KLM 747-400 Economy

LeChienMefiant

Online reviews for this aircraft seem to be poor. Any personal experience?

L1011

They're old and being retired so the actual onboard facilities are pretty crap - from taking a look its similar if not the same as what the MD11s had at retirement which are big old fashioned seats, small non-touchscreen IFE (content selection is decent).

KLM service can be quite brusque but you do get food and Heineken fired at you throughout the flight.

LeChienMefiant

Is there any chance that load factor would be low on these flights? Hence we would have spare seats?
We're both 6 foot plus and travelling with an 18 month old.

Locker10a

LeChienMefiant wrote: »

Is there any chance that load factor would be low on these flights? Hence we would have spare seats?
We're both 6 foot plus and travelling with an 18 month old.

How long is a piece of string question! That will be a matter of luck! KLM are a good airline in my opinion, I'm sure your flights will be fine, have you considered booking an extra seat for your 18 month old, some parents do this for the space, although children under 2 are required to be carried, strapped in, on their parents laps for take off and landing

roundymac

Depends on what route your are flying. We went to Cuba last last year on an A333 and it was full, this was at the start of March, no school childern. What I never considered is the fact that people from all over Europe use KLM. Our return flight was late getting in, nearly the whole plane was getting connecting flights. Talk about connectivity.

LeChienMefiant

Our return flight would be on an Air France A380, so I'm possibly prepared to put up with a little discomfort on the outbound daytime flight. The infant lap fare is a significant saving versus a seat for him.

EDIT: Re connecting flights, the following landed in my mailbox today...

[font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]By [/font][font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif]26 March 2017[/font][font=Verdana, Geneva, sans-serif], KLM will operate 4 daily flights to our award winning hub, Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, giving you greater access to Amsterdam and seamless connections to worldwide destinations including Dubai, Lagos, Beijing and Bangkok.[/font]

If you miss your connection you should be OK.

L1011

Route has been a phenomenal success loads wise - whether that translates to yield is a different issue. Inbound and outbound two weeks ago were both full to the point that on checkin two hours beforehand we had to pay for fake-biz to get seats together (€7 surcharge to get a biz seat but no biz service).

Was only 1 person in biz on the way back, causing 3 unsellable seats there though - I wonder has the relative lack of euro-biz seats to/from Ireland due to the EI/FR duopoly caused people to not bother.

LeChienMefiant

Which route are you referring to? My flights are to USA from AMS.

DUB to AMS is not a big worry, short flight.

L1011

DUB-AMS. Was referencing the increase in flights.

LeChienMefiant

That fake biz sounds like a good deal. Thanks for the heads up.

weisses

LeChienMefiant wrote: »

Our return flight would be on an Air France A380, so I'm possibly prepared to put up with a little discomfort on the outbound daytime flight. The infant lap fare is a significant saving versus a seat for him.

EDIT: Re connecting flights, the following landed in my mailbox today...

If you miss your connection you should be OK.

Flying out on a 747 and back with a 380 .... Will signup for that any day :P

geecee

I have flown on a KLM 747 AMS-BKK and AMS-HKG
The HK flight was on a 747-Combi which was an interesting experience

On the Bkk flight I upgraded to their Comfort seating, the comfort seating has great a dedicated cabin area and well worth the extra €30-60
(see Orange seats in this link):
https://www.klm.com/travel/nl_en/prepare_for_travel/on_board/seating_plans/b747.htm

LeChienMefiant

It turns out it's a saving of 25% to go Virgin Atlantic 747. So that's the current plan. It's never straightforward when I plan.

LXFlyer

LeChienMefiant wrote: »

That fake biz sounds like a good deal. Thanks for the heads up.

Given that the Embraer is 2 + 2 seating throughout why would you pay extra for a biz seat that is pretty much identical to the economy one?

I'm struggling with that one.

L1011

lxflyer wrote: »

Given that the Embraer is 2 + 2 seating throughout why would you pay extra for a biz seat that is pretty much identical to the economy one?

I'm struggling with that one.

Legroom is quite significantly larger.

NeitherJohn

LeChienMefiant wrote: »

Online reviews for this aircraft seem to be poor. Any personal experience?

Flew on a Combi from AMS to PVG and back again to AMS in September. They are very old. Poor IFE but the staff were very nice. Very cold too. Opted for extra legroom by the door.

Bumped myself to premium economy on the way back on another 747 Combi and was very warm and comfortable.

It was nice as the premium economy section is a lot smaller due to the location of one of the galleys on the combi. Much quieter warmer.