Review of KLM Cityhopper flight from Mulhouse / Bâle to Amsterdam in Economy

After 3 weeks at home, it is already time to go back flying. This is what I have on offer for you today:

1. Basle - Amsterdam KL / Y, Fokker 70: here you are
2. Amsterdam - Montreal KL/ J, MD11: very soon
3. Montreal - Paris CDG AF / Y, 747-400: after the very soon
4. Paris CDG - Basle AF / Y, ATR72: Won't be published

That's not an exotic and exciting routing, but I wanted to bid my farewell to the MD11, a plane with which I have a very close relationship. I used to be a flight attendant for 3 years on the MD11 before it was retired from LX, and before it, I used to work on his mother, the DC10, for an African airline.
That means that I really wanted to say goodbye to it, specially knowing that the KLM birds are meant to end their life with the scrap man… Sad, sad, sad.
I was able to get a very good fare at Eur 400.- round trip.
Before boarding the plane, I use my Sky Team gold status to visit the lounge at the EuroAirport. Recently KLM signed a contract with the lounge allowing their J and Elite Plus to use it when flying KL. Funnywise, AF did not do so, and if you fly on an AF flight, you can't access the lounge. The guy before me was in that case and had been denied entry. I chatted a bit with the lounge attendant and his said that AF is in the process of signing the contract. That's good news.
Back to the lounge, still as pleasant as last time, here some pictures:

Buffet, still in breakfast mode, it is 09:00am or something like that:

But the free booze is there :)
As well those strange spreadable things, beer sausage flavour, or lever sausage flavour. Don't count on me to try it.as !

My selection:

Then a bit of pumpkin soup and some crisps:

That's the smoker's terrasse, big and allowing nice views:
Flop! ATR72 bound to CDG:

Sun Express 738 AYT:

Latehansa CR7 FRA:

My plane, F70 to AMS:

Austrian Dash 8-Q400 VIE:

ZiziJet A320:

The JetAviation facilities in the distance with a 346 and a 748 being refurbished into VIP configuration:

A local airline, Farnair, that operates ATR72-200F/ATR42-200F and a sole ATR42 for pax charters, very often for the Swiss Army.

DHL A300 to BRU in the evening:

As said, the terrasse is quite large:

Back to the ground level to reach the boarding area. The bar lounge is closed, and it seems for a long period:

I almost forgot the corporate picture:

Boarding will be a few minutes early, I don't introduce you to the cabin, lots of reports have already been published about this good looking leather seats but hard as rock and non reclinable.

The wing from my emergency exit seat:

In the meantime, a Swiss RJ100 parked next to us:

On time push back with an EasyJet hidding another:

DHL, Fedex and a Farnair ATR72-200F:

Line up on runway 33, north take off today, will save us some flight time:

As soon as the fasten seat belt sign off is, I pay my visit to the lavs:

Cabin shoot from the back:

Not much to see outside:

KL savoury snack:

As I am taking this picture, my neighbour calls the purser and start to explain to her that I take pictures of the plane and that I have stolen the safety on board card and that he gets concerned about my behavior.
The purser looks quite surprised and so do I. Ok I was taking pictures of the plane, but I haven't stolen the card. Yes, I do have a collection of safety cards, but I fly quite a lot on KLM and this was a card I already have. Furthermore, I never steel cards, I ask for them and the crew is always happy to provide them.
He begins to explain to the purser that he saw me putting the card in my Airliner World magazine. I then realize what he meant, and explain that I emptied the small pocket that contains the card, the vomit bag and the KLM magazine to make space for my camera. I stuffed the card in my magazine together with the vomit bag and put everything on the smaller pocket on top of the tray. I then show the purser the pictures I took (actually, the same one you see as well ^^) and ask if it is forbidden to picture the lavatories and the seats. She smiles and says of course, not.
The guy insists heavily that he is sure I wanted to steel the card. The purser begins to loose her patience and asks him if he wants to change seat if he can't stand me. He will decline it. She asks me if I'd like to move, and I'll decline as well, as I don't feel guilty and so thinks she.
A few minutes later, she comes back with a brand new safety card and says A special gift to remember the flight. I laughed out lound, and made the guy even more angry. But we did not speak together anymore, so that was it ;)
Eventually, we will land a few minutes early, and on the way I spot this MD11, maybe the one I'll take:

A sick 744:

The DL 772 to DTW that has been cancelled due to tech. problems this morning:

763: