[Anonymous]

[business traveller]

Connecting in Amsterdam from a Schengen flight delivers a long walk from D gates to T gates, almost 20 minutes, the connection time was only 50 minutes which is good in terms of the overall transit time to destination, but leaves one a little flustered with such a long walk to the next gate.
Boarding was very slow for economy passengers but very fast for business with its own dedicated line where there was no waiting.

Once on board this is an old aircraft with the old 2-3-2 layout and old business seats, its a little claustrophobic compared to a lot of the new offerings including KLM;s new World Business. There is no privacy between seats.
The crew were welcoming and did the drinks rounds and amenity kit etc. nothing exceptional prior to departure.

Once airborne (45 minutes delay) the service began, the food offering on KLM is not exceptional or at least it wasn't on this flight, so dinner was never going to be the highlight of the flight, and neither was the drinks service, I have never seen smaller glasses used for beverages. So after a lack luster dinner I open the IFE which was also amongst the worst in terms of its content I have seen for a long time, no or very few new films, and the TV programs bizarrely had a drama series but only 1 episode which would never have given you a chance to even understand what was going on within the drama, so time to sleep.

The seats are old and worn, but they do go very close to flat and other than having a very soft pillow to use you could get some sleep. My only issue was that the seatbelt signs came on and off several times, and on each occasion the purser would announce it rather than just have the cabin crew do a cabin check, so that of course woke one on each occasion,

Breakfast was as poor as dinner being honest.

Would I fly with them again by choice , no. Would I fly with them again because they had the best business price on the day, yes, and in fairness for me that's what it comes down to, best fare available leads to various products and offerings, but for that, one must accept if you shop around and switch carriers on a route on a regular basis you will not always get what you hope for.

Review courtesy of Seatplans.com. Original review by user Gin&Tonic can be found here

[AMcWhirter]

The good news, as we have reported, is that KLM’s older 777s are being retrofitted with its newer and more spacious business class.

Sadly it means economy class, once the new business seats are installed, becomes 3-4-3 rather than 3-3-3.

[MarcusGB]

I flew in from C America yesterday, and the 773 arrived, in the new logo and new refurbished seating. It was one of the first 773’s to be completed, and very pleasant it was. It takes 6 weeks to refurbish each aircraft with the seating The Purser informed us. Travelling out on a 772 they have now all been completed. Two new 773’s have also arrived last year, with the new sloping KLM Blue under the nose, an easy way to tell if the Aircraft has been fitted or is new, and features the Excellent seating.

A review will be posted shortly, but our trip was superb thanks to the always recognised KLM crew’s natural friendliness and efforts. Food was excellent ex Amsterdam, but always varies returning from other areas, depending on the quality of meals available there.

The flights were full, and many people were thankful to the crew as they left, and many remarked on the difference in both cabins in a very positive way.

[MarcusGB]

All KLM 772’s, 747’s have now been fitted with the new cabins for all classes. Two new 773’s have arrived with the new Logo and cabins already on Board, and one older 773 completed, with one being re-fitted now. that leaves only 9 left to complete, at 6 weeks each, with new 773’s arriving fitted and ready.

They have 2 x 787-9 Dreamliners in service, and plan a fleet on 21, some 787-10’s. All the European fleet have been replaced with 737-7, -800 & -900’s over the last 8 years. The Fokker 100’s have been retired, and all that remains are the old Fokker 70’s that are being replaced starting this year with Embraer 170 Aircraft, with the 190’s already in service.
A333’s are coming in, and they plan also to retire the older 332’s at a later time.

I cannot think of an Airline in Europe, that has replaced their entire fleet within 10 years as KLM have!

[FDOS_UK]

I don’t know this for a fact, but wouldn’t be surprised if Ryanair have.

[christopheL]

@ MarcusGB

Facts :

All Air France 747’s were 400 models and thus were not “45” years old. As you can imagine 45 years ago was when the first 747-100 joined AF fleet.

Average fleet age of both KLM and AF is between 11 and 12 years old.

KLM still operates 24 747’s whose average age is more than 21 years old when AF do not operate anyone of them.

As of today KLM longhaul fleet is 14,2 years old when AF longhaul fleet is 14,2 years old

[MarcusGB]

Ah, so BT are posting false reports then, as well KLM and Air France releasing new bulletins of it??!
I think not…

http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/air-france-retires-b747-jumbo

It was also featured in both the Air France magazine, and KLM magazine.

And yes, KLM are still operating their 747’s, for 3 years more, having refurbished them with the new World Business Class. These are to be replaced with 773’s or the Dreamliners 9, or 10’s (a fleet of 21 are planned), with 3 in operation already.

They plan to retire the 747’s within 3 years, one was retired before Xmas, and certainly not “45 ” years old as Air France. They will be replaced with 4 new 777-3’s and Dreamliners.

KLM currently fly only 20 x 747-400’s, passenger config (some combi). There are 3 x 747 freighters, aged from 2003-4. Each passenger version will be retired when they take delivery of the new Dreamliner 9/10’s, or new 773’s.

Great to see KLM as always have been in profit, let down by Air France for many years. However this year, they are in profit as a whole group by Euros 640 Million. Share prices have jumped by over 13.5% this week. Not one KLM staff member has been made redundant, only expansion and flexibility with staff making voluntary work, or changing roles to keep “the family of KLM” going well.

Further AF routes are to be cut, and the pilots agreement to new contracts essential to keep the group going. They lost money in 2014 due to the AF pilots strike. I spoke to a KLM Captain during a HGK-AMS flight for about 20 mins late last year, and he indicated there was much anger and shame about the behaviour of Air France staff. They still run unprofitable routes, have too many staff, are less productive and more militant, even if it affects their own Airline they seem not to care, and less profitable than KLM.

Great to see that KLM drives the profit back and are so committed, such a pity they are shackled to Air France still!

[FDOS_UK]

“Air France will retire its final Boeing B747 jumbo this week, after over 45 years of service.”

This refers to the lifespan of the type within Air France – as the 747-400 verion was first certified in 1988, simple arithmetic will show that 45 year old examples do not exist.

When BA retires its last 747-100 the lifecycle will be well over 50 years old, but the aircraft will not be.

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