My New Favourite Airline!

Flying is stressful. It’s crowded, manic and … expensive. As a budget traveller, I always make it my mission to seek out the cheapest flights, but that doesn’t always mean the best quality. So if I find an affordable airline who do a great job and impress me then just like Andy had in Woody; you gotta friend in me, and if that airline give its customers great freebies on top of a great service then honey, you got yourselves a full blown fan girl in me!

 Introducing my new favourite airline KLM, Royal Dutch Airlines. This last week I had two flights, one from England to Amsterdam and then on to Helsinki, Finland, all with KLM.

  Unfortunately my introduction to air travel was pretty chaotic. My flight with Easy Jet was delayed by an hour, due to a disgruntled passenger having a fight with the crew, (not a United Airlines type fight, this one was purely verbal!) The couple next to me got steadily drunk and began a tongue Olympics right in front of me and the only food offered were extremely overpriced toasted sandwiches that took almost the entire length of the flight to be given to those who had ordered them.

  As this was my first flight and I had limited knowledge of other’s experiences, I assumed that this was the norm, that any flight I would have would be equally as frustrating and stressful. I LOVE it when someone proves me wrong! Not only was my flight with KLM on time, but the staff were genuinely very friendly and accommodating as we boarded. I was greeted in both English and Dutch, (I always value multilingual staff who go out of their way to make sure that everyone can understand what’s going on,) and kept informed by the pilot as to when we could expect to take off and land.

 Everything was very calm, controlled and friendly, exactly the type of atmosphere you want when taking a massive metal structure through the air at break neck heights, with possible terrorists hiding in any seat!  If it wasn’t obvious, I still get a bit nervous when flying, and so creating a professional and calm cabin is something I really appreciate.  

  If the atmosphere didn’t do the trick, then the free food really chilled me out! A trolley came down the aisle and handed everyone a little cardboard box with a cute little illustration of Amsterdam on it; inside was a pot of cold water and a slice of cake in a packet. I’m sure most of you know that plane food, normally, is utter ass, but this little cake was moist, caramel goodness… and free!

  We landed safely in Amsterdam and I set off to locate my next flight to Helsinki. Still impressed from a little free snack, I wasn’t expecting anything from my next flight except the same polite and friendly treatment, but this time was even better! The staff spoke both English, Dutch and Finnish and, to my delight, brought us even more free food! I was offered free drinks, both soft and alcoholic, (which was crazy to me as you have to pay for alcohol everywhere!) as well as a delicious hot meal of vegetarian pasta, complete with my complimentary coke. It really was tasty and the vegetarian aspect was a huge plus in my books, some restaurants where I’m from still don’t even have a veggie option yet. Just when I thought my free gravy train had ended, KLM put the icing on the cake, which was actually another cake; this time a tiny muffin topped with milk chocolate.

  I am aware that many of you reading this may be used to free food on planes, however, as a budget traveller, I am used to dirt under my nails, sleeping rough and eating value meals under £5 that can’t make the claim to not contain horse meat. I sacrifice some comforts in order to save myself money whilst travelling the world. This is why a return flight that cost no more than £175 / $225.80 / €200.81 impressed the hell outta me with its high standards and customer experience. 

I am going to really enjoy my three weeks in Helsinki and will be posting many blogs and vlogs on my adventures here, although, I must admit, there is a part of me now that’s seriously looking forward to the flight home… and that free cake!

This blog post was not sponsored and all thoughts and opinions stated are my own and based on my own experiences. Tell me about your best flight? Have you had any experience with KLM airlines? Let me know in the comments below and share this post with anyone looking for value for money in air travel. x

For more on KLM visit their website here: https://www.klm.com/home/gb/en

Booked through Go to Gate: http://www.gotogate.co.uk/flights