Selamat sore from cloudy Indonesia! Welcome to my flight report. As this one will be my first FR here, I won't say "welcome back" haha. Actually I live in Bandung, West Java. But, due to my study in Jakarta, CGK will be my base for almost all of my FRs, I guess. Thanks to my friend who also frequently writes reports here everytime he flies for introducing me to this fascinating platform. Let's start!
To be honest, this was my first international flight since most of my previous flights were by QG, JT or IW. I made a not-so-mainstream way to travel to KL by KLM. Actually I was planning not to put Malaysian immigration stamp on my passport first as it seemed too 'basic' for Indonesian LOL, but I thought it would be interesting as well, so why not?
I took the airport shuttle train by Railink from Manggarai to CGK. It costed me Rp70,000 ($4.67) for a 50' journey. Anyway, sorry for several blurry pics as I took some from my footage videos, but I can make sure that all of them represent the report.
This is the view of CGK's newest terminal, Terminal 3. Personally I prefer this one than the other 2 ones.
After arriving and tapping the train ticket on the gate, I continued by using the people-mover to the terminal.
This time, I used the T3 Ultimate for departing. This is the newest and biggest one as T3 serves almost all international flight - exclude the ones by LCCs - and GA flights to all destinations.
The terminal wasn't really crowded as the weekend hadn't come yet. So, the check-in process was efficient and the staff was really helpful. Kudos!
The greeneries here were a nice ornament by the airport developer to refresh passenger's eyes while waiting for boarding.
After passing the immigration desks, boarding time was yet to come. There were several interesting tenants such as Periplus bookstore, Pizza Hut, and not to forget the duty free store full of cosmetics and amenities.
Finally the boarding was announced and we lined up based on our zone and class. I was at zone 4 at that time.
This was my first time to board to a widebody aircraft. My first impression was WOW! Such a clean and nice cabin. I was lucky enough for a window seat and I sat at the second front row of the back part of the aircraft. The men in front of my seat were having a chit-chat with a stewardess and all of them were Dutch. No offense but I found the cabin crews not really friendly, or it was only my assumption based on Asian culture. But they did their duties professionally. KLM is the only European airline to serve Indonesia anyway. Lufthansa used to fly between Jakarta, KL and Frankfurt, but they've already suspended it.
The seat wasn't really thick but yes, it was comfy. Well designed for a more than 10-hour flight to Europe. But as I flew at night, there was nothing to see outside but city lamps, and I couldn't take a picture of the exterior as well. I didn't even know the aircraft's registration number. Airbridges were used on both departure and arrival.
KLM's configuration for their B772 was 3-4-3. I haven't tried to sit at the middle row and tbh I'm not interested as well LoL. There was an universal power supply beneath the seat.
I saw the bulkhead seats didn't look narrow as the passengers were still able to place their not-so-little bag in front of their legs.
The legroom was great for me, as I'm 167 cm only tall. But I'm sure the Caucasians didn't get a trouble for their legs.
This aircraft was equipped with IFE touch screen which was big and pretty responsive, so we didn't need any remote controls. Just touch and enjoy. They had nice selection of films and TV series, including the Dutch ones. New knowledges on film for me!
I watched Friends, but all available subtitles were only in Dutch. It was better not to read it as the serial was in American English. Luckily I studied German 2 years ago, so I could understand it a bit. A complimentary earphone was given and it was allowed to bring home, so I use that one right now to replace my damaged one. The audio quality was nice as well. Thanks KLM!
They had an interesting inflight magazine named Holland Herald and the Feb'20 cover featured Johan Cruyff, one of Dutch football legends.
Besides traveling informations, they featured their fleet details as well. They have a wide selection of Boeing aircrafts, but they have A330s too.
I have to admit that it was a nice idea of KLM to feature one of their so-called heritages, the Delft blue ceramics, as their safety video content. Once again, the subtitle was in Dutch.
Meal time! No choice were served on this flight. The dinner was chicken satay with rice and bean - and it was served hot. The satay was in big slices, so I was satisfied. The seasoning was strong enough for me, but still tolerable. I chose apple juice for the beverage.
Before serving the meal, they distributed a small tablecloth and the dining kits. It wasn't really thick as a plastic spoon, but solid enough to cut.
These were the cloth and refreshing towel - nice touch for a short haul in economy.
I inspected the lavatory and it was clean and wide enough, although there was a stinky smell probably left by a passenger after using it.
One hour to go and I spent it by watching an Arab movie - probably from North Africa - named El Mouchagheb. It seemed to be from 50-60s production.
We landed at KLIA about 5 minutes faster than expected. Immediately I looked for local simcard store as I needed it for ordering Grabcar which brought me from KL Sentral to my hostel. There were no 7-day package by Digi, so I had to purchase the 2-week one which costed me RM45 ($10.46).
Coronavirus had just started spreading in Malaysia, so I saw a lot of people using their facemasks.
A bus ride from KLIA to KL Sentral costed me RM12 ($2.79) and I continued by Grabcar for RM10 ($2.33) to Bukit Bintang. As you can see below, MH was promoting their WiFi service on their A350. Mind to have a try?
For you all who are willing to have a try, this flight only costed me Rp625,000 ($41.69) on KLM's website without any additional charges - compared with Rp7xx,000 to Rp915,000 ($61) on OTAs. I only brought a small cabin suitcase for 3 day stay, so it really lowered my budget.
Welcome to Flight-Report, Juneeet! Thanks for sharing this flight. Looks like KL offers a very nice experience, even in Y, and even for such a short flight. Didn't KL also used to fly CGK-SIN? I remember something somewhere about a KL Indonesia-Singapore flight... Thanks again, and I look forward to reading more of your reports!
Hello NewYorker, many thanks for such a warm regard. And yes, now they serve DPS-SIN besides CGK-KUL, might be trying that route someday. CI also used to fly between SUB and SIN, but I sadly heard they already discontinued it.
Hi Juneeet, thanks for sharing your first report here with us! Great job on your first report with just the right amount of details and photos!
These KL 5th freedom flights have much nicer service than on similar short-haul flights within Europe. Despite the lack of choice, the meal looks nice for 1.5h flight....by European standards of course.
Welcome to Flight-Report and I look forward to future reports!
Hi there Kevin! Thanks a lot for your compliments. Wow really? The Cityhopper ones seem to use smaller aircrafts, such as Embraer, right? Looking forward to flying on other FF flights as well.
Thanks for this report and welcome.
5th freedom flights are so exotic, wish we had more in Europe.
Too bad you didn't have a friendly crew, KL is famous for them.
Halo, thank you anyway. It was only my opinion at that time, but I saw how accomplished they were. Interesting to fly on KLM again next time :)
Welcome to our community :).
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I'm not entirely sure why KLM chose to fly this fifth freedom right as I am pretty sure they'd be able to fly both directly and still be fully booked to both destinations, but it definitely gives you a chance to fly a widebody and an European airline in Asia if you are keen on them (I still prefer Asian carriers :p).
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I hear quite often from Asian and Southern Europeans to consider KLM's cabin crew to be rude, but I fear this has something more to do with the mentality of the Dutch as we're quite direct. If there is something we don't appreciate or don't have, we simply tell you it directly and it is often not meant as rude by ourself, while others may consider it too be :), though hospitality is definitely better with most Asian carriers too :p
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Thanks for writing and keep on flying once this is all over! :)
Hello Thomas,
I have a same thought with you as well, as GA fly directly between CGK and AMS. As (how to say it, ex-colony route?), they might be the same. But probably they also want to reach Malaysia market, as it's one of the biggest hubs for Asia besides Singapore. That's why I love 5th freedom flights haha.
Regarding the crews, how interesting to understand the direct culture, noted. I'm looking for a perfect time after this pandemic to fly with KLM again :) one of the best deals on this peak route.
Welcome to the community Junet,
hhmmmmm, based on my experience KL is one of the friendliest cabin crew out there. Maybe your expectation on friendly cabin crew is pleasantries forced to smile one like lots of Asian airlines do? Nah, They are there not only to smile and greet every single pax, but they will absolutely helpful if you're asking for help.
Keep writing budd!
Dear Emyr,
I'd like to thank you for your nice greeting. I don't know but probably they have different standards and customs? I appreciate it so much and indeed, they were really helpful onboard. They offered me drinks several time to keep us hydrated during this short haul flight. Nice touch and good job, tho. Mind to join me on the same KL flight? LoL
Welcome!
Who is he? There can only be so many Indonesian FR writers around - YouTube vlogs are more popular than this :p
That flight is pretty mainstream here, not least because it offered great value as you mentioned. The next time you fly on this route (or the other way round), try their business class - it starts from Rp2.200.000 (~US$150) each way on the right days and offered pretty good value too (plus, the miniature houses are something to collect too).
Consider yourself lucky then - I had flown on this route a couple of times and the economy meals were consistently pretty bland.
I had tried it myself, but it was based on data usage so it was pretty expensive.
Thank you!