Dec 20, 2007 06:08 PM
10812 Views
A couple of months back I had to fly to US on a brief visit, Companies now a days are quite cost conscious when it comes to travel and mine is no execption and I was offered either KLM/NW or Continental from Delhi to US( I was traveling to Detroit and had to change planes in any case) I opted for KLM as it would at least allow me a stopover in Amesterdam to allow me to stretch a lil before my next flight to Detroit.
I was warned by a lot of frquent travelers that KLM was ok but Northwest was a terrible airline to fly I experienced the reverse, My flight on KLM was terrible and my Flight on NW was quite pleasant anyways since this review is on KLM i'll confine this review only to the DEL -AMS leg.
The pain started when I had to transfer from Delhi domestic to International airport( I was flying from Bangalore) The KLM transfer desk in Domestic terminal asked me to wait for a few mins as their transfer vehicle would be reaching shortly, It took around 1 hour for the vehicle to come and instead of a minibus 5 passengers along with luggage were crammed into a old qualis with the driver driving at breakneck speed.
Once he dropped us at the International terminak he asked for "Baksheesh" as we were traveling to "Phoren" with "dallars" hehehe.
I will start with the check in process
*" Check In"
*Painless and efficient, Staff was very polite They had 3-4 countsers for economy which reduced waiting time for check in.
Staff asked for address in US which I know is a US Security requirement and I had it ready, They checked me in quite fast and gave me my boarding passes till my final leg of Journey, They also instructed me to make sure that I clear Immigration in detroit.
*"Pre Boarding and Boarding"
*They literally made me hurry thru the security check although there was plenty of time, understandable due to the huge crowd which goes to "Phoren" everyday from Delhi and also the inefficiency of the security staff at Delhi airport, Consequently I had a long wait at the departure terminal which is Lousy! to say the least without any decent facilities for having a meal or a snack.
The flight was luckily on time, I was told that the previous day's flight was 6 Hours late.
KLM staff finally announced boarding and announced that they would board row wise, The communication was clear and they made sure that they stuck quite strictly to the row wise boarding procedure.
They examined the boarding pass and paasport once again before allowing us on board which was ok.
*"On Board"
*I was quite taken aback when I saw the aircraft, It was an ancient 3 engined MD-11 which I thought was way past its expiry date and I knew I was in for a poor in flight experience, The stern un smiling stewardess insing the plane didn't help I was pointed to my seat and I was dismayed by the leg room offered it was ok for some one 5 feet tall and not for someone who was 6ft 1 in. Forget about inflight system there was one old antiquted 10 in TV fixed on the bulkhead and I was extremely disappointed the seats were old and faded and so was the upholstery and to top it all they showed only very boring hindi movie all the way to amsterdam It was torture for me as I couldn't sleep on the flight.
*"Food and refreshments"
*This was terrible.They didn't bother to ask me what I wanted and just plunked a tray in front of me which contained some half cooked vegetables and rice and plonked a glass of juice, This without asking what I wanted. They probably think all Indians are veggies and Non alcoholic!.Going by the stern glare and the service without a smile. I felt like a Convict being served food in jail as shown in umpteen movies.
They never bothered to ask if I wanted anything else and just cleared the tray. Luckily the middle seat was unoccupied giving me some space to stretch.No wonder the flight was only 3/4 full while most of the flights going to europe and US were at 100% capacity.
Before landing at Amsterdam the stewardess plonked one cardboard box containg a roll and some water, I thankfully refused it and I felt that I had commited a penal offence.
Thankfully reached Amsterdam shortly and thus ended my painful flight, I was dreading my next flight on NW to Detroit which left in 2 Hours.But that was a very pleasant experience compared to this.
I will put that in my review on Northwest
