airways would offer on a 190 minute flight:

It didn’t do much for me but I had eaten well in the BA lounge.

What does Royal Jordanian cost on Avios?

If you just booked Dubai to Amman on Royal Jordanian, it would cost 20,000 Avios plus £65 of taxes in Business Class, one-way.

Economy is 10,000 Avios one-way plus the same in taxes.  Paying the extra 10,000 Avios for Business Class is not a bad deal given the big comfortable seats and the chance to use the British Airways lounge in Dubai.

Overall the Royal Jordanian short haul experience was perfectly acceptable although lacking in any ‘wow’ factor.  I enjoyed the oversized seat but the food and service were underwhelming.  That said, given how early I had got up that morning, I wasn’t necessarily in the mood to be ‘wow’ed and was simply happy to have a decent seat to get another three hours rest.

Once we landed in Amman, I headed off to visit Royal Jordanian’s flagship Crown Lounge, reviewed here …..

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How to earn Avios from UK credit cards (January 2024)

As a reminder, there are various ways of earning Avios points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses!

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

There are two official British Airways American Express cards with attractive sign-up bonuses:

You can also get generous sign-up bonuses by applying for American Express cards which earn Membership Rewards points. These points convert at 1:1 into Avios.

Run your own business?

We recommend Capital On Tap for limited companies. You earn 1 Avios per £1 which is impressive for a Visa card, along with a sign-up bonus worth 10,500 Avios.

You should also consider the British Airways Accelerating Business credit card. This is open to sole traders as well as limited companies and has a 30,000 Avios sign-up bonus.

There are also generous bonuses on the two American Express Business cards, with the points converting at 1:1 into Avios. These cards are open to sole traders as well as limited companies.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which earn Avios. This includes both personal and small business cards.