Holiday 2012 Part 1: Amsterdam – Hong Kong. To Be or Not To Be?
Aug 13, 2012, 3:39 am
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Join Date: Aug 2012
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Holiday 2012 Part 1: Amsterdam – Hong Kong. To Be or Not To Be?
Holiday 2012 Part 1: Amsterdam – Hong Kong. To Be or Not To Be?
Dear all,
After a long time of reading many Trip Reports on Airliners.net, I decided that I had to write one myself. Now you are probably asking yourself: “Why do you post your Trip Report here if you probably wanted to post it on A.net?” When I wanted to register as a member at Airliners.net, I discovered that a fee of $25 applies to be able to post in the forums. I don’t want to pay for using forums so I decided to head to Flyertalk and post my Trip Report here. So, welcome to my first Trip Report, I’m glad you are here. Since this is my first Trip Report, any form and type of feedback is appreciated and welcome :). I hope you enjoy this report. Thanks!
Background
My father is an employee for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), so we can travel at a fairly low rate on the flights of KL and on flights of a wide range of other carriers. So, that is what we do in the summer holidays. We are wild of Asia and visited quite some Asian countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. So it was quite clear that we would spend our holiday in one (or multiple) Asian countries this year.
Since it depends on the loads of the flights whether or not we will come on the flight, we determine our destination quite late, usually two weeks prior to departure. Since I’m still going to school, we need to go on holiday in the school holiday. This means that loads on flights are high and chances to get on a flight will be lower. Our holiday would start on the 14th of July, so our departure date would be between the 14th and 16th of July.
We would extremely like to visit Malaysia once more, so we determined that Malaysia would be part of our holiday. But it’s always extremely hard to get on flights to Kuala Lumpur since they are mostly overbooked, so we had to look for a destination with flight which are fairly easy to come on. Options we had were: Singapore, Dubai or Hong Kong. I would like to visit Tokyo and Seoul once so we included those cities also in our options.
I was checking loads every day on these destinations to get insight into the flights and to know on which flight our chances would be the biggest. When checking the loads of the KL flights I saw that most destinations were pretty hard to get on to. Flights to Singapore, Dubai and Tokyo were also pretty hard to get on. When I checked one week in advance, the best flight to get on to was the one to Hong Kong on the 15th of July, which had the most open seats. The same flight on the 14th and 16th of July also looked okay to get on.
We decided to go to Hong Kong. We now had to determine how the rest of our journey would take place. We also wanted to visit Singapore once more so we decided to fly to Singapore from Hong Kong and then go by local transport to Kuala Lumpur. We would probably finish our trip by flying from Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi or Dubai and from there back to Amsterdam. So, I started my search for hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore. Unfortunately prices for hotels in Singapore were relatively high so we dropped Singapore as destination and decided that we would fly directly to Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong.
Since my father works more than 20 years for KLM we get seated first in Business Class, if seats are available. If no seats are available we get seated in Economy, if seats available, and otherwise we may get a jump seat. Some days prior to departure I saw that the flight on the 15th of July went into overbooking, as well as the flight on the 14th of July. But the flight on the 14th had the most Business Class seats open, so we opted for that one. We agreed that if we were offered a jump seat on our way to Hong Kong, we would return home and try the next day.
Day of Departure – 14th of July 2012
Finally the day of departure arrived. Since our flight to Hong Kong, KL889, would depart at 21.25 we had the complete day left. That turned out well since we still had to pack our bags. Around 18.00 we left our home and went to my granny to say her goodbye. After that we headed to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which takes about 30 minutes to get to from my home.
At the Airport – Check-In, Immigration and Lounge
My father dropped me and my mother at departures 2, which is dedicated to KLM and Skyteam partners. While he was going to park the car, we already checked-in at the Self Service Kiosks. The machine spitted out three boarding passes which indicated that seats would be assigned at the Gate. It was quite busy in the departure hall with plenty of people. Even though we have Skypriority (C-Class) we are not allowed to use the Skypriority check-in desks, or any other C-class facilities.
I would like to check-in there…unfortunately, that’s not allowed as standbyer
So, when my father arrived from the parking, we went to the baggage drop-off in the Economy line. Recently, KLM renovated the check-in area at departures 2 and installed two new rows with Self Service Drop-Off Points, many people want to use them so queues at the “normal” check-in desks were relatively short.
After about 10 minutes waiting it was our turn. The agent mentioned that the flight was overbooked and that there were in total 19 people standby on the flight, just like us, and that it would be difficult to get on the flight but that we had the highest priority and thus had the biggest chance to get on the flight. He mentioned that more than half of the standbyers were already refused at check-in. He also showed us the standby list and whished us luck. That guy was very kind.
We now were off to immigration, no not to security since security is not centralized at Schiphol, every single gate has a security check. At immigration we queued at the Economy lane since the priority lane had a KLM employee which checked if you were flying Business Class and she would certainly reject us, so we played safe. There was a queue from about 7 minutes and after that we were free to go.
After immigration we got into the departure lounge with the duty free shops. Since I work myself at Schiphol I had no need to do window shopping in any Duty Free Stores, I know that the prices are ridiculous high and I know what is on offer. So, no need to buy anything. I went straight off to greet some colleagues and talked for a while with them until a sudden moment and realized that I lost my parents lol. So, I went to the gate, and found them at there at the coffee corner.
At the Airport – Security and Gate
The gate in use was F5. While my parents were sipping on their coffee I went to the shop at the F-pier to greet the last colleagues I would see before leaving. When I came back at around 20:25 the security process has started and there already was an enormous queue. We just waited since we could not board the aircraft because we did not have any seats assigned. After some 15 minutes we decided to join the queue, we asked the agent if we could use the priority lane and she said we could, but we decided not to use it since we nevertheless had to wait. After 15 minutes it was finally my time to enter the nudiescope, everything was alright. Boarding for commercial passengers did already commence. As usual, everybody stood up when the announcement was made that boarding started for World Business Class and Skyteam Elite members was about to start.
Now that we past security we went to the counter and gave our tickets to the gate agent. She mentioned that the flight was full and that even some commercial passengers did not get on the flight. She asked us whether or not we would accept a jump seat. Since we already booked one night at a hotel in Hong Kong, we decided that we would accept a jump seat, this in combination with the fact that the flight of the 15th of July also was overbooked. The gate agent mentioned to wait until the gate closes, in case that some passengers do not show up. If that was the case, we should get their seats. We also saw some other standbyers, a family of four and a women, the mother of the family of four obviously works as gate agent as she seems to know the gate agent on duty and tries to turn things to her favor. Luckily a team leader of my father came to the gate and checked whether everything went according to procedure, thumbs up!
So during our wait, what else to do than shoot some pictures of the aircraft?
This Queen will carry us to Hong Kong
Her name is “City of Paramaribo” and she wears the registration PH-BFP
Some last-minute catering; push back did already arrive!
When the gate was about to close we heard that four passengers were missing, this could mean that we get their seats if they do not show. But….unfortunately, they showed up just after the announcement was made…So this meant that we got the jump seats assigned. Now I knew that this was going to be a long long flight…
I now understand why there is no row 13 in an airplane, it’s the jump seat!
On Board
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight KL889 – 15 July 2012
Origin: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS/EHAM)
Destination: Hong Kong International Airport (HKG/VHHH)
Flying across the globe to Hong Kong.
Registration: PH-BFP (City of Paramaribo)
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400M (Combi)
Scheduled Time of Departure: 21.25
Actual Time of Departure: 21:21
Scheduled Time of Arrival: 14:40
Actual Time of Arrival: 14:20
Seat: 13D (jump seat)
So, we entered the jet way and boarded the plane, as one of the last passengers. We were welcomed by the crew and we mentioned that we got the jump seats. The crew said that we had to wait and we stored our hand luggage in a compartment in the front of the aircraft. In the meantime, I asked the purser for a glass of water since my mouth was quite dry and I was really thirsty.
After a short wait we got our jump seats assigned, I was seated at door 3 Left, yes that over the wing of this 747.
View from my jump seat.
The flight attendant who would be seated next to me immediately introduced herself as Rita, she is an Asian Cabin Crew member. We immediately started talking, she asked about me and about my trip and I also showed interest in her. Unfortunately we couldn’t talk further since she had to prepare the cabin for take-off. During taxiing the safety demo was displayed on the overhead screen, which I obviously couldn’t see since I was seated with my back to the screens. When the captain gave the sign “Cabin Crew Take Your Seats” she came back and while taxiing all the way to the o-so-famous Poldebraan (36L) we talked further :). During taxiing I asked her about the load of the flight. She mentioned that usual there are 5 to 6 spare seats, but that it was extreme this time and the flight was completely full.
When we turned onto the Polderbaan almost immediately put the engines on full throttle and off we were, on our way to Hong Kong. During climb I asked Rita whether I could move and sit on the crew rest seat near the back galley at door 4L. To be honest, it’s quite uncomfortable to have to sit on a jump seat and facing the people who sit at the exit row and even paid extra to be able to have more legroom. Rita said that she shall ask the purser if that’s okay, but she thought it was okay. So, when the seatbelt sign was switched off, Rita and I immediately got of the jump seat and went to the back. When I came there, my father took the crew rest seat, he asked it in advance…smart guy. So, I asked whether I could sit on the other one, but the purser said that it should stay vacant for crew rest…while during the whole trip nobody sat on that seat so I easily could have sat on it. At first I keep standing for a while, but after a while I asked if they hadn’t a foldable seat, which they usually have. Luckily, they got it for me and I was also able to sit.
After the seatbelt sign had been switched off, the crew immediately jumped into action and started with the hot towels. They smelled pretty good, it was a lavender scent. After the towels they started with the first snack- and drink service. The snack consisted of a little pouch of salted peanuts, I chose a Seven Up as drink. Rita served the aisle in which we (me and my dad) were seated, and since we were seated next to the back galley we were served first. She was so kind enough to give me the whole can of Seven Up instead of just one glass. After she finished serving her section she started a second drink service, this time I opted for a Fanta.
Prior to the drink service I caught this beautiful sunset
After the drink service I searched something to do. Since my father was seated at the window, I couldn’t look outside, the window blind was also down because the sun was setting. The overhead screens also didn’t work so I decided to look in the seat pockets of the last row of seats. I luckily found an edition of KL’s inflight magazine the Holland Herald. The July issue was about “inspire” and featured some nice articles.
The Holland Herald; the inspire issue
After some reading I smelled something and when I looked into the galley I saw that preparation of the meal service was in full swing. After a while meal service commenced and the purser started with handing out the “special” meals to the people who order them. Then the flight attendants started with the regular service, unfortunately we were not served first this time, since catering do not load meals for standbyers and thus you are not sure if there are spare meals on forehand. Rita apologized for this and offered us a drink. When she was serving other passengers I heard her asking if the passengers wanted Chicken with Rice or Pasta with Spinach. I hoped that I could get a Pasta meal when there were spare meals. A few minutes after finishing her aisle the purser came to us and gave us a meal and a drink, when I saw the red cover of the “main course”, I knew I had the chicken. He also offered us a bun, I picked a brown one.
Those trays get smaller and smaller over the years
Sorry, I don’t have a photo of the meal with the “main course” opened, but the chicken with rice tasted well. It was not dry and the rice was good cooked. The appetizer consisted of a wrap (top-middle), which was quite weak, with some kind of vegetables (top-left) which you had to put in yourself. I didn’t eat the vegetables since my parents didn’t like it, which indicates that I probably won’t like it as well. The dessert was some kind of cake with raspberries, that dessert was nice. It must admit that eating a meal on such a small tray on a jump seat is quite difficult.
After the meal service the cabin lights were dimmed and windows blinds were closed and most passengers started to sleep. I was still in my foldable seat, next to the relatively comfy crew rest seat of my father. He could even recline, I was just trying to sleep with my head against the back wall of the airplane (this wall separates the cabin from the cargo hold). He said that we could switch after the meal service, but I thought “let him sit there”. I asked for a blanket and a pillow and the flight attendant said she was going to check for me. A while later she hadn’t reported back to me so I asked Rita, she checked immediately but since the airplane was full there were no spare pillows or blankets.
So, I went off to dreamland, I don’t know for how long but after I woke up the remaining flight time was around 6 hours so probably I slept just 2 hours. I walked some round through the airplane and popped by in the galley to have a snack and a drink. I started a conversation with the flight attendant, who served the other aisle, and since we did not know yet what to do in Hong Kong, I asked her about some things we could do in Hong Kong. She said that the purser had some sheets with some activities and got it for me. Furthermore she said that she liked Hong Kong very much and it was hard for her to get a flight to Hong Kong. When I returned to my seat I took a look outside, it was light outside, quite strange to darken the cabin then. I read the sheets returned them later on to the purser.
Wingtip; you’re flying with KLM (Asia) today.
When I returned to my seat the flight attendant started with the midnight-snack service, there was ice cream or nachos on offer. I took the nachos, the pouch was quite full, I expected that it was filled a lot less. I wondered why they removed the traditional noodle midnight snack, it was not on offer anymore…Nevertheless, the nachos tasted well :). I tried to sleep once again, but I didn’t really succeed, it was cold in the airplane, even though I wore a shirt with long sleeves. I walked a few more rounds and went talking to Rita, she was back from her resting period, and told me some nice things that we could do in Hong Kong. After a short chat I returned to my seat.
Midnight nacho-time!
I decided just to wait and try to sleep until the cabin lights would be turned on, but the temperature in the cabin and my uncomfortable seat just kept me out of my sleep. The legroom of the seat was on the other hand fantastic, around 1.5 meters free space for me.
Don’t occupy this unless you have permission ;)
About two hours before landing, four hours after the nachos, the cabin lights were turned on and breakfast service commenced. First hot lavender towels were handed out. Just like the dinner service, we got served last since catering does not load meals for standbyers, luckily there were some spare meals. The breakfast consisted of an omelet with some vegetables, some fruit, a little carrot cake and a warm bun. There was another option instead of the omelet, but I can’t remember it. The breakfast tasted quite good, no cons at this point. I opted for an orange juice as drink. Later on coffee and tea were served. Tea was served in a “Blond Amsterdam” cup, which was decorated with an Olympic message, quite nice.
The breakfast
After the breakfast finished the cabin crew began preparations for the landing. They started with cleaning the galley and preparing the cabin. During these preparations I was, finally, able to sit on the crew rest seat and took some photos of the descent and approach route.
Descending over mainland China
Descending over Macau, if you look good you can see the MGM Grand Hotel
Making some turns
While approaching Hong Kong International Airport we were assigned a holding pattern, we just made one round and after that we were ready to do our approach. The captain made an announcement with some final information about the flight and about Hong Kong and the airport. In the meantime cabin crew were collecting headphones and fully preparing the cabin. We were directed back to our jump seats while making our final approach. The approach was around Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. When the captain gave the command “Cabin Crew Take Your Seat”, Rita joined me once more at the jump seat and we talked about Hong Kong and the airport. It was really nice to meet her. We touched down at runway 25R at around 14:20 local time. Since I was seated on the jump seat I was unable to take pictures of the landing.
After landing while taxiing a welcome announcement was made by the senior purser. When we arrived at the gate everyone immediately stood up to get their luggage from the overhead bins, the seatbelt sign hadn’t been switched off. So Rita screamed something in Chinese to some Chinese passengers but it didn’t help. So we waited for the jet bridge to be attached, this took a while. Just one jet bridge would be attached, despite two available. In the meantime I said goodbye to Rita and thanked her for the flight. The captain came on the intercom and explained that because the APU didn’t work one engine was still running to provide power to the airplane and that we had to wait for an external power unit to be attached by the ground crew. It was funny cause in the middle of his talk the power shut down and the emergency lighting was turned on automatically, the captain was gone from the intercom. When he came back he announced that the jet bridge would be attached and we could disembark. Soon after the jet bridge was attached and after disembarkation of World Business Class passengers, we were able to disembark. We disembarked and said the crew goodbye and thanked them for the rather uneventful flight.
At the Airport
So, welcome to Hong Kong once again. It was my second time here so I knew navigating, at the airport, was quite easy. We walked over some escalators towards the train which would bring us to immigration and baggage reclaim area. Upon arrival at the immigration there was quite a big queue, fortunately we had already filled in our arrival card. The queue lasted for some 15 minutes, luckily they have staff which manage the queues and assigns you a certain desk. After immigration we headed towards the baggage belt, our luggage arrived very soon I think this was due to the fact that the kind agent in Amsterdam did put a priority tag on our suitcases. Soon we were off to customs which we exited through the green channel. We went directly to the ATM to get some money for the taxi and headed outside for the taxis. Finally we arrived in Hong Kong.
Conclusion
So when reflecting on this flight, I must admit that is was quite good despite the fact that we were seated on a jump seat. Handling in Amsterdam was okay while service on board was good, we thought that the purser was a bit distant and did not really engage with us but Rita was just very nice! Sad that I did not take a photo! The flight itself was rather uneventful with some short periods of turbulence. It was a pity that we were seated on a jump seat but next time better and we reached our destination so that was good.
Thanks for reading this trip report. Stay tuned for part two!
Dear all,
After a long time of reading many Trip Reports on Airliners.net, I decided that I had to write one myself. Now you are probably asking yourself: “Why do you post your Trip Report here if you probably wanted to post it on A.net?” When I wanted to register as a member at Airliners.net, I discovered that a fee of $25 applies to be able to post in the forums. I don’t want to pay for using forums so I decided to head to Flyertalk and post my Trip Report here. So, welcome to my first Trip Report, I’m glad you are here. Since this is my first Trip Report, any form and type of feedback is appreciated and welcome :). I hope you enjoy this report. Thanks!
Background
My father is an employee for KLM (Royal Dutch Airlines), so we can travel at a fairly low rate on the flights of KL and on flights of a wide range of other carriers. So, that is what we do in the summer holidays. We are wild of Asia and visited quite some Asian countries including China, Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. So it was quite clear that we would spend our holiday in one (or multiple) Asian countries this year.
Since it depends on the loads of the flights whether or not we will come on the flight, we determine our destination quite late, usually two weeks prior to departure. Since I’m still going to school, we need to go on holiday in the school holiday. This means that loads on flights are high and chances to get on a flight will be lower. Our holiday would start on the 14th of July, so our departure date would be between the 14th and 16th of July.
We would extremely like to visit Malaysia once more, so we determined that Malaysia would be part of our holiday. But it’s always extremely hard to get on flights to Kuala Lumpur since they are mostly overbooked, so we had to look for a destination with flight which are fairly easy to come on. Options we had were: Singapore, Dubai or Hong Kong. I would like to visit Tokyo and Seoul once so we included those cities also in our options.
I was checking loads every day on these destinations to get insight into the flights and to know on which flight our chances would be the biggest. When checking the loads of the KL flights I saw that most destinations were pretty hard to get on to. Flights to Singapore, Dubai and Tokyo were also pretty hard to get on. When I checked one week in advance, the best flight to get on to was the one to Hong Kong on the 15th of July, which had the most open seats. The same flight on the 14th and 16th of July also looked okay to get on.
We decided to go to Hong Kong. We now had to determine how the rest of our journey would take place. We also wanted to visit Singapore once more so we decided to fly to Singapore from Hong Kong and then go by local transport to Kuala Lumpur. We would probably finish our trip by flying from Kuala Lumpur to Abu Dhabi or Dubai and from there back to Amsterdam. So, I started my search for hotels in Hong Kong and Singapore. Unfortunately prices for hotels in Singapore were relatively high so we dropped Singapore as destination and decided that we would fly directly to Kuala Lumpur from Hong Kong.
Since my father works more than 20 years for KLM we get seated first in Business Class, if seats are available. If no seats are available we get seated in Economy, if seats available, and otherwise we may get a jump seat. Some days prior to departure I saw that the flight on the 15th of July went into overbooking, as well as the flight on the 14th of July. But the flight on the 14th had the most Business Class seats open, so we opted for that one. We agreed that if we were offered a jump seat on our way to Hong Kong, we would return home and try the next day.
Day of Departure – 14th of July 2012
Finally the day of departure arrived. Since our flight to Hong Kong, KL889, would depart at 21.25 we had the complete day left. That turned out well since we still had to pack our bags. Around 18.00 we left our home and went to my granny to say her goodbye. After that we headed to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, which takes about 30 minutes to get to from my home.
At the Airport – Check-In, Immigration and Lounge
My father dropped me and my mother at departures 2, which is dedicated to KLM and Skyteam partners. While he was going to park the car, we already checked-in at the Self Service Kiosks. The machine spitted out three boarding passes which indicated that seats would be assigned at the Gate. It was quite busy in the departure hall with plenty of people. Even though we have Skypriority (C-Class) we are not allowed to use the Skypriority check-in desks, or any other C-class facilities.
I would like to check-in there…unfortunately, that’s not allowed as standbyer
So, when my father arrived from the parking, we went to the baggage drop-off in the Economy line. Recently, KLM renovated the check-in area at departures 2 and installed two new rows with Self Service Drop-Off Points, many people want to use them so queues at the “normal” check-in desks were relatively short.
After about 10 minutes waiting it was our turn. The agent mentioned that the flight was overbooked and that there were in total 19 people standby on the flight, just like us, and that it would be difficult to get on the flight but that we had the highest priority and thus had the biggest chance to get on the flight. He mentioned that more than half of the standbyers were already refused at check-in. He also showed us the standby list and whished us luck. That guy was very kind.
We now were off to immigration, no not to security since security is not centralized at Schiphol, every single gate has a security check. At immigration we queued at the Economy lane since the priority lane had a KLM employee which checked if you were flying Business Class and she would certainly reject us, so we played safe. There was a queue from about 7 minutes and after that we were free to go.
After immigration we got into the departure lounge with the duty free shops. Since I work myself at Schiphol I had no need to do window shopping in any Duty Free Stores, I know that the prices are ridiculous high and I know what is on offer. So, no need to buy anything. I went straight off to greet some colleagues and talked for a while with them until a sudden moment and realized that I lost my parents lol. So, I went to the gate, and found them at there at the coffee corner.
At the Airport – Security and Gate
The gate in use was F5. While my parents were sipping on their coffee I went to the shop at the F-pier to greet the last colleagues I would see before leaving. When I came back at around 20:25 the security process has started and there already was an enormous queue. We just waited since we could not board the aircraft because we did not have any seats assigned. After some 15 minutes we decided to join the queue, we asked the agent if we could use the priority lane and she said we could, but we decided not to use it since we nevertheless had to wait. After 15 minutes it was finally my time to enter the nudiescope, everything was alright. Boarding for commercial passengers did already commence. As usual, everybody stood up when the announcement was made that boarding started for World Business Class and Skyteam Elite members was about to start.
Now that we past security we went to the counter and gave our tickets to the gate agent. She mentioned that the flight was full and that even some commercial passengers did not get on the flight. She asked us whether or not we would accept a jump seat. Since we already booked one night at a hotel in Hong Kong, we decided that we would accept a jump seat, this in combination with the fact that the flight of the 15th of July also was overbooked. The gate agent mentioned to wait until the gate closes, in case that some passengers do not show up. If that was the case, we should get their seats. We also saw some other standbyers, a family of four and a women, the mother of the family of four obviously works as gate agent as she seems to know the gate agent on duty and tries to turn things to her favor. Luckily a team leader of my father came to the gate and checked whether everything went according to procedure, thumbs up!
So during our wait, what else to do than shoot some pictures of the aircraft?
This Queen will carry us to Hong Kong
Her name is “City of Paramaribo” and she wears the registration PH-BFP
Some last-minute catering; push back did already arrive!
When the gate was about to close we heard that four passengers were missing, this could mean that we get their seats if they do not show. But….unfortunately, they showed up just after the announcement was made…So this meant that we got the jump seats assigned. Now I knew that this was going to be a long long flight…
I now understand why there is no row 13 in an airplane, it’s the jump seat!
On Board
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flight KL889 – 15 July 2012
Origin: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS/EHAM)
Destination: Hong Kong International Airport (HKG/VHHH)
Flying across the globe to Hong Kong.
Registration: PH-BFP (City of Paramaribo)
Aircraft: Boeing 747-400M (Combi)
Scheduled Time of Departure: 21.25
Actual Time of Departure: 21:21
Scheduled Time of Arrival: 14:40
Actual Time of Arrival: 14:20
Seat: 13D (jump seat)
So, we entered the jet way and boarded the plane, as one of the last passengers. We were welcomed by the crew and we mentioned that we got the jump seats. The crew said that we had to wait and we stored our hand luggage in a compartment in the front of the aircraft. In the meantime, I asked the purser for a glass of water since my mouth was quite dry and I was really thirsty.
After a short wait we got our jump seats assigned, I was seated at door 3 Left, yes that over the wing of this 747.
View from my jump seat.
The flight attendant who would be seated next to me immediately introduced herself as Rita, she is an Asian Cabin Crew member. We immediately started talking, she asked about me and about my trip and I also showed interest in her. Unfortunately we couldn’t talk further since she had to prepare the cabin for take-off. During taxiing the safety demo was displayed on the overhead screen, which I obviously couldn’t see since I was seated with my back to the screens. When the captain gave the sign “Cabin Crew Take Your Seats” she came back and while taxiing all the way to the o-so-famous Poldebraan (36L) we talked further :). During taxiing I asked her about the load of the flight. She mentioned that usual there are 5 to 6 spare seats, but that it was extreme this time and the flight was completely full.
When we turned onto the Polderbaan almost immediately put the engines on full throttle and off we were, on our way to Hong Kong. During climb I asked Rita whether I could move and sit on the crew rest seat near the back galley at door 4L. To be honest, it’s quite uncomfortable to have to sit on a jump seat and facing the people who sit at the exit row and even paid extra to be able to have more legroom. Rita said that she shall ask the purser if that’s okay, but she thought it was okay. So, when the seatbelt sign was switched off, Rita and I immediately got of the jump seat and went to the back. When I came there, my father took the crew rest seat, he asked it in advance…smart guy. So, I asked whether I could sit on the other one, but the purser said that it should stay vacant for crew rest…while during the whole trip nobody sat on that seat so I easily could have sat on it. At first I keep standing for a while, but after a while I asked if they hadn’t a foldable seat, which they usually have. Luckily, they got it for me and I was also able to sit.
After the seatbelt sign had been switched off, the crew immediately jumped into action and started with the hot towels. They smelled pretty good, it was a lavender scent. After the towels they started with the first snack- and drink service. The snack consisted of a little pouch of salted peanuts, I chose a Seven Up as drink. Rita served the aisle in which we (me and my dad) were seated, and since we were seated next to the back galley we were served first. She was so kind enough to give me the whole can of Seven Up instead of just one glass. After she finished serving her section she started a second drink service, this time I opted for a Fanta.
Prior to the drink service I caught this beautiful sunset
After the drink service I searched something to do. Since my father was seated at the window, I couldn’t look outside, the window blind was also down because the sun was setting. The overhead screens also didn’t work so I decided to look in the seat pockets of the last row of seats. I luckily found an edition of KL’s inflight magazine the Holland Herald. The July issue was about “inspire” and featured some nice articles.
The Holland Herald; the inspire issue
After some reading I smelled something and when I looked into the galley I saw that preparation of the meal service was in full swing. After a while meal service commenced and the purser started with handing out the “special” meals to the people who order them. Then the flight attendants started with the regular service, unfortunately we were not served first this time, since catering do not load meals for standbyers and thus you are not sure if there are spare meals on forehand. Rita apologized for this and offered us a drink. When she was serving other passengers I heard her asking if the passengers wanted Chicken with Rice or Pasta with Spinach. I hoped that I could get a Pasta meal when there were spare meals. A few minutes after finishing her aisle the purser came to us and gave us a meal and a drink, when I saw the red cover of the “main course”, I knew I had the chicken. He also offered us a bun, I picked a brown one.
Those trays get smaller and smaller over the years
Sorry, I don’t have a photo of the meal with the “main course” opened, but the chicken with rice tasted well. It was not dry and the rice was good cooked. The appetizer consisted of a wrap (top-middle), which was quite weak, with some kind of vegetables (top-left) which you had to put in yourself. I didn’t eat the vegetables since my parents didn’t like it, which indicates that I probably won’t like it as well. The dessert was some kind of cake with raspberries, that dessert was nice. It must admit that eating a meal on such a small tray on a jump seat is quite difficult.
After the meal service the cabin lights were dimmed and windows blinds were closed and most passengers started to sleep. I was still in my foldable seat, next to the relatively comfy crew rest seat of my father. He could even recline, I was just trying to sleep with my head against the back wall of the airplane (this wall separates the cabin from the cargo hold). He said that we could switch after the meal service, but I thought “let him sit there”. I asked for a blanket and a pillow and the flight attendant said she was going to check for me. A while later she hadn’t reported back to me so I asked Rita, she checked immediately but since the airplane was full there were no spare pillows or blankets.
So, I went off to dreamland, I don’t know for how long but after I woke up the remaining flight time was around 6 hours so probably I slept just 2 hours. I walked some round through the airplane and popped by in the galley to have a snack and a drink. I started a conversation with the flight attendant, who served the other aisle, and since we did not know yet what to do in Hong Kong, I asked her about some things we could do in Hong Kong. She said that the purser had some sheets with some activities and got it for me. Furthermore she said that she liked Hong Kong very much and it was hard for her to get a flight to Hong Kong. When I returned to my seat I took a look outside, it was light outside, quite strange to darken the cabin then. I read the sheets returned them later on to the purser.
Wingtip; you’re flying with KLM (Asia) today.
When I returned to my seat the flight attendant started with the midnight-snack service, there was ice cream or nachos on offer. I took the nachos, the pouch was quite full, I expected that it was filled a lot less. I wondered why they removed the traditional noodle midnight snack, it was not on offer anymore…Nevertheless, the nachos tasted well :). I tried to sleep once again, but I didn’t really succeed, it was cold in the airplane, even though I wore a shirt with long sleeves. I walked a few more rounds and went talking to Rita, she was back from her resting period, and told me some nice things that we could do in Hong Kong. After a short chat I returned to my seat.
Midnight nacho-time!
I decided just to wait and try to sleep until the cabin lights would be turned on, but the temperature in the cabin and my uncomfortable seat just kept me out of my sleep. The legroom of the seat was on the other hand fantastic, around 1.5 meters free space for me.
Don’t occupy this unless you have permission ;)
About two hours before landing, four hours after the nachos, the cabin lights were turned on and breakfast service commenced. First hot lavender towels were handed out. Just like the dinner service, we got served last since catering does not load meals for standbyers, luckily there were some spare meals. The breakfast consisted of an omelet with some vegetables, some fruit, a little carrot cake and a warm bun. There was another option instead of the omelet, but I can’t remember it. The breakfast tasted quite good, no cons at this point. I opted for an orange juice as drink. Later on coffee and tea were served. Tea was served in a “Blond Amsterdam” cup, which was decorated with an Olympic message, quite nice.
The breakfast
After the breakfast finished the cabin crew began preparations for the landing. They started with cleaning the galley and preparing the cabin. During these preparations I was, finally, able to sit on the crew rest seat and took some photos of the descent and approach route.
Descending over mainland China
Descending over Macau, if you look good you can see the MGM Grand Hotel
Making some turns
While approaching Hong Kong International Airport we were assigned a holding pattern, we just made one round and after that we were ready to do our approach. The captain made an announcement with some final information about the flight and about Hong Kong and the airport. In the meantime cabin crew were collecting headphones and fully preparing the cabin. We were directed back to our jump seats while making our final approach. The approach was around Hong Kong Island and the New Territories. When the captain gave the command “Cabin Crew Take Your Seat”, Rita joined me once more at the jump seat and we talked about Hong Kong and the airport. It was really nice to meet her. We touched down at runway 25R at around 14:20 local time. Since I was seated on the jump seat I was unable to take pictures of the landing.
After landing while taxiing a welcome announcement was made by the senior purser. When we arrived at the gate everyone immediately stood up to get their luggage from the overhead bins, the seatbelt sign hadn’t been switched off. So Rita screamed something in Chinese to some Chinese passengers but it didn’t help. So we waited for the jet bridge to be attached, this took a while. Just one jet bridge would be attached, despite two available. In the meantime I said goodbye to Rita and thanked her for the flight. The captain came on the intercom and explained that because the APU didn’t work one engine was still running to provide power to the airplane and that we had to wait for an external power unit to be attached by the ground crew. It was funny cause in the middle of his talk the power shut down and the emergency lighting was turned on automatically, the captain was gone from the intercom. When he came back he announced that the jet bridge would be attached and we could disembark. Soon after the jet bridge was attached and after disembarkation of World Business Class passengers, we were able to disembark. We disembarked and said the crew goodbye and thanked them for the rather uneventful flight.
At the Airport
So, welcome to Hong Kong once again. It was my second time here so I knew navigating, at the airport, was quite easy. We walked over some escalators towards the train which would bring us to immigration and baggage reclaim area. Upon arrival at the immigration there was quite a big queue, fortunately we had already filled in our arrival card. The queue lasted for some 15 minutes, luckily they have staff which manage the queues and assigns you a certain desk. After immigration we headed towards the baggage belt, our luggage arrived very soon I think this was due to the fact that the kind agent in Amsterdam did put a priority tag on our suitcases. Soon we were off to customs which we exited through the green channel. We went directly to the ATM to get some money for the taxi and headed outside for the taxis. Finally we arrived in Hong Kong.
Conclusion
So when reflecting on this flight, I must admit that is was quite good despite the fact that we were seated on a jump seat. Handling in Amsterdam was okay while service on board was good, we thought that the purser was a bit distant and did not really engage with us but Rita was just very nice! Sad that I did not take a photo! The flight itself was rather uneventful with some short periods of turbulence. It was a pity that we were seated on a jump seat but next time better and we reached our destination so that was good.
Thanks for reading this trip report. Stay tuned for part two!
Aug 30, 2012, 1:24 am
#3
Original Poster
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 37
Yeah, aircrafts are still painted in KLM Asia livery, they painted some 777-200ER's in Asia livery as well as some 777-300ER's since they are flying with these airplanes AMS-TPE-MNL. I also didn't knew China still was so strict about carriers flying into Taiwan with their own brand, I thought they maybe were to lazy to repaint the 747's but apparently China is still strict with this regulation...
