Travel

[JudyL]

Last week recevied my flight itinerary for my Kenya/Tanzania trip next July.  The tour company has put me on KLM airline.  I've never traveled with them.  Curious if anyone elsse has and what are your thoughts?  TIA!

[proudlyfromNJ]

@JudyL.  I have but it’s been awhile. I don’t recall any negatives. I prefer foreign carriers. I think the service, treatment and everything else is better.

[FrostyBabe1]

KLM, or Royal Dutch Airlines, is the flag carrier of the Netherlands. They're an excellent airline and are a member of the SkyTeam Alliance. If you happen to be a Delta SkyMiles member, you can have your member number entered into your reservation and earn SkyMiles on KLM.

It's been awhile since I've flown them, but I always had excellent experiences. I've gotten quite the collection of the Delft houses (filled with gin) that they gave out in business class. 

King WIllem-Alexander of the Netherlands is actually a pilot for KLM, although he flies short-haul routes within Europe so he won't likely be in command of your flight. 

[Colinka]

I took KLM from Amsterdam to Johannesburg, South Africa, last November. It was a very nice flight--9 hours long. I enjoyed it. The seats were just a little bit more cramped than the flight I took from Seattle to Amsterdam on Delta. I think KLM has slightly older planes. My only (very minor) complaint was they were serving sauerkraut with one of the meal choices, and the smell did kinda permeate the plane! Otherwise, it was fine.

[Alter Ego]

I’ve taken KLM on both my Africa trips. Chicago to Amsterdam for both and Amsterdam to Nairobi and Johannesburg, respectively.

I was in regular economy for the 2nd trip and agree that the seating seemed a little cramped, particularly when the person in front of you puts their seat back all the way!! But, we had a different plane for the Johannesburg leg and that was noticeably roomier, also in the regular economy section. Otherwise, I was in Premium Economy, which was nice, and based on my Premium seating for my Nairobi trip, was in the same kind of plane for each leg - the plane with the more cramped regular economy. Speaking about the food, I will comment that they had the exact same meal choices on my trip - each leg and coming and going. But, the particular flight attendant may call it something different (one says chicken while the other says pasta), so I ended up eating the same thing every time!! There was no sauerkraut on my flights (I would actually have loved that!)

In general, I think its one of the better airlines and will certainly choose them if there is a choice. Plus, added bonus, Amsterdam’s airport is awesome!!

[JudyL]

@Alter Ego  its interesting that you mentioned Premium Economy because I asked about that and was told that KLM didn't have it.  Maybe she meant it wasn't offered on my flights - SFO to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Nairobi.  Then on the way home its Kilamanjaro to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to SFO.

Anyway, she told me that I have to wait until 90 days before departure and go onto KLM's website and buy my seats!  That there are no seat assignments!  I'd never heard of such a thing but then I haven't flown anywhere in a couple of years so maybe things have changed.

[FrostyBabe1]

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@JudyL wrote:

@Alter Ego  its interesting that you mentioned Premium Economy because I asked about that and was told that KLM didn't have it.  Maybe she meant it wasn't offered on my flights - SFO to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Nairobi.  Then on the way home its Kilamanjaro to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to SFO.

Anyway, she told me that I have to wait until 90 days before departure and go onto KLM's website and buy my seats!  That there are no seat assignments!  I'd never heard of such a thing but then I haven't flown anywhere in a couple of years so maybe things have changed.

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That's likely because your travel agent got some sort of super discounted, bulk rate. Many airlines do this with their cheapest coach seats. You get your seat assignment anywhere from 90 days before departure up to at the gate, and some charge a fee. What you can do is go to seatguru.com and look at the seat map for your flight and have an idea of what you want to choose. 

As your TA told you, KLM doesn't have a premium economy product. They do have what they call "economy comfort" which provides a few more inches of legroom, but it's not a true premium economy product with upgraded/larger seats and more amenities than regular coach. 

There's a lot of info on the KLM website about their classes of service and how to reserve your seat. 

[Alter Ego]

@FrostyBabe1  I’m sure you are correct about the name -  I usually just get the cheapest ticket and may be misremembering.  Nevertheless, I have noticed that some of the names have changed for the “better” product.  Maybe it used to be called that? Like you said, it was slightly more legroom and I think you were able to get on the plane earlier.  On the KLM flights where I had this, the cabin with these seats was narrower.  Like, only half the plane wide and the other half was for the crew. Wish I could remember how many seats there were - don’t recall, but may have been a 2-3 configuration ( although 3-3 makes more sense and I may just be remembering incorrectly.) It was nice because it was less people.

Edited to add photo of what I’m referring to.  Sorry it’s not so great.  They are calling it “Comfort” now. I should note this may not have be my actual plane type; just that the set up is the same.

At any rate, you made me remember another point.  I had a TA book my flights for my South Africa trip and she couldn’t give me any info on where I would be seated.  She eventually found out that I would need to pay extra if I wanted to select my seat in advance (which I did).  I was finally able to log into my flight and do it myself - for an additional cost.

[Sage04]

KLM, didn´t know that they were still around. A lot of my relatives live in the Netherlands and flew that airline for many years, especially from Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao down to Dutch St Maarten and the other Caribbean Islands. Glad to know it´s still around. My first flight to Curacao was on KLM many, many years ago.