Review: Royal Air Maroc 787-9 Business Class
My 787-9 Royal Air Maroc business class flight from New York to Casablanca was not a total disaster but represented one missed opportunity after another. The Moroccan carrier has great potential, but a lot of work to do if it truly wants to offer a competitive transatlantic business class product.
Royal Air Maroc 787-9 Business Class Review (JFK-CMN)
When I shared my first impressions of this flight shortly after stepping off, I called it “royally bad” and I stand by that assessment. I still enjoyed the flight and there were certain things I loved about it, but Royal Air Maroc really missed the basics.
Years ago, I flew Royal Air Maroc onboard the 787-8 business class with One Mile At A Time, but was keen to try its latest business class product, found only on the 787-9. Royal Air Maroc (RAM) flies up to two flights per day between New York (JFK) and Casablanca (CMN).
RAM uses Terminal 1 at New York JFK, which is not a very nice terminal, but thankfully it was not crowded when I checked in for my flight about two hours in advance at 6:45 pm. Business class passengers and oneworld elite members can use a special red-carpeted check-in line.
Business class passengers are directed to the Primeclass Lounge, which is located right next to the RAM gate. Our 787-9 arrived from Casablanca about 90 minutes prior to departure…I find the livery quite nice.
We boarded at 8:00 pm (not 7:35 pm as the boarding pass indicated), with business class passengers invited to board first.
Royal Air Maroc 201
New York (JFK) – Casablanca (CMN)
Saturday, July 22
Depart: 8:45 AM
Arrive: 8:50 AM+1
Duration: 7 hr, 05 min
Distance: 3,609 miles
Aircraft: Boeing 787-9
Seat: 3K (Business Class)
Onboard, I was greeted by a flight attendant positioned at door 2L and turned left to enter the business class cabin.
Seat
The cabin is quite unique looking, in a good way, with purple accents and a unique Moroccan pattern on the seats and walls. The reverse herringbone seats are not bad…in theory…when they work.
The cabin has 26 seats in a 1-2-1 configuration, specifically the Collins Aerospace Super Diamond. Each seat features an adjustable headrest and converts to a fully-flat bed…again, in theory. There’s also a side storage compartment, storage under the armrest, and USB-A and universal A/C outlets.
I very much liked the mood lighting:
My seat was broken: it would not recline. The control module for the seat was inoperative. The power outlet also did not work (two flights in a row…).
So I moved to the seat behind me. This time, the seat reclined, but not all the way. No matter how I tried, it would not go flat.
The third seat was the charm…I was able to recline this one fully, but found there was a large gap between the cushions when in the lie-flat position (like I experienced on American Airlines…same seat).
How was I able to move seats twice? Oddly, the load factor in business class was only about 25%…like old-school business class before airlines figured out how to monetize it.
The most important thing about business class is the seat, so this was a royal failure.
While a “flight to Africa” may sound like a long flight, the flight is only blocked at seven hours, which means time in the air is only about six hours thanks to long taxi times at JFK built in.
I went to sleep after dinner (and after finding a seat that worked). The bedding is average, with a soft blanket but no mattress pad or fluffy pillow. I did manage to sleep, but it wasn’t for very long.
Service
First, let me say that service seemed well-intentioned: the ladies were nice and one flight attendant was particularly kind. However, just moments after settling into my seat, a flight attendant came over and asked me what I wanted for dinner.
No greetings. No welcome aboard. Just, “What do you want to eat?” Did they get their training from a US carrier?
However, her colleague came over shortly after, warmly welcomed me onboard, offered to take my picture when she saw I was taking pictures, and offered me a welcome drink (lemon mint juice), headphones, and amenity kit.
Service was efficient, but the flight attendants forgot to offer beverages with dinner, which strikes me as a big miss…that’s quite an omission.
Even so, I genuinely liked the crew…very nice ladies who seemed poorly trained, not at all hostile or lazy.
Food + Drink
Royal Air Maroc, in theory, has a full a la carte service onboard. That means you can dine on demand and if you want to start with breakfast and end with dinner or start with dinner and end with breakfast, it is up to you.
In practice, though, dinner was served after takeoff and breakfast two hours before landing.
The menu (with a separate wine list including Laurent-Perrier Brut Champagne):
Dinner
Dinner was served quickly after takeoff, starting with a trio of canapés:
- Smoked trout and cucumber
- Feta and watermelon skewer
- Zucchini roll with brown rice
That was served with mixed nuts and sweet paprika wafers.
Next, a (packaged) towel was offered and a tablecloth was placed down on the tray table.
Moments later, a tray was plopped down in front of me with an appetizer of burrata, artichoke, asparagus, and bresaola. Wram bread was also offered. Not bad at all.
But do you notice anything?
Two glasses, both empty. The flight attendant did not ask if I wanted something to drink.
In fact, the main course showed up and I still had no beverage…no one in the cabin seemed to have one.
I requested a glass of white wine and a look of grim doom spread across the face of the flight attendant.
Oops! She realized she had forgotten drinks.
Soon I had sparkling water and wine (which was terrible, though I wanted to try the Moroccan wine). The main course was tiny…the fish portion was only a few bites…but it wasn’t a bad meal (grilled cod fish, dill cream sauce, accompanied with pappardelle and grilled zucchini).
After came dessert: cheese (cheddar, brie, bleu) followed by fruit (sliced strawberries, cantaloup, honeydew, pineapple, kiwi), then tiramisu.
The meal itself was fine, but the beverage thing was strange.
Breakfast
About three hours later…with more than two hours still to go in the light…I was awakened for breakfast. This is absolutely the kind of flight that you want to just sleep and skip breakfast on, but I wanted to sample breakfast for the purposes of my flight review. It was quite substantial (“Farmer’s frittata” with mushrooms and
asparagus, bread, yogurt, coffee, orange juice):
The coffee was very strong and tasted like a Nespresso espresso pod.
And yet I was too full from dinner to eat more than a few bites of the frittata, leaving everything else.
Breakfast is a nice option to have, but serving this with two hours to go is totally unnecessary. Especially with the low cabin loads, there would have been plenty of time to serve this 45 minutes to an hour before landing.
I did appreicate hte mint tea…very soothing.
I also tried to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.
IFE + Wi-Fi
The flight had no wi-fi and the in-flight entertainment selection was quite limited, with a handful of movies (no recent blockbusters), TV shows, games, and audio, but just a small fraction of the selection you would find even on US carriers.
Noise-cancelling headphones were decent.
Amenity Kit
I quite liked the amenity kit, a burlap bag with the Royal Air Maroc logo in brass, and its contents.
RAM partners with Nectarome, a Moroccan skincare brand, and I quite liked the skin oil and face mist.
Lavatory
Business class has one lavatory in the front of the aircraft (also used by crew) and one in the rear of the business class cabin. I liked the rose in the lavatory (reminds me of Lufthansa First Class!) but even more, I liked the window.
CONCLUSION
We landed ahead of schedule in Casablanca Mohammed V International Airport and the crew thanked me for my business.
Could the flight have been worse? Sure. But the broken seats do not inspire confidence and the service, while well-intentioned, could really use a lot of work. I would fly RAM again, but I think the carrier really needs to work on the soft touches, which would make it a far more competitive carrier.
