Economy Comfort Zone – the new seat choice for KLM passengers

As you might have noticed, KLM has announced a new zone for it’s passengers a few months ago: Economy Comfort. And from december 2009, the new seats will be available in the entire KLM intercontinental fleet. KLM just officially announced the official start of “Economy Comfort”. I was invited to check the Economy Comfort Zone and test some of the seats. So what to expect?

 

Economy Comfort

Economy Comfort zone in 777

 

Why Economy Comfort?

KLM has started the Economy Comfort zone like a cross-over between Economy Class and Business Class (but based in the Economy Class section of the plane). Depending on the type of aircraft, there will be 34 to 40 seats to choose from. Economy Class passengers can book an Economy Comfort seat for an additional fee between 80-150 euro (depending on the length of the flight).  Due to the economic climate many people and companies have less money to spend on flying. The Dutch airline hopes that the Economy Comfort will serve some of these passengers a better balance of cost and comfort.

What’s different at the seats in Economy Comfort?
KLM explains: “Economy Comfort features seats with up to 89cm (35 inches) of legroom – over 12% (10 cm/4 inches) more than standard Economy Class seats.  You can look forward to even more relaxation, as the seats in Economy Comfort also recline up to twice as far. In addition to this extra space, Economy Comfort passengers enjoy faster disembarkation.”

In short: you got quite alot more space which can make a significant difference for passengers on long flights, especially when you’re quite tall (like the Dutch people haha). It also makes sleeping alot more comfortable. KLM invited me to check the seats in Economy Comfort Zone  in the KLM hangars. They were just building this in a 747, so this was an excellent opportunity to check out the newly build seats. When I sat down I could stretch my legs and the recline made it quite nice and easy to lie back. It was amazing to see the technical crew (re)building the inside of this airplane so quickly. Within 48 hours the new zone was build into the plane.

Below you can check some pictures of the Economy Comfort zone in a Boeing 747:

Economy Comfort Zone

Economy Comfort Zone

For who?
The Economy Comfort Zone is for everybody, but customers with Flying Blue Platinum Status can use these seats free of charge. KLM also states: “Passengers who have purchased a fully flexible Economy Class fare (X, S or B booking class) may also reserve a seat in Economy Comfort for free.” You can book through KLM.com or through the usual ticket agents or the reservation phonenumber.

Conclusion
So will the new Economy Comfort seats be a succes? I can imagine that passengers that fly for business will be happy to see a cheaper alternative for the business class and will use “Comfort Zone”quite frequently. It’s great and comfortable enough for longer flights without being overly luxury. I’m not sure if many leisure passengers will use this ”Comfort Zone” instantly, as for alot of people the price is one of the most important factors in chosing a seat, but we will see how the seats are divided within a few months. Still, it’s very cool to see KLM has made this step and build this new seat option in the fleet in such a short time. Looking forward to hear your experiences in the Economy Comfort Zone, please tell them to me on Twitter through my @klmfan account.

For more info: http://www.klm.com

Extra
By walking through the KLM hangars I had the chance to shoot some nice pictures and vids with my iPhone, see the result below. Check out the beautiful 777 in the Skyteam colours and the beautiful sights of the hangars.

KLM plane

Plane Skyteam colours

Hangars KLM

Thanx Elleke Berkhof and the rest of the crew @KLM for having me over.