Please sign in to post.

airline suggestion for Cairo, Egypt to Amman, Jordan or other suggestions for travel

Hello!

We were just about to purchase our ticket from Cairo to Amman (one-way in July) on Royal Jordanian Airlines, when my husband came across some bad - really bad reviews (and a LOT of them) regarding Royal Jordanian Airlines. Egyptair has better reviews - though still not great. Frankly we never expect super service from airlines, (the exception being AerLingus and AirCanada - both of which we really like), so our expectations are pretty low, but we'd like to at least get to our destination at around the time we're supposed to, and that is the biggest complaint lodged against Royal Jordanian - that they don't do that. There are many postings that reference their horrible on-time record and their lack of caring that their flights are so late - many people mentioned 6 hour delays, which is ridiculous for a flight that lasts only 1 and 1/2 hours.

Does anyone have suggestions about what airline we should use from Cairo to Amman? Is EgyptAir the best choice? I've investigated the bus, but it's a nine hour trip and it's only made twice a week, so I guess flying is our only option.

Suggestions are very much appreciated! Thank you!

Posted by
492 posts

If on-time performance is the main concern, it could be worth looking at your airline's on-time performance for that specific route, as opposed to just the airline in general. With such a short flight, and no connections, I'd have a hard time believing Royal Jordanian is so drastically late, so often. I looked up a number of Royal Jordanian flights from CAI to AMM on FlightStats, and of the several flights they have through the day most had well above average on time performance numbers (with one of it's afternoon flights being a bit below average). FlightStats.com can be a handy tool, as even a specific flight for a well-rated, well-liked airline could regularly have delay issues if it's flying in to or out of an airport that is just often a mess. Likewise, sometimes the same route for the same airline can have great on-time performance numbers in the morning, with their late-afternoon or early-evening flights performing much worse.

At FlightStats you can enter the airline and flight number, and you'll see some information about that flight; there's a link to check on-time performance stats for that flight. If you wanna dive even more deeply, I think their paid service gives even more detailed historical data on that flight. But you can perhaps compare the on-time performance of the Royal Jordanian flights to the Egypt Air options you might be considering, and see which ones give ya better odds. And never forget, as helpful as historical data can be there's always a chance the one flight we take on that one day ends up being very delayed, or even a bit early!

Posted by
557 posts

I don't know the routes for Egypt Air regarding Jordan, but on a 13 day Trafalgar tour of Egypt in February, we flew from Cairo to Luxor, Aswan to and from Abu Simbel, and Luxor to Cairo on Egypt Air. Everything went smoothly and we felt comfortable and safe on these (admittedly short) trips (Longest was about 1 1/4 hrs.) We flew to and from the states to Cairo via Lufthansa, with a plane change in Frankfurt. Perhaps they fly from Cairo to Amman.
I would definitely not take the bus, for reasons of time and safety.
Enjoy your trip to Egypt. We LOVED it! I envy you your Jordan trip. Have a great time.

Posted by
891 posts

If you are concerned about getting to Amman on time, it might be worth leaving Cairo on an earlier flight. Most flight delays are for a reason, operations, really nothing that a gate or other agent can do anything about. A few weeks ago the there was a major band of storms in the US from IAH to EWR, there were 1.5 hour flights delayed for 18 hours.

Posted by
5362 posts

I’ve flown both airlines multiple times. Not sure that my, or any, anecdotal input on this forum is helpful. Both airlines are fine and I particularly like RJ. Never had a late RJ experience. That bus, though! Please don’t do that.

Posted by
7595 posts

I have flown on Egypt Air a couple of times, but over 30 years ago. It was fine, except my Egyptian friend warned me that if offered chicken, that it might be pigeon instead. I turned down the meal.

Posted by
98 posts

Thanks so much for all the helpful advice. We just booked with EgyptAir. We'll keep our fingers crossed!