Which airline is better ? KLM or British Airways?

Question

What do you think of each of these two airlines?Which one is better - in terms of service and...

Answer 1

Having travelled extensively, and used both airlines, I can categorically state that KLM beats BA hands down in all categories.

Answer 2

British airlines has better service

Answer 3

Hmm, it's really hard to say -- I've had good experiences on both of those airlines. But then I've had not-so-good experiences too! I might be inclined to say I preferred British Airways -- their IFE is good, and their food is decent too -- but each person's opinion is always going to differ based on the experience they had.

If it helps at all, KLM is ranked by Skytrax as a 3-star airline (out of 5), while British Airways is ranked as 4-star. From that difference alone, it's possible you might find your BA experience a little more comfortable (it's hard to say, though -- flying with ANYONE is never much fun anymore, is it?!) Technically, though, if we're talking about ranking within the airline industry, then BA would win out on that argument.

Something you might find helpful is reading the reviews on Skytrax for each airline -- it's something I do when I'm trying to decide between two carriers and am not sure which to pick. You can find 10 (!) pages of reviews for BA here:

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/brit...

And five pages of KLM reviews here:

http://www.airlinequality.com/Forum/klm....

Hope that helps you a little with your decision -- best of luck and have a good flight!

--Holly

Answer 4

klm

Answer 5

if I had to choose I would go with British airways

Recently I flew from Brussels to Philadelphia (through London) and back again on British Airways. As best my memory serves me, this was my third transatlantic flight with this airline. Taken as a whole I was extremely satisfied with my experience as I was with previous flights with British Air. I certainly would choose to fly with British Air again, even if another airline offered a slightly cheaper fare for the same route. The comfort, professionalism and service that British Airways (BA) provides, to my mind at least, merits a slightly higher price.

Ticket Purchase & Check-in

I purchased the tickets for my most recent flight online, about a month before I was scheduled to fly. At that time I received a confirmation number and was told that paper tickets would arrive at my home address in time for the flight. Ten days before the flight no tickets had arrived and so I phoned BA to ask about this. I spoke with a representative who told me that my tickets were electronic and I would not need anything beyond my passport in order to check-in. I was looking at the page I'd printed out with the confirmation number for my tickets. It clearly stated that my tickets would be mailed, but when I pressed her on this, she reiterated that they would not be and that I would not need them. Fortunately, she was correct; I had no problems whatsoever checking-in. Though I had that page with the confirmation number and my note with the name of the representative I spoke with and the date and time of the call, I was only asked for my passport. Even the frequent flyer number I had entered online was in the system for my flights.

When it came to seat assignments though, I was less pleased. For both the short hop to London as well as the transatlantic, I politely asked for a window seat in an exit row. The employee in Brussels told me she could not assign me an exit row on the transatlantic. This was no surprise to me as these seats are apparently reserved these days for super-duper ultra platinum premium plus mileage deities, regardless of which airline one is dealing with. She did indicate that a window seat was available on both flights and said I could ask for an exit row at Heathrow. She then issued me all four boarding passes right there in Brussels. Only when I reached my assigned seat did I realize she'd given me an aisle seat in a normal row. But I did score a bulkhead seat for the transatlantic portion when I arrived at Heathrow, so all was forgiven.

Checking in for the return portion of the trip, the agent told me I was being upgraded to a World Traveller Plus seat for the transatlantic plus portion. This is a class of seating between economy and business class. It was the first time in my life I'd flown anything other than cattle car, and the reasons for my upgrade remain mysterious to me. The only thing I can guess is that it was a response to the customer survey I was asked to fill out during the transatlantic flight to Philadelphia. My comments on that survey were uniformly positive, except for the complaint about my seat assignment. Since they asked for my seat assignment and flight number, I can only guess that they tracked down my schedule and upgraded me as a way of saying "we appreciate your business." So if you're on a British Air flight and the attendant asks if you'd be willing to fill one of those forms out, say yes!

Boarding

There was no difficulty boarding for the short hops across the channel as neither of these flights was full. Security was typically light in Brussels.

However, it was typically high in London and atypically high in Philadelphia. At the gate in Philadelphia, British Air had its own staff going over passengers with a hand held metal detector (sensitive enough to pick up the rivets in my jeans), and through all carry on luggage, etc. I was patted down and asked to remove my shoes and my backpack was picked through with a fine-toothed comb. Mind, all this was after the normal walk-through metal detector and x-ray screening. I have no objection to this whatsoever. I did find it interesting that one of the staff searching the passengers was a Muslim woman wearing full hejab. Nice that British Air displays some sensitivity to cultural gender concerns.

The Cabin, the Flight & the Crew

Most of my flights with BA have been transatlantic flights, and until this last trip, always in economy class - the cheapest seats. I must say that I have always found the cabins tidy and well kept. Seats in coach class are never great unless you manage to get an exit row or bulkhead seat. But even when I've been in normal cattle car seats on BA, they were roomier and more comfortable than many other airlines. Also, they have special headrests at each seat that keep your head more or less upright if you want to sleep. This is vitally important on transatlantic flights. No more stiff necks or other passengers drooling on you shoulders! I only wish all airlines had these for long-haul flights.

Economy seats on the transatlantic flights each had a personal monitor for movies, taped TV shows and the flight progress map. These movies are not play-on-demand. They play through several times during the course of the flight, but you have to be content to start watching in the middle if you miss the beginning. Movies like Minority Report, Austin Powers and Lilo & Stitch were on offer when I flew in late December, 2002. In World Traveller Plus, a few video games were added to the mix. The seats for these flights were all neatly arranged with a blanket, pillow and little courtesy bag with an eyemask, the entertainment earphones, a thin pair of socks for the cabin and a toothbrush and toothpaste. I saw the attendants handing out little entertainment kits to young children.

Even better for the adults, there was a large selection of newspapers and magazines available at the end of the gangway just before we stepped onto the airplane. I grabbed a National Geographic magazine and a copy of that day's International Herald Tribune. Sadly, this was only offered at Heathrow and not on the return portion of the trip. Still, it was a very nice bonus. There were all kinds of magazines, though I don't recall any specific titles other than the ones I picked up.

The seats in World Traveller Plus were significantly roomier than economy. The headrests were a bit different and perhaps a bit more comfortable and there was a leg rest that could be folded up. It made for more comfortable sleeping. I have to say that I can see how easy it would be to get spoiled by better seats. If you can sleep during the flight, you end up at your destination feeling somewhat human and ready for action.

As for the meal service, I have always been pleasantly surprised by BA's food. I pass up meals all the time on flights these days. Most airlines serve food I wouldn't dream of eating, and I've even gotten food poisoning from airline food in the past. The single exception to bad airline food that I've found is British Air. I won't say their food is gourmet, but it's palatable, attractive enough to be appetizing and it's fresh. All non-alcoholic beverages and the wine with the main meal were free. I'm not sure about other alcoholic drinks since I never order alcohol when flying. No complaints in this department either.

British Air has great staff in the cabins. They seem to have the most multilingual cabin crew of any airline I've ever flown. The attendants have always been polite, neat in appearance and seem genuinely to enjoy their work. They don't simply disappear when the meal service has been collected. At least once per hour an attendant walked through the cabin offering cups of water - and this in economy! More than I can say for any other airline.

Punctuality

While I don't usually pay close attention to punctuality at departure, unless there's some significant delay, I'm a stickler for on time arrivals. My flights on British Air have sometimes arrived a few minutes late, but more often they arrive significantly early. By "significant" I mean upwards of twenty minutes. This has happened mostly on transatlantic red-eye flights, so it's not necessarily a blessing. Still, no complaints in this department, even with the additional security in Philadelphia.

Baggage Handling

I've never had any cause for complaint about BA's baggage handling. My bags have always arrived with me and in more or less the same condition I checked them in.

Final Thoughts

I've flown at least three round trips with British Air in the last five years and have always been pleased with my experience overall. BA serves an incredible number of cities worldwide, including most major US cities. At times they offer the lowest fares to get me from Brussels to the places I call home in the States. If your future travel plans include a journey between the US and western Europe, I highly recommend you consider flying with British Airways. Even if the price for the BA flight were 10% higher than the next lowest fare, I would probably go with them. For me, being treated like a human being and a valued customer, not to mention arriving feeling relatively relaxed, is well worth a little extra money.

KLM

My experience with KLM was a nightmare. It started out fine, as I got placed in Business Class instead of Coach due to an overbooked flight on the first two-hour segment to Amsterdam, of my trip from Sweden to the U.S. This is about the only positive memory about this trip.

This is the more serious part:

Going back from the U.S. I made a (planned) stop in Amsterdam for a detour to England over the weekend. As I was returning from England via Amsterdam continuing my return to Gothenburg, Sweden, the BA flight I used from Heathrow

Answer 6

British Airways as always.. :)