For the first time in years, I flew transatlantic coach on KLM, coming back from Bucharest to JFK through AMS on a Flying Blue award ticket. The overall experience was a bit peculiar. FIrst, they sold me evening flights with an only 50 minute connection in AMS, which seemed like a recipe for trouble. But the award tickets were much cheaper than the alternatives, something like 15,000 miles each plus the fees, and our schedules weren't so tight that an unexpected night in Amsterdam wouldn't have been a disaster.

The trip started off badly when I tried to check in online at the 24-hour mark. What should have been routine was an hour long exercise in frustration. I kept running into technical glitches that prevented me from completing the check-in process, most of which involved necessary authentication emails that never were sent. When I was finally able to get the check-in process working, the website didn't allow me to select my coach seats, instead just assigning the worst middle seats on the airplane to me. I did eventually figure out a way to select seats using their "my booking" tab (instead of the check-in tab), but much of the coach cabin was reserved for paid seats at very high prices (like 50 euros to sit in a regular seat in the front half of the cabin) and no other free seat assignments were available.

Before arriving at the airport, we checked to see if our inbound aircraft would be on time and, unsurprisingly, it was running a little late. To increase our chances of making our connection, we asked the counter supervisor if he could move us up to one of the many empty coach seats in the front of the cabin (which nobody wanted to pay for), and he was happy to put us in row 4. We then asked if he could get us seat assignments together for our transatlantic flight, and he again happily moved us to the front of the cabin, giving us extra legroom seats that would have cost more than 100 euros each had we reserved them.

We were also assured that our flight would leave basically on time despite the late aircraft arrival, but that plan fell through when ATC put a gate hold on our flight. We wound up leaving about 35 minutes late, which would not be a tragedy if we didn't have the 50 minute connection. The KLM app told me in flight that I would miss my connection and offered me options to fly the next day. I did nothing, waiting to see how the situation would actually play out. I thought I was going to get my first experience trying to claim our 600 Euro compensation for the missed connection, which was tempering my disappointment at getting stuck in Amsterdam.

But KLM was apparently also concerned about that monetary penalty, and decided at the last minute to hold our connecting flight for an extra 20 minutes to get the connecting passengers on board. I'm glad I could see this decision on the app, so, unlike others, we only briskly walked to the flight, instead of the flat out 800 meter run that others did.

On board, our flight experience was very good in our extra legroom seats. Because few were willing to pay the high extra fees, that's where the only empty middle seats were, and we had a row of three seats for the two of us. We were probably more comfortable then the folks who splurged on premium economy. The coach food was surprisingly good, the best I've had in recent years other than on the Middle Eastern airlines.We were given innovative antipasto trays, fresh bread and tasty main courses, and then later served a dessert. The second meal was a decent snack pizza.

The only annoyance on the flight was the narrow aisles on the 777 in coach makes it almost impossible for anyone walking down the aisle not to grab your seat or otherwise bunk you if you are sitting on the aisle. Perhaps a reason to choose a window seat to avoid being constantly woken up or annoyed.

Unfortunately, the wheel of fortune turned again, and after arriving at JFK at 11:00 p.m., they made us wait on the plane until midnight until they could get us a gate. Not sure how this could happen at that late hour, but it did.

Overall, I think KLM ruins their decent coach product by being so stingy with they're free coach seat assignments. I don't want to pay $50 or more each to avoid random middle seats on an 8 hour flight for a ticket I purchased a few months in advance. This was particularly ridiculous because my award ticket did come with a free checked bag , which I did not need. They also need to fix their website glitches, as no one should have to spend an hour checking in for a flight. Also, no European airline should sell you a connecting itinerary with a less than 1 hour connection: given European ATC delays, that's just a recipe for disaster.