Dear Flight Report Enthusiasts, Welcome to another FR on my account. I've been thinking about not doing this one because I've reported the KLM J-product in the 777 multiple times so what's new about this one? Actually, not that much… I'm kind of a boring traveller from a FR-perspective: Almost always North America, almost always KLM-metal. So, either I report well-known KLM flights or I report nothing at all. Since I'm such a passionate reader of this site and I read so many of the great products posted here, I figured I might as well add to the database, even though the flights are well known and well reported. If you want to read my previous KLM 772 experience, you can find it here. So, here we go.
This trip was part of a journey which led me through New York to Dallas/Fort Worth. The return was from DFW to MSP back to AMS on Delta metal. A night flight and I never take much pictures on red-eyes, not much to report anyway. However, one thing I did want to mention was that on the DFW-airport the flight was overbooked with Delta offering people a flight a day later with rewards going upto $1000. I didn't do it because you don't get the money cash but as a Delta voucher valid for one year, and I wanted to go home. However, never before did they offer this much money on a flight I was one to give up my seat. If I'd had a trip planned in the near future, I would've taken it. So what do you think, should I've taken the money?
Departure & Schiphol
I got up around 6am on the morning of Saturday 9th of September. My wife and kids had to go to the gym and offered to drop me off at the local train station, which was quite nice. I still had a lot of work to do and the KLM Crown Lounge WiFi is good enough to do so, so I figured why not? So we drove on an empty highway to the train station of Den Bosch ('s-Hertogenbosch as it is also known) which is very well constructed. There's my intercity with direct service to Schiphol: An empty cabin on a rainy saturday morning For people who've never been to Schiphol Airport, the Railway station is directly underneath the departure area which enables quick transfers. I checked in easily (sorry, no pictures of checkin, it was quite busy) in the Sky Priority section which has a seperate stairway to the security area. This too makes it quite easy to go through all the mandatory hurdles. I went through quite quickly even though my hand luggage was selected for a random security check and the automatic passport machines had quite a queue. I wanted to take a picture there as well but with so many people waiting behind me I chose not to. WIthin 20 minutes after arriving at Schiphol, I found myself in the well-known KLM Crown Lounge where I grabbed some breakfast. Crown Lounge breakfast is typically Dutch: Bread & Cheese with coffee. Fine for me, I hope for other passengers as well. Here are today's travel documents View on the tarmac is still quite limited: Today's plane is PH-BQA named Albert Plesman
The flight
I was welcomed aboard by a very friendly flight attendent and immediately offered the traditionel welcome drink. I chose the champagne (unsure if it actually is champagne), because hey, I still had 14 hrs of travel ahead of me with somebody picking me up in DFW so no driving ahead of me. It went down quite well! The amenity kit was handed out. I'm not giving any details on that, it is quite limited as reported last time. Here are some pictures of the legroom-situation which is still quite nice: "Another one sire?". I don't see why not…. While boarding was in progress, I took a quick trip to the bathroom and had the opportunity to take some pictures. It is basically the same as the Y-bathroom with Zenology-products inside. Everything was clean & nice. Getting back to my chair the nice FA started preparing the cabin for take-off: Some more interior shots: I was surprised to see KLM has a new noise-cancellation headphone. I should have tried it out to tell you guys, but I always bring my own which I just like better and I think are also superior in quality (Bose Quietcomfort 15). So I never used them, sorry. Anybody have any experience with these new headsets? Prepare for take-off: Line-up on the runway. I had an aisle seat (I almost always do) so sorry not a lot of exterior shots. Wheels-up at 13:39 local time Some Bols Signature Cocktail (still quite nice) and some water to begin the flight with: The movie library gave me a lot of nice options. The couple next to me were travelling with a baby. It was a very sweet baby, hardly any crying with great parents. It was a first for me though to see a baby in business class. Some seat-shots: Then it was time for lunch. KLM meals have greatly improved over the last years I believe, hiring Michelin chef-stars to cook. However, this is not always true, as the snack was not so good. However, this meal was perfect. Sorry I forgot what it was exactly but I believe salmon as a starter & beef as a main course, paired with a nice white wine. Napkin-hole. Quite love it :-) After the meal I strolled around a little bit. The J-cabin is nice, spacious and light. I quite like it! Time for the main course with some more close-ups of the tableware: There they are, the most tacky pepper & salt shakers in the history of pepper and salt shakers :-) Time for desert. I chose the cheese & fruit, but was offered the chocolate mousse afterwards as well. Hmmm, why not? After desert I had some tea. KLM uses Dilmah tea. Water was distributed Here are some more shots of the seat, both in upright and full-flat position. I had a nice sleep, perhaps some 4 hours; the seat sleeps quite nice.
As we were entering North America, lunch was offered. This time I chose the hamburger, as it was no longer available during my last flight. It was to be honest not that good. McDonals makes a better burger and that's not a compliment imho. The kind FA went around the cabin with the well-known houses but I was in the toilet at the time. When I got back, I asked her if she had #75 still lacking from my collection. She went above & beyond to find it, pulling out boxes and boxes of houses. But in the end, she found it, completing my The Hague set of houses. I walked around the galley a bit before touching down in New York.
Some final shots & time to leave a small reminder on the Holland Herald: As we arrived in New York, it was beautifull weather
And so ended another great flight with KLM bringing me on-time to New York city. Connection went smooth and the connecting flight is really not worth reporting.
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Verdict
KLM
8.1/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Meal/catering7.5
KLM Crown Lounge 5 - Non Schengen
7.9/10
Comfort8.0
Meal/catering7.5
Entertainment/wifi7.5
Services8.5
Amsterdam - AMS
8.9/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.5
New York - JFK
9.0/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness9.0
Conclusion
KLM offers a great product which keeps getting better on some points, but is getting worse on others. The food, the menu, the noise cancellation headphones and ofcourse the seats are getting better all the time. For some reason, the amenity kit is getting worse; but if I had to choose one thing to trade for better seats and dinner, it would be the amenity kit. All in all a great flight once again with a great crew and great food, save for the hamburger snack before landing. Hope you enjoyed this report as KLM and their J-product is well-reported on this site.
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Thanks for this FR. KLM catering has indeed improved over the years, but I'm really not sure about this burger which has nothing to do in J class. I had no idea the crew had so many KLM houses to choose from!
Yes they have many boxes full, most with the same numbers but this FA wasn't going to give up! I agree on the burger; had the sandwich last time which was nice but really didn't belong in J either. Thanks for your reply!
Great report as always! Every flight is worth reporting, no matter how many times it's on the same carrier or metal, etc. Things are always changing, like catering here, so it's always great to see the evolution of products for the better or for the worse, be it hard or soft product. Seems like KLM amenity kits are always changing. One minute they're good, the next they're bad again. I like napkin holes too. Almost essential for eating on an aircraft! I would never do it in a restaurant, though, haha. But on a plane it's too easy to spill on yourself, especially wine in turbulence...I speak from experience of course.
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6 Comments
KLM catering has indeed improved over the years, but I'm really not sure about this burger which has nothing to do in J class.
I had no idea the crew had so many KLM houses to choose from!
Thanks for sharing!
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