It's the weekend!
Funny how life goes sometimes. My best buddy Lesley changed jobs yet again. The end of August he left British Airways and joined the Air France-KLM Group!! He was approached by Continental Airlines/United Airlines, but still decided to join the family we call Air France-KLM.
Les is a Complaints & Compliments Executive for Martinair and works at the Martinair headquarters at Schiphol-Oost. He works in the Customer Services & Baggage Claims department which is a part of the Marketing & E-commerce division. I wasn't allowed to say anything until he knew for sure he liked the job, so by me writing this post, you know he does!
I am still doing my thing at AF-KL for Delta at Amstelveen, so no... we don't cross pads at all. Anyway, about a month ago I was at Schiphol for a meeting and I met an old co-worker of mine. Let's call her Anna. (Not her real name for privacy reasons). She was my Duty Manager when I worked at KLM Ground Services almost 10 yeras ago. As some of you may recall, after I left Aruba in 1999, I started working for SPL/PG... a division of KLM Ground Services. We were known as KLM Juniors and we did the handling of all flights that were not KLM (Aer Lingus, China Airlines, Japan Airlines, Northwest, IranAir, Transavia etc.) Anyway Anna now works at Emirates at Schiphol and she was trying to convince me to join their team. Now Emirates has a great reputation and their hub in Dubai is simply amazing! But it didn't feel right, so I declined.
Then last week my old boss at AFC (Air France Consulting) sent me an email asking me to join the AFC team in Brussels in their Ground and Flight Operations Division. I left AFC in 2007, when they closed down their office in The Netherlands and all Amsterdam based staff were let go and redistributed within the AF-KL network. Here you can read the jist of my AFC story. I have great memories of Grietje and Brenda, but I don't see myself travelling the world like I did back then in this stage of my life. Don't get me wrong... I absolutely love to travel, but it has to be on my terms and within reason. So I turned them down as well. This doesn't mean that the rest of my years will be spent on this somethimes dreaded thing calld Delta, because... well.. I don't think so! I like my job and I think I do it well, but let's get real. This doesn't mean that i refuse to leave AF-KL, because that isn't the case. If a job comes along that can give me the challenge I want and I like the terms... well I would go for it. And of course the money has to be right as well. Hey, I'm just saying...
On to other news... my friend Micheline is getting married on October 26th with her fiancé Anthon. Also she is expecting her first child! Congratulations. She is positively glowing!
I have other things to update you about this past summer, but I'm sleepy now. Another time. Speaking of summer... where the f*ck did it go? It's freaking cold!
Have a fabulous weekend!
Les is a Complaints & Compliments Executive for Martinair and works at the Martinair headquarters at Schiphol-Oost. He works in the Customer Services & Baggage Claims department which is a part of the Marketing & E-commerce division. I wasn't allowed to say anything until he knew for sure he liked the job, so by me writing this post, you know he does!
I am still doing my thing at AF-KL for Delta at Amstelveen, so no... we don't cross pads at all. Anyway, about a month ago I was at Schiphol for a meeting and I met an old co-worker of mine. Let's call her Anna. (Not her real name for privacy reasons). She was my Duty Manager when I worked at KLM Ground Services almost 10 yeras ago. As some of you may recall, after I left Aruba in 1999, I started working for SPL/PG... a division of KLM Ground Services. We were known as KLM Juniors and we did the handling of all flights that were not KLM (Aer Lingus, China Airlines, Japan Airlines, Northwest, IranAir, Transavia etc.) Anyway Anna now works at Emirates at Schiphol and she was trying to convince me to join their team. Now Emirates has a great reputation and their hub in Dubai is simply amazing! But it didn't feel right, so I declined.
Then last week my old boss at AFC (Air France Consulting) sent me an email asking me to join the AFC team in Brussels in their Ground and Flight Operations Division. I left AFC in 2007, when they closed down their office in The Netherlands and all Amsterdam based staff were let go and redistributed within the AF-KL network. Here you can read the jist of my AFC story. I have great memories of Grietje and Brenda, but I don't see myself travelling the world like I did back then in this stage of my life. Don't get me wrong... I absolutely love to travel, but it has to be on my terms and within reason. So I turned them down as well. This doesn't mean that the rest of my years will be spent on this somethimes dreaded thing calld Delta, because... well.. I don't think so! I like my job and I think I do it well, but let's get real. This doesn't mean that i refuse to leave AF-KL, because that isn't the case. If a job comes along that can give me the challenge I want and I like the terms... well I would go for it. And of course the money has to be right as well. Hey, I'm just saying...
On to other news... my friend Micheline is getting married on October 26th with her fiancé Anthon. Also she is expecting her first child! Congratulations. She is positively glowing!
I have other things to update you about this past summer, but I'm sleepy now. Another time. Speaking of summer... where the f*ck did it go? It's freaking cold!
Have a fabulous weekend!
posted by Traveller at 11:59 PM
7 Comments:
If glowing means fat, I agree with you.
Micheline
I said GLOWING! Punt uit!
Does anyone know how EK is doing with its flights to Amsterdam BTW? I know KL wasn't happy that EK applied to fly AMS.
Amita
@ Micheline: You are not fat, so stop fishing for compliments.
@ Ry: That didn't take too long to hit the internet.
@ Amita: Emirates has a far more superior in-flight product than KLM. It's First Class is top notch and it's Business Class is excellent. Also you have to remember that since its existance EK has never posted a lost, except for its 2nd year and it continues to grow every year.
EK has interline- and codeshare agreements, but has no intentions of joining an alliance like Star, OneWorld or SkyTeam. It's doing this on it's own. Of course they promote Dubai like crazy, but their money comes from transfer pax just like KL. If one want to fly to Oz or NZ, you would have to take KL to Kuala Lumpur and connect on Malaysia Airlines to Sydney, Melbourse, Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch. Or you can take Emirates, transfer in Dubai and head to the aforementioned cities. Big difference, you say...?
Well if on a random they the most restricted ticket on KLM is €300,- more expensive than a more unrestricted ticket on Emirates... it says enough. You travel more luxurious for less money. Sure... you don't ear any SkyTeam mileage, but hey... it's 300 Euro's!
Also let's not forget that besides KLM and Emirates, Garuda Indonesia also has direct flight to Dubai from Amsterdam.
I think the problem most EU airlines have with EK, is its ability to undercut the major EU carriers pricing in tickets. Say what you want, but EK is government owned. A government that's in an oil state. Where KL, BA, LH, AF, OS, LX etc. have to pay a premium on kerosine, my personal belief is that EK get's it dog cheap. Therefor they can easily undercut prices.
Les
Emirates ain't getting my business again. I flew to Abu Dhabi with them last year via Düsseldorf and the plane had 10 seats abreast!!! It was like sardines in a can!
Wijnand
Uhm... KLM has 10 abreast as well. On it's 777-200 the configuration is 3-3-3, but on the 777-300 it's 3-4-3. And guess what: Air France and KLM will reconfigure their 777-200 in 3-4-3 configurations as well.
JH
Waar was je al die tijd, Ryan! Ik dacht dat je dood was, man!
Marcel
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