Review of KLM flight from New York to Amsterdam in Premium Eco

KLM

KL - KLM

Flight taken on 06 April 2015
KL644
22:55 06h 35m 11:30
Class Premium Eco
Seat 14A
danny_89
6,676 · 23 · 4 · 2

AMS-JFK-AMS
31/03/2015 STD 13.30 - STA 15.30 KL641 PH-BQF –> Can be found HERE!
06/04/2015 STD 22.50 - STA 07/04/2015 12.05 KL644 PH-BFD –> This report!
After a really wonderful week in one of the prettiest cities I have been, time had arrived to leave the city of New York. After some delay caused by the subway (maintanance work I guess) I arrived on-time at Jamaica Station, from where I took the AirTrain to Terminal 4, a 10-minute ride.


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Jamaica AirTrain Station, every 5 minutes an AirTrain leaves here for JFK's Terminals.
A short walk down and up the stairways brought me in the departure hall of terminal 4, which was really quiet at the time I arrived (around 20.30, 2.15 hours before my flight would actually depart).


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Departure hall of terminal 4.
Since I already checked in online, I only needed to drop-off my suitcase, and at KLM/Delta's check-in counter I obtained my boarding pass, dropped my suitcase, went straight to the security checkpoint, and within 10 minutes I was standing 'airside' already! Americans can work sufficiently… ;)
Time to explore the airport behind the security checkpoint then, since I still had 1,5 hour before boarding.


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First checking out my flight on the monitors, my flight would depart from gate B22.
Terminal 4 offers a lot of bars and restaurant, some shops but not quite a lot. After a short walk I decided to sit down somewhere, and spend my last Dollars to a Belgian beer (which costed me by the way $12, but I enjoyed it while watching a baseball game and a chat with some Dutch passengers that were on the same flight as me).


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An expensive but nice Belgian Stella Artois beer as last drink on American ground.
Time to head to the gate, B22, where the 'Queen of the Skies' already had arrived.


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At the desk, upgrades to the World Business Class (WBC) where sold for 'only' $849, I thankfully rejected the offer since I already had obtained an Economy Comfort seat and the legroom should be sufficient enough to have a few hours of sleep during this night flight.
The beautiful Boeing 747-400 PH-BFD (Mixed Configuration, so both Passengers and Cargo), nick-named City of Dubai, would fly me back this night towards Amsterdam.


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'City of Dubai', PH-BFD, would bring me back to Amsterdam.
I managed to select a window-seat in Economy Comfort, and I chose seat 14A.


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Seats 14 ABC.


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View on seats 14BC and 14DE, the last ones next to the kitchen, but did not hear any sound from there during the entire flight!


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The obligatory legroom-shot, plenty of legroom for a 6,5 hr flight.
After a fast boarding process, everyone had been boarded 22.30, 20 minutes before actual departure. The aircraft was pushed-back round 22.35, but it took 20 minutes to arrive at the departure runway and we got airborne around 22.56.


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A check on FlightRadar24 to see if the aircraft already got visible ;)


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Final view over Queens, New York.
Twenty minutes into flight, the crew came by with some drinks and a small bite.


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I chose a beer, and the well-known nuts.
Approximately half an hour later, dinner service started, again the choice between pasta and chicken. Since I already had the pasta on the way towards New York I decided to pick the chicken this time.


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Chicken as 'dinner', accomplished with bread, salad, and a sweet cake-like desert, it all tasted pretty nice!
Before lights were dimmed, coffee/tea and a liquor were offered for the ones that were not already sleeping.


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Coffee and Amarula liquor before getting a short sleep.


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At the moment flying over Canada we where flying quite fast ;)
After this last view on my screen I switched it off, went to the bathroom, after which the lights were dimmed (around 2 hours into flight) and I tried to have a sleep.
I managed to have a (light) sleep for 3 hours! :)
Shortly after I woke up, crew started breakfast service, nicely timed I would say. :)


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Woke up with the view, really loved it!


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Breakfast service.
Breakfast this time consisted of orange juice, strawberry yoghurt and a sweet-tasting apple bread-cake thingie (hard to describe this :P), accomplished with a cup of coffee. I enjoyed it at least, since I don't at a lot for breakfast usually and this was definitely enough for me. While having breakfast we passed the UK, offering nice views.


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View on the eastcoast of the UK before heading to the Netherlands.


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Approaching the Dutch coast, a last view on the flighttracker on my screen.


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Shortly before a smooth touch-down on one of Amsterdam's runways.


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Last view on the tower of Schiphol's famous Polderbaan.
We touched down at 11.27 LT, 40 minutes ahead of schedule on Schiphol's famous Polderbaan, after which it usually takes a 20 minute ride to the gate. Because the 747 is large aircraft and has a higher speed we arrived at the gate after some 10/12 minutes luckily.


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Tracking the flight on my phone via FlightRadar24 after being landed.
Finally back in town, and since I only had a short sleep I decided to sleep for some more hours when I arrived at home :)
Thanks for reading this report, comments are always welcome and appreciated!

Display all

Product ratings

Airline

KLM 7.9

  • Cabin8.0 / 10
  • Cabin crew8.0 / 10
  • Entertainment/wifi7.5 / 10
  • Meal/catering8.0 / 10
Departure airport

New York - JFK8.1

  • Efficiency9.0 / 10
  • Access8.0 / 10
  • Services7.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness8.0 / 10
Arrival Airport

Amsterdam - AMS7.8

  • Efficiency8.5 / 10
  • Access7.5 / 10
  • Services7.5 / 10
  • Cleanliness7.5 / 10

Conclusion

Overall a nice flight again back to town with KLM. I appreciate the crew's friendly attitude towards passengers and they work hard to please everyone on board. On this night flight I also liked it that light were dimmed to give everyone the opportunity to have a sleep, but I believe that is a common thing during night flights. The entertainment system is a bit old compared to the newly installed IFE I used on my flight towards JFK a week before on the newly refitted B772. The IFE on this B747 does not offer a touch-screen, but has a 'controller' in the arm of the chair, and the screen is not that bright compared with the new ones. However for a night flight, you can survive with such a screen, but if you would have a day flight I would recommend a B777 over this B747 then ;).

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Comments (4)

  • Thanks for sharing this FR aboard the Queen!

    and within 10 minutes I was standing 'airside' already! Americans can work sufficiently... ;)

    - At JFK, 10 minutes through TSA? I don't believe you :)

    upgrades to the World Business Class (WBC) where sold for 'only' $849

    - That is definitely not worth it for an old angle-lie flat on a 6.5-hour flight, highway robbery. Shame you had a Combi that hasn't been retrofitted yet (My parents said the one they took from IAH last month had the new product). Seat pitch looks great in Y+, but I don't like how these seats are jammed into that small area next to the galley on the Combis. You said there was no noise, but it just feels like a narrow-body when you only have a 3-2 configuration! Not to mention, who wants that seat right next to a wall with no windows :)

    Beautiful night shot of NYC on departure. You also had the perfect seat to take those wing/engine shots. The first one looks amazing with that bright blue sky.

    Your dinner or late night snack looks good. Maybe it's an optical allusion because of the shape, but the size of the main doesn't look very big on KL. The free alcoholic drinks makes up for that deficiency with proper drink services.

    Start each day like it's your birthday

    - I hope I get a better breakfast than that on my birthday, but the offering is very good for TATL standards since it contains a yogurt along with the cake. Most carriers are serving a pastry only.

    Thanks for sharing these reports with us, hope there are more to come in the future.

  • The 744 looks awesome in blue, I'm excited to see it here in Bogotá next semester!

    The seats sure look old, but are they less comfortable than the new ones on the 777? The IFE is something one can work around....hell, we've managed with AFs on the A343s!

    Thanks for sharing!

  • Thanks for this FR.

    I also flew on PH-BFD and did FR.

    Did anybody purchase the 849$ upgrade?

    Usual good KLM flight with decent catering and friendly crew.

    • It looked like one or two passengers bought it, but I am not completely sure. For a shorter red-eye flight like this one not worth the money compared to a day-flight imo!

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