The Netherlands’ national carrier KLM is finally installing a full premium economy class on board its Boeing 777 and 787 widebodies, with the airline saying that passengers can book from the end of July 2022. The seats are the popular Collins Aerospace MiQ product, but in a new lightweight version that Collins tells RGN saves two pounds (just under 1kg) per seating assembly thanks to lighter end bays.
KLM is installing the new Premium Comfort-branded seats in space previously occupied by economy class seats on its Boeing widebodies. In addition to Premium Comfort, most aircraft will also gain between 12 and 16 of the carrier’s Economy Comfort extra-legroom economy seats as well. There is, however, no installation plan given for the Airbus A330 aircraft that the airline is expected to retire by 2025.
Compared with other airlines, KLM is installing relatively few premium economy seats per aircraft compared with other airlines at present, with three rows of Premium Comfort in most aircraft and four on the 787-10. Partner Virgin Atlantic, by contrast, has 56 seats on its Airbus A350.
KLM will install:
- 787-10: 28 Premium Comfort, Economy Comfort grows from 27 seats to 39
- 787-9: 21 Premium Comfort, Economy Comfort stays at 48 seats
- 777-300 (presumably -300ER): 24 Premium Comfort, Economy Comfort grows from 40 seats to 56
- 777-200 (presumably -200ER): 24 premium Comfort, Economy Comfort grows from 40 to 54
It’s great to see KLM joining the premium economy train, but there is — for some inexplicable reason — a design flaw with the seats, so immediately visible to anyone who sees them that it has been the only topic of discussion on these otherwise perfectly fine, average-sized premium economy seats that will undoubtedly be as popular for KLM as they have been for the dozens of airlines that have installed a premium economy cabin over the last thirty years.
The kicker is the utterly bizarre placement of the USB sockets. In every single row, these are horizontally mounted at the level of the passenger’s thigh. That means that not only will passengers have the neck of their USB cord jabbing into their leg, but that the risk of inadvertently snapping the connector is high.
Having these sockets in this position is baffling. Image: KLM
Your author will admit to spending a substantial amount of time simply staring at the pictures of this assembly. Not only is this a recipe for the power sockets being out of use, but one has to wonder about the potential for electrocution and even fire risk.
It would make far more sense to swap the USB sockets for the headphone sockets — whose cables have a 90° turn right next to the jack. Image: KLM
It is baffling to consider the idea that entire teams of people redesigned the seat, placed these power sockets in this position, and approved it.
It would have been just about acceptable if this position were simply for seats in the front row, owing to there being no seatback on which to mount them, although many airlines have successfully mounted IFE and power sockets on a bulkhead wall.
(As an analogy, staying in the front row for a moment: the flight attendant call button and reading light are mounted right next to the USB assembly, in prime position to be activated by a knee. This is a frustration but perhaps an understandable one, and in subsequent rows they are not in this position.)
To have these USB sockets located in this position in every row seems simply absurd.
Seemingly every other MiQ installation for which we have imagery, whether it is in the widebody or narrowbody variants of the seat, has mounted the sockets elsewhere. Partner Delta Air Lines — on their 777, even — has them forward and above the knee in the front row, which is a compromise but workable.
Delta’s 777 MiQ front row has the USB above and ahead of where KLM’s is located. Image: Delta
Even odder, the AC outlets advertised by KLM at every seat (but visible only in subsequent rows) are mounted between the console in the rear-facing seat, yet there is substantial space left over so that the USB sockets could be mounted above. Yet stranger, and while the images of these AC outlets are not clear, it appears that there may even be a single USB (presumably USB-A) socket integrated into these outlets.
If you peer, you might be able to see the shape of a USB-A socket in the embedded AC outlets. Image: KLM
We can only presume — and this is very much just educated guesswork — that this placement is the result of some failure of integration with the inflight entertainment. Is the IFE, for some reason, unable to support USB sockets in the usual place underneath or beside the monitor?
It’s unclear why the USB sockets can’t simply be mounted on the seatback. Image: KLM
KLM — which made the announcement at 4pm on the Friday of a public holiday weekend — was not answering its media hotline and has not responded to RGN questions via email. Collins Aerospace did not immediately have a product expert available to discuss specifics.
All in all, this bizarre USB situation has everyone talking about KLM’s new premium economy. Is all publicity good publicity?
The nearer passenger’s leg entirely covers the USBs, while the passenger further away is presumably composing a letter of complaint on her unplugged tablet. Image: KLM
Related Articles:
- Behind the customisation and certification cleverness of Rockwell MiQ
- Filling the premium economy gaps: opportunities and risks for airlines
- IFPL designs unique PED power solution for rear of seat armrests
Featured image credited to KLM
