AMS-JFK-AMS 31/03/2015 STD 13.30 - STA 15.30 KL641 PH-BQF –> This report 06/04/2015 STD 22.45 - STA 07/04/2015 12.05 KL644 PH-BFD –> Can be found HERE!
Since I have a friend of mine studying in New York, I planned to visit him around Easter when he was back in the country during Christmas and NYE last year. I booked a ticket with KLM during the famous 'KLM Werelddealweken' (Worlddealweeks) in January, in which I managed to book a return ticket AMS-JFK-AMS for €569 plus €10 booking fee. Because these would be my first Transatlantic flights ever, I decided to also book a seat in the Economy Comfort-zone for €160 extra, meaning €80 per flight and the total amount spend for the flight at €739, not a bad deal I think.
Tuesday the 31st of March was there and time to get to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, which is only a convenient 15-20 minute cardrive from my home. I flew today on the KL641, one of the two afternoon flights of KLM towards New York. Check in had already been done the day before at home, so I only needed to check in my suitcase at a self-service baggage drop-off, which went smoothly, and afterwards I cleared passport control, to end in departure lounge 2, since my flight would leave from gate E06. Schiphol is renewing the departure lounge, so all shops and restaurants in this part are located at temporary positions in smaller shops.
Building construction in departure lounge 2
Since it was a narrow, busy and bit messy I decided to check out departure lounge 3, which is suggested for departures from G, H and M-gates, but is also reachable from departure lounge 2 (for departures from E & F gates) by a walk over the so-called 'Holland Boulevard'.
'Holland Boulevard'
Overview on departure lounge 3, seen from above, next to KLM's Crown Lounge
After a small drink and bite I decided to return back to the E-pier.
Monitors showing the departures this afternoon
Travellator at the E-pier
Next to my gate a Delta 747, which only flies from and to Amsterdam during Summer, was parked.
A Delta 747, N664US performing flight DL72 to Atlanta, parked at gate E08
Then it was time to board my flight, so I headed towards gate E06.
Travellator next to gate E06
Today I was flying on a Boeing 777-200ER, the PH-BQF, nicknamed 'Ferrara City' and carrying KLM Asia titles.
KLM's PH-BQF, a Boeing 772
I was a bit lucky, since I had seen on the seatmap from the time of booking I would be on a newly configurated B772 because of the 2-2-2 configuration in Business and 3-4-3 configuration in Economy. The only 772s that were configurated by that time were PH-BQA, PH-BQB, PH-BQE and PH-BQF, which resumed service the day before on flight KL591/592 to & from JNB.
After clearing securaty at the gate I had to wait before boarding, because Business class passenger and Economy class passengers in row 35-43 were boarded first. It gave my time to make another photo of this beauty, and check weather and departures at Schiphol on FR24, since it was a quite windy day at Schiphol and all in- and outboun flights had been affected, because only 1 departure runway (24, 'Kaagbaan') and 1 arrival runway (09/27, 'Buitenveldertbaan') were available.
Another look on PH-BQF
Boarding went quite well and everyone had been on board at 13.15, since scheduled departure time was 13.30. Because of the conditions, the captain announed we would depart a 45 minute later than expected. It gave me the time and opportunity to test the new entertainment system and make a last but very applicable photo shot.
Playing Weekend Millionairs on the new touchscreen of the entertainment system
Applicable last shot at the gate, 'New York, here I come'
Legroom in the Economy Comfort-zone is quite nice, oferring an extra 5 inch of legroom compared to legroom in Economy class, I was actually able to stretch my legs completely, although I am not tthe tallest person (1.77 m.) it was very comfortable and welcome for an 8 hour flight. The seat itself was okay, however the seat is a bit lower, shorter and narrower than the older seats I experienced on the Boeing 737-700 and -800s.
The obligatory legroom picture from my seat, 11K
At 14.17, we were pushed back and ather a 10 minute ride we arrived at the departure runway, runway 24 ('Kaagbaan').
Departure from runway 24 at 14.28
Today's routing would be in a south-westernly direction, over the villages of Nieuw-Vennep and Noordwijk, leaving the Netherlands and heading over the North Sea towards Engeland.
View on the Westcoast of the Netherlands out of my window
Further routing continued over the very south of England in a WSW direction towards the Northeast coast of Canada and the USA. After an hour into flight, crew started the first drinkservice together with a small bite.
I opted for a Heineken beer and the smoked almonds, the latter one was served to everyone by the way
Two hours into flight, mealservice started, and there had been a choice between pasta and chicken. While my neighbours, a pretty nice and lvoely elderly couple, chose the chicken, I decided to go for the pasta together with a Caubernet-Sauvignon red wine.
Dinner on this flight consisted of pasta, salad, a bread roll, crackers with butter and cheese, lemon-berries mousse and a bottle of water, together with a Cabernet-Sauvignon red wine
The meal tasted delicious, the pasta was hot and not too spicy but just good, afterwards I had the mixed salad which was also fine, followed by the lemon-berries mousse, which was a refreshing mousse, not too sweet at all, but it had a good taste, also because of the berries that were in there. I ended by eating the crackers with the cheese, together with the last slugs of red wine.
After cleaning up the cabin by the crew, there was a coffee and tea service, accompanied with a liquor (either Cognac or Amarula), of which I forgot to take a picture. A nice chat with my neighbours and one of the flight attendants followed, and since it took some amount of time our cups got empty and were refilled (both the coffee and liquor! :)), lucky bastards we were!
An hour later or so, cabin crew came by with some extra drinks, offering water, apple and orange juice, or coca cola. After that I decided to stretch my legs, catch another bottle of water in the back gallery, and went to the lavatory.
View on the front of the Economy class, stretching from rows 10-26 (rows 10-14 are Economy Comfort-zone, but are not really separated from the regular Economy class)
Clean lavatory; lavatories had been cleaned twice during the flight by a cabin attendant
I decided to start watching 'Casino Royale' on my IFE-screen and in the meantime the crew came by serving caramel crunch-flavoured ice-cream from ''t IJsboerke', a really nice refreshing moment during the flight, as I continued watching the movie and also took a look in my Lonely Planet travel guide for some time… ;)
The ice-cream that had been served, together with a small bottle of water
After another round of extra drinks (offering water, apple and orange juice, or coca cola again), crew started a snack service 1,5 hour before landing. Choice this time was between a hot savory snack (chicken pastry) or a hot sweet (cinnamon roll), I decided to go for the latter one.
The hot sweet snack that had been offered, together with a Heineken beer and a small bottle of water
Unfortunately, we were not able to track the flight on the IFE-screen today. I asked the purser why, and she answered a couple of minutes later after verifying with the captain that it was because the American authorities did not want the flight could be tracked, which is of course bullshit, but okay. My neighbour, a formed air traffic controller and a very frequent flyer to the USA with both KLM and Delta, confirmed that as well.
The not-working flight-tracking service on the new IFE-screen, too bad they did not work :(
After visiting the lavatories for a second time, in which I took a shot from the last window in the back, descent began and everyone had to return to their seat.
View out of the very last window on the plane
After a smooth landing on runway 22L at 16.37 LT (because of the clouds I was not able to make any picture that made any sense), and a long taxi-route towards terminal 4, the aircraft came at a stop at gate B28 at 16.50 LT.
An ANA B777 taxiing on the ground at JFK
Deboarding went also quite fast, also because I was seated in the front of the plane, I also passed the World Business Class, offering a tremendous amount of space!
Seat 4K in the new World Business Class of KLM on the B772
I deboarded the plane, made my way to immigration, and was cleared to enter the USA, welcome to New York!
As a bonus, here some of the pics I made during the week in New York, all iPhone 5S shots.
View from my hotel room (Wyndham Garden Chinatown) Top of the Rock Lady Liberty Liberty Island seen from the deck of the Statue Cruise ship Top of the Rock by night
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed!
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Verdict
KLM
8.6/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew9.0
Entertainment/wifi8.5
Meal/catering9.0
Amsterdam - AMS
7.8/10
Efficiency8.0
Access8.0
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5
New York - JFK
7.4/10
Efficiency7.0
Access7.5
Services7.5
Cleanliness7.5
Conclusion
Despite the delay had a very good flight, crew did a good job to let people enjoying the flight! Economy comfort is definitely worth the extra money, although I am not the tallest one on earth (1.77) I really liked it.
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That was a good fare and the upgrade to economy comfort looks like money well spent for a better pitch. The new seats 'look' good, but comfort will suffer in a 3-4-3 configuration.
Two hours into the flight seems very late for the first meal service on a shorter TATL like this. But with only a small pre-arrival snack, maybe it's better for them to wait. Next time, take a picture after removing the plastic from the meal tray :)
I have never seen a flight in/out of the US have the moving map disabled, so I find that weird. I've also never flown in/out of JFK, so maybe that is airport specific?
Nice photo bonus. Looks like you had a good weather.
Thanks for your comment, I agree that the comfort in 3-3-3, 2-4-2 or even a 2-3-2 configuration world have been better, the seats are narrower than the previous ones, which are already narrower than the ones at Delta for example! I forgot to make a picture of the food after removing all the plastic, at least one has an idea how it looks like when they bring in the food now and on the return leg I idd nog forgot to make one without the plastic being removed! :) Actually I don't think that it is JFK-specific, since my neighbours flew 3-4 times a year on both KLM and Delta to JFK, and this was the first time for them to see a not working flight-tracker, maybe they encountered problems since it was just the 3rd flight of the machine since the installation of the new IFE? The weather was indeed really nice for the beginning of April, lucky me :)
KL might not be a favorite darling like TK in this site, but count me in as a fan when it comes to their Y long haul product. I consider them second after TK because KL offers some nice extras like hot towels, generous snacks in between meals and decent food. Their J product is a different story though.
You're welcome! I can imagine that for the price you have to pay in J at KLM on long-haul and the comfort, food and entertainment you will get is not competitive to TK and other Asian airliners, but being in Economy (Comfort) has some advantages at least! :)
Thanks for sharing this flight with the new cabin interior that looks good. I really like the new IFE that is not only big but seems to have a much better quality . Catering seems quite nice for economy ( I don't think there is a difference between economy and economy + regarding the meals.) The pitch is nice but it seems that a lot of new seats on different airlines are getting narrower and I believe comfort is not just legroom but also a good width.
Thanks for sharing one of the first reports on KL's new 777 cabins. I will echo NGO85's comment in saying that the seats look good visually with the modern lines and large PTVs, but the 3-4-3 configuration is so sardine can for me. I like the better leg room in Economy comfort, which I've flown a few times on the older version. I think they should have kept the Economy Comfort zone in a 3-3-3 configuration, to distinguish it a bit more from regular Y. AA did that with their Main Cabin Extra seats on their 77W fleet and new 772ER configuration.
Nice FR, the new KLM seats look nice, but cramped. Can't tell if it is really an upgrade from the previous seats. The food offerings look good, so do the drinks. AV doesn't offer that kind of service in flights of comparable length...shame on you AV!
In regards to the defective moving map system, I also had the exact same experience on my Air NZ 777-300 flight from LHR-LAX. The issue with 777 aircraft is that they are not good with handling new entertainment software, which is why yours was not working, in a few months it will be integrated into the system correctly, the issue is that it's just a new software and it doesn't work well/ hasn't been tried and tested correctly, hence this system works on KLM's 777-300 but not the -200 series. BTW I am taking the exact same flights as you from AMS-JFK-AMS on the 777-200 and the 747-400. Can't wait! Thanks for the great report!
I asked KLM before my flight on Twitter and they answerd row 18 and 31 lack a window in the 772. All Eco Comfort seats do have a window but the one at row 11 wasn't the most pleasant one to watch through since I had to move my head in such a position that my neck hurted, but at least there is a window :P
And do you know about row 12? because I'd like to make a gopro video on my next trip to JFK in December but i'd like to make sure there is a window in my row ;) I've now booked seat 12K
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15 Comments
That was a good fare and the upgrade to economy comfort looks like money well spent for a better pitch. The new seats 'look' good, but comfort will suffer in a 3-4-3 configuration.
Two hours into the flight seems very late for the first meal service on a shorter TATL like this. But with only a small pre-arrival snack, maybe it's better for them to wait. Next time, take a picture after removing the plastic from the meal tray :)
I have never seen a flight in/out of the US have the moving map disabled, so I find that weird. I've also never flown in/out of JFK, so maybe that is airport specific?
Nice photo bonus. Looks like you had a good weather.
I forgot to make a picture of the food after removing all the plastic, at least one has an idea how it looks like when they bring in the food now and on the return leg I idd nog forgot to make one without the plastic being removed! :)
Actually I don't think that it is JFK-specific, since my neighbours flew 3-4 times a year on both KLM and Delta to JFK, and this was the first time for them to see a not working flight-tracker, maybe they encountered problems since it was just the 3rd flight of the machine since the installation of the new IFE?
The weather was indeed really nice for the beginning of April, lucky me :)
KL might not be a favorite darling like TK in this site, but count me in as a fan when it comes to their Y long haul product. I consider them second after TK because KL offers some nice extras like hot towels, generous snacks in between meals and decent food. Their J product is a different story though.
Nice that you were able to sample the new cabin!
The screen is a HUGE improvement.
Nice service provided by KL once again.
Catering seems quite nice for economy ( I don't think there is a difference between economy and economy + regarding the meals.) The pitch is nice but it seems that a lot of new seats on different airlines are getting narrower and I believe comfort is not just legroom but also a good width.
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