KLM Economy Antwerpen – Amsterdam – Los Angeles for half price
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Service by the cabin crew, the Pizza was great:
Terrible seating, Small seat pitch hard to get out, very old IFE systemKLM Economy Antwerpen – Amsterdam – Los Angeles for half price Most of the time I fly First- or Business Class, but as I travel with friends, I downgrade myself to Economy Class. On an evening we had drink at home and our friends asked us, Andy when are we going to travel again ? Where […]
KLM Economy Antwerpen – Amsterdam – Los Angeles for half price
Most of the time I fly First- or Business Class, but as I travel with friends, I downgrade myself to Economy Class.
On an evening we had drink at home and our friends asked us, Andy when are we going to travel again ?
Where do you all want to go to, I asked them ?
Los Angeles Andy and my wife told me, I still want to see Las Vegas.
Los Angeles and Las Vegas can be done in one week, as it’s only a 5 hours drive from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.
Under a few beers and bottles of wine, I had a look at the prices for flights from Amsterdam to Los Angeles.
The prices at that moment in KLM’s Economy Class where 912 euro’s a person.
Still very expensive, so I had another option.
Go to the KLM website in Belgium and start your trip in Antwerpen.
Antwerpen is from Tilburg, the Netherlands 72 km.
Amsterdam is from Tilburg, the Netherlands 120 km.
This saves you 461 euro’s a person, and you will get a free return ticket with the Thalys High Speed Train, from Antwerpen Central to Amsterdam Schiphol.
For this price you have to start your journey in Antwerpen, you can’t go directly to Amsterdam Schiphol to catch the same airplane KL 601.
You have to show a stamped train ticket in Amsterdam, if you can’t provide this at the check in at Schiphol, they can ask you to pay the normal ticket fare.
On the way back, you can go directly from Amsterdam to your final destination, as the KLM will not be able to see if you boarded the Thalys High Speed train back to Antwerpen
A few days after our flights where confirmed, we got an email that our first flight section, Antwerpen Central (ZWE) to Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS ), was cancelled.
Sorry to inform you, but your flight KL2970 06.58 ZWE – AMS 08.03 is cancelled, we have rebooked you on the Thalys Train on the day before at 22.30 arriving at AMS 23.24.
Our KLM flight, KL 601 to Lax would depart at 09.50, so we had to wait over 10 hours at the airport.
It was time to give the KLM service desk a call.
Hello KLM, we have a problem……………
It is not our problem……………..
KLM how can we help you ?
You can book us two hotel rooms at the New Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol .
And please book us on a Thalys Train early in the morning on the 7th of February, we still want to enjoy Amsterdam !
I will talk to my supervisor, please hold the line.
5 minutes later, sorry that the flight was cancelled, it is our fault, we will refund you 2 hotel rooms, with breakfast, at the New Hilton Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.
Make sure you keep the invoice and after the flight we will refund you with a maximum of 150 euro a person.
We also rebooked your group on the Thalys train to KL 2974 at 10.30 in the morning, so you can enjoy Amsterdam.
Thanks KLM for the great service.
As the flight was cancelled 2 months prior to the flight, you can’t claim the FAA compensation of 600 euro a persons for flights over 1500 KM.
On the 7th of February we took the Thalys Train departing from ZWE to Amsterdam.
54 minutes later we where at Amsterdam Schiphol.
Time to enjoy our New Hilton Amsterdam Airport Schiphol hotel.
It was time to experience the KLM Economy Class flight to Los Angeles, we knew one thing, it was very a very cheap ticket !!!!!!!
Check-in.
We used one of the check in machines at the airport.
Our first problem occurred, the check in machine stopped half way our check-in.
Nothing worked anymore, and there are no normall check in desks available in this area.
KLM’s automatic check-in works like a baggage drop off point.
Lets try another machine, yes we where lucky.
This one works and all the members of our group are still in the system.
There was a long que, it took about 40 minutes to finish our check-in and dropped our luggage.
Our females in the group where not happy about this, as there was less time to shop at the airport.
This time I wanted to film everything, so the full HD movie of the trip can be found online from all details.
There was still a very large que at the security point and this stopped us for another 20 minutes.
We started the check in 2,5 hours before our flight was going to depart and we just managed to arrive in time at the gate.
The KLM check-in staff was very professional and within 2 minutes we where onboard the B747-400.
Aircraft.
On this flight, our airplane was a Boeing 747-400 Mixed configuration, PH-BFK.
The plane was delivered to KLM on 21 may 1991, so the plane was over 25 years old.
And that could be seen inside, even after a refurbishment lately.
The planes I normally fly, are not older than a few years ( Qatar Airways, Swiss, Emirates )
Crew.
Personal I like the Middle East Airlines, because of the great service and friendliness.
KLM is suppose to be our National Airline, but I like the Middle East and Asian Airlines service much more.
But the KLM crew knows, that they only can make the difference and keep the KLM name in place.
The crew who helped us was really great and funny.
Only the steward at 11.38 in the movie had different idea;s of service.
I still don’t know why he pushed me twice.
There was enough room and I was waiting and did not want to walk forward.
But I just stood still and remained still ………. even after his pushes.
But this was an exception on the full cabin service, maybe he had a bad hair day.
747-400 Mixed Configuration.
This plane is half passengers and half cargo.
KLM is famous for the transport of horses and on this flight we where transporting also 5 horses.
I had a quick look in the back and the horses where fine, enjoying the trip to Los Angels.
Catering.
Economy catering is not the same as the catering in Business Class.
But the catering was not bad for Economy Class, the warm pizza was really nice.
Below a Business Class Catering service if you fly with Turkish Airlines.
Catering Turkish Airlines
Seats and Inflight Entertainment.
The plane has a seat pitch of 31 inch, I think it was even less.
You can’t leave your seat in a normall way, it is very hard, not only for me, but also the other passengers, who had problems with getting up and out.
It was hard to see anything on the old IFE monitor.
It is a very small screen and the quality of the screen was terrible.
It was hard to follow any movie, so I just took my Bose headphone and listen to my own music.
Arrival.
We took off with a 65 minute delay, due to a problem with a steal plate, but arrived a little bit late at LAX.
Btmagazine.nl ranks KLM Economy Class service as an average airline.
We flew this flight with KLM only because of the cheap ticket price.
The crew was great, the food not bad, but all other service options where not good at all.
Normally the Middle East Airlines have also better prices as the KLM.
Why should you fly with an average airline as KLM, when you have the option to fly with an excellent Middle East Airline for the same price ?
KLM get a younger fleet, the B747’s are too old to keep in service.
Hotels in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Sofitel Beverly Hils Los Angeles
Full report on btmagazine.nl can be found here
Ritz Carlton Marina Del Rey Los Angeles
Full report on btmagazine.nl can be found here
Caesars Palace Hotel Las Vegas
Full report on btmagazine.nl can be found here
Thing to do in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
Los Angeles:
Venice Beach website
Universal Studio’s website
The Walk of Fame
Malibu farm Pier and enjoy the Sunset.
Las Vegas.
The Las Vegas High Roller website
Maverick Helicopter tour Grand Canyon website
Las Vegas Strip
