Just found out that the nonstop (West Coast U.S. to Amsterdam) portion of my KLM/NW reservations is on an MD-11. The last time I flew on one of these was in 1990 from San Fran to Tokyo. I'm not a person who demands a little tv screen in every seat, etc. However, I just want to know that this is (still) an o.k. model plane. Has anyone flown this route on KLM lately? FYI, the return is on a DC-10. Thank you.
MD-11 - o.k. or creaky dinosaur?
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I dislike the MD-11 on domestic and cannot imagine spending 7-9 hours on one for an international trip. I find them to be very small and uncomfortable.
For your peace of mind, yes, the plane is a safe one. As far as personal comfort, the Y-cabin does give you the feeling of being in an overcroweded room. Just ask for any available upgrades at check-in (foreign carriers are more generous than domestic) or, take some sleeping pills
Mikele
The (KLM) MD-11 is basically a newer version of the (NWA) DC-10 you'll be flying on your way back, so I'm a little confused as to why you're especially worried about its age when you'll be flying back on a truly ancient DC-10...
Aside from 1 crash (Swissair) in '99, to my knowledge there have been no fatal incidents with an MD-11 - and it's widely suspected that that crash was caused by a cable fire linked to the inflight entertainment specifically installed by a 3rd party supplier for Swissair, so I wouldn't worry at all.
However, I dislike the plane - it always seems much noisier than other jumbo jets.
Hope this helps,
Andre
We took an MD-11 on Swissair from LAX in 1998, in economy and it was just fine, if not a little unnerving when the wheels rolled up after take-off and made a weird noise.
You must be going from S.F.. On the LAX to Amsterdam run (which we took this summer), they use 747's. They had a big special for business class, so we went for it, and the upper deck was nothing short of amazing. Had a great flight! If you don't like the MD-11's, why not head down to LA and take the bigger plane.