YVR Cockroach

What's the best way of keeping on top of whether one's long-haul flight is going to be delayed or not? I'll be on KL 682/681 in the next few weeks and want to stay on top and determine what my alternatives are. Just keep an eye on klm.com?

YVR Cockroach

I'm not doubting you but what reason/rationale would KL use to do this to minimize compensation payouts?

GenevaFlyer

I think it's more a question of dealing with those passengers who have checked in already as compared to people who are still at home/hotel and have not checked in. Once you check in, the airline carries more responsibility than before you check in. But that's just my 2 cents ...

Cheers,

GenevaFlyer

tracon

681/682 is cancelled today.

YVR Cockroach

That's been said in Post 44 already.

Or more likely/practically, yesterday's 681/682 was cancelled, all pax on those flights rebooked on today's 681/682, and everyone who was originally on today's 681/682 had their reservations rearranged.

terrier

Eep! Now for the first time I'm looking into travel insurance for my YVR-AMS trip this summer. Would hate to lose my houseboat booking because KL decided they could get me there a day or two late.

Brobbel

I thought (and read) in this thread that KL uses MD11 for AMS-CUR, but KVS shows 747. Which one to believe?

HB-IWC

In order to take some pressure off the MD11 schedule, KLM has been replacing certain KL735/736 CUR rotations with a full passenger B744 as well as cancelling a weekly KL873/874 HYD roundtrip. The result has been a vastly improved MD11 operation, but a strained B747 operational performance. So, indeed, depending on the day of the week CUR sees either the MD11 or the B744.

johan rebel

According to Luchtvaartnieuws KL CEO Peter Hartman has said that they intend to keep their MD11s for their full economic lifespan, i.e. 25 years. The MD11s were introduced between 1993 and 1997.

Off topic, but Hartman also said that the 747s will be flying in KL colors for another 25 years too. Especially the 74Ms, which he described as indispensable.

Johan

PJK

Slight correction: the articles does not state the 747's will operate another 25 years, but will rather fulfull their 25-year economic lifespan. Since the oldest 747 at KLM is from 1989, that will mean another 7 years. Unless you count from the 747-F that was just delivered this year and sent over to AF.

Good though he says they will fulfill their 25 years in KL-blue. As that means they're planning to keep the KLM-brand for a while

jimc_usa

I realise this is an old thread - but we are on a MD11 from EWR-AMS, have the MD11 problems gone away? Or are there still delays? Is our trip to MAD in question?

Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

MD11 service between Amsterdam & Montreal last week was repeatedly 4-5 hours delayed

HB-IWC

That service is seriously delayed at least once a week these days. The problem seems to be that it is the last MD11 leaving AMS except for the midnight Ecuador flight, and that, in case of any MD11 issues, this flight is always stuck with the delay. The AMS EWR flight should be better, as it is the first MD11 leaving AMS in the morning.

Apesanteur

I know this has been a while but I just travelled on KLM YUL-AMS on Feb. 20 and return AMS-YUL on Feb. 24. On the outbound I had a B744 and the flight departed on time and arrived 30 minutes ahead of schedule due to some very strong tailwind. But somehow I believe I saw a KLM MD-11 hanging just outside of a hangar at YUL that night. On the inbound flight, our MD11 experienced some technical problems with the hydraulic system and the flight was delayed first from 15:25 to 16:45 then to 18:00. By 18:00 we were all on board ready to go. At 18:30 however the captain made an annoucement saying that he could not accept the aircraft because they found one of the engines "soaked in water" and hydraulic problem was not fixed. (I am not the expert but that is what I understood) KLM delayed the flight again to 20:30 and they asked us to disembark and they found us a new aircraft. The original aircraft was the one named Amy Johnson. The one that flew us back to YUL was named Maria Montesorri.

As I have another ticket travelling with KLM to CDG via AMS in March, I have been a bit obssessed with their on time performance at YUL, that is when I came across their cancellation of KL671/672 tonight, Feb. 26, 2008. According to the website of Aéroport de Montréal, I made out that KL671 was first showing delayed then was later marked cancelled, which led to the cancellation of KL672. Later in the evening I came across this thread and I guess the problem I have experienced was not an isolated problem and this problem has been around for a while and occurs regularly.

I am just wondering why KLM would just let the problem linger on and affect their ontime performance, along with leaving a bad impression on its passengers.

I am very intrigued by the situation and I will definitely pay attention to their flights into YUL between now and my next trip with them on the easter weekend.

Does anyone have any news on how KLM is planning to stabilize the MD11 performance situation?

HB-IWC

Tuesday night's flight from YUL was delayed for 25 hours after the aircraft was first diverted to YYZ and then encountered a technical issue over there. The aircraft was PH-KCC.

When you flew YUL AMS on Feb 20, KLM had sent in a B744, PH-BFG, to pick up stranded passengers from the day before as another MD11, PH-KCH, had broken down at YUL, and ended up spending 3 days there before it could be flown back to AMS.

Over the past weeks, there have been multiple MD11 delays again, including to ACC, DAR, SXM, CAI and YUL. It seems the MD11 problems are popping up again: PH-KCB was stuck in SXM for 24 hours on Feb 17, PH-KCH at YUL for 3 days on Feb 19, PH-KCF at DAR for 2 days on Feb 21. PH-KCF had then to return to AMS on its next flight to AMS on Feb 24 resulting in all kinds of delays to ACC and CAI with the replacement aircraft, PH-KCI, also breaking down, and last night it was PH-KCC at YYZ. Meanwhile, there were several other significant delays.