KLM flight info easy to find through verified WhatsApp account

Offering flight information to customers through a verified WhatsApp business account makes information easy to access in a single place, making it available at the airport, en route or at home. Customers can also directly contact KLM’s social media service agents, 24/7, via WhatsApp. The service is available to customers who book tickets or check in via KLM.com and opt-in to receive information via WhatsApp.

Secure messages

Messages are secure so that they can only be read by the customer and KLM, and no one else, not even WhatsApp. Customers can easily recognise verified businesses using the official WhatsApp business application. This means that customers will see a green checkmark badge next to the KLM contact name on WhatsApp.

KLM and Social Media

Since 2009, KLM has gained a reputation as pioneer in the field of social media services and campaigns. KLM has over 25 million fans and followers on various social media platforms. Through these channels, KLM receives over 100,000 mentions every week, 15,000 of which are questions or remarks. These are personally answered by more than 250 service agents, who form the world’s largest, dedicated social media team. On WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, LinkedIn, WeChat and KakaoTalk (Korean), KLM offers her customers a 24/7 one-stop-shop in nine different languages: Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. During office hours, KLM also offers services in Italian. KLM was the world’s first airline to offer customers the option of receiving flight documents and status updates via Messenger, Twitter and WeChat.

Jacob Jan has compiled four different menus, all of which seamlessly match the quality of KLM.

Jacob Jan Boerma and Kim Veldman opened restaurant De Leest in Vaassen in 2002. The restaurant received its first Michelin Star in 2003, its second in 2007 and, in 2014, the ultimate achievement, its third Michelin Star. De Leest is among the leaders of Dutch gastronomy. The cuisine is French with cosmopolitan influences. Fresh elements are prominent and the restaurant stands out for its use of local, often organic produce. The restaurant has now attracted international fame. Jacob Jan will open his own restaurant at Amsterdam’s newly renovated Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in 2016.

The dishes created by Richard Ekkebus will be served to World Business Class passengers from 1 December 2012 until the end of September 2013 on all intercontinental flights out of Amsterdam. A new development is that Richard Ekkebus’s dishes will also be served on flights out of Hong Kong.

As Director of Culinary Operations and Food and Beverage of The Landmark Mandarin Oriental, Richard Ekkebus supervises all dishes in one of the most luxurious and highly rated five-star hotels in Hong Kong. Under his guidance, the restaurant earned its second Michelin star for the fourth consecutive year. Amber is one of the top 50 restaurants in the world.

In early 2013, Richard Ekkebus will further expand his activities in China when the restaurant Fifty 8° Grill by Richard Ekkebus opens in Mandarin Oriental Pudong, Shanghai.
 

Erik Varwijk, Managing Director KLM: “By choosing to work with Hella Jongerius, KLM is opting to engage a top Dutch designer to help make our Business Class passengers feel at home on board. As a designer, Hella has broad experience which she can apply to the needs of KLM and its customers, in accordance with the specific requirements for cabin interiors in the airline industry. Her previous projects demonstrate her ability to process such criteria into top-quality designs such as the ‘polder sofa’, which is both comfortable and beautiful. With her expertise and focus on quality, she is keenly aware of what makes a brand unique. An outstanding match!”

Hella Jongerius: “It’s a brilliant opportunity for me to design the cabin interior and the new business class seat for KLM. The challenge is one of safeguarding individual comfort in amiable settings using innovations. In so doing, I can optimally combine traditional details, and my industrial textile and colour skills with high-tech functionality.”

KLM will begin revitalising the first aircraft in June 2013. The Boeing 747-400s will be converted first; a total of 22 aircraft. Further details of the design and the new seat will be published in the second half of 2012.

“KLM is continuing to work with top chefs and sommeliers,” says Erik Varwijk, Managing Director KLM. Peter Goossens has become a household name in the international culinary world. KLM is therefore extremely proud to be working with him.”

“It is a great honour for me to be given the opportunity to send my creations around the world. Working with the group of professionals at KLM and the team at my restaurant Hof van Cleve, we have produced a highly successful result,” according to Goossens.

Peter Goossens’ meals will be served from 1 December 2011 to the end of September 2012 on intercontinental flights from Amsterdam. KLM and Peter Goossens have developed a total of three menus. When composing the menus Goossens drew his inspiration from typically Flemish products, giving them an international twist. Wines to accompany each meal have been specially selected by the Hof van Cleve sommelier, who has several times been named the best sommelier in Belgium.

More comfort and efficiency – A seat in the new Europe Business Class provides one-and-a-half-times more room than before, because the middle seat is always left empty and can no longer be reserved. Besides improving the level of comfort, this also offers business passengers more privacy. Moreover, every business class seat in the 737 fleet will soon be fitted with a socket to charge electrical appliances. KLM continues to offer Europe Business Class passengers greater efficiency by providing priority departure and arrival services, such as Premium Check-In, extra baggage allowances, access to airport lounges, and priority during boarding and baggage processing.

Improved catering – The menu and presentation of meals on board is being completely modernised. KLM is introducing a newly refined, high-quality menu containing a range of choices depending on the flight and departure time. Four menus will be served every month. The catering presentation is also changing. Meals will now be served on tableware designed by Dutch designer Marcel Wanders, as they are in World Business Class. The collection is created in Wanders’ unique style and matches the quality standards of a top restaurant.

Europe Business Class is being introduced on all flights in Europe that are operated by KLM or KLM cityhopper. This amounts to around 500 flights a day to more than 60 destinations.

“KLM’s ongoing investment in passenger service is reflected by our decision to work with this Dutch master chef and sommelier,” said Erik Varwijk, Executive Vice President of KLM Commercial. “These exclusive meals are testimony to KLM’s pledge to renew its World Business Class product, and accentuate their Dutch origins.”

“It was a great adventure to create meals for KLM,” says Jonnie Boer. “As always, we have produced beautiful and pure dishes of high quality, all of which has given rise to lovely combinations of food and wine. We are delighted with this opportunity to give KLM passengers a taste of our culinary abilities.”

The dishes created by Jonnie Boer will be served from 1 December 2010 until the end of September 2011 on intercontinental flights originating in Amsterdam. KLM and Jonnie Boer have developed three different menus. From the start of the summer schedule, on 27 March 2011, the meals will be served on tableware created by leading Dutch designer Marcel Wanders.