KLM871_India

Note: Very long Trip report. Will take at least 5-10 minutes reading!!!

23.10.03



NW8612/KL0612 ORD-AMS, PH-BUK, Louis Bleriot, Boeing 747-300

23.10.03

STD: 1710

ATD: 1657

STA: 0810

ATA: 0725



Hey All! I told you that this would be a big report so here goes. I’m going to make this easy and put it in Metric conversions to using one of those online calculators. Sounds good? (Alles Goed?) (All is Good?)



I left school at 1.10P, went home, changed, shaved, and brushed my teeth. Taxi came at 1.35 and we left 10 minutes later. The Taxi driver was tailgating and so we got there at 2.07. Went to check in and Mom had a fit... Got pissed at me because I changed my seat... requested a window seat and got it... Mansie the NW person assisting us tried to tell mom that her seat was a 2 seater as it was next to the Lav. Mom wanted us to be together as she didn't want a stranger next to us... The lady offered us 3 middle in a 4 middle. Eventually mom got the idea. We went through security and went to gate M8. We were parked next to Iberia and Aer Lingus. Today's flight would be operated by KLM's PH-BUK Louis Bleriot. I'm at the window looking at Iberia's A343 EC-GLE Conception Arenal. Saw an Aviacsa 732 pushback. Reg- XA-TWV. There must have been some kind of emergency as there were lots of firetrucks racing around w/ their lights on. Boarding doesn't start until 1h10m from now... The Jetways look pretty old... If you are wondering where M8 is, its right after security. Look right out the window and you are right near the K finger T3 American Airlines. As I was going to go to the bathroom, I saw Swiss FA's. After the bathroom, I saw A Lufti A340, AA 777 arriving into M6. Last call for SK946 to ARN at M15. IB pushed back for its departure in T3. AF's A340 pulled into IB's spot... It was kool watching it come in. pretty interesting... KL crew came, pilot brought his son so.... The KLM crew was pretty. They loaded lots of Cargo onto this flight. An Indian family w/a 19 month old boy came by and they were going to PNQ via BOM and AMS. The pilot did his walk-around. The baby was so cute...



Anyways....I'm in Seat 33A, Mom and Annie are in Seat 34A and B. BTW. I sat next to some old person who was going to VIE. Our seats didn't have windows. I was guaranteed a window but mine was covered w/ Panel... grr. Some more KLM pilots came from below M8 at the KLM door. Boarding started at 16.30 (4.30P) and pushback at 16.57 (4.57P). Languages in Dutch and English as usual as it is KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. LOL…. Taxied to RW 32R by A19, B, Bridge over 190,32R. It took 7 minutes to do all that taxiing. We took off at 17.12. (5.12P) ETA: 7 hours 15. Gear went up at 17.13 (5.13P). We turned right to 90º I guess although not sure. Flight time 7 hours 50 minutes. Wish they displayed the heading on the Flight Map. Went through some clouds and the seatbelt sign went off at 7,400 feet (2255m) They played a short movie on Zuid Afrika (South Africa) at 17.50 (5.50P) The purser came by and asked us if we would like some playing cards and we both said yes. It was dark outside by then and mom painted her nails so my sister had to put on my mom’s socks for her. Our cruising altitude was FL330. (10058m) With 6 hours 30 to go, (The Dutch say their time like this… I think that it’s kool) we were flying over Toronto. That’s after they showed the map again. Then they played Mr. Bean. After that, we had just passed Ottawa. Dinner was guess… Chicken or Pasta… I got the last Chicken.



Dinner:



Roasted Chicken

with

Carrots

Salad

Cake

Tillamook Monterrey Jack Cheese

Carr’s Table Wafer Crackers



The dinnerware was real silver except for the knife which was plastic. I ate everything except for the Salad and Carrots. I’m guessing that I don’t have a window because I am next to the engine. Spent 20-25 minutes playing w/ the little Indian boy. It’s 8.00 PM & I’m doing homework. It’s 8.15P and we have just started our journey over the pond. We have 4 hours 4 left. Some turbulence w/ 2380miles to go (3830km). Now they are showing the KLM Movie, grr… Ooh… they are playing The Italian Job. I fell asleep through that one.



Some guy got yelled at for smoking. He was smoking in the Lav on the closest left side to the passengers. (So that’s why he kept getting up to go to the bathroom… I thought that maybe this person had to crap or something….) The F/A made him get up and show him where he smoked but he kept denying it… Eventually he told her. She said that she was “very angry” at him… I was wondering if the “Royal M” would be coming onboard… Oh yeah “Smoking in the lav constitutes an offence under Dutch Law. Violators will be prosecuted.” I memorised that passage good (well maybe that’s because I was on 4 KLM flights!!) Fell asleep again and woke up a little bit after Donegal, Ireland. While I was sleeping, they climbed to FL 370 (11277m). Soon we watched a video on AMS and Amsterdam. They handed out its “good morning breakfast.” The Good Morning Breakfast consisted of:



A Muffin (which Annie smashed)



Bread



Some other stuff which I forget







Didn’t write what it consists of down… After the movie, we crossed Leeds. The AMS connection info came up and said that we are arriving at gate F9 at around 7.34. It’s still dark outside. I’m used to seeing it bright outside at 6.30 am (well that was last August that I was in AMS). Gear down at 7.23 (12.23 am at ORD). AMS is pretty when lit up. Touchdown at 7.25 (12.25 ORD time). No reverse thrusting as it was done by all braking. (I’m guessing that no reverse thrust because it was too early in the morning?) It was raining and it was 35ºF (1.6ºC). We taxied to F4 via V2, V, UL, V, UM, W3, W, A, F9. (I’m guessing that we landed on the Polderbaan?) I thought that KLM F/A C.C.J. Van Ewlijk was really cute…

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24.10.03



NW8423/KL871 AMS-DEL, PH-BUN, Anthony H. G. Fokker, Boeing 747-300



STD: 1140

ATD: 1215

STA: 2250

ATA: 2303



After a nice breakfast at McDonald’s, we went to F4 for our aircraft. Actually… It’s PH-BUN. I took this aircraft last year to Delhi. I thought that I just lost my pen cap but Annie found it on the floor of KL612. I boarded with a Purple (Paars) card. I noticed that there are not a lot of Indians onboard. Mostly a mix of Europeans… Where is PH-BFU operating to? They loaded a car and KLM Cargo Horse Transport cartridges onboard… That’s pretty heavy…. PS: I just poked Annie… PPS: Poked her again. Mom asked if some Indian lady could switch with me (met mij) from 42K to 43K and she agreed. The people that I was supposed to sit next to was the Dutch people who were going to Delhi, Agra and Jaipur for the first time (first time to India). This Dutch woman (Nederlandse vrouw) looked like she was gonna fly 1st Class. She had that eye liner or whatever its called on her lip and made it look like that she had an extra lip… LOL. Spoke Dutch…



Anyways… 43K is right next to the flaps. It has stopped raining but it’s very cold outside. Pushed back a little late as we waited for some more people to come on board as they must have been people coming from a late flight. We pushed back 25 minutes and taxied to the Kaagbaan. Took off from RW 24. Seatbelts off at 6800ft ( 2072 m). We climbed to FL 330 ( 10058 m). Flight time 8 hours 45 minutes. We had also just found out that none of our lights work. Lunch consisted of:



Chicken with Black Bean sauce



Noodles



A Vegetable



Bread



Dutch Kaas (Cheese)



And some other stuff….


Not even the Call Button. Well the chime works…. So much for doing homework. During the movie, we climbed to FL370 ( 11277 m). Soon we flew over Kabul, Afghanistan…. Mom scared the crap out of the Granny F/A. She had her foot in the aisle and almost fell. By now, they have served that nasty pizza… The one w/ corn and all of these veggies… I think that KLM needs to re-think about how they make the pizzas. The lady asked us to fiddle with the lights as our reading lights didn’t work. She tried resetting them but it didn’t work… I had mom go get me more of the sesame seed crackers in the silver pouch as they were really good…. I ate like 4 bags of them… LOL….



Soon we started our descent and we were at FL300 ( 9144 m) at 22.45 (12.15 home time). Then down to FL270 ( 8229 m). Annie farted at 2248… LOL… Our new ETA was 2305 just 15 minutes late and soon it was 23.08. Down to FL185 ( 5368m) at 35 miles to go. Down to 10,500 ( 3200m) at 26 miles (38km) at 22.57. Flaps at 22.57. 10 minutes left 12 miles left to go at 243 MPH, 64ºF outside. Gear down at 23.01 6 miles to go and touchdown was at 23.03 just 13 minutes late. Full flaps, thrust reverser and brakes. Used the whole runway. Long taxi as we came into Gate 8. Gate 44 from the outside. Immigration took forever. About an hour lots of long lines. Didn’t get the bags until 12.30. All of the bags came off the carousel except one. We waited for all of them until they said there are no more KLM bags… Eventually we found out that Annie’s suitcase was pulled off and was waited to be picked up…. We got the bag… Went through Customs and then met our driver and then my cousin who waited 2 hours for us after they came in from BLR into Palam Airport. We then took about an hour’s drive to Gurgaon and stayed there for the duration of the trip.

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KLM871_India

2.11.03



NW 8366/KL 872 DEL-AMS, PH-BUN, Anthony H. G. Fokker, Boeing 747-300



STD: 0130

ATD: 0218

STA: 0555

ATA: 0614





Left Gurgaon around 22.30 after a beautiful wedding… I had some fun and some mischievous fun…. hehe. We got to IGI around 23.10. Mom attempted to check in but the KLM/NW Agent was looking for the Security sticker but didn’t find it so mom had to lug 5 bags to the X-Ray machine. All 5 bags got Indian Airline Security Checked stickers. Then checked in at the WBC counter. 1 of our bags was 7kgs over the 20kg limit… Luckily we didn’t have to pay. After that we did some last minute shopping…. Mom decided that she wanted chocolates and so she had to go searching for chocolates. On the boards I noticed that there was a flight to Bratislava who was scheduled to depart at 10.00 but was delayed until 1.30+1 some 15.5 hours late… (Ouch… so harsh…).So was a Royal Nepal Airlines flight who’s was STD: 1900 ETD: 1.30 some 4 hours late but not as bad as the Bratislava flight. Mom decided for us to get this Cheesy bread which was flaky and had Swiss cheese…. It was nasty and I told her that if I got sick, then there will be hell to pay… LOL… She let me eat the crust… It was hard and nasty… Annie and Mom liked and Mom said that it “hit the spot”. Yeah right that’s bullsh*t… LOL… Mom also decided that once we were done, she and Annie would go shopping for chocolates… I stood in line for security. In front of me were these people who were taking the N/S on AC to YYZ. Eventually they found out that they were in the wrong line for security as their flight was departing from Gate 3 and this security line was for gates 1-2,4-9. Crew came late as we boarded around 1.45… Some 1h15m late… Pushed back at 0215 and it was 55ºF outside. Flying time was 8 hours 35 minutes. Our new ETA was 6.32 some 37 minutes late.. Take-off was at 0227. Seatbelt sign off at 6100 feet ( 1858 m). Climbed to FL315 ( 9658 m). Slept for 5 (vijf) hours. No meal really and no movies… Everybody just wanted to sleep. Oh yeah… Messages were in Dutch and English…. While I was sleeping, we made up most of the time so now our ETA was 6.10 15 minutes late. They passed out breakfast which consisted of:



Egg w/ Chilies (never ate that)



100% vegetarian cheese



Indian Mints (specially packed for KLM/NW)



Bread



And some other stuff





Soon the AMS Airport Info came up and 6 flights had the contact ground staff symbol… A yellow C and the DTW flight had a green N for a new flight time. We were expected to get into gate F3 at 6.36 so you know what that means… We’re landing on the Polderbaan. It expected us to do 26m of taxiing. So long… grr… Gear down at 6.11 and we had some nice vortexes off the wing… We landed at 06.14 (11.14) -1 day home time. No reverse thrust just brakes, spoilers and flaps as I guess they did it for noise. We landed on 18R so yeah… It’s the Polderbaan. Over the river and over many bridges… It was 32ºF (so cold outside) when we landed and it was raining… We got to the gate at 6.17. 9 minutes early…. AMS needs to get heated jetways… But I do like the concept of the 2 jetway system. They finally opened up the back door for the last rows but we disembarked through the front jetway.

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2.11.03



NW 8611/KL 611 AMS-ORD PH-BUN Anthony H. G. Fokker, Boeing 747-300



Oh my... the same damn aircraft... We found this out after looking at the monitor and seeing where this aircraft was going… This would be the last flight on this trip to India… Same aircraft from DEL and AMS the previous day… What a variety of aircraft I get to fly on… Oh well… Can’t wait to fly on the 777 to DEL…. Boarded w/ the Purple (Paars) card. Went through the second jetway to seat 45K had an empty seat next to me. I was able to stretch out over 2 seats. In the aisle was a British man…. Pushed back at 10.54 14 minutes late…. Taxied by the Schengen terminal and got an opportunity to see the new Star Alliance colours with the BMI logo. Saw the new NWA A330 take off… I’m tired so I’m going to sleep after takeoff. We took off at 1108. 38 minutes late. Flying time was 8 hours 25 minutes. Seatbelt sign went off at 5700 feet ( 1797 m). Fell asleep and woke up under the J in Reykjavik. Watched the flight map until the E in Reykjavik. We climbed to FL 330 ( 10058 m). But then descended to FL310 ( 9488 m). By then lunch service was over my S.V. Atzei (very pretty) wanted to know if I ate. Lunch was the same thing on the AMS-DEL flight. We flew over Greenland… Very pretty outside… Watched the movie Scorched and then Pirates of the Caribbean… Cut that movie short for landing…. One of the FA’s just asked Annie for clear nail polish... Hmm… wonder what she needed that for??? Saw some great cloud/shadow under the antenna that was slightly below us. Possibly another aircraft. It was partly cloudy outside over the Atlantic (the pond) and some turbulence. We climbed again to FL350 ( 10688 m). Some nice snow over Labrador, Canada. Our new ETA was 1215. We started our descent and it was 52ºF (10ºC) outside. New ETA: 12.27. Westerly winds and the pilot put the seatbelt sign on early because of turbulence. I saw an aircraft a few thousand feet higher than us. Vortexes over the wing from FL 270 ( 8229 m) to the runway which was about 600ft ( 182 m). Down to FL270 ( 8220 m). Then down to FL225 ( 6858 m). More clouds and then the captain came on and said that we were in a holding pattern over Lake Michigan… Spent about 15 minutes doing that. Oh yeah… Messages were in Dutch and English…. We descended to 16,800 ( 5120 m) for the holding pattern. We have been descending for about 5 minutes… About 400ft/ ( 121 m) for every Imperial measurement on the flight monitor until 11,300 ( 3444 m) from the time of the announcement of the holding pattern until we got into the holding pattern which was right turns all the way. The monitors were English w/ Metric measurements on the DEL-AMS and AMS-ORD sectors… Surprised that there was no Dutch for the Flight Info for the KLM Monitors… We were turning w/ an altitude of 11,300 ( m) Flaps down at 12.33 descending into ORD turning left near Skokie and Evanston. Kinda bumpy up here at 17 miles ( 27 km) to go. Landfall was made at 12.37. Gear down at 12.38 and Touchdown was at 12.41 31 minutes late… Full of Everything… Landed on 32R I think… not sure… Vortexes happened until we touched down on the runway. We were at the runway which was closest to C31. Taxied over the ORD highway of 190 and we got to the gate which was M8 at 1248. some 38 minutes late. De-boarded and cleared Immigration in about 20 minutes. Mom’s bag took forever as 4/5 bags came with in 20 minutes…. Mom’s bag took another 20 minutes. Went through Customs and out of door B. Annie got Mc. Donald’s and mom called the taxi. Went through door 5E… Very cold outside…. 41ºF ( 5 ºC). Taxi came and we were home at 14.26. That would be the end of this trip report… Maybe I might go to DXB for Spring Break… Don’t know yet….

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Thanks for reading my Trip Report... Hope that you have enjoyed it... Feel free to leave comments!

Codes:

ORD – Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Illinois, USA

AMS – Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (Schiphol Amsterdam) , Netherlands

DEL – Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, India

BOM - Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai, India

PNQ – Pune, India

DXB – Dubai International Airport, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

fromYYZ_flyer

Good trip report. Very interesting how you put some of the personal stuff in, that could have been left out but it was interesting anyway.

dspringer28

Ditto.

yojimbo

I enjoyed all the personal details. Thanks for sharing

KLM871_India

No prob... i dont think i put too much personal details in other than my sister passing gas.... but thats about it... I am going to India again in August so i will have an even longer trip report... I will also be going to Pennsylvania in July...