Recently I flew with KLM 787-10 from Amsterdam to San Francisco in Business Class. Please read my review of this trip and find out whether it’s worth it flying KLM Business Class.
Seats & Seat Configuration
KLM’s 787-10 planes have 10 rows of business class in a 1-2-1 reverse herringbone configuration. There are also 4 rows of premium economy and the remainder of the rows are regular economy (including 4 rows of economy comfort).
KLM Business Class seats are from manufacturer Jamco and I’m not a big fan of these seats. More on that later. Unfortunately, KLM is using these same seats in all of their upgraded business class cabins, including the recently modernized 777 planes.
Seats have a width of roughly 20 inches which is pretty narrow for a business class seat. The flat-bed length is 75 inches (1M90) and this is also not very generous. On the contrary.
For this flight, I’ve seat 5a and this specific row doesn’t have a window directly next to the seat. So I wished I looked at the seat map myself before picking this specific seat!
Amenity Kit & Other Amenities
A nice fluffy pillow, a blanket and a bottle of Spa water is provided. No mattress topper, which is common for European airlines in Business Class. I wish one European airline would break with this standard since a mattress topper can really increase the sleeping comfort. The KLM seats would especially be helped with a mattress topper since the seats are relatively hard.
Seat controls are conveniently located next to the seat. There is a 18.5 inch HD touchscreen which is a decent size but also not outstanding.
KLM introduced a new Amenity Kit this calendar year and I’m completely underwhelmed when looking at this bag. It doesn’t look very nice and I also cannot find any practical use for it. What happened to the nice amenity kits KLM handed out in the past? This new kit looks cheap and weird and I’m not the only one who thinks this kit is useless since most people in Business Class leave the kit behind.
Content of the kit is OK, but I miss the Rituals lotion and lip balm. Rituals has now been replaced by Marie-Stella-Maris. I never heard about this brand before (apparently it’s also a Dutch brand but it clearly doesn’t have the same appeal as Rituals in my opinion).
Socks and eye mask have a purple color. This is exactly the same color United is using in their Premium Plus cabin. I’m not sure why KLM is using this specific color instead of simply using KLM Blue. In fact, on the return flight, the complete amenity kit bag is purple! Seems KLM is in an identity crisis…
Wi-Fi
Standard KLM offers a basic message service. But if you want more (surfing the internet, streaming content), you’ll need to purchase a pass. 38 Euro if you want to stream content and this pass is independent of the cabin you’re traveling.
More and more airlines now offer free internet, especially in Business Class. But when traveling with KLM in Business Class, you’ll still have to pay 38 Euro to stream content!
Main Meal Service
For the main meal, there is a choice of 3 main dishes. I decided to go for the signature dish; spicy beef. For the appetizer, I pick the tomato soup.
The tomato soup isn’t bad but the main dish – the spicy beef – is not good at all. It doesn’t look very attractive, nor does it taste very good. If this is the signature dish, you need to wonder what the other dishes would be like…
Would the cheese plate and bavarois desert save this meal? Well, here KLM’s cost savings efforts take effect again because you’ll need to choose between the cheese plate and the bavarois desert… Swiss and Air France are able to offer a cheese plate as standard and then offer a choice of deserts. KLM does things differently, and again, not in a positive way.
Lie-Flat Seat
The real disappointment of the flight comes when putting the seat in a lie flat position. The problem with these seats is the extremely tight footwell; there is no space at all to move your feet. In fact, it reminds me of the Business Class seats in the A380 of Lufthansa – which are one of the worst in the industry. When you lay on your back, you cannot move your feet and only when laying on one specific site, you can bend your knees a little bit. Really not comfortable at all!
Meal before landing
The meal before landing is a Poke Bowl and that’s not bad. But you cannot choose another main dish! You can only choose what little side dish you want; chicken or ravioli. Again, a weird, cost cutting choice of KLM. Why isn’t there an option of the main dish? I’m sure not everyone is fond of a Poke Bowl…
Conclusion
Just before landing, the crew comes by with the characteristic KLM porcelain houses. There are now 105 different houses (matching the age of KLM). These Delft Blue porcelain houses are filled with Jenever.
I’m a collector of these KLM houses and I probably have more than 150 KLM houses by now. So I’ve been flying KLM Business Class quite a lot and I do have a soft spot for them. Not only because they are the flag carrier of The Netherlands but also because I really liked flying with them in the past; service was always great and the hard and soft product could compete easily with the other major airlines. Things have changed though. Other airlines are continuously increasing the quality of their product and it seems KLM is looking more and more at the costs and is slowly but steadily decreasing the quality of their business class product.
I hope that with the introduction of the new A350 next year, KLM is able to turn things around starting with the hard product. I’m fearing the worst though…
Please also review my Youtube video of this flight and if you like the video, please like and subscribe!
Also please check out my review of KLM Premium Economy. Probably one of the most competitive products of KLM right now;
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