KLM

[jonboy81]

After many years of flying with emirates, have just booked a trip with KLM after seeing a cheaper flight with them, anybody got any experience of flying with KLM? The main point being free alcohol!! Do KLM offer free beer/shorts the same as Emirates as im quite partial to a good drink on the flight to pass the time!

[robert69]

Normal service if I am not mistaken, but been a while since i flew them Long-haul. But they are dutch so liberal enough  

[coolsmoe]

No, they don't serve beer, only Heineken... ;)

 

Don't know about shorts, better to take your own pants with you. :-D

[splitpin]

After many years of flying with emirates, have just booked a trip with KLM after seeing a cheaper flight with them, anybody got any experience of flying with KLM? The main point being free alcohol!! Do KLM offer free beer/shorts the same as Emirates as im quite partial to a good drink on the flight to pass the time!

Just about every international airline in the world offers complimentary drinks on long haul flights.

 

Good tip for Amsterdam is have a long lay over, only about 30 minutes from the airport to downtown. Pop into a coffee shop and chill out ready for the flight

[Bek]

 

Good tip for Amsterdam is have a long lay over, only about 30 minutes from the airport to downtown. Pop into a coffee shop and chill out ready for the flight

I believe you now need to have a license, to get served in a coffee shop in Amsterdam?

 

I fly KLM all the time - the service is ok, and they are not cheap with the drinks.

[coolsmoe]

I believe that's only in the cities near the border, not Amsterdam....

[soltice1234]

Been good anytime I flew with them. Not exceptional but good

[FIGO_0710]

I have flown emirates,ethiad and qatar many times flew KLM in june..brilliant , no more 2/3/4 hour stops in the miserable desert for me ..flying with them again in january,free booze good food and sexy hostess"s only £540 ..

[vimto66]

Flown twice with them,everything was fine,but im not a picky traveller constantly looking for faults and comparing all the time.One good memory about them was i once lost my wallet and they allowed me back on the plane to look for it and found it on my seat.I dont think this would be allowed now though.

[The-Noble]

i flied with the half of the world airlines, Emirates is the best airline in the world, and the cheapest for me, i think you didnt booked your flight in advance to get a cheaper offer from Emirates. klm is seems you travel on a bus, uncomfortable seat, bullshit food and a low service.

[jumpybongo]

yup better price from klm/AF great connections and free flow booze.

cheaper and better than flying thru the sandpit imo.

[ChaNomYen]

Emirates is top class like you know, but service on KLM is well below emirates. Seats & legroom are alot less comfy, get about 2 chances for alchohol & my few return flights with them been quite moody when you goto back and ask politely, as though their on budget for it. Flew emirates last time again and will defo try stick with them unless its big price difference, even though it means 3hrs more travelling to nearest airport that emirates fly from.

 

If you are have to fly KLM / AirFrance though, 1 tip is to pay 115 or 150€ to upgrade to Air France premium economy the flight back to UK. Service more like business class, reclining seat, more legroom, better menu etc, but most importantly no 1hr queue in BKK airport to check in or go through security and immigration. 5-10mins for all, as no queue for check in 1st/business class & a fast track pass through security w/ airline crew, 1st class, diplomats.. monks.. no immigration queue, comfy flight back w/ champagne to help your hangover & depression

[retrodude]

I flew with KLM earlier this year, used them because they were the cheapest around and the best connection times.

 

The return flight would have been with Air France, can't comment on that as we didn't use it because we were relocating out here so it wasn't needed.

 

The KLM staff I did find a little moody at times, most were also pig ugly too, other than that it was an ok airline.

[splitpin]

I believe you now need to have a license, to get served in a coffee shop in Amsterdam?

 

I fly KLM all the time - the service is ok, and they are not cheap with the drinks.

 

No restriction in Amsterdam, its just as its always been, laws are becoming more liberal worldwide, look at the USA, in many states its now legal to smoke

[gareth]

Just come back from a holiday in the states visiting family flew there with air france via Charles De Gaulle airport  , ok seats but within an hour of the flight over half the toilets broke ( have heard that with them and this route , that it has happened a few times before ) also CDG airport directions are not good  .

On the return journey flew KLM via Amsterdam , i am not a big guy  5´7"  90kg  but the seats were a little on the tight side if i was a little larger then it would have been uncomfortable for a long haul flight , also wasnt impressed with the food and even though nobody said no when i asked for more drinks , i still got an impression that they didnt want to give them ,

 all things i have never found with Emirates .

 And as you yourself have flown with Emirates when you are on your journey you will kick yourself for your desiscion just to save a few quid , sometimes spending that Little bit of extra cash is worth it .

Also hope your not flying out of Amsterdam airport as it is massive , you have to walk miles to get to different gates .

but all in all i hope you have a good trip and a great time in Pattaya

[Mich]

KLM used to be good until Air France bought the company. AF manages KLM as a lower class airline and service has gone downhill. Plenty of free drinks, yes, but bad food and unpleasant staff. KLM also has a bad track record on "on-time" performance. I have seen KLM flights out of Bangkok delayed more times than any other airline ... and I am in Suvarnabhumi very often!

Stopped using KLM completely now and stick to Air France, Swiss or Austrian when travelling back to Europe.

[neil123]

I flew with them last year, manchester to amsterdam, then to china , back to bkk, in less time then emirates qatar and etihad, going back bkk to amsterdam, then to manchester, both time jumbos, good experience and great at the price.

[lob maier]

klm fleet are a lot older than the middle east carriers and some of the planes on long haul dont have the modern seat entertainment systems,they also code share with china airlines on the ams-bkk leg something you may want to look at.

good service though and iv had no problems getting a good supply of free booze on board,i even fell asleep in the toilet drunk once and the stewardess had to open the door and drag me out,not that im proud of it.

[bolton69]

top airline mate, yes free beer, but after about 3 beers, best to go get them yourselves, at the back, get a aisle seat,  

[lounge_lizard]

I flew out with KLM in November 2013 (London City-Schipol-Bangkok) and back in December (Bangkok-Schipol-London Heathrow).

 

Food was no worse than any of the other airlines I've flown with, and the booze trolley came round a few of times.  I found the red wine very drinkable.  It came in 18cl individual bottles rather than the thimblefull you sometimes get.  I got through five of these each way, plus an (offered) after-dinner cognac.  Fizzy beer was also available.

 

There was no entertainment in the London-Ansterdam leg, although I did get my mini-bottle of red wine.  The Amsterdam-Bangkok leg had the standard screen in the back of the seat..

 

Schipohl is one of the more civilised airports to be stuck in for a few hours, but it was a long hike from the arrival gate to the departure gate - this could be a problem if you have less than an hour to make the connection.  If you have the time and a few euros, this would be the time to pick up your duty-frees.

 

If there's a short stopover, transferring checked luggage might be a problem.

I only had carry-on luggage, and found that my standard-sized holdall would not fit in the overhead locker on the LCY-AMS leg.  Fortunately there were plenty of empty seats so my bag had a seat to itself.

 

Security at Schipohl is at the departure gate, rather than (as well as?) on going airside.  They were thorough, but polite and professional.

 

One downside.  I prefer an aisle seat where I can stick out into the aisle rather than spend hours fighting elbows.  On check-in. the seat I reserved had been allocated to someone else, and I was given the middle seat of a row of three.  The flight was full, and it was pure luck that a woman who had an aisle seat in Economy Comfort asked me to swap so that she could sit with her husband.  That was a bit of a shambles, but it was the only downside.

 

All in all,good value for £475

 

Cheers

 

LL