UTA_flyinghigh From Tunisia, joined Oct 2001, 6495 posts, RR: 57 Posted (3 years 5 months 14 hours ago) and read 15271 times:
KL1008 LHR to AMS – World Business Class (J)
After landing on time from DUB (G-MIDE, Airbus A320-231) and running like a motherf….. from T1 to T4 via the train station, I made my way towards the KLM check-in desks. Strangely enough there was an enormous queue there even though the flight was supposed to departed in 45 minutes.
As PE I made my way over to the business/elite plus counter where I checked in my two suitcases (47 kg !). Upon seeing it was my birthday my 11A seat became 7J (just in front of the wing, my favourite spot) and my subsequent AMS-GVA seat became 5A instead of 7F.
I was also given a “Fast Track” sticker which enabled me to jump the also enormous queue at security.
Given there was barely 30 minutes before ETD there was no time to sample the lounge so I made my way towards the gate (at a leisurely pace this time).
I was pleasantly surprised upon seeing the aircraft as it was PH-AOD (Piazza Del Duomo – Milan), which is currently the latest addition to KLM’s fleet. I was told the aircraft is barely two weeks old !
I had time to take a few pictures even though boarding had started.
There was again a long queue at boarding which I bypassed thanks to the WBC/Elite Plus boarding lane.
After locating my seat and stowing my belongings I enquired about a cockpit visit which was granted.
Bothe the Captain and First Officer were very friendly and let me take all the pictures I wanted. The Captain (who was PF on this leg) also informed me of a Polderbaan arrival. I usually would have said “Rhaaaaaaaa” but not today as it meant more time in the 332
Going back to my seat I was surprised to see that the boarding process far from over. Upon enquiry it transpired that we were waiting for quite a large number of pax on a connecting flight from Asia.
This enabled me to play with the NTC seat which I was sampling for the first time (my longhaul KLM trips are on 744 routes which are OTC).
The seat in fully upright position :
The seat controls :
IMHO these are poorly positioned as they are right underneath the elbow, meaning I would set off the massage function (or another function) each time I wished to read.
The seat in full recline (180 degrees but unfortunately not lie-flat) :
After the connecting group had boarded it was a full house in both J and Y.
Before takeoff we were treated to a choice of juice, water or champagne as well as a hot towel.
As usual on modern aircraft, the safety demonstration was a video played on the main screens as well as on the PTV’s.
Taxi time was relatively long and the hold time before takeoff was…as usual at LHR (get a good book).
At last we took off in some traditional English weather :
Seat belt signs were switched off as soon as we passed transition altitude and we soon reached our cruising level of FL190 :
I was again pleasantly surprised by the size of the PTV which is much bigger than the one in the KLM OTC seat and almost twice the size of the UA/CO offerings (these being the other C classes I had the pleasure to fly this year) :
Another pic while in cruise :
We were served a cold breakfast 15 minutes after departure, this consisted of :
Choice of bread
Butter
Preserves
Cold chicken wrap
Cheese
Strawberry jam tart
Apple/pear/muesli yogurt
Fruit salad
Tea or coffee
Choice of juice/soft drinks/beer/wine/champagne
After breakfast we were already well into our descent so I was not able to either sample the lavatories (I was sure that I would not have been able to produce any solid matter anyway) nor see what the Y-cabin looked like.
After passing Rotterdam we were on final approach to AMS, landing on time on the infamous Polderbaan :
We thus taxied for an eternity before arriving to our gate at the D-pier.
Deplaning was relatively quick and I promptly made my way towards the Crown Lounge near the E-pier before boarding the 737-800 to GVA.
Score : 18/20
Comments and queries are welcome !
UTA
[Edited 2006-07-11 10:08:40]
Fly to live, live to fly - Air France/KLM Flying Blue Platinum, BMI Diamond Club Gold, Emirates Skywards
Airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 1974 posts, RR: 15 Reply 1, posted (3 years 5 months 14 hours ago) and read 15221 times:
Hi
nice reports and pictures, even for this short flight. You're lucky to get the A332 on the flight, as they don't operate on all KL1007/1008 yet. Only a few days a week, the A332 will show up. From winterschedule it will become the standard equipment on this flight though. Yeah, the times it takes at LHR to get airborne is indeed something, which enables you to read a good book, that's why I prefer to fly either nonstop, or transfer at LGW/STN/LTN, although that means mostly flying on the Lowcost airlines. (and they don't offer A330's of course )
Eric
Flying is finished for 2009. In 2010: I booked to secure the Q400 on a new route from LCY, for January...
Airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 1974 posts, RR: 15 Reply 5, posted (3 years 5 months 10 hours ago) and read 14899 times:
Quoting CSMUK (Reply 3): So KLM will operate the A332 on all AMS-LHR services, or only certain ones?
Read reply #1 for the answer.
Quoting Sudden (Reply 4): Why is actually KLM using the A330 for this leg? Seems a bit overrated but is the loadfactor that high?
Usually KL1007/1008 is operated by 763 for many years now, due to high loads and also to uplift a bit of palletized cargo to the UK and further on other carriers if neccesary. As the 763 will leave the fleet, the 332 is introduced on this route. Crew can get easily hours on this type and practice a lot of landings/takeoffs etc etc on this short flights. I think they operate now 3 times a week to LHR, until the winterschedule when it becomes daily operation.
Flying is finished for 2009. In 2010: I booked to secure the Q400 on a new route from LCY, for January...
767747 From United States, joined Jan 2005, 843 posts, RR: 10 Reply 6, posted (3 years 5 months 10 hours ago) and read 14869 times:
Great report! The new KLM A332 looks very nice. Wow, their Business Class on the 332 looks terrific. That's great you were able to get a breakfast on your flight. Good pictures out the window. I'm amazed the cruise altitude was fl 190. Isn't that rather low? I guess the flight is so short, that there is no need to go any higher.
Quoting CSMUK (Reply 3): So KLM will operate the A332 on all AMS-LHR services, or only certain ones?
Like AirbusEric said, on certain days, however yesterday's (monday 10 July) KL1019/20 AMS-LHR-AMS was operated with a B777-200 !! But that had to do with operational problems with the B737s (KL1017 and KL1019 were combined). 1 B737 was grounded in NCL due to a technical problem and 3 planes were stuck in Scandinavia (OSL/CPH and ARN) due to Air Traffic Problems (ATC radar broken down?)
Malmoaviation From Sweden, joined Nov 2005, 385 posts, RR: 5 Reply 9, posted (3 years 5 months 4 hours ago) and read 14276 times:
Guess who is going to book a LHR-AMS ticket now? Thanks a lot for the report, flying LHR-AMS with a 330 is almost like when SK flew ARN-LHR with their 767s in the late 90s... Remember Farnborough 98, I was traveling in C on one of SK 767, and my mothers company paid the trip
Noone in Africa has still checked my A-net proflie.
Sabena332 From Germany, joined May 2001, 14300 posts, RR: 100 Reply 10, posted (3 years 5 months 3 hours ago) and read 14176 times:
Nice one, Will! Excellent pictures!
Flying LHR-AMS on the 332 is definitely the way to go, I will keep that in mind and hope to get a good fare via AMS when I go to LHR next time.
Was the upgrade indeed because of your birthday or because you are LyingPoo PE? I experienced that AF/KL and their Skyteam partners are quick with upgrades when you have status in a Skyteam FFP. In January they wanted to upgrade me on a NWA flight but I refused because I didn't want to leave my friend allone in Eco, the agent said that I should come back 5 minutes before scheduled boarding time, I went again to the gate after a while and got presented two boarding passes for World Business Class (despite my friend didn't have a status in a Skyteam FFP).
NZ8800 From New Zealand, joined May 2006, 424 posts, RR: 3 Reply 14, posted (3 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 23 hours ago) and read 13965 times:
Great report! Looks very comfortable in Business, although I wonder how anyone had the time to eat all that food on the LHR-AMS flight - it takes just over an hour doesn't it? What do they feed the economy class passengers?
Never been to AMS but I gather the Polderbaan runway is ages away from the terminal?
The recline looks good, but it looks like you would be almost as boxed in as you are in economy, once the person in front of you reclines theirs...
I sometimes think they'd have time for at least three complimentary pre-take-off drinks at LHR
Great pictures! Interesting also about the amount of cargo carried between AMS-LHR; can see why you'd need an A330.
Quoting 767747 (Reply 6): I'm amazed the cruise altitude was fl 190. Isn't that rather low? I guess the flight is so short, that there is no need to go any higher.
Absolutely, and you answered your own question Flight length is around 230 miles - 368km.
Quoting Touchdown777 (Reply 13): Just curious, when did KLM start using 330's for LHR-AMS route or is it a temp placement?
See Airbuseric in replies 1 and 5 - it is replacing the Boeing 767 three times per week, and will become daily in Winter.
MDZWTA ~ Mobile Disaster Zone When Travelling Abroad
Sudden From Sweden, joined Jul 2001, 3238 posts, RR: 9 Reply 17, posted (3 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 13 hours ago) and read 13645 times:
Quoting UTA_flyinghigh (Reply 15): First time I landed there I thought we had landed at Rotterdam and the aircraft was going to AMS via the country roads.
First time I took of from Polderbaan the pilot told us after 10 minutes of taxi, that were actually going to take off and not drive to ARN.
It is indeed pretty far away from the terminal, and Polderbaan has it's own tower.
Karan69 From India, joined Oct 2004, 2633 posts, RR: 16 Reply 18, posted (3 years 4 months 4 weeks 1 day 12 hours ago) and read 13605 times:
Nice report and pictures mate, one question though was the PTV functional, i mean barring the airshow were other channels like movies and short features working normally..
UTA_flyinghigh From Tunisia, joined Oct 2001, 6495 posts, RR: 57 Reply 21, posted (3 years 4 months 4 weeks 17 hours ago) and read 13259 times:
Quoting Karan69 (Reply 18): one question though was the PTV functional, i mean barring the airshow were other channels like movies and short features working normally..
Ouaaa I have no idea as I was too busy taking pics/eating/checking out the seat features. they did not hand out headseats so I assume it wasn't, but then you never know
UTA
Fly to live, live to fly - Air France/KLM Flying Blue Platinum, BMI Diamond Club Gold, Emirates Skywards
MH017 From Netherlands, joined Apr 2005, 1089 posts, RR: 24 Reply 22, posted (3 years 4 months 3 weeks 5 days 11 hours ago) and read 12844 times:
Quoting Sudden (Reply 4): Why is actually KLM using the A330 for this leg? Seems a bit overrated but is the loadfactor that high?
Quoting NZ8800 (Reply 14): Never been to AMS but I gather the Polderbaan runway is ages away from the terminal?
Nice trip-report: glad you enjoyed the A330 Business Class ... it certainly looks better than the 'old' Business Class seats on the 744
Usually lot's of cargo is being shipped on KL1008, hence the 763 before, and now the 330...
Arrival on 18R and taxying to D-gate(s), will take approx. 12-16 minutes
The runway is closer to the city of Haarlem than to the terminals at Schiphol...
UK_Dispatcher From United Kingdom, joined Dec 2001, 2232 posts, RR: 32 Reply 23, posted (3 years 4 months 3 weeks 3 days 2 hours ago) and read 12403 times:
Nice report and pics.
I did not realise the A332s would be used on the LHR route, so it was surprising to see this report. I think the A332 looks smart in the KL c/s, and it always catches my attention when I see it in AUH. They also use it to KRT, where I saw one recently.
MH017 From Netherlands, joined Apr 2005, 1089 posts, RR: 24 Reply 25, posted (3 years 4 months 3 weeks 2 days 5 hours ago) and read 12111 times:
Quoting EI787 (Reply 24): I'm guessing that the runway in the top left of the picture is the Polderbaan runway?!
Affirmative:
That's 36L/18R (Polderbaan)
Next one is 36C/18C (Zwanenburgbaan)
Further to the right 36R/18L (Aalsmeerbaan)
Crossing is 27/09 (Buitenveldertbaan)
Small runway to the 'west' is 22/04 (Oostbaan)
Finally, the one starting half-way 36R is 06/24 (Kaagbaan)...
don't throw away tomorrow !
26 Myt332: Nice report Will. Next time try an MYT332 out, that's the real deal!
27 LO231: Alex, you want Will to have a ride on you? Hmmm.. Great TR Will, and belated Happy Birthday!!! Regards, LO231
28 Myt332: That's it, you're not invited to the MAN Meet 2007!
29 StarGoldLHR: polderbaan is 4 miles from the threshold to the main terminal. A Non-stop taxi from the terminal to the runway takes 20 minutes, LCY's little Fokkers
30 Runway23: However those rhaaing things take forever to reach LCY, 1 hour flight time just to get flying to Greater London. That in itself is quite rhaaing. Pos
Sponsor Message: 
From Tunisia, joined Oct 2001, 6495 posts, 
From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 1974 posts, 
)
From , joined Dec 1969, posts, 
From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2006, 51 posts, 
From Sweden, joined Jul 2001, 3238 posts, 
From United States, joined Jan 2005, 843 posts, .gif){kind=small}
From United Kingdom (Scotland), joined Dec 2005, 1078 posts, 
From Belgium, joined Jun 2005, 966 posts, 
From Germany, joined May 2001, 14300 posts, 
From Canada, joined Sep 2003, 564 posts, 
From New Zealand, joined May 2006, 424 posts, 
From India, joined Oct 2004, 2633 posts, 
From Norway, joined Jun 2005, 533 posts, 
From Ireland, joined Jan 2006, 1405 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
