Maestro Ramen

Stop feeding them... let's keep this thread on the topic of catering!

kevinflyaway

Ouch! I'm looking at a business class ticket for July/August in the hope that some borders are opening again. Doubt though if you could just buy a Y class ticket. The seat in C is of course much better, but three Y seats sort of gets the job done as well. Especially if I see this is what catering is reduced to :O

Let me clear (not wanting to fuel the other topic), there are a million problems more severe than the catering on a flight. BUT.. this is Flyertalk and we are discussing flying during Covid-19.

pjhartog

Slightly off topic - but I noticed that across the pond, DL in business seems to offer almost normal inflight services (warm meals, beverages incl. alcoholic (also in Y I believe), and KL sticks to no service except food box already at your seat plus non alcoholic drinks.
I have a son that will spend three weeks in the US this summer and to pick him up there, I would prefer (on miles) to travel in biz - so it is almost tempting to take DL with a connection rather than the nonstop KL flight (to ORD in this case).
Should we expect KL and DL to align their services by July - and which way will they go then - or will this discrepancy remain for now ?

NLNO

On the first of July, most of the Netherlands will be reopened. So hopefully this means that more regular cabin service can resume.

pjhartog

That assumes KL and unions will be part of the real world....

johan rebel

I read somewhere (but forgot where, so no source link) that KLM intends to resume regular inflight service as soon as they can. On the other hand, the unions are likely to scream blue murder when and if that day comes.

Johan

ninjalad

I will not be on one of their aircraft until aisle seats can be used again, the food and dink was never much to get excited about either in Y or C !

EuropeanPete

I was in J on a long haul KLM flight this week. On arrival to my seat, a plastic bag with water, biscuits, a sandwich and various other snacks was waiting. Overall volume of food/ calories quite high, but you ideally wouldn’t want to live off it.

There was also a “dine on demand” option in J if vegetarian pasta which I suspect might have been also offered to those in Y at the beginning of the flight. I hard passed, but I heard it was perfectly acceptable from someone else.

Cabin crew were really sweet and friendly and pointed out that I should ask if I needed anything as they wouldn’t be doing the rounds much. Snacks and sandwiches were available in the J kitchen throughout the flight and crew always asked me if I needed anything.

Overall, the team on the day did well, but I am not sure KLM can easily justify “one choice of bad food” as being any more Coronavirus friendly than the usual food in the longer term.

johan rebel

What about the beverage selection?

Also, any idea what the load factors were like in J and Y?

Johan

HalconBCN

Thanks for the update. Did you enjoy the flight? Can you share any more specifics on the snacks etc.? I struggle to imagine a longhaul flight in J with that kind of meal service.

EuropeanPete

Beverages were soft drinks only. I only saw water being handed out, I believe there was a can of coke in the plastic bag and we were offered “soft drinks” in principle - I assume but can’t verify it would have been normal non alcoholic selection, potentially cold drinks only as there was no mention of tea or coffee.

EuropeanPete

On snacks, I can remember the following in the bag besides water, coke and a sandwich:
- Stroopwafels
- 2 x chilli flavoured corn snacks
- economy style biscuits and small piece of cheese
- I think there was then something chocolate and some kind of breakfast style snack bar, but can’t specifically remember

I was happy enough with the flight. Under normal circumstances I travel so much that I rarely eat or drink on flights, even long haul. The IFE was working which I hadn’t taken for granted (even if there was almost nothing I wanted to watch) and as I’m usually a OneWorld flyer this was my first time in KLM’s current generation World Biz seats which are definitely a step ahead of the old ones.

Oh, most importantly, I also got a Delft house which I wasn’t expecting.

erik123

Thanks EUPete. Did they board from the back - and how easy was it to social distance on board?

EuropeanPete

Boarding was Business Class first through a separate drawbridge. I felt the queuing even for Business wasn't very well socially distanced. I gave the evil eyes to a guy who almost bumped into my back and then pointedly moved myself out of the queue to stand 2 metres to the side for a while. Inside the plane there were about 6 people in J, the rear-most row behind the kitchen was for KLM crew. The entire front area was also reserved for crew, so it did mean more people using one toilet for the whole of J cabin than I would have ideally liked. I didn't see the rest of the plane, but I know it was planned to be max 100 capacity for a 777-200 and in the end we went on a 777-300ER so there couldn't even have been one person per block of 3/4 seats down the back.

f4free

From E Pete's post, no coffee served.

Anybody else, maybe on a morning flight, was there really no coffee?

Lounges closed, shops closed, this stresses me out now. With the liquid ban, a logistical nightmare. Can't bring from home, can't buy, can't take from lounge,....

How long will this last??