Hi,
On today's report I had to set my alarm quite early as the first train would be leaving around 5.45 am from my home in order to catch an early flight from Amsterdam to Barcelona. This flight was suppose to be on an Airbus A321neo only to be downgraded to a Boeing 737-900 about a week prior to this flight. On the day of travel I have noticed that KLM downgraded it even further and that the flight would be performed on an -800.
Let's first see whether we are getting to the airport on time as the first train I could catch would only bring me to the airport about 85 minutes prior to departure and missing my five minutes connection would have meant another wait of approximately 25 minutes to catch the next train.
Fortunately all connections were on time and dropped me right on-time in the plaza of Schiphol Airport, which by now was already quite busy.
Made my way to KLM's check-in counters in Terminal 1 which are used for Schengen flights and queud up behind a line in order to obtain my boarding pass (I do have it digital, yet I prefer to carry a paper version with me all the time in case I lose my phone or my battery drains) and luggage tag. KLM enforces you to use their self-service counters to print them in order to speed up the process in order to drop your luggage.
The self-service check-in counter is easy to use and one could find their booking by scanning their passport, provide them with your booking reference or scan your boarding pass. Here you are able to add a few items to your itinerary including choosing your seat, buy a lounge pass, view your details or include more luggage if you require so. Obviously it also prints out your boarding pass and you are able to obtain a luggage tag from this machine too (though this is also possible at the drop off counter).
As the queu tends to be with the self service check-in counters, which took about five minutes or so, the drop off counter had no waiting times and were easy to use. All one had to do is to scan your boarding pass, verify/confirm the travel details shown on screen and place your luggage with the luggage tag (one can print one from them too in case you didn't do so prior to this). Once confirmed, the barrier will come down and send your luggage away. Once dropped, just wait a few seconds for the system to print the baggage receipt (which you will need if your luggage is missing at your final destination) before heading to security.
That last information is probably obvious among us here, however I have seen so many people walk away without collecting them.
Once my luggage was dropped I made my way to security, which took about ten to fifteen minutes via the fast track lane which I got access through due to my privium membership. While security wasn't overly busy and would have not taken ten minutes or so, I just lucked out that I was behind a large group of blind people who were travelling for holidays and were allowed to use the fast track lane due to their handicap.
I didn't mind the slow wait though and eventually made my way to the Privium Lounge located right in front of the D-Pier as I usually go to. The lounge itself is pleasant, usually quiet and is nicely decorated with lots of plants. Privium is actually opening another schengen lounge near the B-Pier section which is estimated/scheduled to open prior to next year's summer schedule.
The lounge in terms of food and drink options is somewhat limited with two coffee machines on the kitchen top. One could find a watertap behind the second coffee machine (aft and not visible) that is possible to provide you with a glass of water, still or sparkling.
A few fizzy drinks, juices and alcoholic beverages can be found in the fridges below the table top of the kitchen isle. One can also find some cookies, milk, tea choices and sugar as an add-on to your tea/coffee. The black machine right behind the tea choice is somewhat of an odd fridge where one could find a variety of meats and cheeses to add to your sandwiches/bread.
While I usually enter the lounge late afternoon or night, I noticed that the lounge does not offer any hot options other than hard boiled eggs, but a variety of different breads that are commonly eaten by Dutchies. One could find some apple pie too, however the pies they buy are factory bought and you definitely could taste it. Obviously some cereal is also available.
Decided to leave the lounge about five minutes to our scheduled boarding call as we had about a five to ten minute walk to the end of the C-Pier.
By now the refurbishment of the main hall in the Schengen pier is nearing completion and I can say that I am not a huge fan of the new design. They are actually increasing the distances to walk as they decided to place another useless duty-free store right in the middle of the path and adding a few more stores that most travellers wouldn't even bother to enter or are able to afford like ''Gassan'', which is a famous Dutch diamond, jewel and watches store (high-end).
On the way to our gate I spotted this Airbus A320 of TAP in the Star Alliance Livery about to be pushed back for it's departure to Lisbon.
Obviously the gate used for our flight is one of the most aft ones in the pier itself.
Gate C11 was designated to our flight and unfortunately this gate isn't really the best for spotting the bird that brings us over to Barcelona.
The flight however was going to be performed by PH-BXW, which is a 17.6 year old Boeing 737-800 that was newly delivered to KLM in December 2007 and is named after a Partridge. While the aircraft has been solely flying for KLM, it has been subleased for several times to Transavia to cover their summer schedules.
But expect the aircraft to look like this neighbouring bird that is being pushed back for a flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Boarding was just called minutes behind our scheduled departure and went quite quickly. Upon embarking we were greeted by two flight attendants and eventually made my way to my seat 08F. The seat itself isn't overly excited, though offers sufficient legroom for a two hour long flight with me being 1.83m (6'') tall.
Legroom may become a bit more restricted though if you decide to use the seat pocket for your own material.
Boarding is still in process and it is suppose to be a full flight today in both classes.
The seat itself comes with your standard table and a specific cup holder if you do not want to make use of the table obviously. A coat hook can be found on the left hand side of the front seat. (Right hand side if you were in aisle).
Two USB-A plugs can be found inbetween the two seats in front of you, so it is not necessary to pick a fight with your neighbour if you both wanted to charge any of your devices.
The table itself is quite on the small side, but was clean. It does have another cupholder and two ridges in the top which are perfectly capable of being used as a phone standard. The table however is not able to be moved forward or backwards and is stuck in position.
The literature that you can find was a safety card, a sick bag and KLM's magazine ''Holland Herald''.
The aircraft is also equipped with individual reading lights and air vents, however I must admit that the air vents of the older style generation are much better in my opinion as one is able to regulate that airflow much better than these.
And the view of seat 08F is not too shabby though.
Pushback was eventually engaged about two minutes after our scheduled departure time.
While we were pushing back on time, it took us another 15 minutes or so to actually be airborne as we were scheduled to depart from the notorious distant runway 36L. It is a good time to be leaving Amsterdam though as rainy weather is approaching.
About 20 minutes into the flight, the flight attendants appeared to provide us with a complimentary snack and beverage. I asked for a cup of coffee and received a sandwich made out of whole wheat bread with a spread of Egg Salad.
The sandwich itself is not that surprising and tasty, however it is still nice to receive something rather than an overpriced Buy-on-Board menu. I wonder for how long though as KLM is transfering to somewhat of a Buy-on-Board menu with complimentary coffee, tea and water and a small snack… I believe they are doing these test runs on their routes to Oslo, Porto & Lisbon.
The aircraft is also equipped with WiFi as seen below with three different packages. A free message pass, a surf pass for 10 EUR & 20 EUR for a stream pass. The app also lets you determine what the expected WiFi coverage is along your route and one can determine based on the route whether one is willing to pay for such an amount.
I simply connected to the free message pass, which was sufficient to me as one can also browse the web a bit with it though at a pace where one requires some patience. You can buy WiFi for cheaper rates though if you book it in advance, however I think that may be a gamble as not all the 737s so far are equipped with WiFi from what I know.
By now not much was going on and I was just listening music while looking outside
About twenty minutes to landing, the captain announced himself to provide us with the latest details and weather in Barcelona and was informing us that we were already in descent to Barcelona.
Touchdown on Runway 24R was about 8 minutes past 10 am resulting in us arriving ahead of time by about twelve minutes or so.
Left turn out to head to our gate in Terminal 1 as soon as possible.
Eventually docked at one of the many gates about 7 minutes ahead of our scheduled arrival time and it took about five minutes or so for us to start to disembark only to be met by a closed door blocking us from entering the terminal. It took the ground attendant another two minutes to notice (despite people knocking on the glass door) that the door had closed upon us and that the line was queuing down the jetbridge.
While I frequent Barcelona quite a few times per year for my work, I know my way around, however signage in this terminal is poor and confusing at certain points if it is your first visit. This is definitely something that could be drastically improved.
And obviously they decided to use the most distant baggage belt available in the terminal which did not see any action for a solid 40 minutes past our arrival time. Luckily enough my luggage appeared as one of the first on the belt and off I was to the office.
Thanks for stopping by though!
