{"id":491,"date":"2020-01-21T13:11:14","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T13:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/?p=491"},"modified":"2020-01-21T13:11:14","modified_gmt":"2020-01-21T13:11:14","slug":"a-few-short-flights-with-klm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/2020\/01\/a-few-short-flights-with-klm\/","title":{"rendered":"A few short flights with KLM"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I hinted at in my previous post<\/a>, flying from Manchester where many destinations are one change away whoever you fly with, it\u2019s often as easy to fly with KLM<\/a> and change in Amsterdam as it is to fly with British Airways<\/a> and change in Heathrow. \u00a0My 2020 travel kicked off with a meeting in Amsterdam followed quickly by a meeting at CERN<\/a> in Geneva. \u00a0The best option for this turned out to be flying with KLM to Amsterdam, spending a couple of nights there for the first meeting, flying down to Geneva and spending a couple more nights there for the second meeting, before retracing my steps at the end of the week to head home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it was a quirk of the multi-city booking, but even though the flights were cheap and I was in economy, I ended up with a booking class that gave me a choice of seats before check-in (I\u2019ve looked at future bookings, but I’ve not been so lucky with them, it’s \u00a39 to reserve a standard seat and \u00a313 to reserve a seat with extra legroom). \u00a0As a result, for three of the four sectors I was able to choose a window seat somewhere between rows 7 and 9 (for the final sector I was in row 22), and when I checked in on the app, I ended up with a boarding pass that said \u201cSky Priority\u201d and boarding zone 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KLM leaves from the same terminal at Manchester as British Airways, terminal 3, and security there needs no further discussion. \u00a0Naturally, no fast-track access, but a lunchtime departure meant the queues were short. \u00a0I\u2019ve managed to avoid a bag being sent to secondary screening for most of my recent trips, and managed to do it again this time, although there is always that moment when the bag pauses at the junction of the belts and you\u2019re thinking it has been there a couple of seconds too long and is about to be sent behind the barrier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No KLM status, so therefore I had no lounge access, but at least being an off-peak time there were spare seats in the departure area to settle down and do a bit of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Priority boarding worked well and there didn\u2019t appear to be that many passengers that had it. \u00a0It turned out to be useful as I had a carry-on bag and space in the overhead lockers ended up quite tight. \u00a0It may be my imagination, but the seats in the 737-700, -800 and -900 of the trip felt a bit narrower than the Airbus 319\/320\/321 on BA, and on three out of the four legs there was someone in the middle seat whose elbows were well over the armrest, making for very uncomfortable flights as I tried to contort myself around a stranger’s left arm. \u00a0The other flight was a dream in comparison as a colleague was booked into the B seat, but C ended up as a no-show, so we had the row of three to ourselves. \u00a0Small things and all that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Not the approach to Amsterdam (or even Manchester).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For a small charge there is the option of \u201cEconomy Comfort\u201d seats \u2014 I hadn\u2019t chosen them, but SeatGuru suggests they have a couple of extra inches of leg-room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Something that KLM still provides is a complimentary drink and a snack. \u00a0On the various flights I\u2019ve had a cheese sandwich, a wrap, and a slice of cake as the snack; a small cup of water with a foil lid (there\u2019s probably something that can be done there to reduce the use of plastic); plus coffee, tea, or juice for the drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Despite Schiphol being their home airport, KLM isn\u2019t exempt from being sent to the Polderbaan for landing, with the ensuing quarter-of-an-hour taxi to the terminal building. \u00a0On the return journey I had nearly three hours between flights. \u00a0Fortunately Schiphol is such a vast airport that you can largely wander freely about, it\u2019s possible to find a quiet corner when you need to make a couple of phone calls without disturbing anyone. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure the same can be said of Heathrow Terminal 5, even with access to a lounge!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that both Geneva and Schiphol have over Manchester Airport is the use of 3D scanners to check your carry-on luggage. \u00a0With these everything<\/em> stays inside your bag, and I mean everything \u2014 laptops, iPads, bags of liquids, just plonk it in a tray and wait for it to emerge at the other end. \u00a0The speed of the operators seems to vary quite a bit, but the whole process is so much easier, especially if you\u2019re not used to travelling and forget to pull something out of your bag and place it on a separate tray for scanning. \u00a0Roll-on the introduction of them to Manchester Airport, please!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final flight home was the one where I was in row 22.  The airport decided to disembark from both the front and the rear doors, but it took some time to get the steps up to the rear doors.  Do you want to guess which of the 33 rows was the last one out of the plane?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I hinted at in my previous post, flying from Manchester where many destinations are one change away whoever you fly with, it\u2019s often as easy to fly with KLM and change in Amsterdam as it is to fly with British Airways and change in Heathrow. \u00a0My 2020 travel kicked off with a meeting in… Continue reading A few short flights with KLM<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,11],"tags":[80,78,82,36],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-flight-reviews","category-travel","tag-economy","tag-flight-review","tag-klm","tag-review","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":500,"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions\/500"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/internetplumber.org.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}