[Anonymous]

[Binman62]

Just gotten off the phone with KLM whom I had called to try and upgrade a very restricted m class booking to world business class.

Firstly, their call centre is open 7am to 22.00 every day of the week including Sunday. My call was answered following a very short wait and despite not having any status.

Agent clearly not British but superb English, introduced herself and asked how she could help.

I was not confident hat the booking could be changed let alone be upgraded but KLM,made it easy for me to spend money. The booking was changed, seats allocated ( no fee despite no status) and the whole thing took no more than 5 minutes.

There was a fee for making the change on the phone but this was £13 and waived when I explained I could not do this on line either via the app or on the full web site. There was no argument, simply an apology for the inconvenience I had been caused and the fee went away.

I do like it when organisations make it easy for you to spend money and KLM on this occasion were a pleasure to deal with.

I hope the flight porves to be as easy and enjoyable.

[MartynSinclair]

Look forward to reading a trip report.

KLM is an airline I would like to try as AMS is a great hub. However, I have avoided in the past because of the poor buisness class. I know KLM are about to modernise and bring up to 2012 standards.

Good luck and I hope things turn out well – more competition.

[epeek06]

Being dutch and living in Geneva, I am quite embarrassed to say I hardly use KLM on my long haul travelling, that is because I find LH/LX or air france economy much better.

When flying business I cant support KLM’s product (not fully reclined), maybe once they change their product (which is happening this year) I may have to reconsider, but until now its either BA or LH/LX.

[MarcusUK]

As a Gold Flying Blue member, have always found the KLM call service very helpful, though where you get put through to varies from Netherlands to Spain.
Despite AF being of the same group, i do not find them as helpful or accommodating to call or fly with.
The same is reflected in an Awful AMS-CDG-SIN Business class service on AF in January which was awful in every respect from start to finish. Dirty over-crowded lounge, old tatty 773 with broken seats, rude un-interested crew, food that was not even heated up (no one checked, service was pretentious and of little substance…the colleague with me vowed Never to fly Air France long haul again!

KLM on the same flight AMS-SIN in World Business Class in Sept 11, was excellent! New 773, clean, with a superb genuinely welcoming crew, clearly happy and proud to work for KLM, and it beamed through. Food was truly amazing, after their recent changes to menus, Dutch designed cutlery and tableware, and each meal served one at a time. They consulted for restaurant fresh foods to come out of the galley, and it really works, better than Thai or SQ taken within a few days, also business class.

Whilst the seat was not Horizontal flat, the service and standards and ambiance on board was superb, how they ever could be compared to Air France in any way for their standards, beats me.
KLM staff are genuinely motivated, happy in their work, well looked after by the Company, and some of the warmest crew in the skies. With Schiphol matched, no wonder more choose KLM from southern and eastern Europe, and always Scandanavia to connect long haul in Amsterdam.
The gateways in the UK for connections really are as referred to, making Amsterdam the UK’s Intercontinental gateway.

From the UK, they always offer fares that match BA etc, far less than starting from AMS. Until they sort the runway capacity fiasco in the UK, Amsterdam & KLM will continue to take business from the UK gateways.

Their AMS -LHR upgrade at 50 Euros a few weeks ago, well worth it as we were on the aircraft for 2.5 hrs due to LHR delays!

A genuine Airline and employees, who really do naturally strive to do their best and work well.

Shame to hear on radio just that KLM /AF are to cut their staffing by 10%!! Sad to see so many of our EU carriers cannot make ends meet.

[PaulRWoods]

My homebase: near Luxemburg
My workplace: Solomon Islands
My frequence of flying home: 4 times per year by business class
Chosen airline: Malaysian Airlines, because it gets me through Amsterdam. But having to spend 2 nights inflight I like to stretch out, which is not possible with KLM, therefore I fly MAS.

[epeek06]

Yes PaulRwoods:

If your flying is so consistently, and at the end of the day you want to have a proper nights sleep on the plane its best to go with the airline that provides you with the product that can attain your goal best.

Nevertheless, I have to agree with MarcusUK that KLM service is fantastic, and something you dont see often in a major european carrier.

[capetonianm]

If ever a marriage were made in hell, it was KLM/AF. Two companies or nationalities with a more different work ethos would be hard to find. As the French are obstructive and bureaucratic monoglots who try to create problems, the Dutch are pragmatic, multilingual and helpful and try to find solutions.

Schiphol is an efficient and comfortable hub, where you can always find someone helpful when in need, although it’s sometimes overcrowded and has long queues, whereas CDG is a disorganised mess with sullen and disinterested staff.

In the air I’ve found AF to vary from very good to dire, whereas KLM are consistently good, sometimes excellent.

Calls are mostly outsourced to a company called Cygnific, I suspect they have different teams dealing with different markets which may explain the apparent difference in service levels. I must add that my last two recent experiences with calling AF were very positive so maybe a change is in the air.

[MarcusUK]

Such a shame that it is AF that manage the Flying Blue now.
tend to be the same for service, unhelpful and robotic via emails especially.
Whenever KLM Customer relations were contacted, or the Flying Dutchman, they were more than helpful and never failed to compensate for genuine concerns.
Not so with AF now!

But the KLM staff well know this on the ground in Schiphol, they hear it all the time, and they know it when they try to advocate for customers also…

Simone…why not fly KLM from KUL to Amsterdam?

I have flown Malaysian several times, but to be honest their 20yr+ 747’s aircraft are old, faded and drab inside, and service has gone much downhill on the KUL – AMS route.
KLM have far better 772/3 aircraft and the cabin seat and service and food far better…you could book from KUL on KLM through to Lux?

[capetonianm]

By coincidence, I had to call AF’s internet support today to intervene in an internet booking that had gone wrong. The lady who took the call spoke good English, was helpful, pleasant, and knowledgeable, and solved the problem in 2 minutes.

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