Saturday, August 18, 2007

Top 10 Reasons to Fly Royal Jordanian

I recently flew with Royal Jordanian Airlines for the first time. RJ recently became part of the Oneworld alliance, which means that it now qualifies as a carrier for those limited by the U.S. Fly America policy (see earlier diatribe on said policy, 4/23/07 "Why I Love the Fly America Policy"). I was excited because it was a direct flight from NY to Amman, skipping the long stopovers in Heathrow, Paris or other European airports.

Our flight (originally scheduled to fly at 11:30 pm from JFK) was cancelled (due to "technical problems"). This came as no surprise because the RJ website said that there was no flight scheduled for Flight 262 that day! Yet no such announcement came from the RJ staff at JFK. The long and short of this story is that we were treated with rude disregard, held at the airport all night, finally driven nearly an hour away from the airport and dropped in a nasty motel where we were apparently left and forgotten the next day. No food, information, vouchers were offered.

Despite the mistreatment we passengers experienced at the hands of the RJ staff (one supervisor, in fact), there were positive points as well. One was meeting friendly Jordanians who helped each other out and helped care for the many mothers with babies and old people traveling. If not for the kind consideration of my fellow traveling companions, I would probably still be a resident in the hell hole RJ dumped us in (see below). Another positive aspect was the ability to share with you 10 reasons why you too will want to have the RJ experience.

10. You like Muzak, so for FREE, you can listen to all you want by dialing 1-212-949-0060. Don't worry, no one will answer - more 'music' for you! Someone left the cake out in the rain.... Oh no wait, its not a 1-800 number, thats not free.

9. You like to live 'on the edge', not knowing what will happen next - will you fly? Maybe tomorrow. Maybe not.

8. You like to place wagers on what will happen next based on virtually no information. Not to worry, you won't receive any from RJ. (Note sign behind RJ counter, placed there by a passenger).

7. Joining a gym is too expensive, but you will have the opportunity to fight over the few seats on the van. Don't worry, there won't be ANY RJ employees there to assist the feeble, wheel chair bound, establish any order, or inform us how to find out what to do the next day.


6. You've had few opportunities for the 4 am tour of east Long Island. You are in luck! RJ will (not so happily) drive you around for hours touring the motels of Long Island.

5. You have trouble meeting new people. No problem! RJ will demand that you share a motel room with a complete stranger. Four to a room is suggested (in two beds).
4. You need to lose weight. Here, too, RJ can help: after your flight is cancelled, you will not receive vouchers for food at any time during the next 24 hours. You probably eat too much anyway.
3. You find today's information highway too busy and crowded. RJ will be happy to pare that down by placing you in a motel without working phones or TVs.


2. How many hours have we been in this east Long Island parking lot in August?

and the number one reason to fly with Royal Jordanian Airlines....

1. Hey, its better than driving!

11 comments:

Mrs. Goodwrench said...

You poor dear! I can relate to that LI motel stay. Try two weeks in one. This was my home while Jay suffered in LI Jewish Hospital having state of the art cancer experiments. I took my life in my hands every time I went outside.

Thanks for all your helpful travel advisories. I trust that you did make it to your destination, and I'll keep RJ in the back of my mind as I plan any future trips.

Mrs. Goodwrench

Sue said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sue said...

Sorry about deleting the previous message, typos galore and I didn't see a way to edit.

It said (in English this time):

Thanks for going thru all that pain to give us a good chuckle. Funny post -- to read if not live thru.

So what does the sign say behind the passengers? Inquiring minds want to know.

MMK and YMR said...

Thanks, glad you could enjoy the circus-like atmosphere. The sign was for those who didn't arrive on connecting flights - they were told they would not be put up for the night. An inspired customer got pen and paper to provide the phone number to call the next day to find out when the new flight time.

فرانسيس said...

Gosh, I must admit that I've had nothing but good luck with RJ. Before I left Amman I did the day-early check in thing near 7th circle, and even that was easy (much to my dismay). When I got on the flight in Amman I was seated next to a mother with a baby (three people, two seats). I tried to knit, but the baby found the yarn VERY interesting. The flight attendant saw this, and moved me to a child-free row. That alone makes me love RJ.
Though, if I never have to see The Last Mimsy again, that's just fine.

MMK and YMR said...

True, some tell me they've had good luck with RJ. Others that I was flying with said it was typical, and some were traveling on RJ for the first time because of the negative stories they had heard for years. But I was surrounded by kids (not babies) and they were all really well behaved nice kids. But then, I wasn't teasing them with colorful yarn.....

WDW said...

Ouch. What a fun trip. You forgot to tell us all about the various ticks and bed bugs that you picked up in the hotel though... You needed to lose weight anyways fatty (I assume this is Yo...)

MMK and YMR said...

True, there were no bedbugs, and no murderers (that immediately identified themselves anyway) so it COULD have been worse! I guess in a few months I'll have a comparison. Hopefully I'll get the chance to see The Last Mimsy, which I missed out on the last time.

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Unknown said...

If you don't like RJ and you don't like the chips that are made in Jordan why the £$£% did you bother coming in the first place!!!

Didn't your mama teach you if you have nothing nice to say then don't say anything at all.
Go play in the dirt someplace else!


Naim
Offended Jordanian

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