Greetings All,

I thought it would be helpful to give you my first experience flying from
JFK TO AMS round trip last week in business class.
These of course are just my opinions and I use my past experience for years with British Airways ,United, American and Qantas as my main comparisons.

It was a pleasure to finally fly non stop into Amsterdam after all these years of connecting through Dulles,ORD and LHR and other various cities.

My arrival into Terminal 4 at JFK left me confused and delighted.
Could it be there was a well orgainized attractive modern terminal that wouldn't be an eyesore and actually be a source of comfort and good design ?With a flight that left right from my own backyard in New York ?

Was a strong impression overall (looks like a smaller Schipol Airport)
My time spent in the very attractive Aer Lingus co share lounge was fully enjoyable and relaxing.
I will assume their is no KLM lounge here at all.

My entrance into the 747 airplane for my red eye was met with a fair enough greeting and a superb choice of local and Int newspapers.
I reserved an upper deck seat upstairs and was thrilled with my personal space and the attractive well kept cabin.
My FAs were not overly outgoing , somewhat reserved, though perfectly pleasant.They were however highly professional and attractive.
They alll took very good care of the PAX on board despite the Food service let down described below.
I have sometimes eaten better in coach or far more impressively in domestic business class and first.

Seat comfort was only fairly satisfactory and the leg rest not as comfortable as other Int business class flights I have taken.

The food service onboard was amongst the worst ever experienced on any major carrier in business class aross the Atlantic.
My entree in this case was an over cooked very dry
tough Brie and apple chicken ,greasy gratin potatoes and haricots verts a fancy name for string beans
Other hot choice was Penne with Sun Dried tomatoes.
The dry cheesecake dessert looked like the bread commercial ,tired and not appetising.
How I longed for a Burger King Whopper right of the grill.
Weird with the above as the caterers out of NY can usually do a fantastic job.

The Continental breakfast before arrival was just fair .
A mix of in and out of season fruit and off brand odd tasting yoghurt and breakfast rolls.
The ammenity of the replicas of old dutch houses filled with booze was a clever novelty that added to the KLM distinctive magic on board.

I arrived into Amsterdam feeling fresher then I have ever felt as the 747 and the flight itself was a pure pleasure.
My bag arrived second on the carousel and I thought I must be seeing things. It can happen ! WOW
4 out of 5 stars :-: :-: :-: :-:

1 Star short only because of seat comfort and food
All in all I was seriously considering flying Northwest as an elite just to use KLM in the future as the flight itself was reasonably superb.
And I am willing to buy my dinner if they can't provide a satisfactory product

My experience with customer service in Schipol changed my thoughts of flying with them in the future .All because of the folks on the ground in the KLM ticketing customer service area RUDE
Without going into the drama KLM ill advised me on the return portion by phone on an overbooked flight and refused to even discuss the matter further or let me speak with a supervisor in person.
It was a wild goose chase to the airport at my expense and wasted time.
Considering it was their error they could have at least shown an ounce of concern by referring the stuation or giving any kind of consideration as we got closer to departure.
Regardless of the final outcome which was or ended up in this case as a no go.
With exception of this strange behavior and limited to a small group of rigid ticketing uptight agents at Schipol all other KLM agents were almost as good as it gets anywhere .
A tribute to the mostly wonderful friendly kind Dutch people.

Upon my return the check in agent was outstanding and very nice he did everything he could do to try to get me on the overbooked flight.
I was not going to risk standby so I declined to proceed any further

The Welcome on board the 767 was good and the opposite of my outbound experience with food and comfort.
MY TV was in slightly damaged condition(wouldn't stay up fully needed Viagara),dirty and quite old and worn like the plane.
Seats were tighter ,not as comfortable as the 747 and my tray table was damaged.
The seat also could not recline to its fully upright position.
The seats were also less comfortable includiing the footrest.
Making it noticeably poorer in comparison to the great flight on the outbound.
This plane is not in the league of most other carriers in this class of INT service.
The food service on the other hand was the exact opposite surprisingly good.

I have never enjoyed any meal out of Schipol before on any carrier so I feel they really have their catering act together in Holland.
A fully welcome surprise.

The flight seemed to go on forever and my fellow pax was the kind who refused to speak (no worry on my part ) or return a hello upon my arrival into the cabin .
FAs were more outgoing then my outbound and their service was exceptional.
My Guinea fowl with lime butter was excellent.
Moist flavorfull and cooked to perfection. The assorted potatoes carrots and broccoli ok.
There was also a Penne pasta with gorgonzola sauce and vegetable bolognese or a Salmon Tarragon with Herbed potatoes.
The appetiser of Fried Garlic shrimps served cold with creamy chive sauce was better then the dinner I had the night before in my hotel !
Dessert was a high quality not overly sweetened cake (as it should be)
That sadly hurt my waistline.

An Asaragus quiche before arrival was a perfect ending to a long tiring flight
There was actually a scary smelly sandwhich I declined hours before the quiche.
All in all a good value and lots of choices even when they miss.
3 out of 5 :-: :-: :-:
Good staff, good food and selection ,tired old plane.

My only regret was not seeing the KLM lounge
I was chatting with colleagues in a meeting room at Schipol and went straight to the gate area.
Hope this has been of interest. Happy Travels all !