YVR Agents Review New KLM Seats, Meals

It may have tasted better at 35,000 ft. enroute to Amsterdam, but the business class meal served by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines at a flight catering service at Vancouver Airport was impressive nonetheless.

A beef entree followed salmon appetizers and the meal wrapped up with a custard dessert, all plated and served on business-class trays on the ground at Gate Gourmet.

The meal was a fitting intro to the aircraft tour that followed as KLM introduced its new economy and World business class cabins on a newly refitted Boeing 777-200 now flying to Vancouver. Invited agents checked out the new seat products, getting a sense for what awaits their clients in flight. The full-stretch business class seats provide more legroom in the horizontal bed position as part of the new design.

“The seats offer more personal space while giving travellers an at-home sensation,” says KLM. The World business class seat measures 207 cm long when converted to a full flat position.

Meanwhile, economy class passengers get newly designed “slimline” seats that provide necessary support and padding, while adding a bit of personal space/legroom. The tray tables have been relocated up slightly to permit more room for confined knees, and a sliding head rest pad is a helpful feature.

The front few rows of the economy class cabin have been set aside for an Economy Comfort section, defined by screen mesh dividers as a visual cue that these seats are slightly different. While the seats themselves are identical to those in economy class, more legroom has been added, for some significant stretch-out space. These seats (about 30 of them) also recline further. But the meal service is the same, so this is not a premium economy product. Passengers will pay about $200 more on the Vancouver-Amsterdam segment for a seat in this section.

KLM’s entertainment systems have also been enhanced with more programming, plus a unique feature that is now being rolled out. This is called Seat Chat, and it allows passengers to text between seats that have identified themselves on the app as available for conversation.

Pictured, Jerry Lo, director of Royal Scenic in Richmond, BC, and Vicky Ho, general manager for the company, check out the new Economy Comfort seats on a refitted KLM B777-200 during a cabin product intro by the airline at YVR recently.