From Amsterdam to Osaka with KLM in business aboard the Boeing 787-9: A Review

Over the summer, I made plans to come to Japan and began looking for flights. Now that European airlines are unable to overfly Russia on the way, the lengths have become interminably long. 14 hours from Paris, for example, and 15 hours back. As a result, economy was out of the question. So, I began hunting for cheap business options and was happy to find a fairly convenient itinerary from Brussels to Amsterdam to Osaka and Seoul Direct to Paris and then to Brussels by train for just over Euro 2,000.

Eating, drinking, and service on the flight

We boarded on time but had to wait about a half-hour for all of the catering to be finalized. The usual pre-departure drinks were offered but I stuck with water as I had work to do and a very long flight ahead – just over 12 hours in the air.

Soon after takeoff, a drink service started and came with the option of either nuts or Dutch cheese. Dinner orders were taken and it seemed that even after a half-hour delay, they hadn’t gotten the catering quite right. I ordered the Japanese delicacies, a bento-style main course, and the flight attendant raised her eyebrow and said, “Well, we’ll see… Is there anything else you’d like? Because we didn’t get enough of the Japanese meals.” I told her that no, nothing else looked good to me, which is why I think I was likely granted one of the apparently coveted Japanese meals. It was quite bad, however. Even the miso soup was unfinishable which is saying something because the one I make from home from a packet is great. You’ll have to forgive the half-eaten picture (I forgot!), but that’s about all of it that I ate!

The flight attendants were proactive throughout the flight, at one point in the middle of the night even coming through with croquettes and ice cream, as odd as that sounds. I drink a lot of water on planes and was given two additional bottles instead of being asked if I was OK with my first one being filled up over and over. As always, the flight attendants came around at the end of the flight with a trolly of delft houses filled with Bols genever, and I picked the thinnest one on offer as I didn’t have much space in my bag.

During dinner, I watched a Japanese movie (when going to Rome, right?) called Yudo. It was an enjoyable and amusing way to spend a couple of hours and get ready for my first soak in an onsen! Still, there was a large range of other options available, and I saw people watching everything from Harry Potter to Casablanca.

The KLM Boeing 787-9 hard product

The seat was comfortable enough, with some pros and cons. I sat in 6A, but the seat directly ahead of mine, 5A, had a missing window, so you would be stuck with just one instead of two like every other seat, except for the other row 5 seat, 5J, across the aisles.

One thing I despise about the 787s is the puffy airbag seatbelt. If I’m going to be in a situation where a seatbelt airbag is needed, somehow I don’t even think it would help much. At least there aren’t any shoulder straps like on some airlines. Looking at you, Japan Airlines!

However, the nice thing about this seat is that, unlike many the Asian airlines, there are two air vents. I’m a hot sleeper, so it was a very welcome change that the cabin temperature was kept at a reasonable temperature for the entirety of the flight. At one point, I even had to grab my sweater to put on while I slept, which is unheard of for me.  

The bottom line

At this price, I would have dealt with a lot worse for a 14-hour flight. The food was really unpalatable and was the only thing that I would say really needed improvement.

Stay tuned for some Japan content coming up as well as the review of the Air France flight from Seoul to Charles de Gaulle in the front of the bus on a Boeing 777-300ER.

Although I was able to find a decent cash fare, it’s not always so cheap to get from Europe to Asia. However, you can book KLM and Air France flights by using Delta Skymiles, which you can transfer from a Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card. Their hefty sign-up bonus will get you most of the way there to a one-way business class seat!