Friday newsletters always feature luxury travel contests, tips, series, or newsLondon […]. We have flown Manchester to Johannesburg via Schipol business class a number of times and we find their whole approach is far superior to other European airlines. We found Swiss Air cabin crew really rude , the seats on Lufthansa on the A were the same as the old business class seats but a lot more of them and not enough cabin crew for the amount of passengers.
Air France seats are not fully flat and we try to avoid if possible. Your description of your flight experience to St Maarten is excellent. I just wonder if you also have written up your stay in St Maarten.
Which hotel do you prefer and what is your experience on the island? This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed. News Ticker. Travel contests [ November 1, ] Top 10 haunted luxury hotels that will spook you Uncategorized [ October 29, ] Travel news: this month October in luxury travel Travel news. Have you ever flown with KLM? If so, what was your experience? Leave a comment. All seats in the cabin, except for the first and last row, are quite good, especially for couples.
The Business Class layout does not make the cabin very attractive for solo travelers, since you will always end up sitting next to a stranger. There is a small screen though between paired seats for added privacy. Passengers seated in the first row may be bothered by the noise of the galley and passengers going to or returning from the lavatories.
I also suggest to avoid the last row of Business Class, which is close to the Economy Class bassinet seats. MEALS Two meals were offered on this 9 hour flight from Amsterdam to the Caribbean: a full lunch after takeoff and a light meal 60 minutes prior to landing. Like this: Like Loading Lip balm and face moisturiser are sourced from Dutch cosmetics and lifestyle brand Rituals. The amenity kits come in multiple designs and colours, with new designs added each year.
Refreshing facial spray and hand lotion from Rituals await in the lavatories. Hot towels are a nice way to begin a meal on long-haul flight. Another clever touch is the small tins of Dutch Wilhelmina mints served with the meal. Slippers are only provided on selected routes to Asia. Families travelling with infants can request seats suitable for a bassinet; these should be reserved in advance to guarantee availability.
This long-standing tradition dating back to is a crew and passenger favourite. During the last hour of a long-haul flight, the crew passes around a tray of Genever-filled a Dutch gin Delft houses modelled on real buildings in the Netherlands. Each year, the airline picks a new building and story to honour, which is often celebrated with great excitement by locals. Each house has a number on the back allowing travellers to record them via a dedicated phone app and ultimately collect them all.
There is one for each year the airline has been in operation — now, over a hundred. While the vast majority of KLM Delft Blue Houses are filled with Genever, unfilled bottles are used on routes to the Middle East where local laws restrict the consumption of alcohol. Pro tip: If you discover you have a duplicate or simply want to trade, you can ask the staff in the Amsterdam Crown Lounges where you can swap it for the one you really need. It is an entertaining and endearing way to create brand loyalty, and it is a lovely take-home souvenir from any long-haul KLM flight.
Most KLM flights within Europe are only a few hours, yet even on the shortest, there is a meal service in Business Class. In true Dutch efficiency, the crew manages a full bar service - which includes Spanish Cava - and something tasty to eat even on short sectors - between London and Amsterdam, for instance. Similar to long haul flights, the tableware is designed by Marcel Wanders. Flights under two hours feature a cold meal served in a cardboard box.
Fresh salads, Dutch cheeses and sweet treats are often part of the meal. Warm bread is offered on the side. On flights within Europe lasting more than two hours, a three-course meal with a hot main dish is served using trays. The hot main courses have been created by renowned Dutch chef Onno Kokmeijer. Flights within Europe are operated by narrow body aircraft featuring the same seats in Business Class as in Economy Class, although the adjacent seat is blocked for added personal space and comfort.
What you may not realise though is that after the airline retires cabin crew uniforms, it recycles them for use in the aircraft - for the carpeting or curtains. This is just one of a long list of sustainability measures KLM takes. KLM was the first commercial airline to operate using synthetic kerosene fuel in , and its recycling efforts for inflight service items are impressive.
A scale model of the futuristic plane has been in use for testing since September It will soon operate the only sustainable aviation fuel plant in the Netherlands using organic waste streams including used cooking oil.
Our quality algorithms also give a higher score to flights operated by the most modern and environmentally friendly aircraft.
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In the lie-flat position, the inch wide seat turned into an inch bed. Though a mattress pad for sleeping was not available, the bed offered enough space in the footwell to move comfortably. When sleeping under a blanket or comforter, fasten your seat belt over it. The armrest on the aisle side could be lowered with the blue button. Flight attendants asked passengers to keep them in the lowered position for takeoff and landing.
It would not have been possible to store large electronics like laptops or tablets anywhere other than the overhead bins, but the closed storage cubby next to the IFE remote was ideal for wallets, phones and other small items.
Headphones for the IFE were hanging in it from a hook. An international power outlet and powered USB outlet were under the armrest by the window, with a sign indicating their location. The tray table extended from the same armrest with the press of another blue button. It was a bit small, but still OK for a inch laptop, and once extended it could slide forward, letting the seat occupant get up during meal service. From the top, the four buttons are: slide seat forward and back, bed mode, seat back up and overhead light.
Besides the overhead light, which could be controlled from the remote too, there was a reading light built into the seat. Two adjustable air-conditioning vents were above the seat, the latter a feature not found on all aircraft. Some European airlines, like Lufthansa, are notorious for keeping cabins far warmer than what Americans are used to. The bathrooms were more or less normal, save for a KLM classic, the Delft-house decorations. As customary, I found pillow and comforter already on the seat, and headphones in the mini storage locker.
Amenity kits were distributed later. The amenity kit by Dutch designer Jan Taminiau, featuring the colors of the Dutch flag, was distributed to each passenger just after flight attendants closed the overhead bins prior to pushing back from the gate. It had the basics for a long-haul flight: socks, toothpaste and toothbrush, eye mask and earplugs, moisturizer, lip balm and a pen — useful for immigration forms. More toiletries were found in the two bathrooms exclusive to business class, which were spotless throughout the seven-hour, minute flight.
Hair gel, body mist and hand-and-body lotion were a limited edition by Rituals for KLM. These KLM aircraft feature crisp, inch screens, with about movies to watch in at least 14 languages, and a gorgeous moving map: this was a good IFE, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The Wi-Fi internet disconnected a few times, but was otherwise quite usable. If you just wanted to send or receive text messages, that was free.
The Speedtest app kept timing out, but the internet was fast enough for videos, albeit with some buffering. The headphones supplied by the airline were of the fairly rare three-prong kind, with OK, not outstanding, sound quality.
The beautiful 3D moving map could also be loaded on the smaller display in the remote, which retained full pinch-and-zoom functionality. After our takeoff on schedule at p. The flight unfolded entirely in darkness. In late June, say, the views out of the window would have been spectacular, one long sunset seen from the edge of the stratosphere, but in early November we flew at night from start to end.
Of course not, and a can of the national beer of the Netherlands was on the tray that a flight attendant brought down the aisle as boarding finished. There were also Champagne, orange juice and water. When the drinks cart arrived at my seat, half an hour after takeoff, I asked for it, with a small bowl of nuts and sparkling water. The nuts should have been warm and the drink in a wider glass, but those are minor quibbles to have at 36, feet, and the Negroni-ish was indeed lighter and crisper than the original, a true pleasure.
For dinner, I could choose among two appetizers, three entrees and two desserts. For the appetizer, I had tomato soup over the other choice, salmon and spicy mango with hazelnut-cucumber-pepper-and-mango dressing.
All three main courses featured potatoes, in an apparent nod to a classic Dutch staple food. My choice was panfried cod and Dutch prawns with herb potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes and broad beans in a mussel gravy. The other two entrees were miso-marinated chicken thigh with carrots, potato puree, Brussels sprouts in an orange beurre blanc sauce; and beef stew with red cabbage, potatoes and cornichons.
I went with the cheese, and a glass of New Zealand riesling from a simple, five-wine list. It also featured a Chilean chardonnay and three reds: a grenache from France, an Argentinian malbec and a South African shiraz. The galley ran out of the salmon appetizer for everybody who wanted it, and flight attendants proposed alternatives to at least two passengers.
This happens, I said to myself, no biggie. Space on board is limited, and not everybody gets their first choice on every flight.
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