I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder as different people have different assessments here. Example...
Originally Posted by
hugolover
OLCI:[/B]
As FB Plat I wanted to chose an exit row, unfortunately the system wasn't happy and blocked the entire forward cabin off, though it had assigned me the first row in Y. I reported this to KL via Twitter and after a few hours manual assignment had been carried out. While I appreciated their efforts I wish OLCI would just work first time. I've always had problems with KL OLCI.
With Lufthansa as a SEN I can pre-assign my seats anywhere I wish from when the booking is made. I've never had a problem with check-in at all. It always works, on the phone and on the web. Like KL/AF LH have the "quiet cabin" at the front accessible to elite's and full fare Y.
Also, LH aren't charging non-status pax for the exit row. Lufthansa and the SEN benefit is the definite winner here.
KL and AF OLCIs are the exact same apart from AF auto-check in (otherwise, the AF OLCI is in fact handled by KL and you will see
www.klm.com on top of your AF OLCI page). Re-LH, I am not LH Sen but * Gold with another programme so probably not the same experience but I have had many a dreadful experience with LH OLCI: as Star Gold, regularly, LH assigns me a middle seat towards the back (we can't pre-assign unlike the actual LH sen) and very often the seats can't be changed especially when you have a Swiss ticket ex-Germany or an LH ticket ex-Switzerland etc. Had this today again. LX flight TXL-ZRH-NCE, OLCI took me to LH website, had a 'B' seat preassigned for both segments, could change former but not latter until I arrived in Zurich by which time I could only move far back to avoid a middle. So here, I'd choose - well I wouldn't choose any, I don't like the AF-KL OLCI nor the LH OLCI and the seats I get on BA OLCI often get changed, so I think they are all bad.
Originally Posted by
hugolover
Lounges:[/B]
CDG is Air France's home, the lounges should be the best they have and the same goes for KL at AMS.
At CDG 8:00AM breakfast is on offer. There are croissants, pain au chocolat, farmhouse loaf, jam, musli and cornflakes with syrup (milk is only available in a drinking carton with straw
), pre-pack yoghurt's and a few pieces of fruit. Usual drinks selection available. Ice is from a dispenser.
With Lufthansa in MUC/FRA and even TXL/DUS (haven't had the pleasure of HAM, DRS and STR) there are hot items available, the 'Senator' buffet, salads, cold meats and cheeses, eggs, various freshly made yoghurt's on ice, chopped fruits etc.
Now I have been in the AF lounge at all times of the day and it never has anything remotely comparable to what's on offer at the LH lounges I mention. This is *the home* of AF. Even the LH SEN lounge at CDG has a fair spread *and* it has champagne.
At FRA and MUC there are even fully serviced bars offering freshly made cocktails and at MUC proper coffee's.
At AMS I arrived at the end of the breakfast setup. On offer there was bread & butter pudding, boiled eggs, some fruit in yoghurt (find the fruit), biscuits, fruit. That's pretty much it. Their using soft-drink dispensers like in a fast food restaurant, of course this saves a lot of money for KL over bottles but they are so messy I hate them. LH use bottles except for the draft beer and real ice, not the snow type.
The lunch changeover comes and on offer is two types of salad, the usual beef consomme, tomato soup, chili con carne and a veg version. Plastic ham and cheese are available too. There are also some donuts. Now I have to say, things have improved since my memory of 2 years ago.
The victory here is LH, much better lounges for SEN/*G compared to what's on offer for FBG and FB Plat. LH lounges are often packed but so was AMS and CDG AF lounge.
Well again, all I can say is that we have radically different experiences. I find the LH lounges absolutely dreadful mostly on account of their horrible food. The new Sen lounge at FRA is apparently a bit less bad than the others but it remains all really poor. The food is always always the same. Breakfast is ok (as always in Germany) but the rest of the day I hate it, always the frozen pork meatballs with sachets of mustard, always potato salad, always some not very nice soup, always some gherkins I sort of like. At TXL there is also the worst currywurst you can probably find in the whole of Berlin. By contrast, at lunch and dinner time, AF has rather nice sandwiches, nice salads, cheese platters, cakes, etc. It is mediocre (no hot food) but I find it much less bad than my experience of the LH SEN lounges and even more of the LX and OS SEN lounges. This being said, there, the 'piece of cake' winner is BA with First Class lounges for BA Gold. Also, note that while LH's best lounges seem to be the hub ones, it is in my view not so for AF, where, for example, the JFK lounge or the LHR Skyteam lounge have much better food than CDG. I personally dislike the KLM lounge food. So here, I'd personally choose, without hesitation TK > BA > AF > SK > LH > KL > OS > LX...
Originally Posted by
hugolover
Seat
KL is a clear winner with seat comfort, the seats are far more comfortable than LH's new dreadful NEK. LH do offer middle-seat blocking for SEN's and *G where possible, KL/AF do not. Even though this is a great benefit, the new seats are very uncomfortable and give me a fair bit of back pain. KL is the winner.
I agree. Here I'd put KL > BA > LX > LH > AF (new seats)
Originally Posted by
hugolover
Catering
I received a very nice egg sandwich and a kind of chausson aux pommes. LH new catering is on the whole pretty poor and on routes from CDG I've mostly received a horrible dry soft & soggy croissant. The musli is not too bad. On many other KL flights there's only the cookies and crisps on offer. It's a draw with KL-LH. By the way, I won't mention AF catering
...I miss the tray.
Actually, here I find you a bit hard with LH which I tend to like better than KL in economy. I'd put TK > OS > LH > KL > LX > BA > AF > SK/IB/etc.
I don't have a general preference in terms of crews, I tend to find AF often very nice but have also often had nice crews on BA and KL. I tend to find LH crews more distant but there have been some great exceptions.
On short haul Y within Europe, I'd probably often choose TK if it was not out of the way, followed by BA for the F lounge and full bar (which LH, LX, AF, and KL do not offer), OS, and SU. I would then not get out of my way between AF, KL, LH, LX, AZ which each have their own advantages and downsides, and some of which are better on shorter or longer European routes.