Trip Reports - Expats' Annual Leave - to and around the US on KL/NW

Mrs. TrayflowinUK and I get one free trip per year back to the USA in economy class as part of my expat contract. The last few years we've been doing this around Christmas, flying into some gateway city and then touring around the country, seeing our friends and family as well as places we've always wanted to visit. It also often serves to push us over that last hump for the next status level, but I've already attained my status for the year. Mrs. T just needs a few miles for her Platinum.

After nearly four years away we're tourists in our home country, which is a strange feeling I'm sure other expats feel as well.

I doubt we'll do this again next Christmas... probably go somewhere completely different.

This is my first trip report, and I really wrote it for no other purpose than for something to do on a transatlantic flight.

Enjoy!

KL1072 MAN-AMS 0600-0830
“EuropeSelect” class seats 3EF

We decided against getting a hotel room in Manchester, despite the fact that we live near Beverley, East Yorkshire, about 100 mi from the airport, and our flight departed at 6:00 am. Although it would often make more sense to fly out of Leeds or Humberside—each is closer by 50 and 70 miles, respectively—MAN is generally £40 cheaper per ticket and I can park for free at my company’s head office, which is 5 minutes and £6 by taxi from T2. This pays for itself on any trip longer than two or three days.

If we would have stayed in an airport hotel, we wouldn’t have left for MAN until after work Wednesday. As there’s no sense in even attempting transit of the Leeds-Bradford maelstrom on the M62 during rush hour, we realistically wouldn’t have set off until 7 pm. This would have given us a 9 pm arrival in MAN meaning a 10 pm pillow time. Then it would have been up at 3:30 anyway for breakfast, sorting the car parking, etc.

So we saved the money. Our cunning plan—which, to our pleasant surprise, we actually executed flawlessly, there being a first time for everything—meant leaving work a bit early on Wednesday, driving home, packing, taking an Ambien, and hitting the pillow before 7 pm.

We awoke just minutes before our 2 am alarm, and, feeling surprisingly well-rested, took breakfast, showered, finished packing, and set off just before 3 am.

We arrived at the Manchester office by 4:30 am, 15 minutes before the taxi was due to meet us, but, fortuitously, it arrived ten minutes early! We were just shutting the boot and checking the car over when our AirportCarz [sic] conveyance arrived.

KLM check-in at MAN never ceases to amaze me; the queue for economy class check-in must have had 75 people in it, and yet there were four self-service check-in machines sitting unused. Even though we could have used the much-shorter business class queue, we did self-service because (a) there would have been four people ahead of us, and (b) the machines don’t weigh your cabin baggage like the human agents do! KLM enforces a 10-kilo limit for cabin baggage even for Platinums and Business Class and thus insist on weighing any rolling suitcase, even our diminutive 19-inch models. Strangely, you can show up with a 50-kg frame backpack suitable for an Everest expedition and no one questions that.

Anyway, since KLM (or, rather, Schiphol ground staff) misplace our luggage more than 50% of the time, we elect not to give them the chance and travel with hand baggage only. T carries a normal-sized backpack, this time I opted to bring an ancient but small Targus computer bag, and we each had the aforementioned “roll-aboard” suitcases.

The Air France lounge had just opened when we turned up at five past five, and we were treated to the usual array of croissants, pastries, espresso, juices, crackers, etc. Though we don’t visit that many lounges, the Air France lounge at MAN T2 is one of our favourites in the Skyteam system as it is small, well-equipped, has free WiFi, a smoking room (for those so inclined) and a generous selection of spirits, of which we did not partake given the time of day. Perhaps most importantly, the staff are invariably pleasant, in stark contrast to the Crown Lounges at AMS. They also are good about calling boarding before the process starts at the gate, so that business class and elite passengers actually get to pre-board, another concept lost on KL ground services in AMS.

We boarded the 737-800 on time, and I only saw two empty seats on the aircraft. Fortunately, one of them was 3D, so T moved there and we had an empty seat between us.

Departure was about ten minutes late; according to the message from the cockpit there was a lot of baggage to be loaded. Having nothing better to do, I watched most of this loading process and there were an exceptional number of bags.

Taxi and takeoff were uneventful. After the seat belt signs went off, the cabin crew set about serving breakfast, which consisted of a generous slice of edam cheese, a small (10 cm?) buttered roll with schinken, an equally-proportioned bowl of fruit salad (apples, grapes, grapefruit), Mövenpick Birchermüesli yoghurt (always a treat!), a huge macaroon, warmed bread, juice, milk, tea or coffee. The Europe Select service has really improved over the last year or two. If only KL would combine the improved service with better seating (either like US domestic or with blocked middle seats and moveable armrests)….

Whilst over the North Sea we were treated to a gorgeous dawn sky but the sun only rose after arrival in AMS.

Touchdown on the Zwanenburgbaan (36C) was at 8:00 and we taxied in to our gate in the non-Schengen section of D-pier, disembarking about five minutes early. Generally speaking, the non-Schengen gates are those from which flights to the UK and destinations outside the EU, Norway, and Switzerland arrive and depart, which includes the gates in E, F, G and part of D pier.

After some necessary shopping at SeeBuyFly we headed for the Crown Lounge. I know what you’re thinking; anyone who transits Schiphol frequently (as we do 20+ times/yr) knows that SBF is quite possibly one of the biggest rip-offs visited upon mankind, but we had some last-minute Christmas gifts to get for our hosts in Chicago, especially their two little girls. So T emerged from SBF a couple of Dutch girl dolls (no, not the blow-up variety you sicko!) heavier and more than a few €€€s lighter. She also picked up a couple of “Holland” footballs, one for the girls and another for our niece in Charlotte, who we’ll see in a week or so.

We received the typical icy reception at the Crown Lounge. I completely fail to understand why KL continues to only employ lounge attendants that are among the most customer-unfriendly people on earth. They really are; I’ve made apologies for them too often in the past.

No real controversies today, but it’s the little things, isn’t it? She took our boarding cards to scan them into her computer. She tried thrice to scan the magnetic stripe into the reader, and glared at me in disgust when it didn’t work. Clearly it was MY fault that she was going to have to manually input the digits! Whilst in the lounge, I noted that my boarding card did not list my frequent flyer number as T’s did; instead it read “FQTV Accrual N/A”, which sounded rather ominous. On the way out of the lounge, I asked a different attendant if she could ensure everything was in order. She typed a few things in and out spat new boarding cards. Only on my way to the gate did I realise the new boarding card had the identical problem! Oh well, it will all work out in the end, I’m sure.

KL612 MAN-ORD 1040-1225
“World Business Class” class seats 1JK

Typical KLM game at AMS is to state both a departure and a boarding time on the boarding card. For intercontinental flights, the stated boarding time is typically 90 minutes prior to departure. I can only imagine that the wizards who came up with this scheme were sitting in a room smoking joints and applied the logic as follows… “since our airline is always an hour late, we’ll tell everyone we’re boarding an hour earlier than we actually do and then it will all work out in the end!” Every time I depart AMS for points intercontinental we seem to board about half an hour before departure, and today was no exception.

Being seasoned KLM travellers, T and I remained in the lounge until about 9:45 (boarding time for our 10:40 flight was naturally listed as 9:10). In the non-Schengen zone, each gate has its own security screening. We arrived at our gate—E22, at the very end of E pier, but we needed the walk anyway—and breezed through the security checkpoint, as the only real pre-boarding privilege of business class is that you can cut to the front of the queue. After this our boarding cards were scanned and we were deposited into the “pigpen”, as I call it. This pigpen, like all others at Schiphol, is an undersized waiting room with chairs for 150 people but jam packed with a 747 load of passengers wondering why they came to the gate 90 minutes early. By this time, the VDU at the gate said boarding was in process, but clearly wasn’t.

A few minutes after the VDU said “Gate Closing”, an announcement was made that families travelling with small children could then board. This is the standard modus operandi at AMS, and is always a cause of consternation and stress, because the entrance to the jetway is invariably clogged by WBC and elite passengers, as well as those with an unjustified sense of entitlement. Of course, the ensuing scrum guarantees a smattering of heated exchanges, pushing and shoving, and is no doubt a source of humour of which AMS ground staff never tire. Honestly, how difficult is it to have a special section roped off for Skyteam Elites and Business Class passengers, request that passengers please not clog the entrance to the jetway, board families with small children, then WBC/Elite, and then everyone else by row? The logic escapes me.

Our plane today was a KLM-Asia 747-400 Combi christened “Freetown”. KLM names 747-400 Combis after cities of the world; I’ve recently flown on Shanghai and Vancouver as well. Although I love aircraft, I’m not much of an anorak so you’ll have to go to airliners.net if you want tail numbers and all that.

We made our way to 1JK, and had a glass of something bubbly and alcoholic, and settled in.

I love sitting in Row 1 because you can forget about the rest of the plane behind you, it’s secluded, and the view out the windows is fantastic. Row 1 has four windows offering a nearly panoramic view. For me, all the negative things about this row are offset by something positive. There are no overhead bins above this row—they don’t start until Row 2—but there always seems to be plenty of overhead space, and there is a closet at your toes that has loads of storage space. Some say the bulkhead is too close and makes them feel claustrophobic, but as someone mildly prone to this I find it’s a perfectly reasonable distance away. When seated at the window, I can access the aisle even if my seatmate is fully reclined.

Others rave about Row 77, the exit row on the upper deck. I have sat in 77A, 77B, and 77K and find the window seats to be excellent (avoid the aisle because you’ve nowhere to stow anything) but forget about the view. There is only one window and you have to crane your neck to see out of it. That said, if one intends to sleep, this row is without fault. The side bins at the window seats are probably the greatest feature of the upper deck; the savvy traveller stows his laptop, amenity kit, reading material, blanket, pillow, etc., in the side bin and never has to get up to access the nearly-worthless overhead bins that won't even fit many briefcases.

As is typical for AMS, pushback was delayed 20 minutes due to undisclosed reasons, and adding insult to injury we had to taxi to the Polderbaan (36L), the new runway located somewhere between Schiphol and the North Sea (do a FlyerTalk search on "Polderbaan" and you'll come up with some informative threads on this waste of tarmac).

Meal service was prompt and efficient. I had guinea fowl with morels and Tracey had tilapia with beurre blanc. As typical for KLM, presentation left something to be desired but flavour and texture weren’t too bad; definitely not world class but better than economy!

After the first meal service, the WBC Purser came and visited with each passenger. I thought this was a nice touch, and I haven’t seen this in the past. She must have spent ten minutes speaking with us about travel, KLM service, etc.

After she left we remembered to query the flight attendant about pre-selecting a KLM miniature blue Delft house for our collection, which now numbers about 30. It’s getting to the point that, when the FAs come ‘round with the tray of houses, we either don’t have time to figure out which ones we already have (as landing is typically imminent), or the remaining selection has none that we don’t already have. So, with this flight we decided to give the flight attendant a list of the houses we have and ask for her to select some different ones for us.

At first she didn’t seem thrilled with the prospect of sorting through the houses to find some suitable ones, but it clicked pretty quickly when she saw our list of houses that it might make sense to take care of us as we give our fair share of business to KLM. She complied with a smile and after a brief snooze we awoke to find them sitting atop T’s backpack, which was on the floor in front of her. Next time we saw our FA, we thanked her profusely.

A tip for those that travel with tightly-packed hand luggage and collect the houses: use the socks from your amenity kit to double-wrap your house, and then place it in your amenity kit to ensure safe transport!

The flight attendants came around mid-flight and offered a choice of sandwiches and assorted flavours of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

About two hours from landing we were offered either a salmon or artichoke tapeto as a pre-arrival snack; flavour and texture were good. Pasta roulade with salmon, pesto and hollandaise sauce, and chicken and duck liver parfait were served as starters, and the chocolate, maple and pecan bavarois was a nice finishing touch.

We took a southerly crossing today, initially cruising at FL340 and meeting England’s shores just south of the Humber. Visible out our windows were Kingston Upon Hull and the great Humber Bridge; we would have passed within view of where we started in the wee hours of the morning had it not been for cloud cover that started just inland of the Humber Bridge and stayed with us for the duration of the North Atlantic crossing. After crossing over Northern Ireland, we kept about 1000 nm south of Greenland and Iceland, flying over open ocean until we made landfall at the northern tip of Newfoundland and following the St. Lawrence to the Great Lakes.

The cloud cover and our southerly route were unfortunate; I always try to sit on the north side of the aircraft for North Atlantic crossings. When flying westbound one often gets stunning view of Iceland and Greenland; eastbound the aurora borealis can be equally breathtaking.

Our eight hour and twenty-minute flight was punctuated three or four times by light to moderate chop; at one point over Newfoundland the turbulence was sufficient to slosh beverages out of their glassware without quite toppling the whole drink. The captain announced this was due to changes in wind direction and crossing the jet core, and compensated by climbing to FL400.

We landed on 32L just as snow was starting to fall. As has been my previous experience flying KLM into O’Hare, it was less than 10 minutes from docking at the jetway to waiting for our ride. I have never checked baggage into ORD, so I can’t comment on how long we would have waited otherwise.

Overall, it was a typical KL WBC experience for me; solid but not outstanding. To me the biggest letdown continues to be the food; presentation and appearance are lacking, though flavour and texture are perfectly acceptable, but not outstanding.

As an interesting aside, when we were waiting in the overcrowded Crown Lounge at AMS we got into a brief friendly exchange with a fellow traveller. We next ran into him when we found he was on our flight sitting across the aisle in 1A! After the flight we wound up next to each other in the queue for immigration and I commented on his AA EXP luggage tag. He said he flies AA across the pond almost exclusively in business, save the odd upgrade to First, and otherwise he flies BA Club World (I guess because of OneWorld). Apparently he’s gotten all the miles he needs and tried out KL this time. He said the KLM experience was superior to AA business class but a notch below AA First and BA Club World, which he reckons to be the best transatlantic business class product out there.

TrayFlowInUK:

Most enjoyable trip report - especially interesting as I had similar experiences on a KL/NW trans-Atlantic WBC itinerary a few weeks ago (my first WBC flights in a while):

My KLM flight was LAX to AMS, also on the KLM-Asia 747 Combi, and also in 1K. I was disappointed in the WBC seat (I found the interior seat width surprisingly confining, despite having no problems with F seat width on any NW domestic aircraft; also, I found the reading light stalk very annoying ... I just couldn't stow it out of the way ... it was rubbing against my shoulder the entire flight ... felt like rubbing shoulders with the adjacent passenger. PS: had no problem stowing the similar stalk on the NW WBC A330 seat, which I also found wider than the KLM seat). The extra windows were OK, but I was expecting more of a "look forward" window due to the extreme curvature of the 747 nose, but did not actually find that due to the wall to wall closet fitted just in front of row 1.

Re the KLM lounges at Schipol: on my inbound connection, I attempted entry at one of the two non-Schengen lounges. The lounge lizard strongly recommend I go to the Schengen lounge instead (newer, less crowded, and closer to my AF departure gate for CDG). I complied (a good thing, I think) so I never did see that first lounge. On my return connection, I first went to the Schengen lounge again since I liked it the first time, and then attempted a non-Schengen lounge again ... this time a "Lounge full; proceed to alternate lounge" electronic sign was active ... at this point, I had lost interest and just proceeded to my departure gate.

Also, re the KLM lounge lizards -- they insisted on seeing ALL my lounge entry credentials: ie, my NW WorldClub membership card AND my SkyTeamElite+ (NW Plat) membership card AND my WBC boarding card -- this despite the fact that ANY ONE of these credentials is sufficient for entry into any AMS KLM club.

Re the "pigpen" downstream of the final security checkpoint at the intl. departure gate: It was clear that it would be incapable of holding even a fraction of the NW A330 passengers, so I waited until "final opportunity" for security screening was announced - this worked out well as the "pigpen" area, the adjacent restrooms, and the jetway had cleared out completely by that point, allowing me to stroll right on board.

Once again, most interesting report -- I'm looking forward to reading about the return flights for your comparison with NW. :)

My KLM flight was LAX to AMS, also on the KLM-Asia 747 Combi, and also in 1K. I was disappointed in the WBC seat (I found the interior seat width surprisingly confining, despite having no problems with F seat width on any NW domestic aircraft; also, I found the reading light stalk very annoying ... I just couldn't stow it out of the way ... it was rubbing against my shoulder the entire flight ... felt like rubbing shoulders with the adjacent passenger.You must be a big fella (?) because I'm about 6' and 275 lb and didn't have these problems. But I've been flying KL 744s since 2000 and I am definitely ready for a seat upgrade!

I've always primarily flown NW and KL, even before the alliance started, so I'm well used to them. To be honest, if it wasn't for the fact that (a) I have all my miles with them, and don't fly enough to have multiple significant statuses, (b) they serve many of the places I like to go, and (c) they're often the cheapest option, I would probably take BA or VS transatlantically. There are days I wish I never would have found out the value of FF miles or what having elite status is like, and could just take the cheapest or most convenient option.

That said, my company no longer pays for annual home leave trips in business class. I used miles to upgrade these tickets; so if I were to fly on any other airline it would have been in back! I'll suffer the KL C-class experience over anyone else's Y-class any time. :)

You are an expat and the company only pays for ONE set of tickets per year in ECONOMY?
Those are really poor conditions!
Most expats I know have 2 sets of economy or 1 set of business per year for home leave.
At my company we are entitled to two sets, in Business class, per member of family abroad, per year.
I hope they're paying you well...!

You are an expat and the company only pays for ONE set of tickets per year in ECONOMY?
Those are really poor conditions!
Most expats I know have 2 sets of economy or 1 set of business per year for home leave.
At my company we are entitled to two sets, in Business class, per member of family abroad, per year.
I hope they're paying you well...!They've really gotten cheap... at first I was on 2 sets of economy/year but when I signed on for longer term they pulled those bennies back. Didn't help that biz conditions were pretty tough at the time.

Being an expat today, at least for many people, isn't what it was even five years ago. :(