KLM Boarding Order
 

I'm going to be flying from Chicago to Berlin (through AMS) on KLM on their "Standard" fare, which apparently includes 1 checked bag & free seat selection.

I will be travelling with a fragile musical instrument that needs to go in the overhead, so I need to get on the plane as early as possible in the boarding process (for economy passengers) while there is still room in the overheads. This is standard procedure for flying with my instrument and I've successfully taken it on dozens of flights, but never on KLM.

I need to pick my seat, and I'm having trouble finding any obviously current information at all about how KLM does boarding groups/zones.

Can anybody tell me if KLM generally boards back-to-front, outside-in, etc, for Economy passengers? Also, can I expect it to be much different in AMS than in ORD?

Thanks!

You might get some kind of steer from this recent thread:
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/klm-...ding-rant.html

You'll be in zone 4-5 for each flight. Essentially, theres a priority group and a non-priority group.

Get to the gate early and queue in the non priority group and you'll have you're pick of half the plane.

Cool, thanks. Any idea what section of the plane will put me in Zone 4 instead of Zone 5?

Zones are about the order of boarding only and have nothing to do with the seat in the plane.

Right, and how is that differentiation between Zones 4 & 5 determined in KLM's case? It's not just randomly assigned, right? How can I get in Zone 4?

For example I know United will board Economy back-to-front, so if I have the option to pick a seat I will pick it toward the rear so that I am in a group that will board earlier (which I believe is usually group 4 vs. group 5 in United's case). Or I've heard some other airlines will board the window seats first, but I've never actually seen that.

It’s based on your booking class. Lowest booking classes are zone 5, the other ones are zone 4 (with the exception of the three highest economy booking classes, those are zone 3). You can select any seat you want, your zone only applies to boarding.

Zones 4+5 are always invited to board at the same time.

I have just boarded KLM plane in Amsterdam and Zone 5 was opened after all passengers from Zone 4 boarded.

Hi! I would be travelling with cabin suitcase + personal item. Are Elites Plus from other ST member with SkyPriority boarding also forced to check their carry-ons when flight is fully booked? I am usually travelling with two laptops and other fragile stuff that I can not/or do not want to place to checked bag anyway. I am asking as last time, few years ago, when flying KLM, I was forced to check in my carry-on bag and gate stuff did not seem to care about argumentation regarding baggage content that can not go on hold. I was just ordered to "repack". Fortunately it was not that big issue back then as it was "vacation" flight so the content was a bit different...

No, as long as you get there in time for priority boarding. If you board last, it could happen.

I recently flew TRD-AMS-UIO (Quito) on a basic fare ticket, but did pay extra to pick a seat (plus get free cancellation). I had seat 35K on the long haul flights which are fairly far back. I was surprised to see I got put in boarding Zone 2 both ways, so I was among the first to show up in the far back of the plane. I never asked why. I'm not a frequent KLM flyer and don't even have a Flying Blue account (preferring to get SAS points). Maybe prioritized boarding was also included in what I paid extra for.

SkyPriority is included in Eco Flex.

A-ha, that would explain it. I must have missed this when I booked. Good to know for future travels. I don't travel with a large carry-on but it's still good to get on board early.

Sometimes when flights are full the ground crew at AMS will start walking around well in time before boarding starts to try and take the bigger pieces of passengers who are already at the gate. I was told once my bag (within cabin size limits) had to go in the hold, but I (FB Gold at the time) refused because of an extremely tight connection time at CDG, and told them to go and take non-status passengers' luggage first. They went on to take quite a few, but never got back to take mine.

It's the one reason I keep a status tag attached to the bag. I don't need other pax to "know I am important", or even ground crew know that I'm "important" - not like I have Ulti tags anyway, just plain gold. But it does mean they tend to ask other people first.