Welcome to this second leg of my trip to China
Here are the flights:
MAN-AMS KL1082 - see here
AMS-PEK CZ346 - this report
PEK-XIY MU2106
XIY-PEK MU2115
PEK-AMS CZ345
AMS-MAN KL1073
Having arrived at AMS, it was now time to find my connection and gate for my onward flight to Beijing. I located the closest departure board (sorry I forgot to take a picture). I was due to depart at 14:50 which wouldn't given me over an hour to change. However, my flight was now showing a delay to 18:00, over 3 hours late. To be honest I was slight pleased at this. I meant that I would no longer arrive at 06:15 in Beijing, instead it would be around 09:00 a much more reasonable time. The other advantage would be that the sleeping hours onboard would be more natural.
I headed to the gate anyway to see if there was any further information. There were no CZ representatives there. I headed to the KLM transfer desk. I had a few things to ask them, firstly I wanted to see if they could get me a window seat (which I had requested and was confirmed by KLM just a few days before)/ I had been assigned a middle seat which I was not too impressed with. I also wanted to see if I could use some miles to upgrade. At the transfer desk I had to wait a little while to see somebody.
I was told there were no window seats available, but I could get an aisle seat. Better than the middle, but not what I had requested. They were unable to sort out any upgrade, I would have to ask CZ at the boarding gate. I also wanted to confirm my vegetarian meal, which seemed to have been ordered as vegan. With such short notice it couldn't be changed but for the return flight it was changed. I was also given a €15 voucher due to the delay. It's good that I went to the desk otherwise I wouldn't have got this as nobody was handing them out at the gate.
I headed off pass my time in the airport and to spend the voucher. The food at AMS is quite expensive so I was glad to get it. I went to get a sandwich and drink.
The sandwich was quite small so I supplemented it with a focaccia slice. WIth the beer it came to about €16.
Boarding was now scheduled to be at 17:00. I spent a few hours wondering the shops and looking for places to charge my phone. Finally my plane arrived.
What a beauty.
I asked about using my FlyingBlue miles to upgrade. This wasn't possible with CZ despite my KL flight number and booking. it would cost me $800 - no thanks! I wish I had booked on the actual KLM flight which was leaving around our new flight time. (I asked about moving to this fight but it was now full).
At about 17:00 everybody started to queue up. I decided to join. Unfortunately, nothing happened for at least 30-40 mins so we were all stood up and it was getting rather hot in the gate area. No information was being given out. At one point there was an unattended bag, the staff were calling to see who's it was. They were going to get security to move it. After about 15 mins a dosy passenger decided to claim it.
Finally boarding was called, everybody pushed to the front. There was no priority boarding, just complete chaos.
After been told to go down the far aisle I found my seat.
The flight seemed quite full and there seemed to be plenty of seat swapping amongst a group of loud Chinese passengers sitting right next be me.
Leg room wasn't particularity great for someone my size.
Safety cards
And magazine and headphones
I found this map of the South China Sea rather interesting!
The in-flight entertainment system was of a decent size, but I wasn't particularly impressed with the movie selection. There seemed to be a lack of new releases.
Finally it was time for push back. With my aisle seat I couldn't get any interesting pictures of the view :(
After we were up at cruising altitude dinner was served.
I received my meal first (a bonus for being vegetarian!) It was some kind of pasta dish with a bean salad. It actually tasted quite good for an economy class meal. I washed it down with a couple of glasses of white wine.
I watched a Rom Com and then tried to get some sleep. I don't sleep too well on flights and the lack of decent leg room made things more difficult.
A couple of hours before landing the lights came on and we were provided with hot towels.
Breakfast was then served. This time some kind of mushroom with noodles. Not traditional breakfast items but again it didn't taste too bad.
We landed at about 09:00. There was a medium sized immigration queue but it wasn't too long.
My baggage was waiting for me on the carousel and I headed off to the Metro and the journey into the centre of Beijing for a few days stay.
I wonder if it only happens on Skyteam that the members can't make this kind of arrangement among themselves.
As someone from South East Asia, I feel kind of awkward and sad about that China's claim on SCS, they even put that on public airline, hmm...hmmm...
Anyhow, the product itself seems quite good and adequate for long haul flight. Thanks for sharing.
That's for reading.
I was also quite surprised by the map, but them remembered everything in China is pretty much state controlled so no surpirse really!
What a shame not to offer the 15€ voucher to everyone.
I would have thought AMS was an mportant destination for CZ if they send an A380 and that they would have some staff there.
The meals do look good, better than we see ex-CDG.
How was the crew?
Indeed it's strange that nobody was there. Perhaps they were there earlier when the delay was announced but I doubt it. Not sure what the rules are regarding how long a delay you need for a voucher, maybe I was just lucky.
The crew onboard were OK, but the English of some crew meme ears wasn't great. The flight was full and the vast majority of passengers were Chinese so that might be why.
Great report. I fly with Skyteam a lot and the lack of communication between each airline system can be really poor. If you book through a third party and it's purchased as the codeshare number it can be a nightmare! Even an AF codeshare on KL metal can cause problems with online check in and seat selection; been emailing them for years about it.