I look back now and nostalgically remember the times before the obnoxious US airlines' fuel surcharge--when a $438 airplane ticket was actually $438.
Anyways...a friend that introduced me to mileage running and I found a ridiculously cheap fare out of Grand Forks by mistake while I was looking at flights for a trip to New York City. Tickets into LGA, EWR and JFK were running $550+ and after playing the system found flights to various German cities for well below that amount. Needless to say, cheap travel won out, even with the rather expensive Euro.
Our plan for this trip was to leave on the Friday of Martin Luther King weekend and depart on MLK Day, that Monday. We didn't have class that day, which justified (somewhat) the two-night trip unlike my first mileage run, in which we spent a lovely 22 hours in Oslo. Working the system, we found a wide array of NW/KL operated flights and decided that routing through Chicago and Amsterdam seemed like a viable and fun adventure. The time grew nearer, and I found myself packing my laptop bag for another weekend jaunt "across the pond."
1/18/08:
GFK-MSP NW DC-9, First
MSP-ORD NW DC-9, First
ORD-AMS KL 747-400M, Coach
AMS-FRA KL F70 Coach
After checking in the night before at the airport, I awoke at 5:30AM for our 8:05AM flight out of GFK. A mutual friend picked us up at 6AM outside our neighboring apartment buildings to take us to the airport. On the way we both remarked how ridiculous it was that we were up this early for a TATL flight. The things I'll do for a flight on a foreign airline and my first 747.
Boarding commenced on-time for the short 53 minute flight to MSP. In First, we were offered the "enhanced snack box service" of fruit, granola bars, and Kit Kat Bars along with a full beverage service. Once in MSP we made our way to the Concourse C WorldClub and partook in some danish and free internet. While there I managed to capture this A320 parked at the gate nearest the lounge:
After a couple of hours we headed to our next gate for our flight from MSP to ORD, which once again featured "enhanced snack box" service, only this time including chips, mixed nuts and pretzels in addition to the other offerings mentioned above. This service is slowly becoming the bane of my existence. Can't NW come up with some sandwiches or something? On approach into ORD (we landed on the 27s over downtown) we had the opportunity to fly parallel to the 747 we'd be flying on to AMS.
Disembarkation was made easy by our forward seating and we then proceeded across the airport and on the train to the international terminal, which turned out to be one of the most poorly designed terminals I've encountered. Boarding passes in hand, we went through security and made our way to the Air France lounge where we helped ourselves to some of Korean Air's leftover food:
Remember what I said about the terminal being poorly designed? About an hour after stuffing ourselves with the cr*p food in the lounge we decided to get something more substantial before the flight. Little did we know that the only food court in the building was in the non-sterile area! We exited the secure area, had some Chicago-style pizza and then went through security a second time, only to return to the Air France lounge for more Heineken.
After a while we moved toward the gate where our 747-400 Combi was being loaded down with lots of cargo (including horses!). Before we boarded I took the time to be a first-time-747-flier-nerd to take a picture:
Our seats on this flight were 21 B&C, the bulkhead seats right at the door 2 entryway. We didn't realize this until we had made our way halfway down the shorter cabin, only to return to our seats. I made sure my bag was stored in the overhead bin and then proceeded to use my indelible charm and wit to see if I could score a cockpit visit. Since we were sitting next to the stairs I made my way up to WBC, poked my head into the galley and asked the flight attendant pouring beverages if it would be possible. Since sitting in my seat would only increase the traffic jam at the door, I said I would be waiting for an answer at or around the stairs. I took this opportunity to take some pictures of the interior:
Upper Deck WBC Cabin
The trademark 747 Combi Extra Long Galley
By the time I was done, I saw the captain descending the stairs looking for my friend and I. We proceeded through WBC upstairs and into the cockpit, where Captain Rick introduced himself and his first officer Yolanda. The short flight (6hr 45min!) meant we would only need two flight crew. Captain Rick was awesome, answering questions about the aircraft's systems and what life was like working for KLM. He couldn't have been more than 35 and F/O Yolanda looked to be about in that age range as well. She suggested we apply for their jobs but had no idea what KLM's minimum hour requirements were (darn!). I took one picture and then my friend and I then proceeded back down to the entryway so that they could continue getting ready to go.
Like the Oslo run from a few months prior, my friend and I once again had the opportunity on this flight to amaze the flight attendants serving us about why we were taking this trip. The flight attendant sitting in the jumpseat across from our seats, Edith, got a wry smile when I told her it was my first 747 flight and said she would find something for me to commemorate the occasion. After the powerful liftoff from Chicago she and her coworkers went to work on preparing dinner. Unfortunately, Edith was assigned to work the mini-cabin in front of our seats, but still took the time after she was done with her beverage round to make sure we were properly hydrated. The one thing I wasn't impressed with on the flight was the timing of the service. There was a full 15 minutes of difference between the time the front coach cabin was served and the time we got served behind the bulkhead. I was impressed, however, with the hot towel, dinner, and post-meal apertif service.
Immediately after departure from ORD:
Stairway to Heaven/WBC:
Coach cabin looking aft from my seat
Dinner. It was okay.
I managed to drift off to sleep for about 4 1/2 hours and awoke at some point over England. At this point, Edith had told the other flight attendants about our journey and we had the coach purser and F/A assigned to our section doting over us and asking us questions about what we were doing for two days and why we were doing it. We all shared a laugh about how much better the service was on this flight as compared to Northwest--my last TATL with them involved having a galley curtain shut in my face while asking for water.
As we made our approach into AMS, I wowed Edith with my aviation nerddom ("I sure hope we don't have to land on the Polderbaan!" "wow! how do you know about that?") and she presented both Tim and I with KLM kids-packs filled with stickers, crayons and a logbook filled in with facts about the flight as filled out by Edith. It put a big smile on our faces and mine now graces the wall above my desk.
After landing and arriving at the gate Edith made a beeline for the exit and was off the plane faster than we were. I guess she had been delayed a day in Chicago and needed to get home to her kids.
Our 744 "Vancouver" in Amsterdam
We made a beeline for the KLM Crown Lounge on the international transfer side and was directed at the desk to go to the Crown Lounge on the EU side for faster service before our Frankfurt flight. What should have been a quick jaunt through passport control and onward to the showers and food in the lounge turned in to a 30 minute wait at passport control where there were a whopping two lanes open: one for EU citizens and one for everyone else. No one in our line was very happy with the wait at all. When I finally made it to the front of the line the official barely took notice of me or my passport as he was engrossed in conversation with a coworker, stamped it, and sent me on my way. It took no more than 30 seconds, nearly setting my record of driving through the US border from Canada at 1AM--15 seconds ("passport please! purpose of your stay? Thank you!")!
That delay ensured we wouldn't get showers and that our internet time would be shortlived. We then went from the lounge to our "gate" for our bus to the F70. Once onboard the Medium Fokker (we both had windows on opposite sides of the plane), the pilots let us know that due to high winds we would be held for approximately 45 minutes on the ground in AMS. On a US airline, the flight attendants would have retreated to the galley and read People Magazine or gossiped/complained about their airline. On this flight, however, the flight attendants served juice and cookies. What a pleasure it was to be flying a real airline again!
Rainy boarding in AMS
I fell asleep and was awoken by the sound of our engines starting. We taxied a bit to the runway and departed to Frankfurt. The flight attendants did a great job of dispersing Tratoria sandwiches and a full beverage service to the entire plane during the 45 minute flight, thereby debunking Northwest's myth on flights less than an hour that "due to the short duration of the flight a full beverage service is not possible and we must serve shots of orange juice and water."
The flight itself actually took a bit longer than 45 minutes as we had to hold due to the winds in Frankfurt further restricting arrivals into the city. When we finally landed I breathed a big sigh of relief as after that 2 1/2 hours in a cramped window seat my back was killing me.
Downtown
Mainhattan on approach.
KLM Cityhopper:
After getting off the bus from the airplane, we took the green/blue channel out of customs and proceeded on the bus to Terminal 1 and the S-Bahn, finally onward to our hotel.
More photos from the trip can be found on
Flickr