Review of KLM flight Manchester Amsterdam in Business

Airline KLM
Flight KL1094
Class Business
Seat 1A
Aircraft Boeing 737-800
Flight time 01:25
Take-off 13 Mar 16, 17:20
Arrival at 13 Mar 16, 19:45
KL   #44 out of 96 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 1049 reviews
BobbieD
By 2225
Published on 14th March 2016
This is the first leg of business trip from Manchester to Nanjing, China flying out with KLM and Sichuan Airlines and returning with China Southern and Air France. The flights are as follows:

outbound:
MAN-AMS KL1094
AMS-CTU KL891
CTU-NKG 3U8993

return:
NKG-CAN CZ3844
CAN-CDG AF107
CDG-MAN AF1668

For this flight I was picked up by taxi and driven to MAN from my home through the the beautiful Peak District. After being dropped at the rather chaotic drop off point directly outside Terminal 3 I proceeded to the Skypriority check-in desk. I was greeted warmly by the check-in staff and asked about the my connection in China. I would need to pass immigration at Chengdu, collect my baggage and re-check-in for my internal flight (rather like entry to the US but with a lot less queuing at the border!)

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I proceeded down the fast-track security lane. The x-ray machine seemed to be sending so many trays to be checked that it was slowing the whole system down. One tray cam through and the other took a little while longer.

I then proceeded to the Escape lounge. It was rather full of people, but cleared a bit as I was leaving.

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The food selection consisted of a greek salad,cous cous salad, some warm savoury pasties (sausage rolls etc), cheese and crackers and a couple of desserts.

I chose the salads and some cheese and crackers as well as a glass of wine from the bar.

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I decided to try the desserts as well. A flapjack and a small slice of bakewell tart. The food was ok, but nothing to write home about, and I'm certain the homemade bakewell tart I made a couple of weeks early tasted better than this one!

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It was soon time to head down to the gate.

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Business class passengers were called first and skypriority passengers were to be called next, I went to queue where the skypriorty passengers seemed to have decided to board anyway.

Down the airbridge

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I took my seat 1A. Plenty of legroom here

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The usual magazines and safety card in the pocket

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Being in seat 1A, I could see right back up the airbidge and watch everybody come down.

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As well as a view of my neighbour - Flybe

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After everybody boarded I was offered a newspaper but declined. The doors were shut and we were ready to go.

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The captain told us we would have to wait a little longer for a slot into AMS but we were then soon on our way.

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We got a nice view of the peak district from above.

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The meal service began. I was offered a salad. It looked nice with pumpkin and I started to tuck in, then I noticed something else inside. I consulted the meal to discover it was beef - not so good for a vegetarian like me! This is one thing about the business class meal. There was no online choice for a vegetarian meal on this flight. Usually in economy the meal e.g. sandwich would be suitable for vegetairans (often a cheese sandwich with KLM if they are offering food.) I picked around the beef, the pumpkin bit was quite nice.



We were coming to land in AMS. Unfortunately, we had flown slowly for our slot and were running at least 30 mins late. We parked up and I was straight off to my connection.

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Verdict

KLM

6.8/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Meal/catering6.0

FlyBe Executive Lounge

5.0/10
Comfort5.0
Meal/catering5.0
Entertainment/wifi5.0
Services5.0

Manchester - MAN

5.5/10
Efficiency4.0
Access5.0
Services6.0
Cleanliness7.0

Amsterdam - AMS

7.8/10
Efficiency7.0
Access8.0
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

This was my first ever experience of business class and of the lounge. Overall, it was ok, nothing specacular. The lounge itself was rather busy and there wasn't really a proper meal on offer. On board it was fine. It's nice to be able to get off the plane first but a vegetarian option for these short haul flights would have been appreciated. I wouldn't go out of my way to fly on this short leg in business unless I had a long haul connection.

Information on the route Manchester (MAN) Amsterdam (AMS)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 10 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Manchester (MAN) → Amsterdam (AMS).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est KLM avec 7.4/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 1 heures et 12 minutes.

  More information

5 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 159642 by
    marathon GOLD 10117 Comments
    A comprehensive description of a rather nondescript flight :)
    I'm looking forward to reading the reports on the more interesting (from my point of view) subsequent flights of your trip.
    Thanks for sharing !
  • Comment 159688 by
    Scott05 570 Comments
    Thank you for this report !
    It's a shame KLM doesn't provide you with a vegetarian meal, especially if they propose a suitable sandwich in economy class! Did you mention it to the cabin crew?
    About the the legroom, wasn't it a bit tight with the bulkhead just in front?
    Your marks include the Flybe executive lounge and all the marks are on 5 : did you forget to mark the lounge ? ;)

    Overall definitely not a product to buy without a long haul business flight to connect to. Looking forward to this one !
    • Comment 336472 by
      BobbieD AUTHOR 93 Comments
      Actually I didn't mention it. The meal looked fine to start with, I couldn't complain as I had already eaten half of it!

      The legroom was fine actually, plenty of space for me.

      I thought the lounge was pretty average, hence the 5s
  • Comment 160312 by
    KL651 TEAM 4534 Comments
    Thanks for this FR.

    On KL Cityhopper flights they offer a choice between two sandwiches, so they should do the same on mainline flights.

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