Hello! Thanks for stopping by and reading my trip report. I hope you enjoy it. There are no patronising rules, and feel free to ask me what you like.
As you may be aware, AFKL had a "WOW Sale" (their words, not mine!) last Summer on business class fares to Tokyo and Osaka from the UK. They were practically giving the seats away... I secured my ticket from LHR-CDG-HND, NRT-AMS-BRS for around £950. Best of all, both long haul sectors were on AFKL's latest/newest business class seats.
Anyway, back to the day of the return flight.
Whilst in Tokyo, stayed in Shinjuku, close to the Tokyo government buildings in a room not much bigger than my car. It however was cheap, well located and clean.
After a week in Asia, which was spent in Tokyo and Seoul, it was time to head to Narita Airport. By far the most convenient option for returning to NRT was coach. The "Friendly Airport Limousine" picked up from the Hilton Tokyo (Sigh, I wish! Too expensive..) which was only a few minutes walk from my hotel.
After the ceremonious farewell bow and a 90 minute busride sat next to someone who smelt like industrial urinal cleaner we arrived at Narita International Airport. But again, not before the quite frankly bizarre passport inspection at the airport perimeter gate. Some sort of job creation scheme? Lots of security staff/police (?) stood around not doing much but looking important.
Bus to NRT:
NRT airport checkpoint:
Having no experience of how long the airport bus would take due to traffic, I left 4 hours between departing the Hilton and my flight. Being Sunday, it seemed comparatively quieter on the roads than the day I arrived so I got to the airport around 2.5 hours before KL862 departed.
I went straight to the KLM desks where a sizeable queue was already forming, but went straight into the SkyPriority queue and was checked in straight away.
After that, it was straight through the SkyPriority security lane and through Japanese immigration... amazingly everyone had filled out their departure cards correctly ahead of me in the queue so it was a painless experience.
Maybe not so soon:
KLM WBC & status passengers can use the Delta SkyClub at Narita and that was my next stop for my overdue breakfast. There is also a Korean Air lounge, but after my visit earlier in the week on the way to Seoul I swore never to return!
Food area at NRT SkyClub:
A blast from the NWA past on the SkyClub computers:
Today's breakfast mainly included sugar, which was more than welcome. There was a fairly decent selection of breakfast items and alcoholic beverages should the cravings arise at this hour.
I then took a short walk around the gate area prior to boarding.
The eagle has landed:
Delta B757 for Guam:
Tatty looking Vietnam A330 and B777-200:
From: Tokyo Narita (NRT) to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS).
Airline: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines flight 862.
Aircraft: Boeing B747-400 (PH-BFH) "City of Hong Kong"
Boarding pass:
Boarding my 747:
Boarding began about 10:40, and I made my way up to my home for the next 13 hours or so, in seat 79K. I've only been lucky enough to fly in the upper deck of the B747 once before, whilst travelling BOS-CDG with Air France... they have a small economy cabin upstairs. In comparison to the Air France B777-200 business cabin I flew over to Haneda in, the B747 upper deck felt roomier and more private.
The seat:
As I settled down, the male crew member who'd serve me for the duration of the flight offered a drink from a selection of water, champagne or orange juice. Naturally, the champagne was gladly accepted.
Shortly after I was joined by my seatmate, a friendly Narita based KLM flight attendant who was deadheading to Amsterdam. We discussed Japan, a little about KLM and the new business seat.
Already my seatmate and I were shooting at each other, hence the bullet holes on our separating partition:
The screen was 'locked in position' and had a bad resolution..
Ahead of schedule, boarding was completed and the Captain announced a flying time of 11 hours 40 minutes. He also made a point of announcing that there were three of them in the cockpit today, and not to be alarmed if we saw one of them in the cabin as there'd always be two pilots in the cockpit at any one time.
We pushed back 5 minutes early and began the taxi to our departure runway 16R. It was truly rush hour at Narita with departures from Thai, Vietnam Airlines, British Airways, Delta, Air France, Japan Airlines and Vanilla Air among others going ahead of us. The Captain announced that we were number 10 for departure and to expect a 20 minute wait.
Taxiing:
Takeoff video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS6YungRKpE
Before long we were airborne and climbing to our initial altitude of 30,000 feet. Menus were distributed but as you'll find out these were barely worth the paper they were printed on!
Narita from the sky:
Menus:
Service began with a beverage run and a bowl of nuts. I asked for a red wine, and seeing as my knowledge of wine barely extends past red, white or rosè the flight attendant gave me a run-down of the options. French it was!
Red it is then...
Lunch orders were then taken. Usually I'd opt towards a Western choice, but seeing as the single Western choice was limited to Chicken Coq au Vin (apparently), the Japanese option looked more appealing so I decided on the Crab Croquettes.
Another drink run was done and I happily obliged to an offer of more red wine. Shortly afterwards, the starters were presented.
The starter had absolutely no resemblance to the menu description, so I'm not entirely sure what was consumed! Luckily, my seatmate offered a hand. Apparently the stuff in the blue/white bowl was Japanese rice pudding. An acquired taste but good to try something different.
The mystery starter:
The main course was then served. As the FA got my chosen main from the trolley, he looked confused, apologised and handed me my dish... Salmon! At this point the menu had no resemblance to what had been loaded on the aircraft and all the side dishes were missing apart from the Miso soup. Good job I'm not a fussy eater! The food was excellent though.. even if the starter wasn't all to my taste.
Similarly, the desert wasn't as on the menu but was perfectly edible. It appeared to be a lemon/citrus mousse. I also selected some cheese which was washed down with a refill of the red wine and coffee.
Afterwards, aperitifs and 'gourmet' chocolates were also served along with more coffee.
Having consumed a little too much wine and food, I made my way downstairs to economy to stretch my legs and walk off lunch. It was fairly empty and many had taken the opportunity to spread out.
Still some way to go:
I made my way back up and watched a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, NCIS, Top Gear and Family Guy. Frequent runs were done by the crew to offer drinks and snacks.
RIP Top Gear:
At the same time, I took the opportunity to put the bed into the flat mode. In many ways I prefer this style of seat because it's more open plan when compared with the "cocoon" style seats giving the impression at least of there being more room to spread out when sleeping. However, the fact there is no direct aisle access for the window seat and having to step over the person in the adjacent seat is a minor inconvenience. The only other KLM J seat I've used was the on the MD-11 not long before it was WFU, so the new seat is still an improvement.
In bed mode:
5 hours or so in, more snacks were offered including ice-cream, sushi and salad bowls.
The lights were dimmed but fortunately total window shade darkness was not enforced, guessing because it's a day flight.
Two hours before landing a light meal was served; the choices being chicken curry and sandwiches. Again, no correlation to the printed menu but I think I've exasperated that point now. I choose the curry and was offered a small portion of sushi too. As you do..
Tiny curry and sushi portion:
There was however the advertised Dutch apple pie and it was washed down nicely with a few cups of coffee.
By which time, any hope of making my 16:40 connection was diminished with our ETA of 16:20. Due to the longer flight time and take-off delay my already tight 50 minute connection was now non-existent.
Not looking good:
Shortly before landing the Dutch houses were distributed and number 40 was mine, although it looks suspiciously familiar to the one I already have. Turns out they all look the same and my other is not the same.
My house, in the middle of your screen. No?
Going down slowly:
As we broke through the clouds and towards Dutch soil, the weather was appalling. The Captain had already pre-warned us of heavy rain and wind. After approximately 12 hours in the air we landed and made a record short distance taxi towards our gate.
Landing video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcFPzPaSX60
Looks like I missed that connection...
By this point, I'd already switched my phone on and had a text message from KLM saying I'd been rebooked onto the next flight to BRS at 21:15.
I made my way to the KLM Crown Lounge to wait out my 4.5 hour layover. I filled my face with more cr*p and took a mouldy shower.
Calories? Nah.
Mouldy shower rooms:
So what did I think of KLM?
The service was great. I like the KLM style, it's formal but friendly. The food was good, but the presentation and menu mix up was a shame. It was good to try the new seat, and although it's an improvement over the last/current seat it certainly isn't market leading.
Thanks for reading my report!
Pity the food didn't match the menu, but objectively, whatever was served looks good in its own way too. Very nice on KLM's part also to automatically rebook you and send you a text once you arrived. I'm sure for many pax, this gave immediate reassurance that they wouldn't have to queue at long queues and face the stress of trying to get themselves home.
