Review of TUI fly flight Amsterdam → Willemstad in Premium Eco

28/08/2015 12.05 OR363 AMS - CUR This Report
05/09/2015 20.00 OR368 CUR - AMS Next Report

On the last friday morning in August my 9-day holiday trip to Curacao started at Schiphol Airport. I booked this trip with travel organization Arke (since October 1st being called TUI) with the knowledge that we would fly in one of their 3 new Boeing 787-800 Dreamliners (PH-TFK, PH-TFL ad PH-TFM). Arke offers 4 different classes within its Dreamliner-fleet, Star Class (comparable with Economy class at KLM, drinks and food included, as well as 114 cm legroom), Premium Comfort Class (same as Star Class but with only 94 cm of legroom), Comfort Class (1 drink and 1 meal included, 84 cm legroom), and Economy (same as Comfort Class, but with only 76 cm of legroom). I opted for Comfort Class and knew that our plane would only have Star, Comfort and Economy Class (this configuration is available on the PH-TFK and PH-TFL), while Premium Comfort is only available in stead of Star Class at the PH-TFM machine.

After arriving 3 hours before take-off at the airport, and experiencing 30 minutes waiting in a long line for the self-service check-in counters I continued to Schiphol’s newly build central security.

The long line in front of Arke's self-service desks.

Instead of directly going through passport control and security at the gate, now Schiphol created a security zone (similar tot he Schengen control area), after which the passport control takes place, which means no more controls at the gate. Everything went quite fast and within 15 minutes I arrived behind the entire security area. After relaxing and having a coffee and a small snack I continued tot he gate, which was at the G-pier (G5) this time, where PH-TFL was waiting for us.

PH-TFL waiting at Gate G5 for its departure to Montego Bay, in the back a Garuda B773 and Arke's PH-TFK at Gate G7.

However, Arke decided to make a last-minute change and changed my flight to gate G7 where PH-TFK, Arke’s first Dreamliner named #dreamcatcher was standing.

The Boeing 787-800 Dreamliner I was flying in to Curacao today, PH-TFK nicknamed '#dreamcatcher'.

Boarding started on-time and first Star Class passengers (row 1-3), elderly people and parents with young childeren were invited to come on board, followed by Economy passengers in the back (rows 35-45), then rows 25-34, followed by Comfort passengers in row 6 to 19 and last but not least the remaining passengers.

Sign at Gate G7 showing the boarding process had being started.

Entrance door of the Boeing 787.

When I arrived at row 14 at my seat I found a comfortable seat and similar legroom as I experienced with KLM's Economoy Comfort at its B772.

Seats on row 14 A, B and C.

Seats on row 14 D, E and F and G, H, K in the back.

The obligatory legroom shot, plenty of legroom for my legs for my length (1.77).

The flight did not depart on time after a smooth boarding process, since they encountered some problems with the bagage delivery. In the end the plane was being pushed back at 12.32 lt, and after a 12 minute taxi it became airborne at 12.44 lt via runway 24 (also known as ‘Kaagbaan’) in a south-westernly direction.
After 15 minutes into flight the cabin crew served out headphones for the entertainment system. Only passengers in Star Class will get those for free, other passengers can book the entertainment system (including the headphones) in advance for €7,50 and the ones who ordered them also got the headphones at this time. Passengers who wanted to activate the system in-flight could buy it on board for €10, so at this point I ‘saved’ €2,50 compared to that.

The entertainment screen in front of me, the same as being used in the refurbished KLM B772s.

Right after this, the crew served out a glass of water and a cookie.

Glass of water and a white chocolate-cranberry chip cookie.

In the meantime we flew in a straight line from the Dutch coast tot the west over England in the direction of Dublin.
The crew then turned off the normal mood lights and turned on the special color lights, and a special color show was visible for a couple of minutes!

The fancy rainbow color show.

City of Dublin.

After having passed Dublin, the cabin crew started to serve out the meals, together with a glass of water. Choices fort he menu were chicken and vegetarian noodles. I opted for the chicken, with next to it a small salad, crackers with cheese and as a dessert profiteroles (because the airline Arke(fly) existed 10 years this year).

Dinner included a few pieces of chicken, potatoes and vegetables, a small salad, crackers with old cheese and a 'surprise' dessert.

The dessert: profiteroles.

Having enjoyed the dinner I decided to watch a movie for some hours and afterwards I went to the bathroom, which looks okay, however it was not cleaned that extensively during the flight as during my previous KLM-flights to New York (KLM crew cleaned all toilets several times, now it was cleaned only once).

The toilet experience was okay, the Dreamliner mood lights were also here visible, but the space is still small.

I also made a walk though the Economy-zone of the plane, and could conclude that the normal Economy seat does not give too much comfort to the passengers there because of the narrow legroom of 76 cm.

Economy Comfort zone of this Boeing 787-800 reaches from row 10 (first row in the back) till row 19, followed by Economy seats.

View out of one of the window next to the center toilets over the wing of the B788.

The flight continued over the Atlantic Ocean in a straight line 400 kilometers westernly of the Azores towards the Northern Antilles. Also a KLM Airbus 330 was flying next to us, most probably the KL767 to Bonaire and Aruba which departed approximately half an hour earlier than us.

A KLM Airbus 330-200 (PH-AOC) flying to Bonaire.

After some time we passed the KLM and left it behind, showing that this Dreamliner indeed flies faster then most other aircraft. The Dreamliner is also famous because of its larger windows which can be adjusted manually darker and lighter, being really handy and fancy for the passenger.

The larger window of the B788, adjustable by the passengers themselves.

After having passed the Nothern Antilles the crew started the descent towards Curacao and passengers were served a small piece of candy (peppermint).

Peppermint and the flight map, showing that the destination was almost being reached.

View over Curacao's northern coast and the airport in the back.

After one turn tot he right we made a nice long left turn to the left over the north-eastern coast of Curacao and a smooth landing later we touched down at 16.06 lt at Hato Airport, located 12 km from the capital of Curacao, Willemstad.

Curacao International Airport, also known as Hato Airport.

When the aircraft was being attached to the gate the Star Class passengers could leave the plane, after which it was my turn to leave the aircraft and after the crew wished me a pleasant stay at the island of Curacao.


PH-TFK attached to one of the gates of Curacao's airport.

As a bonus, a few pictures from the beautiful island of Curacao:


Handelskade Willemstad by Night/

Handelskade Willemstad by day (view from Otrabanda).

Christoffel mountain.

Sparrow on top of the Christoffel mountain.

Grote Knip beach, also known as Playa Abou.