KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES   Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

KLM customer review :  24 October 2009 by L Sipila   (France)

AMS-MAD flight, which automatically allocates you in Business Class (or, as they rightly say Economy "Select"). You end up paying a Business Class fare, although what you get is just a cramped 3+3 B737 Economy seat, plus a meal and free drinks. Good lounge at Schiphol with nice selection of snacks and drinks. A typical 50 minutes departure delay at the end of the day, by when each of their planes have added up a few minutes' delay was compensated by a juice can and cookie; the same for the entire plane. The meal was surprisingly tasty, although the portions are too small for this price. No main course options available by the time the trolley reached my row. Crew professional and efficient. Despite the Priority luggage tags, all Business Class bags arrived last on the belt.

KLM customer review :  24 October 2009 by Peter Giudes   (Australia)

IST-AMS-CPH. Business Class (Euro Select). Not happy with Euro Select for 3.5 hr flight IST- AMS. Seating on 737-800 is 3-3 with every seat occupied and no extra room than economy. Being 6'4" this is part of the reason for flying business. So what's the difference between business and economy? Lounge access, choice of meals, another drink or two, priority baggage. IST Millenium lounge, best choice of food of any business class lounge I've encountered recently. There was even half decent red and wine wines available. Not much room in the lounge though. Flights were fine with good service. IST-AMS choice of hot chicken or vegetarian dishes, AMS- CPH snack box. South African white wine, spanish red, Australian ice cream (IST-AMS). Truly an international experience. Business Class lounge (25) at Schiphol was good. Spacious with a reasonable selection of food and drink. I'm glad I got these flights on points, I would have been less happy paying business class fares for Euro Select, especially IST-AMS.

KLM customer review :  22 October 2009 by P Iosad   (Norway)

OSL-AMS-YYZ and back in Economy. OSL-AMS on time, good legroom (better than SAS) and a free snack and drinks, friendly and efficient cabin crew. Transfer in Amsterdam mostly painless, but long immigration queue. Security for IC flights is at the gate, so really long boarding queue. AMS-YYZ on a non-combi B747, adequate for a day flight. Nice food (main meal is not too much, but you also get a few snacks along the way), frequent drinks rounds. Friendly and efficient cabin crew. No AVOD on this plane, and screens impossible to see from the window seat without craning our neck (also probably not everyone dying to see Ice Age). YYZ-AMS a bit of a chaos boarding, same standard onboard, breakfast served quite late (over Ireland) so possible to sleep, maybe fewer drinks rounds. AVOD quite adequate. Transfer at Schiphol again seamless, slight chaos at boarding (but those flights to Oslo are always packed), otherwise same good standard. Came in early on three legs out of four.

KLM customer review :  19 October 2009 by G Buckle   (UK)

KUL-AMS-LHR economy return. Online check-in worked ok, pleasant check-in staff. Flight to AMS full on a new plane, legroom adequate, AVOD worked well although no latest releases. Cabin crew friendly, meals served quickly although portions could have been a bit bigger. Short transit time at AMS - small snack served on flight to LHR. However luggage did not arrive and told it will arrive on next flight in 2 hours, so stayed at airport to collect it. It did arrive & given a 3.50GBP voucher to spend in Starbucks. Experience on return flight better.

KLM customer review :  16 October 2009 by R Pym   (UK)

IAH-AMS-MAN economy, on the dreaded 747-combi but pleasantly surprised by the service. Any economy flight back to Europe through the night is going to be uncomfortable but this was no worse than expected. Food was better than average, plenty of drinks runs were done and arrival into AMS was early.

KLM customer review :  14 October 2009 by D Collard   (Canada)

Vancouver to Amsterdam return in economy class, on MD-11s. All seats were occupied. I was lucky to have full floor-space under the seat in front of me, but three seats out of every nine unfortunately had bulky video equipment underneath taking up half the width of the space you need for your feet. Headrest could be adjusted. A wide selection of newspapers offered on the airbridge. Aircraft had AVOD. Meals from Vancouver to Amsterdam were a Dutch style hot meal, bland but filling. Amsterdam to Vancouver the main meal was terrible - warm rolls offered for both meals. Inflight service good and drinks plentiful. Cabin crew were excellent. Online check-in and seat selection worked fine, flights on time, and luggage delivered promptly after landing.

KLM customer review :  13 October 2009 by B Onsto   (Switzerland)

AMS-TLV B37-900. Seats standard 3x3 but middle seat kept free in C-class. Menu and amenity kits distributed after take-off, normally digi-players would be provided but crew did not have key to cupboard. Drink service, hot meal and snack offered before landing along with delft house. Good service, on-time arrival - limited galley space for crew to arrange meal service caused some noise and commotion which disturbed sleep. Would have been nice with larger plane on this 4.5 hrs stretch.

KLM customer review :  13 October 2009 by J Dieckmann   (Germany)

Berlin to Seoul via Amsterdam. All flights on time, friendly crews and clean cabins. Nice touches like icecream with the movie, korean food option as well as korean speaking FAs. I am quite tall/big(1,83m/95kg) and managed ok,my knees didn't touch the front seat, but I didn't sleep. They dont have personal TVs - could live with for that ticketprice, but the movie selection was breathtakingly boring.

KLM customer review :  13 October 2009 by D Bryce   (UK)

GLA-AMS-HKG return. Check in handled by a surly Servisair agent. Skylounge is shared biz lounge - comfy, spacious seating; minimal food; adequate booze; nice staff). GLA AMS on B737-400. Crew pleasant, provided pre-departure drinks (unusual on Euro-select) and addressed pax by name in flight. Food was the usual Euro-select box consisting of what I suspect are the starter and dessert on longer, fully catered, European flights. Contents less surreal than on previous flights - a small seafood salad rather than (to cite just one example) a sphere of veal tartare! Lounge in AMS spacious, minimal food; excellent booze ; free wi-fi at reasonable speed. HKG-AMS friendly crew who strike the right balance between professionalism and relaxed informality. Drinks good; evening meal so-so. Breakfast is a strong point on KL long haul in C, but sadly they have ditched the noodles and dim sum option on the China flights. Inflight entertainment worked well, but KL really needs to update the non-movie options - same episodes of tired US sitcoms I was presented with back in July! That seat - what can be said that hasn't been said already : nice to lounge in, not great in sleep position. HKG AMS - Air France lounge in HKG is fine - good food; booze; enough space even though the CDG and AMS flights leave at the same time. Inflight experience mirrored the outbound. Very early arrival in AMS so no queue for the lounge showers.

KLM customer review :  11 October 2009 by Andrej Wisniewski   (Philippines)

CDG-AMS-MNL Business Class. These two legs were almost like flying two different airlines. From Paris to Amsterdam, they may as well rename business as "like premium economy on other airlines, only worse." I don't see why anyone pays for KLM business class within Europe. On this 737-800, business seats were 3 and 3, same as the economy seats. There was a little more pitch in business but not enough to allow you to move from your seat to the aisle without climbing over the person in the aisle seat, or to open your laptop without it being in your face. The overhead compartments filled up fast so I had to put my carry-on in an economy overhead compartment. The service was fine though and they did serve some deep-fried shrimp, bread, and a dessert on an hour long flight. The business lounge at CDG was too small for the number of people at 9am (passengers were standing) and food was minimal compared to other airline lounges. Amsterdam to Manila experience was better. The lounge was substantial with good wine, still minimal food, but plenty of space. The business class seats on the 777-300ER average with big LCD screens (AVOD), and angled lie-flat seats. The food was decent and the service quite good.

KLM customer review :  5 October 2009 by A Tucker   (Australia)

HKG-AMS B747-400 Combi. What a disapointment. The ground team in HK were welcoming and helpful and made you feel valued. On boarding however it was like stepping back in time. I was aware of this aircraft not having AVOD and being a night flight thought I could last the distance but the alternative provided was a very small tv screen a few rows forward with no chance of reading the subtitles if you needed to. I was seated in row 24, thankfully on he aisle. The seats are quite comfortable though more suited to medium haul. Once the seat in front is reclined you are in for the duration. Service was attentive but not friendly, the crew just seamed to be going through the motions. Bar service offered followed by supper. This was dismal - there are no meal trays, just two cardboard boxes handed to you and it was a struggle to find room on the tray table to open them, which I wish I hadn't. All service items are disposable with picnic style plastic utensils, looked very cheap and messy. Breakfast 2 hrs before landing was as inedible. Again the hot dish and tea and coffee were served in disposable containers - looked unappealing and was lukewarm. I did notice through out the flight the crew were continuously offering water and juice and the toilets were kept stocked. The very thin blanket was adequate but because of the cold could have done with two. I usually find aircraft cabins too stuffy but this was unbearably cold. I also noticed there were no comfort kits or towels offered. Even an eye shade would have been appreciated. The product on this flight was basic and something you would have expected 20 years ago. I noticed friends being taken up to business class once we had taken off. I don't have a problem with that as long as it's discreet but I saw these people arrive at the airport with the crew. Upgrades should be handled on the ground and not in such an obvious manner.

KLM customer review :  1 October 2009 by J Andersen   (Netherlands)

AMS-BKK return. KLM business-class is made for (ex-)KLM staff and their relatives and friends. When all paying travellers are seated, you notice that out of nowhere people are coming into business class and cabin-crew asks the paying passengers travelling alone to change seats so the just entered friends of an ex-pilot can sit together. Of course it is just a privilege when business-class is not fully booked but when travelling KLM you will notice that they are "always" sold out in business class. Service unfriendly and rather basic. Food is ok and the seats are like slides when totally reclined.