iewoaish

I'm flying in coach class on KLM #405 and #406, with aircraft 737. Does anyone know what the best seats are? I am a Northwest Elite member so I should have access to the better seats. I tried to find information from the forum but couldn't find any. Thanks!!

themicah

KLM has a variety of different 737's:

• 737-300
• 737-400
• 737-800
• 737-900

KL405/406 are to/from AMM, and are probably either the 800 or 900 series plane, since I believe it's out of range for the 300 or 400. It's hard to say if there are any "better" coach seats on KL's 737's. The 737-900 has a nominal "WBC" section (2-3 seating instead of 3-3 seating, whooppee ), but otherwise pretty much all 737 seats (even "Europe Select") are essentially the same. Note that the divider between WBC/EuropeSelect and regular coach can be moved and is not necessarily consistent with the seat maps linked above.

I assume AMM, like TLV (which I've done on KLM), lets you select your seats ahead (you can't select ahead for intra-Europe). If so, you should be able to tell from the seat map whether you're on the 800 or 900. NWA's version of the seatmap, however, may omit rows like the bulkhead and the exit rows.

Avoid "bulkheads," because they're not a real bulkhead, but just a curtain in your face with no extra legroom. And avoid rows without windows. You should be able to tell from the seatmaps linked above.

Exit rows have more legroom, but on KLM you cannot put anything on the floor (even under the seat in front of you) in the exit rows during takeoff and landing, which is a pain for long flights like AMM or TLV. Also, the exit row window seats have no armrests on the wall, and the seats may be shorter in the butt than normal seats (i.e., less of your leg is supported by the seat). Still, the legroom is nice.

I don't believe you can select exit rows ahead of time (especially if the reservation was through NWA). But if you use nwa.com/klm.com checkin, you can usually snag 'em.

I hope this helps!

Steve Fenton

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=372891

see my comments in there

Crwydryn

Flew KL405 AMS-AMM this week. Eqp was 737-900 - Exit rows 15 and 16 have good legroom in 3 x 3 formation; these are worth going for. Managed to book one via elite desk two days before departure.

kyushuman

How right you are!
On IST-AMS last week, it was 4:20AM when I checked in, asking for Exit row. She said sure, no problem, and gave me 6A. It was too early for me to realize which seat that was:
I was in the first row of Y, but with the extra special feature of having a huge blue curtain about a foot in front of my face for 3 hours! Yuck. You do have to know the exit row numbers to ask for, unless you do OLCI, and do it yourself.

themicah

I sat in 16F on TLV-AMS a while back and while the legroom was pretty good, I could have sworn that the lower seat cushion was shorter than usual and was therefore quite uncomfortable. Maybe that's only the case with the window seats, though.

adzel

It is not entirely clear from those seat maps which are the exit rows.
There are rows that seem to have a little more space in front and in back
of them in the pictures. Are there two exits rows on each aircraft or only
one. Do any of them have limited recline?

(It's too bad that seatguru doesn't cover intra-european aircraft.)

Crwydryn

It is not entirely clear from those seat maps which are the exit rows.
There are rows that seem to have a little more space in front and in back
of them in the pictures. Are there two exits rows on each aircraft or only
one. Do any of them have limited recline?




On the 900 used on KL 405/6 AMS-AMM -AMM emergency rows 15 and 16 have more room (guess 38" pitch) but do not recline - however, on balance I'd go for these, certainly on a daytime flight.

halfdan

Good Luck! KL PE does me no good on seat selection in a 737 these days. Front six+ rows seem to be blocked out when using online check-in. Same seats are often empty or taken by clearly non FF passengers (small children, elderly couples etc)

TrayflowInUK

Halfdan, the front 2-8 row or so are blocked out for Europe Select, depending on how many people purchase those tix.

It's worth mentioning here that on F100s and 737s, the front X rows have much better seat pitch than the rest of the aircraft, with the exception of exits.

If you book the first row or two of economy you usually get excellent legroom compared to the rest of the afct (I'm > 6ft).

I used to always book exit rows because of the extra legroom but gave up because four different times I booked what was listed as an exit on the seat map (both online checkin and KLM pdf seat maps) and got a row in front of or behind the exit row! It seems not all the planes are numbered the same, at least the F70s and F100s.

Back in Feb I gave up and booked seats at the front of economy and was very suprised to find out that there's 36-in or so of legroom.

I've had great luck since then booking right at the front of econ.

Check out other threads on this forum for info about which seats NOT to sit in, for example I believe Row 8 or 9 on 737s doesn't have a window.

halfdan

Aha, but it's not just the europe select rows that are blocked out for me these days (they, of course, do not even show up on the screen). Rows back to 12 or so are shown as "taken", except for the the row immediately behind the curtain. Almost as if they are being reserved for elites etc, but the system just doesn't pick up my status. It's the same when I'm first to check in, 29 hrs 59 mins before takeoff, or with just a few hrs to go. Can't be reserved for connecting pax because same is true when boarding at airports with no connections. Confusingly some of these seats are even empty when the plane takes off.

johan rebel

I've had the same problem for the past few months, but when I checked in last week I suddenly had access to the Select Seating zone again. I hope that wasn't a one-off.

johan