KLM China

[family guy 0]

Looking to come back over with the family for new year. We usually travel to LHR for the direct EVA flight. But for three of us it nearly £2650.

 

I have found MAN - AMS - BKK its good value and being from the North it means less travelling.

 

Couple of questions for those who have used

 

1) Whats the plane / journey like for the AMS BKK leg

 

2 ) I have 1 hr 40 min to transfer at AMS for the BKK flight. Presume this will be leaving ng enough ?

 

Thanks All

[globaljonesey 6]

I booked a flight today with KLM via Amsterdam and I too used to use China until it started to take the piss - I moved to emirates until they started charging too much.

 

So now its KLM and it has been for the last 3 flights

 

My stopover time is about 3 hours both times in AMS. Dont forget the hour difference, maybe its 2 hours 40 mins at Schipoll....................

 

I think the luggage transfer is 45 mins

[family guy 0]

I can get an earlier MAN AMS flight for the same price which gives us a longer sit down in AMS. Its the first flight out of MAN so little chance of a delay.

[firth1974 2,659]

Are you actually flying KLM out of Amsterdam to Bangkok, or are you flying China Airlines??

[family guy 0]

MAN - AMS is KLM

 

AMS - BKK is China

[firth1974 2,659]

MAN - AMS is KLM

AMS - BKK is China

Ok. I've flown KLM a few times but never flown China Airlines.

 

Check out this link, as it's going to have some great information for you on it....... http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/china.htm

[Fatboyfat 361]

Looking to come back over with the family for new year. We usually travel to LHR for the direct EVA flight. But for three of us it nearly £2650.

I have found MAN - AMS - BKK its good value and being from the North it means less travelling.

Couple of questions for those who have used

1) Whats the plane / journey like for the AMS BKK leg

2 ) I have 1 hr 40 min to transfer at AMS for the BKK flight. Presume this will be leaving ng enough ?

Thanks All

1- The plane used nowadays is an Airbus 340. Assuming you are travelling "cattle class" the seating is fairly normal for an asian airline, very similar to EVA and is in a 2-4-2 configuration I believe. Should you be travelling in their "premium economy" then you fare better than EVA, as you get a proper biz class seat, with economy catering. You also get use of lounges. Food at all levels is hit & miss, much in line with EVA.

2- I wouldn't want to go much less than 1hr 30 min for tx timing, especially if children are involved. Last time I actually used them myself the return transfer time was problematic; Way too long, but the short hop flight times are always changing.

 

I don't know of any people using China from Manchester tho' apart from those using the premium upgrade. Etihad, Emirates or Qatar seem to be much more favoured out of Manchester, and sometimes Air France on price, but not lately.

[jacko 8,815]

I have done that route quite a few times using both China Airlines and KLM.

The AMS-BKK leg was always 747 and fine.

Amsterdam is quite an efficient place and if you land there on time it will be okay.... just be efficient and head to the right gate area without being distracted too much by the shops... difficult with wife and kids.

[Grandpollo 366]

MAN - AMS is KLM

 

AMS - BKK is China

Not quite a KLM flight when 5% is KLM and 95% is Air China.

[The_Fat_Controller 25]

Grandpollo, it is not Air China (Chinese) it is with China Airlines (Taiwanese).

 

The AMS-BKK is on the Airbus A340-300.

 

The Boeing 747-400 was withdrawn over a year ago on this route.

 

There is no Premium Economy with this airline, only Business or Economy.

 

There are 30 seats in Business.

 

I flew back yesterday and the service, as usual was excellent in that cabin.

 

I cannot comment on the Economy cabin.

 

The minimum connection time recommended at AMS is 1 hour.

[globaljonesey 6]

Not quite a KLM flight when 5% is KLM and 95% is Air China.

Actually its 5% Air France

[jacko 8,815]

Actually its 5% Air France

I know that the 2 airlines have merged, and the HQ is now in Paris, but the Manchester - Amsterdam flight sports KLM livery.

[globaljonesey 6]

I know that the 2 airlines have merged, and the HQ is now in Paris, but the Manchester - Amsterdam flight sports KLM livery.

And it still will because of marketing and branding - but your money is going to Air France every time you buy a KLM ticket

[neilri2001 42]

Its been a few years back now but i found that with tight connection times in Amsterdam my luggage didn't always make the connecting flight. The luggage always turned up at my home or hotel 24 hours later by courier but it was one of the reasons ( along with China steadily increasing their prices) that i stopped using the KLM / China option

[ttk 236]

For work we flew through AMS numerous times. For me it was SEA-AMS on Northwest (later Delta) with others in our group flying into AMS from various other airports. from there we would continue to our destination on KLM. The connection time for all of us wound up being very long, in the neighborhood of 6 hours. Until we started spending the night in Amsterdam (collecting luggage and checking it back in the next day) we could count on at least one of the 8 or so travelers NOT having a bag show up. It also sometimes took several days to finally get it.

 

Another issue that we ran into was the standard response from KLM 90% of employees. Either "Not Possible" for the poor english speakers or "My Colleague says it is Not Possible" from the ones more fluent in English. Didn't matter that what we were asking for had just been done by one of our group or that we had done it numerous times before. You just had to keep asking until you found the one agent willing to help you.

[Tilacno1 23]

To Fat Controller

I know this is off topic but as an air traffic controller can you please shed some light on the Malaysian air disaster Thanks

[The_Fat_Controller 25]

I do not know enough of the facts about MH370.

 

However, there are 8765 posts here speculating about what might have happened

 

http://www.pprune.org/rumours-news/535538-malaysian-airlines-mh370-contact-lost.html

 

My bet would be on the "pilot suicide" theory rather than a catastrophic failure of the aircraft.

[Tilacno1 23]

To fat controller

If was pilot suicide why not just fly the plane down into the sea Why were transponders and comunications turned off Why change course twice then fly over the Indian ocean till fuel ran out Just doesn't make sense A catastrophic event in the cockpit or an attempted hijack gone wrong sounds more likely

[jacko 8,815]

To fat controller

If was pilot suicide why not just fly the plane down into the sea Why were transponders and comunications turned off Why change course twice then fly over the Indian ocean till fuel ran out Just doesn't make sense A catastrophic event in the cockpit or an attempted hijack gone wrong sounds more likely

I agree although I cannot imagine a 'catastrophic event'... I might add some weight to 'pilot suicide' by saying it could have been a form of protest by the flight crew and just flying into the horizon for some hours, hoping the aircraft would never be found is how they decided to do it. I am concerned we may never, ever find out.

[Tilacno1 23]

Agree Jacko we may never find out

but 2 pilots agreeing to commit suicide and turning off transponders and communications then turning twice then ditching in the Indian ocean doesn't make any kind of sense