jetfan
Jun 4, 06, 12:17 pm
Whilst I am based in AMS, sometimes I buy tickets in South Africa when they're cheaper, so this time I used the remainder of a KL ticket AMS-JNB-AMS and the first section of a KQ ticket.
JNB-AMS on KLM
Check-in was very smooth and efficient. I had checked in through the online check-in which opened exactly 30 hours before departure and managed to secure one of my favorite seats (1K). My boarding pass was waiting for me at the document check facility although I did have to ask for it myself, it was not proactively offered.
At JNB a separate company weighs the bags before you proceed to the counters, I guess to avoid long queues at the counters. KLM now also wraps all hold luggage individually, as a precautionary measure to discourage pilferage.
This was done very efficiently. The check-in staff is from Air France, friendly and efficient.
Immigration was a breeze, there is at least one advantage in departing so late out of JNB airport! It can really be a nightmare at around 19:00 hrs when all the other major carriers depart.
The lounge was overcrowded even though this was only a 747 combi flight. I guess lots of FB Plat/Gold travelling in M tonight. Nice selection of drinks and sandwiches. (more about lounge below).
Boarding was efficient, there were signs at the gate splitting the queue into two (C + Elite Plus/Elite and Economy). When the glass doors opened, only the C/Elite queue was allowed to board for the first 5 minutes or so. Thereafter, the split was strictly enforced by AF staff calling out "Business Class/Elites to the left, economy to the right!).
At the aircraft door I spoke to the KLM supervisor. She informed me that AF/KL had come to an agreement with the Airport Company about a new joint lounge that would open early 2007. It would be on the new concourse, where the current A1-A3 gates are. At the departure level, so no more (non-working) escalators or elevators needed! Also, the size would be quite large, bigger than the total m2 of the two lounges currently in use.
In-flight service was efficient. With the first drinks' round the nuts had disappeared on my previous flights but, thank goodness, they were back! The Australian-festival had stopped and there were new wines. Starter was different too (smoked butter fish and salmon/cream cheese) but I remember this same dish from a year or so ago. The main courses had only changed slightly, the beef remains but with black pepper sauce instead of amarula sauce. And my favorite, the Thai green curry was still there. And very nice this time I must add.
Breakfast a-la-carte had different choices, I opted for the vegetarian tartlet which was ok. Fruit salad, yoghurt, muesli etc were nice and nice croissants this time, not overdone. F/A was very friendly and assisted by the SENIOR purser during breakfast service. Necessary, because the nose section (18 pax) was full and they only served b/f 1 hour and 30 minutes before landing.
IFE not on-demand but with a good selection of movies and good music! I like the noise-reduction headsets.
We arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule in AMS, and, there was a gate position available, not always the case when you land early.
Verdict: solid service from KLM, I'll be even happier when the new lounge is ready.
AMS-NBO-JNB on KQ
I checked-in online, 30 hours before departure. Service from AMS is a 777-200, the same aircraft as KLM uses. Also 2-3-2 seating in C-class but only 4 rows (28 seats) instead of 5 rows on KLM. Thus, a lot more generous pitchwise. I could also check-in for my NBO-JNB flight which was a 767 with 2-1-2 seating. It is usually a 737 with 2-2 seating in C-clss.
Because I had no printer access with my laptop, I printed the boarding passes at the new self-service machines. You now get these paper boarding passes without the tear-off stub.
Immigration was quick and the security check on intercontinental flights has been moved back to the departure gate.
The KLM lounge was almost deserted at that hour. Snacks and drinks were ok, there were some nice fresh assorted nuts (yes, I have a nut fetish...).
Boarding was a gate F5 where they have now introduced metal banklining poles to enforce priority boarding. This worked well. At the "holding pen" they also have a separate C-class elite seating section although the entrance was not controlled so anyone could sit there. KQ still uses color boarding and that was quite efficient.
The space on board these KQ seats is very nice. I was seated on 1H, aisle seat on the right. At first I thought the pitch might still be a little short for me (I'm 1:90) but when you stretch out the REAL flat bed, no lie-flat/slippery slope seat, this was real, the space you have is amazing!
In-flight entertainment is "on-demand" meaning you can start/stop/ffwd etc but the selection was a bit poor, about 8 movies only.
Plenty of drinks. The dinner service is a bit strange, you get a tray with your selection of starter (vegetarian salad or beef salad), an empty plate for bread rolls and your dessert.
Later they come with the rolls. Thereafter choice of main course (salmon or chicken). I had the salmon with wild rice and it was OK. My neighbour had the chicken which looked really poor. So there the dessert is sitting on your tray while you are eating. And thereafter they appear with a cart with various cheeses (very nice, as good as on AF) or fruits. And the dessert still sits there... (unless you eat it before the cheese of course, and not being French that was an option... :-) )
Right after dinner service I put the flat bed to the sleeping position, asked for a bottle of water (this is not served unless you ask) and requested F/A's not to wake me for breakfast.
The pain with the NBO flight is that it's relatively short (7:50 mins), so once dinner has been served, you have about 5 hours of nett sleeping time if you skip breakfast. Sleeping was not an issue, the inflight amenity kit was great, and what a difference a real flat bed and nice pillow makes!! I woke up around 30 minutes before landing when they wanted the blankets back (a silly thing I find, especially for C-clss).
I had slept well but far too short and was rather drowsy and moody upon deplaning, if you realise it's about 05:30 am SA time/EUR time.
NBO-JNB
The connection is really convenient and this time I was lucky with the 767 with, again a full flat-bed (75 inches pitch!!). I asked the F/A's to provide some water and told them I would skip breakfast. I slept for another 3 hours solid which was great! The breakfast selection on the menu did not appear too special so not an issue to miss it. Had this flight been the regular 737 service with standard business class seats, then this 4 hour flight would have been a lot less comfortable.
Arrival was efficient, we parked on an Alpha-bay (so no busing thank goodness) and immigration was bearable (4 counters for SA citizens, 5 counters for Other passports). About a 15 minute wait.
Verdict: good service from KQ. Meals not quite on par. Excellent lie-flat product. If you can get 767 NBO-JNB then all is well. However, I don't like the fact that the AMS-NBO stretch is rather short and then you have another 1 hour transit time + 4 hours of flying time to go after that. I guess the solution is to skip the dinner service and perhaps have b/fast instead.
JNB-AMS on KLM
Check-in was very smooth and efficient. I had checked in through the online check-in which opened exactly 30 hours before departure and managed to secure one of my favorite seats (1K). My boarding pass was waiting for me at the document check facility although I did have to ask for it myself, it was not proactively offered.
At JNB a separate company weighs the bags before you proceed to the counters, I guess to avoid long queues at the counters. KLM now also wraps all hold luggage individually, as a precautionary measure to discourage pilferage.
This was done very efficiently. The check-in staff is from Air France, friendly and efficient.
Immigration was a breeze, there is at least one advantage in departing so late out of JNB airport! It can really be a nightmare at around 19:00 hrs when all the other major carriers depart.
The lounge was overcrowded even though this was only a 747 combi flight. I guess lots of FB Plat/Gold travelling in M tonight. Nice selection of drinks and sandwiches. (more about lounge below).
Boarding was efficient, there were signs at the gate splitting the queue into two (C + Elite Plus/Elite and Economy). When the glass doors opened, only the C/Elite queue was allowed to board for the first 5 minutes or so. Thereafter, the split was strictly enforced by AF staff calling out "Business Class/Elites to the left, economy to the right!).
At the aircraft door I spoke to the KLM supervisor. She informed me that AF/KL had come to an agreement with the Airport Company about a new joint lounge that would open early 2007. It would be on the new concourse, where the current A1-A3 gates are. At the departure level, so no more (non-working) escalators or elevators needed! Also, the size would be quite large, bigger than the total m2 of the two lounges currently in use.
In-flight service was efficient. With the first drinks' round the nuts had disappeared on my previous flights but, thank goodness, they were back! The Australian-festival had stopped and there were new wines. Starter was different too (smoked butter fish and salmon/cream cheese) but I remember this same dish from a year or so ago. The main courses had only changed slightly, the beef remains but with black pepper sauce instead of amarula sauce. And my favorite, the Thai green curry was still there. And very nice this time I must add.
Breakfast a-la-carte had different choices, I opted for the vegetarian tartlet which was ok. Fruit salad, yoghurt, muesli etc were nice and nice croissants this time, not overdone. F/A was very friendly and assisted by the SENIOR purser during breakfast service. Necessary, because the nose section (18 pax) was full and they only served b/f 1 hour and 30 minutes before landing.
IFE not on-demand but with a good selection of movies and good music! I like the noise-reduction headsets.
We arrived 10 minutes ahead of schedule in AMS, and, there was a gate position available, not always the case when you land early.
Verdict: solid service from KLM, I'll be even happier when the new lounge is ready.
AMS-NBO-JNB on KQ
I checked-in online, 30 hours before departure. Service from AMS is a 777-200, the same aircraft as KLM uses. Also 2-3-2 seating in C-class but only 4 rows (28 seats) instead of 5 rows on KLM. Thus, a lot more generous pitchwise. I could also check-in for my NBO-JNB flight which was a 767 with 2-1-2 seating. It is usually a 737 with 2-2 seating in C-clss.
Because I had no printer access with my laptop, I printed the boarding passes at the new self-service machines. You now get these paper boarding passes without the tear-off stub.
Immigration was quick and the security check on intercontinental flights has been moved back to the departure gate.
The KLM lounge was almost deserted at that hour. Snacks and drinks were ok, there were some nice fresh assorted nuts (yes, I have a nut fetish...).
Boarding was a gate F5 where they have now introduced metal banklining poles to enforce priority boarding. This worked well. At the "holding pen" they also have a separate C-class elite seating section although the entrance was not controlled so anyone could sit there. KQ still uses color boarding and that was quite efficient.
The space on board these KQ seats is very nice. I was seated on 1H, aisle seat on the right. At first I thought the pitch might still be a little short for me (I'm 1:90) but when you stretch out the REAL flat bed, no lie-flat/slippery slope seat, this was real, the space you have is amazing!
In-flight entertainment is "on-demand" meaning you can start/stop/ffwd etc but the selection was a bit poor, about 8 movies only.
Plenty of drinks. The dinner service is a bit strange, you get a tray with your selection of starter (vegetarian salad or beef salad), an empty plate for bread rolls and your dessert.
Later they come with the rolls. Thereafter choice of main course (salmon or chicken). I had the salmon with wild rice and it was OK. My neighbour had the chicken which looked really poor. So there the dessert is sitting on your tray while you are eating. And thereafter they appear with a cart with various cheeses (very nice, as good as on AF) or fruits. And the dessert still sits there... (unless you eat it before the cheese of course, and not being French that was an option... :-) )
Right after dinner service I put the flat bed to the sleeping position, asked for a bottle of water (this is not served unless you ask) and requested F/A's not to wake me for breakfast.
The pain with the NBO flight is that it's relatively short (7:50 mins), so once dinner has been served, you have about 5 hours of nett sleeping time if you skip breakfast. Sleeping was not an issue, the inflight amenity kit was great, and what a difference a real flat bed and nice pillow makes!! I woke up around 30 minutes before landing when they wanted the blankets back (a silly thing I find, especially for C-clss).
I had slept well but far too short and was rather drowsy and moody upon deplaning, if you realise it's about 05:30 am SA time/EUR time.
NBO-JNB
The connection is really convenient and this time I was lucky with the 767 with, again a full flat-bed (75 inches pitch!!). I asked the F/A's to provide some water and told them I would skip breakfast. I slept for another 3 hours solid which was great! The breakfast selection on the menu did not appear too special so not an issue to miss it. Had this flight been the regular 737 service with standard business class seats, then this 4 hour flight would have been a lot less comfortable.
Arrival was efficient, we parked on an Alpha-bay (so no busing thank goodness) and immigration was bearable (4 counters for SA citizens, 5 counters for Other passports). About a 15 minute wait.
Verdict: good service from KQ. Meals not quite on par. Excellent lie-flat product. If you can get 767 NBO-JNB then all is well. However, I don't like the fact that the AMS-NBO stretch is rather short and then you have another 1 hour transit time + 4 hours of flying time to go after that. I guess the solution is to skip the dinner service and perhaps have b/fast instead.