KLM offers average priced tickets. On both domestic and international, their ticket prices were neither the highest nor lowest available. On domestic flights they were often close to the cheapest and had many good deals available. On international flights, they were on the higher end of the price range, though still not the highest. The KLM website offers different deals and promotions which may make their ticket price be the best priced available. They also offer customers to become a part of their rewards program, Flying Blue. Members can earn miles through this program that can later be used to make their flight purchase that much less expensive. KLM makes boarding their planes even easier with their check-in process. They allow passengers to choose their seat while checking in, or purchase a seat in the economy comfort zone with extra leg room. This makes boarding easier for passengers because they will know exactly where they are headed to sit when they board the plane. KLM also offers online or mobile check-in which helps the boarding process. Passengers can skip the lines at the airport and head straight to check-in their bags, go to security and board the plane. When using online check-in, passengers can print their boarding pass or have an electronic boarding pass emailed to them. Online check-in can be done 30 hours prior to the flight up to one hour before the flight, on flights to and from the United States. However, online check-in is not available until 24 hours prior to the flight up to one hour before the flight departs. Mobile check-in is also available for anyone with a phone that has internet access. Through this, an electronic boarding pass will be emailed to the passenger. The airport also has self-service kiosks to check-in or the standard check-in desk which is open from 5 a.m. from Tuesday to Thursday and 4:30 a.m. from Friday to Monday. KLM has 318 different destinations on a number of continents. They have 163 domestic flights and 155 international flights. They have destinations to: • Africa (55) • Asia (85) • Europe (163) • Middle East (14) • Oceania (1) This number of destinations makes KLM a larger airline. Many of the other top airlines have over 300 destinations as well. About half of KLM destinations are domestic and half are international. So many of their flights are in and around Europe but they still do have a lot of options for destinations in other areas of the world. They do not however offer destinations to North America, South America, or Central America at this time, though cities on those continents can fly to Amsterdam using KLM. They have limited their destinations from this area of the world making them smaller than some other airlines that travel all over the world to more continents. KLM flight destinations are always changing and evolving. Often they are adding new routes to their list as they grow larger. KLM has excellent daily flight ratings when compared to other airlines. Generally, the top airlines had flights that were 80% on time or higher and had many active routes that received 4-5 star ratings according to Flightstats.com. KLM flights are on time 84% of the time which fits right in with the other top airlines. 6% of the flights were late, 2% very late and 4% excessively late. Their most active routes range from 1.1 stars all the way up to 4.5 star ratings. These ratings are out of 5 and KLM has a mixture of good and bad rated flights. Top airlines generally have all high rated flights so in this comparison KLM is not as good, though they do still have a number of high rated flights including: • Amsterdam to Stockholm (4.5 stars, 88% on time) • Amsterdam to Vienna (4.3 stars, 90% on time) • Toronto to Amsterdam (4.1 stars, 95% on time) Some of their lower rated flights include: • Amsterdam to Istanbul (2.2 stars, 65% on time) • Los Angeles to Amsterdam (1.7 stars, 82% on time) • Shanghai to Amsterdam (1.1 stars, 81% on time) This mixture of rated flights shows that KLM offers many daily flights that compete with the top airlines, although not all of their flights do. KLM offers many of the customary in-flight services such as dining options, entertainment, and shopping. On all KLM international flights leaving from Amsterdam, passengers have a number of A La Carte meal options to choose from as well as beverages. Upper classes experience a variety on the menu as well as a large selection of wines, other beverages and snacks. On flights between Amsterdam and Asia there are also special Asian dishes available to choose from and passengers can request special meals for dietary restrictions any time before the flight. The entertainment aboard KLM flights is that of the best airlines. They offer many selections of movies, TV shows, games, and music. On their new Boeing 777-200 and Boeing 777-300 aircrafts the 9 inch HD quality personal screens include amenities such as: • Touch screen • Navigation available in 12 languages • Interactive 3D moving map • Seat chat app, allows passengers to communicate with passengers elsewhere in the cabin • 16 inch screen in business class KLM offers more than 1000 hours of entertainment aboard their flights including language courses, kids channels and audio books. KLM allows their passengers to use their personal devices in airplane mode such as their smartphones or tablets. KLM even offers a Wi-Fi service on an increasing number of their aircrafts. Currently it can be used on their Boeing 787 Dreamliners and one of their Boeing 777-300. The Wi-Fi is purchased in vouchers before the flight. KLM also offers tax free shopping from their catalogs or online for flights over 1.5 hours. KLM was founded on October 19th, 1919. They have been in operation for the last 96 years. This makes them one of the oldest airlines still in business. Many of the top airlines have been around for close to 80 years, making KLM more experienced. This long length in business shows how they are able to meet passenger's needs and keep them satisfied for such a long period of time. KLM works with Air France to become the forefront of European air travel. KLM works to give their customers a large range of options for their flight needs and is aware of their social responsibility. They are concerned with their own sustainability and strive to be the most innovative and efficient European network carrier.

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The Bad

Baggage allowance

The actual baggage allowance differs on each individual flight. KLM is sure to show passengers their exact baggage allowance when the trip is being booked, in booking confirmation and on the ticket. There are also different baggage allowances for Flying Blue, SkyTeam, and corporate program members. The cost of having excess baggage also differs depending on the specific flight. However, buying more baggage online before the flight will save the passenger 20%-50% versus paying for excess baggage at the airport.

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The Bottom Line

We do not recommend KLM as a top airline company at this time. They do provide good services and are on-time consistently. However, because of their lack of size and consequently resources we do not recommend them currently.

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