Shanghai with KLM and air france

JoseChungsDoomsday

Folks
Me and my family are travelling to Shanghai in sept for two weeks and our flights are with Air france to shanghai and KLM returning. Does anyone have any experiences with these airlines?

puffinmuffin

I went with KLM to Cape Town and thought the service very good, I am flying to Lima with them this year.

2hapennys

hi
I flew with both air france and klm in march, went to South Africa. The Air France flight was far superior to KLM, however both were good.
We got complemetary ear plugs, head phones, and eye mask with Air France, and individual tv screens in the seats, free drinks on both flights, with a buffet, and ice creams on both during the flight, both had two meals, these again were better on the Air France fllight. However KLM did give my DD a little gift bag with pencils, crayons, and stuff like that in it.
You will be fine, enjoy your trip

Takecareofthepennies

Both are pretty decent. As has been stated before, the French food has one up on KLM.

Both Paris CDG and Amsterdam are fairly big airports and getting to the gate for your connecting flight may involve a bit of a walk. Depending on how long your layover is, I would suggest you don't spend too much time in the shops and eateries ...

Make sure you (all) join their joint frequent flyer programme (Flying Blue). It's free, you can do so on their website (either), and with a long-haul flight like that you'll probably collect a decent amount of miles.

Christa1

My daughter and I flew KLM to NY at Easter. I was really surprised that you didn't get any pack for the night flight home. I remember going on package hols to Florida when the kids were small( years ago) and always got a little pack with eye mask, too brush paste etc. If Air France do this I might consider them next time.

cuteusmaximus

I flew Bristol-Amsterdam-Beijing and then Shanghai-Amsterdam-Bristol
on KLM last November. It was actual KLM as opposed to Air China codeshare (be careful of that as you'll get Air China or some other Chinese airline service which may not be the best).

Anyway it was fine. Nothing spectacular, but decent. They didn't lose my luggage, and I got to choose my seats in advance. Decent enough food and decent in flight entertainment.

Nowadays all the airlines seem poor in comparison to what they were years ago (I fly a lot on business).

My best ever experience was on a KLM flight to Africa. I may be flattering myself, but the flight attendant seemed to take a liking to me and as a result I got all the mixed drinks I wanted immediately (like six or seven). This was a male attendant, btw .

If you're new to long haul flying it might be better instead of joining Flying Blue to join another frequent flyer program in Skyteam - one you might be more likely to use in the future. For instance I'm in Delta's program but get miles credited for KLM flights. See https://www.skyteam.com

Mr. CM

nelly_2

I flew to Beijing with Air france in october and i wouldnt fly with them again if it was free and all the airhostesses were naked.

Voyager2002

nelly wrote: »

I flew to Beijing with Air france in october and i wouldnt fly with them again if it was free and all the airhostesses were naked.

How strange. I used Air France for my last flight to Beijing, and the actual flights were brilliant, although passing through the airports was rather stressful. Amazingly, they upgraded me to business class for the outbound flight Paris-Beijing, which was of course spectacularly good. The inbound Beijing-Paris in economy was almost as enjoyable: good food; a selection of recent films on my seatback TV; a good choice of music through decent headphones; more than acceptable food and wine, although the champagne (free and unlimited) did get a little warm towards the end of the journey. Cabin crew went out of their way to be helpful and pleasant, although I must say that many of them were male and so I would not have appreciated them being naked!

However, connecting through CDG airport in Paris is not a good experience and will take longer, and be more frustrating, than you would believe possible. (Excessive security screening made me miss my connecting flight home, so I got a day in Paris as a bonus.) OTOH Amsterdam is a very well-designed and convenient airport.

JoseChungsDoomsday

thanks guys, I just wish they would do a direct flight from belfast or dublin and save me some hassle!

Voyager2002

JoseChungsDoomsday wrote: »

thanks guys, I just wish they would do a direct flight from belfast or dublin and save me some hassle!

Ah well, at least you get a chance to buy some French perfume duty-free in Paris. Lancome costs quite a bit less there than at Heathrow.

Infidel

JoseChungsDoomsday wrote: »

Folks
Me and my family are travelling to Shanghai in sept for two weeks and our flights are with Air france to shanghai and KLM returning. Does anyone have any experiences with these airlines?

I flew back from China to England with KLM (albeit via Holland). I have to say the 'Chinese service' i got on the way back was much better than when i went there. They gave everyone a toiletries bag with moisturiser, toothbrush etc. etc.
Also i remember getting 2 meals and also free rein on hot and cold water, fruit juice, pot noodles etc. at the back of the plane.
They also showed films for us insomniacs who just cannot fall asleep on planes (i watched some ridiculous Jackie Chan affair).

Flights were on time, no problem with luggage transfer.