US embassy cable - 05AMMAN2564

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002564 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FOR NEA/EX AND A/LM/OPS/TTM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AMGT, EAIR, ECON, IZ, JO 
SUBJECT: ROYAL JORDANIAN AIRLINES CODE SHARE WITH 
AMERICA WEST 
 
REF: 04 AMMAN 6457 
 
1. Summary: Royal Jordanian Airlines (RJ) finalized a 
code share agreement with America West Airlines (HP) 
in the fall of 2004 (reftel).  The code share enables 
USG employees to fly non-stop from Jordan to the U.S. 
in compliance with the Fly America Act. 
Unfortunately, implementation of the code share has 
been troublesome and Embassy Amman currently must 
follow up multiple times throughout the reservations 
and ticketing process in order to make the code share 
work.  The two airlines have a long way to go before 
this will become a reliable and cost-effective flight 
option for USG travelers. End summary. 
 
2. Embassy Amman's travel section has been 
experimenting with Royal Jordanian Airlines' code 
share with America West Airlines since the inception 
of the agreement in the fall of 2004.  The code share 
is an attractive option for USG travelers because it 
allows for non-stop flights between Amman, Jordan and 
destinations in the U.S. including NY/JFK and 
Chicago/O'Hare.  The RJ departure and arrival times 
are also more convenient than those of their 
competitors; RJ flights to and from the U.S. are 
scheduled during the day, as opposed to European 
airline code share flights (Delta/Air France, 
United/Lufthansa, Northwest/KLM), which are scheduled 
in the middle of the night to allow for onward travel 
from Europe to the U.S. in the early morning.  Embassy 
Baghdad's Iraq Support Unit (ISU) located at Embassy 
Amman also finds the code share useful since it allows 
Iraqi citizen travelers (both Embassy employees and 
travelers sponsored on various USG programs) to reach 
the U.S. without a European transit visa. 
 
3. Unfortunately, Embassy Amman has not had very good 
luck with tickets issued on the RJ/HP code share. 
Travelers have arrived at the airport in Amman with HP 
code share tickets in hand only to find that their 
reservations don't exist in the RJ system.  More than 
once the Embassy has called RJ to check on 
reservations and has been told by RJ agents to call 
the HP representative in Amman (even though RJ is/is 
the HP representative in Amman.)  Moreover, RJ has a 
frustrating policy of canceling any reservation that 
has not been ticketed within a certain time limit 
(unlike European airlines, which allow the Embassy 
travel agent to hold reservations up until the last 
minute without any penalty).  HP also needs to publish 
more fare options suitable to the budgets of USG 
agencies at post, and should match its published fares 
to those of RJ.  An additional issue is that America 
West, which is based in Phoenix, Arizona, does not 
have a network of connecting flights on the East 
Coast.  Thus RJ/HP code share tickets require the 
purchase of onward flight connections to Washington, 
DC and other locations on a third carrier, which can 
inflate the ticket price.  Finally, because RJ 
business class is more spacious than typical European 
carriers, it is also much more expensive.  (Note: 
Amman - Washington travel exceeds 14 hours; Washington 
- Amman travel does not.)  Unless RJ can reconfigure 
its cabin to allow for a cheaper business class 
option, business class tickets will cost twice the 
price on RJ/HP compared to European airlines that have 
code shares with American flag carriers.  Few agencies 
at post can afford the current business class fare on 
RJ/HP. 
 
4. Royal Jordanian officials have repeatedly expressed 
their desire to capture a significant portion of 
official USG travel to and from Iraq via Amman, and 
have stated their willingness to address some of the 
problems outlined above.  Emboff has met with RJ 
officials several times over the last month and also 
participated last week in an RJ meeting with a 
visiting America West official to describe what it 
would take to win over our business.  RJ and HP both 
promised to solve problems with the reservations 
system; RJ promised to provide training to its staff 
so they are familiar with the code share and capable 
of addressing problems; senior RJ officials said they 
are willing to field phone calls at any time if and 
when their intervention is required; HP promised to 
publish more fare options that are compatible with RJ 
fares; and HP reported that it will negotiate 
reasonable fares on connecting flights to Washington, 
DC and other destinations on United Airlines so that 
tickets for Amman-Washington travel can be purchased 
as a "through-fare."  However, RJ officials claimed 
that the ticket time limit is a tool the airline must 
use in this region in order to confirm seating and 
stated that it cannot make exceptions for the Embassy. 
This fact alone will complicate the purchase of RJ/HP 
code share tickets.  Moreover, RJ officials said that 
RJ business class service in its current configuration 
(full length sleeper class seating) is its most 
profitable class of service.  Reconfiguration to allow 
for direct competition with the more economical 
European airlines' business class is unlikely. 
 
5. Comment: Embassy Amman will continue to experiment 
with the RJ/HP code share to see if service and 
functionality improve over the next few months.  If 
experience holds true and we continue to see that we 
must trouble shoot each and every RJ seat with 
numerous follow-up calls, the RJ/HP code share will 
likely be viewed as a fall-back option, but one that 
may be too cumbersome and unreliable for routine use. 
The high cost of business class seats on RJ/HP also 
limits the extent to which agencies at post can afford 
to use this class of service when it is allowable, 
since business class seats on other airlines are half 
the price. 
 
HALE