Xandrios

I flew AMS-ATH a few days ago, 737-800. I (online) checked myself in to 4D, my favorite seat. At the checkin counter the lady mentioned that I am in a paid comfort seat.

I cannot deny that these seats are comfortable, in fact, I prefer them over an exit row. So far I have been able to get them without any issue as a Gold member, but I would not be surprised if that changes. Which would suck but no doubt is another way for KL to make a few pennies more..

michelw

I might have missed this somewhere else but I just got a call from a colleague who was at the airport and asked to be moved to an EC seat on IAD-AMS. She is FB Plat. The lounge person did it but informed her that the rules were going to change March 1, 2013. Does anyone know if this is true and what the new rules are?

Xandrios

Hmm, I have only once asked this at the lounge, and they flatout denied they would even be able to..

Would this change at March 1 be positive or negative?

michelw

Not quite sure and I hate to speculate. But she said that the lounge agent said that she could today but that "anyways, the rules are changing March 1st." She took that to mean that they would be tightening up the rules...maybe fareclass and status. And now I have speculated.

irishguy28

In the context of the conversation as reported, perhaps it just means that the lounge agents will not in future be allowed to change seat assignments?

I had the bizarre situation at the end of last year of having tried to move myself out of an Economy Comfort Seat to sit further back with a friend who happened to later book on the same flight as me. This could not be done online, so I rang up, and the KLM agent was able to move me back. Problem solved, or so I thought. I happened to look at the reservation again a few days later, and I had been magically moved forward again into the Economy Comfort zone. It didn't seem worthwhile ringing again to ask to be moved again as it seemed likely I would just be moved again automatically later.

At check in (we had bags, but had already checked in online which may have been a mistake!), I asked the check-in agent if I could be moved back to a "normal" seat. This was at the SkyPriority check-in area at Schiphol. The agent there said she was not able to change seat assignments, and directed us to the blue check-in kiosks, being adamant that that was the only way either of us could change our seat assignments. (She may even have told us to try in the lounge, she said something along the lines of the checkin staff not being able to do anything other than put tags on bags). I found that hard to believe. As it turned out, the flight was fairly full so there weren't any "free" seats left for me to choose from, and we decided it wasn't worth paying €50 to move the other guy forward.

ScotFly2000

I'd rather have an exit row seat in economy than have a regular economy comfort seat. Row 21 for example on the 747 combi.

________________
2013: GLA, PIK, LHR, LPA, LCG, MAD, TFN, AMS

Terbang

SMART MOVE OF KLM

Travelled in Ec-comfort to BCN this Sunday. I am 1.91 meter tall.

Have to say the extra space between the seat in front of you makes a difference.
It is a smart move of KLM as they can first try to sell the Ec-comfort chair as a Business seat (only blocking the middle seat) or if Business demand is low (as is the case with BCN) sell the seat as Ec-comfort. Result is max. Flexibility!!

Of course some critics will say ”and did anybody pay for it??”
Most likely not yet. But give it some time before evaluating the financials.

I sit often in the new LH NEK seat (cramped like Transavia) and I can tell you that KLM has here a strong competitive edge.

Furthermore, I can also compliment the cabin crew. Friendly, attentive and professional. Good atmosphere!!

Orion

I have flown out of IST to AMS on KL (once in January, once in February). Each time I had selected a seat in the "economy comfort" zone. This was part of an itinerary purchased from Delta. When I checked in at KLM their reservation moved me to the back of the bus. At the airport checkin they were able to move me back to "economy comfort". I am a Delta Platinum. The Delta website allows me to chose the more comfortable seat on KLM. The KLM website tries to charge me a fee for this.
Delta and KLM should talk about this and harmonize their computers.

Xandrios

Flew from Athens yesterday and they seem to consistently get it right from there:

- Upon showing my gold card to the check-in lady she let me choose any EC seat free of charge. Which is great, as upgrades needed to take place anyway. So they recognise that in this case they best upgrade Golds voluntarily.

- EC was filled AC and DF first. A handful people needed to be upgraded from Eco, and they did so starting from the back of EC, putting 6 upgrades in a row. (Thus leaving frequent fliers in the first rows at 4 pax per row).

So the seat map was exactly the way you want it to be:

She also confirmed that they upgrade people at the check in desk if needed, and only upgrades to business are done at the gate..

I know a lot of things have been said about Greece and its people over the last few years, but I have yet to find any airport in the mediterranean where they are so professional and yet nice Not just at check in, but also at the lounges and at the gate. Which is by the way all done by the same group of maybe ~8 (?) people in ATH, at least for the AF/KL flights.

johan rebel

Sounds as if they should send seven of these people around to all KL's outstations (AMS is a hopeless case) to teach the locals best practice.

Johan

ajs123

what do 'b' and 'e' stand for? Blocked? Empty? Elite?

alesfo

I guess they are as in abc-def.

ajs123

gotcha @:-)

t0t1t2

No more EC available and the lady at the platinum line could not do more than assigning me a middle seat at the emergency exit row. Did this ever happen to you before ?

johan rebel

Not to me personally, but EC seats can of course run out, just like all other seats.

Johan