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Normally to go from Jerusalem where I live to Amman I would go by road and cross the border at the Allenby bridge as it is much cheaper and quicker than flying. However the bridge is only open in the mornings and as I had to return in the evening I had no choice but to fly.
Royal Jordanian flies several times a day from TLV-AMM using EMB195 (If I remember correctly but I really am not a plane buff).
Sorry for the lack of photos but Israel really does not like you taking photos at its airports or on a plane over its territory. Anyway there will be a few of Amman later on.
As per usual I arrived at TLV about three hours before departure time, I have described the security procedures at TLV in a previous trip report http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1067 so I will not repeat them here as they have not changed. It took me two hours this time to get through security, check in and immigration. A good 20 minutes of that was check in as they could not get my BA frequent flyer number into the RJ system (RJ are now part of oneworld). So I will have to send my ticket off to BA now to get the miles credited to my account (not that for such a short flight there will be very many).
They did give me an invitation to the Dan lounge as a Oneworld Saphire. The Dan lounges are run by the airport I think and all airlines use them. The lounge today was vey quiet. It has a limited selection of food and drink but it does have free wifi (as does the whole airport) and also a good view over the apron. Normally they announce flights but I suddenly realised that it was almost departure time and although they had not announced the flight I was the only person left in the lounge so I thought I had better head to the gate. However when I go there the incoming plane had not even arrived. I decided to just sit in the departure area and wait about 5 minutes later the plane showed up and about 10 minutes after that we started boarding.
The plane is very new and nice inside, I think this is the first time I have flown on an EMB. The seats are leather and a nice light grey they are also very comfortable. In Y the EMB is in a 2x2 configuration and in J it is 1x2. I am in 7J the window seat of the first row of economy seats. The overhead bins however are very small and there is quite a challenge to fit everyones handluggage into them. Just before takeoff the FAs who wear a very bright red uniform (very similiar to OS) with very 60's style knee high boots came round with a little carton of orange juice. We had a long taxi to the runway but we soon on our way to AMM. Well actually it seemed like we were on our way to Cyprus as we took off in a westerly direction and were well out to sea before turning and heading inland. The views we fabulous looking over the Joran Valley and the dead sea. The flight is only 20 minutes so they do not even turn off the seat belt sign or the no electronic sign (they have instead of the no smoking sign). So in no time at all we were landing at Amm. It has to be said that AMM is not one of the great aiports of the world but it does seem to work OK. On arrival if you do not have a visa you need to go to a visa desk and get a visa on arrival (I think it costs about $20), I had poped down to their embassy in Ramallah earlier in the week to get a visa (as I had planned to use Allenby bridge and that is the only entrance into Jordan where you can not get a visa on arrival) so I coud go straight to immigration. There was no queue there and the immigration guy quickly stamped my passport and wished me a nice stay in Jordan. I had no checked luggage so was straight out and the taxi work had sent to meet me was soon wisking me into Amman which is about a 45 minutes drive from the airport.
Royal Jordanian flies several times a day from TLV-AMM using EMB195 (If I remember correctly but I really am not a plane buff).
Sorry for the lack of photos but Israel really does not like you taking photos at its airports or on a plane over its territory. Anyway there will be a few of Amman later on.
As per usual I arrived at TLV about three hours before departure time, I have described the security procedures at TLV in a previous trip report http://www.sqtalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1067 so I will not repeat them here as they have not changed. It took me two hours this time to get through security, check in and immigration. A good 20 minutes of that was check in as they could not get my BA frequent flyer number into the RJ system (RJ are now part of oneworld). So I will have to send my ticket off to BA now to get the miles credited to my account (not that for such a short flight there will be very many).
They did give me an invitation to the Dan lounge as a Oneworld Saphire. The Dan lounges are run by the airport I think and all airlines use them. The lounge today was vey quiet. It has a limited selection of food and drink but it does have free wifi (as does the whole airport) and also a good view over the apron. Normally they announce flights but I suddenly realised that it was almost departure time and although they had not announced the flight I was the only person left in the lounge so I thought I had better head to the gate. However when I go there the incoming plane had not even arrived. I decided to just sit in the departure area and wait about 5 minutes later the plane showed up and about 10 minutes after that we started boarding.
The plane is very new and nice inside, I think this is the first time I have flown on an EMB. The seats are leather and a nice light grey they are also very comfortable. In Y the EMB is in a 2x2 configuration and in J it is 1x2. I am in 7J the window seat of the first row of economy seats. The overhead bins however are very small and there is quite a challenge to fit everyones handluggage into them. Just before takeoff the FAs who wear a very bright red uniform (very similiar to OS) with very 60's style knee high boots came round with a little carton of orange juice. We had a long taxi to the runway but we soon on our way to AMM. Well actually it seemed like we were on our way to Cyprus as we took off in a westerly direction and were well out to sea before turning and heading inland. The views we fabulous looking over the Joran Valley and the dead sea. The flight is only 20 minutes so they do not even turn off the seat belt sign or the no electronic sign (they have instead of the no smoking sign). So in no time at all we were landing at Amm. It has to be said that AMM is not one of the great aiports of the world but it does seem to work OK. On arrival if you do not have a visa you need to go to a visa desk and get a visa on arrival (I think it costs about $20), I had poped down to their embassy in Ramallah earlier in the week to get a visa (as I had planned to use Allenby bridge and that is the only entrance into Jordan where you can not get a visa on arrival) so I coud go straight to immigration. There was no queue there and the immigration guy quickly stamped my passport and wished me a nice stay in Jordan. I had no checked luggage so was straight out and the taxi work had sent to meet me was soon wisking me into Amman which is about a 45 minutes drive from the airport.
. Unfortunately by this time there was no time to go to the lounge and I had to head straight to the gate as they were announcing that the gate was about to close. I went through security and straight onto the plane. The business class seats are very comfortable, pitch is not great but for a short hop like this fine. Before take off were offered a choice of Orange, apple or mango juice in a proper glass and a selection of biscuits. I found myself sitting next to one of the Delta staff. He turned out to be a pilot and we spent the whole flight discussing what it is like being a pilot.
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