Review of KLM flight Bangkok Amsterdam in Business

Airline KLM
Flight KL876
Class Business
Seat 4K
Aircraft Boeing 777-300ER
Flight time 11:40
Take-off 23 Oct 18, 12:05
Arrival at 23 Oct 18, 18:45
KL   #43 out of 95 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 1049 reviews
ThomasDutch
By SILVER 5216
Published on 25th October 2018

Intro


While it was time to return to Brussels via Amsterdam with KLM's Boeing 777-300ER, I decided to upgrade my ticket on the first leg to a business class seat. The fact that unfavourable winds were expected on our way to Amsterdam and I never tried their business class on long haul made it quite an easy choice to do so. This upgrade would give you access too to use Bangkok's priority lane, which significantly reduces the time you spend on security and border control in Bangkok. Without this pass, it could be a significant hassle and pain in the ass to pass all those checks.

Start of the Journey


While checking out of my hotel, I asked one of the employees of the hotel to arrange a taxi to bring us to Suvarnabhumi. Surprisingly he found a taxi driver who was willing to use his taximeter to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi, which meant that the price would be significantly reduced to what most drivers would ask from downtown Bangkok. The fair resulted in 260 THB (+120 THB for tollroads), while most taxi's I know would charge about 400 to 500 THB without toll. I could have taken the skytrain too (for about 60 THB), but I always feel more comfortable using a taxi back to home.
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Upon arrival by taxi, we ended up in a very crowded terminal. Definitely something I absolutely I'm not a fan of, but who is?
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While Air France-KLM is using row P to check-in, I was kindly greeted by one of the female ground staff and was pointed to the right desk. The lady itself that was checking me in was not really the friendliest nor the rudest, but I was out of it within a minute or two, so I can't really complain about that either.
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While I still had plenty of time, I decided to go to floor two to have some breakfast as I did not have any with my girlfriend. 2 hours prior to flight, we split our way and I went to the priority lane, which would be cleared in approximately 15 minutes. (without this priority, it could easily take over a hour to clear if you are unlucky).

Now in the secure zone of the airport, I decided to head to Air France-KLM's lounge to just have a relaxed wait till boarding was initiated. The lounge itself is nothing spectacular and offers a small variety of European and Asian food with a decent choice of drinks to your availability.


I settled myself in one of the corners of the lounge, which gave me a splendid view over the apron. Unfortunately a protective layer of the windows in front of me gave me no chance of decent photos of any of the aircraft that were parked on the apron.
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Even though the choice of food you could have was not that much, the food they offered was rather good. Especially the fruit.
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While it was announced in the lounge that the flight was boarding, I decided to grab my things and head for the gate. Upon arrival, most of the passengers were already on board of our flight to Bangkok.

Today's flight would be operated by PH-BVD, a 9.2 year old bird in KLM's Skyteam livery. The aircraft has only been in service to KLM and is named after the Kenyan Amboseli National Park
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KLM's business class on their 777 offers a full-flat seat with large tv screen, which you can either control by a controller or by simply touching the screen.
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Next to that you will receive an amenity kit of them and the headset they are offering you to use in flight is quite a comfortable noise reduction one. A pleasant one.
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While we were almost ready to be pushed back, the flight attendants came by and offered us a drink to our choice together with a warm stroopwafel (A Dutch delight). I opted for a Glass of champagne, but I forgot the name of the brand to be honest.
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Jetstar Asia bound for Singapore
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Two A380s. One of Thai and One of Emirates.
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The aircraft was pushed back slightly behind schedule and we were off to RWY 01R for a northerly departure. The taxi took us about 10 minutes and gave me a shot to capture a limited number of aircraft.

A Shanghai Airlines Boeing 737 arriving from Shanghai Pudong Airport.
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A Thai Airbus A330
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A Boeing 737 from China Southern.
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This final turn to 01R meant that I would not be able to see any other aircraft anymore except the one I was in. Waving goodbye already to Bangkok!
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Approaching the holding point of 01R, we were immediately cleared for take off.
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Shortly after take off, the Senior purser on board of our flight went around the business cabin to introduce him and to welcome you on board of their flight. While he was introducing himself, the other cabin attendants were serving us drinks together with salted nuts. I chose the Flying Dutchman cocktail as drink, which is a cocktail made specifically for KLM and only being served in their World Class Business. It is a mix of Damrak gin, Bols blackberry liqueur, fresh lemon juice and sugar syrup served with ice and a slice of lemon. I found it very refreshing.
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.Shortly after the flight attendants came around to serve us the menu for today's flight. KLM's style in business is to serve their first meal about 90 to 120 minutes after departure to anyone in business, the second meal (or multiple meals if you are hungry) you could order anytime throughout the flight until 1.5 hour prior to landing.

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Once food was served, I decided to take the Salmon as starter which was absolutely delicious combined with a Dutch white wine.
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As main I opted for the Thai dishes with an Austrian wine. The Massaman cury was good to eat, but all other dishes were just ok. Could have done a bit better.
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As dessert, I chose the fruit. It was definitely very fresh and very juicy. Great job KLM!
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to finish it off with a coffee and a chocolate.
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While the flight was happening during daytime, I decided not to take a nap to minimize my jetlag, so I did watch plenty of movies like Jumanji 2 and more. About 4 or 5 hours into the flight, cabin crew came around to serve us some Chicken Satay (which is like a national dish in Holland nowadays due to the huge number of Indonesians within our country). It was good, but definitely could have been heated a little more.
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In cruise.
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About 5 hours prior to landing, I got a little hungry and decided to make use of the any meal any time option for today's flight (was going to use it later once more). I asked one of the cabin attendants if they could serve me the Thai beef salad, which was absolutely a refreshing meal. Even though there was a bit too much sauce, the taste of it was outstanding. The side dish was a Thai desert too of Sticky rice with Mango (I'm a huge fan of this dessert)
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About 2 hours to landing, I decided to order the Korat styled Noodles with prawns (forgot to capture it). Not as good as the previous meal, this meal was still good.

About a hour prior to landing, the cabin attendants came around to give us one of their Delft Blue Houses as a gift for choosing Business class with them, while the Senior Purser came around for a personal chat with everyone if they were satisfied with the treatment given by them and if we needed something else prior to landing. Good personal touch!

We were now in approach to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, while the last sunlight was slowly disappearing behind the horizon.
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Even though we departed like 15 minutes late, they managed to land on-time in Amsterdam. Luckily enough RWY 27 was being used, which meant for a short taxi back to gate E22. Unfortunately we had to wait a minute or two prior to docking as the docking system was not turned on yet.
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While disembarkation was commenced about a minute or two after parking, it was now time for quite a walk to pass security and border control once again to continue on my next flight to Brussels. The picture is terrible, but it was now time to say our goodbye to this specific aircraft.
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Verdict

KLM

8.5/10
Cabin8.5
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering8.0

Air France Lounge

5.9/10
Comfort7.0
Meal/catering6.5
Entertainment/wifi4.0
Services6.0

Bangkok - BKK

7.6/10
Efficiency6.5
Access8.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness8.5

Amsterdam - AMS

8.1/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.5
Services8.0
Cleanliness8.0

Conclusion

The product KLM is selling as World Business Class is getting better when time passes by. They are definitely doing their best to improve their product and I had an enjoyable flight with them. The service on board was very professional, yet extremely friendly. The food being served was good and the seats are very comfortable.

Information on the route Bangkok (BKK) Amsterdam (AMS)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 9 avis concernant 2 compagnies sur la ligne Bangkok (BKK) → Amsterdam (AMS).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est EVA Air avec 8.2/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 12 heures et 13 minutes.

  More information

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