feederflight

The KLM Catering quality race to the bottom continues at supersonic speed.

From AMS to the Middle East, the side salad is gone (because of Covid, you know...;-) ) and Business pax are treated with a menu that seems to be a collection of leftover menu items for/from other flights.

One starter choice only, a mix of exclusivelyAsian cuisine items, including seaweed, shellfish, fish and other things that might be a perfect fit for Korea/Japan flights -> take it or leave it

Three main options, one worse than the other and very very visibly super cheapo. Main courses are coming from an external supplier called Marfo B.V. in Lelystad, that is printed on the label on the plate cover. I had the meat option ("braised beef tartelette" which came as a not so very appetizing brown heap of unidentifiable meat fibers in an unidentifiable sour sauce with 4 !! Gnocchi).

Wines were all average supermarket quality at best, none above 10 EUR and, as usual, supermarket quality Champagne (Feuillatte)

Snack service before arrival consisted mainly of this Dutch breadroll-meat torpedo in a cardbord box (I don't know if that cardbord box was designed by Marcel, I would assume so).

Overall, the whole catering offering is yelling "cheap, cheaper, KLM" from a distance already and is borderline disgusting. The best part though was that the bread is no long wrapped individually and cold, but being served from the basket and fresh from the oven.

Took EK on the same route AMS-DXB in J end of last month and they had 3 starter options, 3 mains, 4 desserts and a bunch of savoury and sweet sandwiches/patisserie as snacks during the flight/before landing, along with a pretty decent wine & beer selection and Veuve Clicquot Champagne.

Digestif on KL was the cheapest of the cheapest: Camus V.S. Cognac, while EK is serving Hennesy X.O.

Needless to say that AF is about 500 lightyears ahead in terms of food & beverage quality and very well on par with EK.

Service on board KL was very nice, though. PDB including refills (!) offered, very attentive crew, no glass was left empty for long.

From the overall perspective, I am now at a point where I would say that it is about time that someone from Paris should take over and bring this disaster back on track. KLM can do much, much better with this excellent manpower on the ground and in the air, but it seems the leadership has reached a point where a replacement is overdue.

The person in charge for WBC product quality / catering could be reassigned to Aircraft De-Icing or Cargo Container Management, where no further harm can be done to the quality of the WBC product. There is no reason either why WBC is falling behind AF Business class, especially since the hardware is pretty much the same (except on the 77W with 2-2-2 vs. 1-2-1).

b12e

I don't know if anyone mentioned it before, but the pre-departure drink is back. I haven't flown KL since January so this may be old news 😂





edit: stupid me, the above message mentioned it.

Waking up 4am to get a morning connection in AMS makes me blind 🙈

johan rebel

What a decent meal looks like on a 55-minute flight.


Yes, there was a choice. And afterwards they came around and served dates. Got a PDB too.

maalloc

Is that a memorabilia picture from 2005?

b12e

I can tell you what ISNT a decent meal on an 11 hour flight.



5 tiny blocks of sweet chicken, a huge bowl of dry rice and a little cod in a sauce I still taste after 5 hours (spoiler: didn't like it first hand, nor now).

and then I was one of the lucky few being able to choose the rice table - they loaded 14 veggie meals for a full cabin, and nobody wanted them. Almost everyone was asked if they wanted to switch (I wasn't, people in front of me and center isle were, person behind me too - status taken into consideration I assume - but I'd have refused to switch if they did ask).

thankfully the little stroopwafel ice cream as snack was good, and I kinda like the empanada and pastel de nata which are still to come so from here on it can only get better.

johan rebel

No, not quite.

Omitted the pertinent details. Sorry!

QR DOH-DXB last week.

Johan

johan rebel

It would appear that KL has decided that ramming Greta grub down the throats of their business pax is a great way to burnish their green credentials.

And how dare they call what they served you a rijsttafel?
Johan

maalloc

I'm gonna play the devil's advocate for a bit here. Given that a QR DOH-DXB round-trip in the front cabin sets you back almost the same price than a J R/T
ARN-AMS-BKK on AFKL, they better not be stingy on the catering!

Different business models on these routes for sure.

Concerto

How is the European catering these days? Same Wanders boxes? Is it better to choose AF?

Maestro Ramen

Concerto
January experience but:
same wanderboxes. Caesar on the out and bulgur on the in.

On AF I got some kind of humous. It wasn't great either tbh. At least the Caesar is okay.

Would always take AF still just for the Laurent Perrier...
...which in January they were not serving on board

Maestro Ramen

Minor detail but it's actually Feuilatte Réserve, which is worth at least 2EUR more in the supermarket

b12e

lucky you. I got the nuclear attack emergency kit with bread that doesn't go bad.

johan rebel

Some pax may have been on a full fare DOH - DXB return, but many others surely were not. I only flew QR because it was the cheapest option on a decent airline on the dates I wanted to travel. KL wanted a lot more for a crappier experience.

Johan

feederflight

You just have to look at the fares between CDG and AMS. Insanely priced compared to connecting traffic via both airports. That business model exists for decades….

Fabo.sk

to be fair, AF tends to rotate the offer. I don't know what's available right now, but on my AF J flights over the last couple of years, I'd had such variations as Laurent-Perrier, Piper-Heidseck, Pommery, and more