When flying business class from North America across the Atlantic Ocean, you'll find a lot better – and a lot worse – options than KLM Business Class on the 787 Dreamliner. But you'll be hard-pressed to find a better value … especially if you can book these spacious lie-flat seats for 60,000 FlyingBlue miles each way.
My biggest takeaway from a recent flight home from Europe? KLM Business Class offers an affordable redemption for a comfy, but not over-the-top business class experience.
The KLM Crown Lounge on the ground in Amsterdam-Schiphol (AMS) Airport offered plenty of luxury to make it feel like a true business class experience, even if the actual business class seat on the plane was showing its age. And while there are more high-tech and fancier seats flying across the Atlantic, KLM's friendly service and unique touches made every minute of the journey worth it.
From booking to lounges and dining to service, read on for a full review of KLM Business Class on the 787 Dreamliner.
How to Book KLM Business Class
Booking KLM Business Class for 60,000 miles each way (and about $490 in taxes and fees) is one of the best ways to get from Europe to the U.S. Here's the fare I snagged for my flight from Amsterdam (AMS) to Minneapolis (MSP) in August 2026.
The fare I booked gives you all the bells and whistles of a business class fare including lounge access, two checked bags, seat selection, and more. Like all Air France/KLM FlyingBlue miles bookings, you get slapped with a 70 euro change and cancellation fee if your plans change.
Unfortunately … this is all about to change. FlyingBlue announced this month that it is moving to a three-tiered pricing system that will strip away perks like lounge access and a second checked bag from those 60,000-mile fares, moving those perks to a new 75,000-mile fare class.
You can read the full changes in our story here, but it's important to know that the fare I flew for this review won't exist for much longer.
At Thrifty Traveler, we don't accept freebies. We use our own points, miles, or cash to pay for every single flight or hotel you see reviewed here – including this one.
KLM Crown Lounge at AMS
Check-in at Amsterdam (AMS) has special lines for business class travelers who need to check bags and get printed boarding passes. Equipped with just a backpack and my phone as a boarding pass, I headed straight to the fast track security line for business class passengers and walked through the concourse down to the KLM Crown Lounge 52.
The entire process, from getting off the train at the airport station to getting into the lounge, took me about 10 minutes. (I am an Olympic-level airport walker.)
Once you're in the lounge, you enter into what immediately appears to be a multi-floor setup.
The stylish seating amongst the staircases pictured above is called “The Mountain,” connecting the main floor seating to the bar and dining area on the top level.
Below is a photo of said main floor seating. This space holds hundreds of people, but when I arrived during the morning rush (8 a.m. to 10 a.m.), it never felt overwhelmingly busy.
There were two distinct buffet areas on either side of this main floor. One of them is pictured below.
But there was an empty sit-down restaurant upstairs that seemed like a hidden gem. It was not open when I arrived, and I understand that it is not free, but if your flight is in the afternoon or evening and you're looking for something better than buffet fare, it might be worth a bite (or a bottle from the room's impressive wine cellar) for a few dollars more.
The centerpiece of the lounge is these escalators dotted with the airline's famous gin houses (more on those later.)
At the end of the main floor, there were also sleep rooms, shower rooms, and toilets.
Cabin and Seat
You board KLM's 787-900 in Zone 1 with a business class ticket.
You enter into a single cabin of 30 business class seats, all with direct aisle access. Here's Aerolopa's seat map. I was in seat 8K, in the bottom-right corner.
The seats are coated in KLM's classic light blue coloring, with the cabin walls also being draped in blue and white dots.
The seat comes with a normal pillow and a big, relatively heavy blanket, too.
When you're in the seat, the screen doesn't point directly at you – instead swinging around on a swivel to face you when you unlock it.
The glass of champagne pictured below was offered to me shortly after I took my seat. They also offer a mocktail, a juice, or water.
From the footwell, you can see the light-blue seat accent and the seat's proximity to the aisle. There are no sliding doors on this seat, but the armrest on the right side of the image below can be raised to provide some elbow support after takeoff.
The seat reclines fully flat into a comfortable bed. I found it more than spacious enough to get a good nap in during the flight. The auto-dimming 787 Dreamliner plane windows and wide footwell made for great sleeping conditions.
An amenity kit is waiting for you at your seat when you board, including a toothbrush, face lotion, earplugs, some chewable toothpaste tablets, an eye mask, and some socks.
The case itself is the best part. It's a stylish bag with a strap/zipper combo that I find really convenient. (It's currently in use as my everyday cord organizer!)
The headphones are standard, airline-issue noise-canceling headphones. They plugged into one of those funky headphone jacks that don't have any prongs, so don't bother trying to take them with you. Unfortunately, this setup meant that I knocked them loose a few times on accident.
The audio quality was adequate, but not stellar by any means. In general, this was not the most high-tech airplane seat I've ever seen … not even close. In fact, I thought the tech on the KLM Premium Comfort seat I flew two days earlier was better.
The hand-held remote control controlled both the TV and kept the moving map up throughout the flight, no matter what I watched on the screen. It was nice to have the moving map as a second screen option during my journey.
Onboard, you can log in to Wi-Fi for 29 euros for the full flight or 12 euros for an hour. Everyone with a FlyingBlue account gets free messaging onboard, too.
The Wi-Fi wasn't exceptionally good, but I was able to download and listen to podcasts, communicate with my coworkers via Slack and email, and browse the internet without issues on the ground. In the middle of the ocean, the internet noticeably slowed and even got spotty for a while.
Food & Service
The meal service on this flight was excellent. I didn't have a bad bite. Here's a look at the menu they offered flying from AMS to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP) this summer.
The drink menu was also fairly robust.
Finally, the wine selection offered some intriguing pours, too. Both the Champagne and the 2019 Bordeaux impressed me enough, although I won't pretend to have the most advanced palate.
The first course came out on its own tray. I opted for the smoked tuna instead of the Thai red curry soup, although I was tempted by the latter.
Both the salad and the tuna dishes were tasty and set me up nicely for my main course: The Taste of Delicacies.
This tray is a collection of special choices from KLM's chefs that I was excited to try. The Beef Tsukune and the Chicken Bulgogi were both excellent.
Before landing, we were served another fairly substantial meal, this time all on one tray.
Notably, KLM Business Class passengers can order espresso onboard – something I'm always excited to see as an increasingly snobby coffee drinker.
I made the strange decision to pair my espresso with a ginger ale. It's not a combination I've ever tried before, or am likely to try again. It's one of those “I can't believe that just came out of my mouth, but it's too late now” kind of orders. Please don't judge.
KLM's Classic Warm Service
From the lounge to the air, KLM's employees were uniformly happy and accommodating. As someone who still feels like an imposter in business class every time I fly it, every blue-coated employee made me feel like I belonged and that they were even excited to see and serve me.
Everyone I encountered spoke great English and was happy to help. For an airline that flies as many routes as KLM does, you'd expect maybe some sort of a lapse in service on a tier-two or -three route like Minneapolis (MSP), but everyone was top-notch.
One of the coolest parts of the service is the signature ceramic KLM Dutch gin houses offered about 45 minutes before landing. KLM has given these out as parting gifts to business class passengers for years, and they've become quite the collector's item.
Of course, if you want to, you can break the seal on the house chimney and drink the gin. I chose to keep mine, as they are fun collectibles. They sit on my desk and remind me of the great trip we had.
You can find several of these on various desks and bookshelves in the Thrifty Traveler team's home offices all over the country!
You can read more about these houses and their history here.
Bottom Line
KLM Business Class lacks the modern touches of other business class seats flying across the Atlantic, but it more than makes up for it with warm service, great food, and a solid lounge experience in Amsterdam.
If you can book this seat for 60,000 miles each way (or 75,000 each way after the upcoming devaluation of the FlyingBlue program), this is one of the better deals in business class travel.
Ok …. thanks. I will have to try it sometime
Do you book the flight on the KLM website or Delta when flying KLM but using Delta points???
If you are using Delta points you must book on the Delta site. However, it might be difficult to find award availability. This will depend on the routing.
You mean Genever, not gin – yeah?