Yesterday I started telling you about my business class award ticket from Phoenix (PHX) to Geneva (GVA) via Houston (IAH) and Amsterdam (AMS). I covered Phoenix to Houston on Continental yesterday. Today I will share with you my first flight on a Boeing Business Jet.
KLM contracts with PrivatAir to fly an all-business class configured Boeing Business Jet (737) from Houston to Amsterdam. Lucky for me that flight is available for mileage redemption using Northwest miles.
Here is the plane at the gate at Houston:
The gate was a short walk from both the KLM and Air France lounges.
About an hour before the flight a KLM agent showed up at the gate. About 40 minutes before the flight I walked up and asked her if she could confirm that my one bag that I checked in Phoenix with Continental made it on the plane.
I'm not suggesting that this is a good question to regularly ask agents. I'm not even sure why I asked. I guess it was because I almost never check a bag and I was worried that Continental lost it.
The agent seemed happy to have someone talk to her and she quickly started typing away. She frowns and tells me the computer doesn't show it.
I'm instantly yelling in my head for checking a bag. Why? Why? This is why you don't check bags. Why did you have to bring that extra jacket? Geneva is January isn't THAT cold. WHY!?!?!!!
The agent interrupts my internal rant and tells me not to worry just yet - that the computer is usually wrong. She grabs the radio and calls down to a ramp agent and asks him to go inside the belly of the plane and look for my bag. I'm shocked. This is customer service.
I try and tell her that it isn't necessary but she won't hear it. A few minutes later the ramp agent calls back and says that it is on the plane and describes it in enough detail for me to be certain.
I apologize for the hassle. She thanks me for giving her something to do. Apparently the flight is just a little over half full - meaning about 25 people.
One of the best things about this PrivatAir service is the relaxed boarding process. They announce the boarding in the lounge and at the gate and people casually make there way on the plane. With only 25 people boarding there is no rush. There is lots of overhead bin space.
I was the first to board and was greeted by the captain and the purser.
Any worries about feeling cramped on a 737 across the Atlantic vanished as I walked through the cabin and found my seat. The excellent seat pitch and 2-2 seating works on this plane:
The flight attendants came through the cabin several times during boarding offering pre-departure champagne, water and orange juice on tray. They also offered to get something else from the galley. The champagne was unremarkable but appreciated.
I didn't read up on their jacket-hanging procedure so I kept my light jacket on the seat next to me. A flight attendant saw it and asked me if I would mind putting it in an overhead bin because they have limited closet space. She then put it down flat in an empty bin for me.
Takeoff was uneventful and the flight attendants quickly sprung to action providing a beverage service. They used a cart and made three beverage runs before they started the meal service:
One of the annoying things about the PrivatAir flight is that their seats don't have built in AVOD (audio-video on-demand) systems. Instead the flight attendants hand out digEplayers that are DVD player like devices but with multiple movies on an internal hard drive. As movie players they are fine. But the result is a portable screen that you have to fit on your tray table. It gets in the way of the meal service. Both the flight attendant and I almost knocked it over a few times.
After the third drink run the flight attendants set the table and started the dinner service:
The lavatory had several amenities:
A few minutes after dinner the flight attendants brought everyone a bottle of water:
By now most people were reclining their seats and getting some sleep. These seats are the slant seats. They technically give you an almost flat surface but they are at an angle to fit within the seat space. Some people hate these seats because they keep sliding down them all night and don't get a great sleep. I usually slide on the slant beds but on this one I didn't. I'm not sure why. So I slept well. It looked like others did too:
Usually breakfast on airplanes suck. But not this time:
Overall this was an outstanding flight. Before the flight I talked to some people who flew on PrivatAir's Lufthansa service and they didn't have great things to say about the catering. I thought the food was more than acceptable. With the steak dinner decent and the breakfast great.
The flight attendants worked hard to provide outstanding service. They succeeded.
The biggest negative is the digEplayers. They are difficult to deal with and get in the way. If there was a docking area in the seatback in front of you where you could put them it would be better.
I expected the single aisle to be a bother when trying to go to the lavatory or walk around and stretch a bit but with so few people on the plane it wasn't an issue.
This was a good flight and I'm looking forward to my next PrivatAir experience.
Tomorrow I will post about my layover at the KLM Lounge at the Amsterdam airport (AMS) and the short KLM Cityhopper flight from Amsterdam to Geneva.
