I was flying back from Almaty to Amsterdam after spending only two days in Kazakhstan. Not many people think of Kazakhstan as a tourist destination but let me show you a photo of the Charyn Canyon, located 200 kms from Almaty:
Flight departure was at 04.55. My transfer took me from the hotel to the airport at 02.30. Check-in was in a small area between a first security control and passport control but it was quick and efficient. After a second security control I was at the business lounge with loud TV in kazakh going on. There was a selection of pastries of fruits free of charge, and there was also some tea and coffee, but all other drinks or meals were only against payment.
Boarding was on-time. Here is my aircraft, KLM A330-200 Place de la Concorde, PH-AOC, built in 2005.
The cabin crew was the same as three days earlier, and the stewardess working on my aisle was clearly very happy to see me again - we had a good chat about Kazakhstan and other countries. This A330-200 has only older lie-flat seats but there is plenty of legroom.
First champagne and cheese from the Netherlands were offered.
Departure was on-time and menus were quickly distributed. As departure was so early a light meal was offered first.
Salmon mezze, chicken tikka kebab, Mediterranean-style samosa, tiramisu mousse. The salmon mezze was absolutely outstanding; the chicken tikka kebab was OK; the tiramisu mousse was so good that I asked for some more.
After the light meal I had a very good two-hours sleep despite the older lie-flat seats.
Breakfast was served before landing: scrambled egg with Cheddar cheese, grilled salmon, vegetables and potato cutlet, and also some cheese, jam and yoghurt. It was very, very good.
See more
Verdict
KLM
9.3/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew10.0
Entertainment/wifi9.0
Meal/catering10.0
Almaty - ALA
7.0/10
Efficiency8.0
Access7.0
Services5.0
Cleanliness8.0
Amsterdam - AMS
6.8/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.0
Services7.0
Cleanliness6.0
Conclusion
I enjoyed every moments of this flight. On-time departure and arrival, great service, great meals - what else do you need?
0 LIKESLIKE TO THANK THE AUTHORTHANKS ! FLIGHT-REPORT LIKED
Thanks for sharing this experience. I just realzed that KLM was flying to Almaty : great news for a skyteam frequent flyer. I am quite impressed by the two meals that are both very nice look tasty. The cabin is now outdated and having tried KLM new seats it would certainly be difficult to revert to those ones. Yet a very good flight thanks to an excelelnt cabin crew. Looking forward to read more of your reports.
Thanks for this interesting FR! It seems that KLM is sending its oldest A332 to Kazakhstan, but is seems comfortable however. I will travel soon from Almaty to Amsterdam. The plane will be coming from Astana, do you know if KLM crew puts something like "RESERVED SEATS" on seats that are already booked by passengers for an extra fee? I booked my seat and I am afraid to find someone sleeping in my seat when boarding ^^
Flight-Report is a free website hosting more than 500 000 pictures and 17 000 reviews, without ads, this website can't exist. We understand that ads can be annoying, this is why we only display a maximum of 2 non-invasive ads per page.
To continue using Flight-Report, we invite you to add Flight-Report to your blocker's "white list".
4 Comments
I am quite impressed by the two meals that are both very nice look tasty. The cabin is now outdated and having tried KLM new seats it would certainly be difficult to revert to those ones. Yet a very good flight thanks to an excelelnt cabin crew. Looking forward to read more of your reports.
i wanted to go there also but now its too cold , i hope you enjoyed almaty
I will travel soon from Almaty to Amsterdam. The plane will be coming from Astana, do you know if KLM crew puts something like "RESERVED SEATS" on seats that are already booked by passengers for an extra fee?
I booked my seat and I am afraid to find someone sleeping in my seat when boarding ^^
Login to post a comment.