I just arrived in Seoul Incheon on a flight from Sydney. As we taxi in, I can see the KLM Boeing B 787-9 that will carry me to Amsterdam on a remote stand. I’m looking forward to the flight. I always enjoy flying long-haul on KLM.

Routing

> ZRH LH Y FRA A319

> FRA AF C CDG E195

> CDG AF C SIN B77W

> SIN SQ C CNS A359

> CNS ZL Y ISA SF34

> ISA QF Y TSV DH8D

> TSV QF Y CNS DH8D

> CNS QF C DRW E190

> DRW QF C SYD B738

> SYD KE C ICN B781

> ICN KL C AMS B789

> AMS KL C FRA E175

> FRA EN Y BSL E190

KLM Transfer at Seoul Incheon Airport

The SkyTeam carriers all operate to and from Terminal 2 at Incheon Airport. In as much, the transfer from the Korean Air flight to my connecting flight is seamless. From what I can tell from the signage I’m following, it is also possible to do an airside transfer from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1. Behind security I decide to go for a bit of a walk before hitting the lounge. It eases my back a bit. The flight from Sydney was slightly over ten hours long, so it’ll do me good to walk a bit.

Korean Air Business Class Lounge Seoul Incheon

It strikes me as being slightly odd that there are no signs indicating the way to the airline lounges. I’m just assuming here that there’s more than just the one. In as much, I stumble upon the Korean Air Lounge quite by accident on my ramble through the terminal. The lounge is located one door up from the main concourse. Alas, the only windows in the lounge overlook the inside of the terminal building.

The lounge is big and features many different seating options. When I first enter the lounge at around 18h30 it’s busy. However, after a short while it quickly empties and remains quiet until I leave at around 21h45. The lounge features an extensive hot and cold buffet with Korean and Western dishes that would put a lot of hotels to shame. It’s an impressive spread.

I want to have a shower before the flight to Amsterdam, so I head for the shower area and put my name down on the waitlist. You simply provide your mobile number and wait for a notification to arrive when a clean shower has become available. I’m number three on the waitlist, and it’s a wait of about thirty minutes before I receive notification. The showers are nicely appointed and clean. I find it rather entertaining, and so typical of the Koreans that the shampoo, conditioner and shower gel are in bottles that have clearly been designed to look like AESOP products, which is an high-end Australian cosmetics brand – even though they’re obviously not AESOP cosmetics. But it makes no difference to me. The shower hits the spot nicely and scores highly on the Knight of Malta shower test – good pressure, on point temperature control and zero spillage.

KLM Business Class Boarding

When I reach the gate, passengers are already queuing in their designated line for boarding by groups. I’m in the queue for group 1. Suddenly, our names are called on the PA and we are asked to contact the gate desk. I’m assuming it’s because we still have only our Korean Air boarding passes. That seems to be a bit of a thing with the Asian carriers. The gate agent checks my passport and boarding pass. Originally, I’m seated on 3A, in the middle of the cabin, away from any noise from the lavatories or the galleys. But the gate agent informs me that the inflight entertainment screens on all the single seats on the port side of the aircraft are inoperable on this flight, and therefore they have had to reseat me. Only, they’ve reseated me to 8D, which is on the last row of Business Class, with the main galley right behind me. More importantly, 8D is an aisle seat, which means I’m sitting next to a complete stranger. I tell the gate agent that I have no intention of watching anything anyway, and therefore request to be reseated back to my original seat. At this stage, the gate agent has already started visibly shaking with nervousness – conflict is not something many Asian cultures are good at, even when both parties are being perfectly civil. With a quiet, shaking voice she tells me that the flight has already been finalised and seating arrangements therefore can no longer be changed. And so I relent. It’s not her fault and I guess they probably did have the best intentions.

But once we board, the whole thing is a huge mess. There’s an Australian family with two prepubescent kids, and all four are spread out across the cabin. The guy in the queue behind me jokingly says that either he’s been on this very same plane before, or KLM has the same IFE issue with several of its B 787s. Either way, it’s not good. Just before the doors close, the purser comes to tells me that Mr 3A, which is where my partner should have been seated originally before we were reseated, is travelling with his daughter on 8A and if I’d mind, therefore, to move to 8G so that they can be closer together. I tells him I will, but only if he makes sure that my partner at least gets the vacated 3A. And so that’s what we do, and I move from 8D to 8G.

KLM Business Class Cabin & Seat

On the KLM Boeing B 787-9, the Business Class cabin is located between the L1 and L2 doors. There are 32 seats on eight rows in a 1+2+1 configuration. If I’m not mistaken, some of KLM’s long-haul aircraft have seats installed that have privacy doors. However, this aircraft is not one of them. I will say, though, that the seat is spacious. Most importantly, you don’t feel quite so boxed in as in the Korean Air Business Class seat I flew into Seoul with. Also, the way the seat has been designed, in the normal sitting position you don’t actually see your seat neighbour as they are obstructed by the storage compartment. Storage for larger items like laptops is rather limited, though.

On the negative side, the lock for the storage compartment doesn’t work properly. I put my spectacles in it and close it. But then I can’t get it open. So I ask one of the passing cabin crew if they could help me. “Sure”, she says, “you just need to push”, which she does – and nothing happens. Eventually, she manages on the third attempt by banging so violently against the lock that Mr 8D literally jumps in his seat from being startled. “You see, like that”, she says. I ask her if she seriously expects me to bang the door of the storage compartment like she just did during the flight, in the middle of the night, when everyone is sleeping, and she simply answers, “then just keep it open”. I think she’s very obviously missing the point.

KLM Business Class Amenities

There’s a pillow and a packaged blanket at every seat as we board, both of which look as though they were just haphazardly dropped there. More than anything, the cabin looks very messy. There’s a large bottle of water, which you’re obviously supposed to store in the inoperable storage compartment…, and what must be, hands down, the ugliest, most hideous vanity kit I’ve ever seen. I will say, though, that it contains good eyeshades and a good pair of earplugs.

KLM Business Class Service & Crew

The crew on this flight are mostly rather senior. By the time boarding is completed, so many passengers have been reseated that I guess the crew no longer have an overview of who is sitting where, which is probably why there’s no personal greeting, as Air France KLM usually do with the Platinum members. While we’re still on the ground, the crew pass through the cabin with a tray of welcome drinks and the menu for the flight. I’m in the bathroom changing into my shorts when they pass with the welcome drinks, which is why I end up going without. The crew come to take orders. I have a look at the menu and realise I won’t be missing anything much by passing on dinner, and so I tell the cabin crew not to bother. I’ll go to sleep instead.

As soon as we’re airborne, I put on the eyeshades and insert the earplugs and go off to sleep. The bed won’t fully extend into a lying position for me to be lying fully flat. At least the earplugs are great: I don’t hear a thing around me and manage a solid three hours of sleep. But then I need to go to the lavatory. I try to move the seat back into the sitting position, but it’s stuck and I can’t get out. So, eventually, I end up having to do some serious gymnastic contortions to climb out of bed. When I return from the washroom, I try to more the seat, but when it starts moving into the sitting position, the seat cushion starts buckling upward and remains in place, revealing the mechanical part of the seat underneath. I figure I don’t want to do any damage, so I call for one of the cabin crew for help. Eventually, she manages to get the seat back into an upright position and tells me that it’ll probably be the best not to move the seat anymore for the rest of the flight. And that is how I end up sleeping three hours and spending the remaining ten hours sitting perfectly upright and (mostly) awake in my seat. By the time we land in Amsterdam I’m in a lot of pain. My lower back has jammed up so I can’t stand up fully straight anymore, and I’ve pinched a nerve in my neck from where it lolled to the side when I fell asleep sitting upright. I walk off the plane looking like an octogenarian and feeling like a centenarian.

As a side note, I should also like to add that during the entire time I spend awake, the crew do not pass through the cabin with drinks or snacks once, which is just really very poor service on a flight of thirteen hours.

KLM Business Class Second Service – Breakfast

Two hours out of Amsterdam, the lights start to go on in preparation for the breakfast service. By this time I’m standing in the galley reading in my Kindle, because sitting is just too painful. The crew pass through the cabin with hot towels. As I’m not at my seat at that point, I don’t get one, so I can’t say if they’re scented or not. I grab an extra pillow from the empty crew seat next to me and arrange it so that I can sit without putting any more strain on my back.

The service is taking for ever. By the time all the trays on the port side have been delivered, the cabin crew on my side is still stuck somewhere on the third row from the front. When eventually she arrives, I ask for the scrambled eggs, which she keeps referring to as the omelette. The breakfast tray is rather nice and quite lavish. There’s a large plate with cold cuts and cheese, accompanied by pickled cucumber. Then there’s also a fruit salad and the hot meal in the bottom left corner. The crew only make one pass with the breadbasket, and I have a croissant and a bun. The croissant is nice, but the bread roll is soggy soft on one side and stale and hard on the other. I have a still water and a coffee to drink.

Arrival in Amsterdam

While we’re still having breakfast, the purser passes through the cabin with a tray carrying the famous Delft Houses, which KLM offers its Business Class passengers as a parting gift. I check the KLM app for the ones I haven’t got get. I pick the 85, and the purser tells me my partner has taken the 31, but he can swap that if we’re already have the 31. Shortly after, the aircraft begins to slow down and the cockpit crew announce that we have thirty minutes to run to Amsterdam – and I’m about ready to sing a Hail Mary, though I’m not quite sure I’ll be able to stand up again with how bad my back is cramping at this stage.

Eventually, we land at 05h05, five minutes ahead of schedule, and taxi to our stand at the E pier. I think we must be the first aircraft in because the security checkpoint for transfer passengers is empty and there are only two lines open. It looks as though quite a few passengers coming off the Seoul flight are connecting to other destinations. I exit through security and find myself in the transit area for the non-Schengen E concourse, which I’ve rarely seen looking quite so calm. I follow the signs to immigration, which is actually still closed. It’s only when they see the first passengers approaching that two young officers appear to check passports. Behind immigration, I’m in the Schengen area of the Schiphol terminal complex. And just like that, I’m back in Europe.

Conclusion – KLM Business Class Long-Haul

When I worked for Swissair, many (many, many) moons ago, I once got a call from a passenger who was very upset. He had been booked on the infamous SR100 from Zürich to New York JFK. He was also, I should add, a Travel Club Gold member. This was back in the day when Swissair had a First Class cabin of twelve seats. In any case, several of the passenger’s colleagues without status were bumped up to First – but not he. He was livid. At the time, I thought to myself how ungrateful he was. I mean, it’s not like he was sat in Economy Class in a middle seat or something. I looked at his PNR and discovered the issue quickly. He had a vegetarian special meal ordered. I explained that to him on the phone – and there was silence. When eventually he spoke again, he was, if anything, even more annoyed than before und could not believe it. It was only when I explained that the airline wanted to respect passengers’ dietary requests because many of them were for religious reasons that he simmered down and grudgingly accepted what had happened.

Many years later, as I sat there in my damaged KLM seat on my way from Seoul to Amsterdam, I thought of that passenger again. In my case, it was not a special meal that caused the upset, but faulty electronics and hardware on the aircraft. I can understand that KLM really thought they’d be doing me a favour by reseating me to a seat with functional inflight entertainment in acknowledgement of my Platinum status with FlyingBlue. I’m also aware that there is no way for an airline to know what its customers prioritise or value the most when they fly. For me, the inflight entertainment is frankly just about the very last thing on the list. I rarely find anything that interests me, and even when I do, I can never concentrate on what’s going on in the film long enough – because I’m more interested and easily distracted by what’s going on in the cabin and the scenery outside.

In the sum of all things, I’m just very disappointed by the way the issue was handled by the ground crew for KLM in Seoul. I was so looking forward to this flight but I actually feel as though I was diddled out of the experience, if that makes any sense.