Introduction
Hello amigos!
This is the last entry of the series, and of the year for that matter. And is the final leg between Bogotá and Madrid via CTG and AMS on KLM, which is part of a larger series documenting my trip to Colombia back in 2022.
Previous flights on this series are:
Enchainement de vols
- 1
- 2
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
Connecting at Amsterdam Schiphol
The security check took ages (this was the time when AMS was facing security employee shortages)…once done with that I was free to roam the non-schengen side of the terminal
I didn't think about visiting the flagship KLM crown lounge at the moment, I was more worried about the queue to enter the EU… which was fairly ok at the moment.
But I went to buy a perfume, which I thought would be cheaper on this side of the terminal ( I reckon it is not)…and then the queue had grown significantly
Once I could "enter" Europe, I was on the Schengen side of the terminal…
I looked forward for a shower, so I tried my luck with my ITA Volare status to enter the KLM Crown Lounge (this didn't work at CDG with AF)…and BINGO!
The lounge itself is OK, nothing amazing. I would expect more for a "flagship" lounge. Food offering was also a bit "meh" but it totally did the job. I appreciated the white rice (quite hard to get in Spain)
An SMS let me know that a shower was waiting for me and off I went for my shower
Done with the shower I had little spare time and so I went for my flight to Madrid, which would leave from the B Concourse.
I must admit that AMS isn't one of my favourite airports, I find it quite bland from the architectural POV and while there may be many stores, I seldom find anything appealing. Plus restaurants are also a mess.
Our ride from the spotter-unfriendly windows:
You can tell when a flight goes to Latin America or Spain when queues form unnecessarily in advance of boarding:
A last view to the Terminal from the boarding bridge. The huge queue continued on the jetbrige
Boarding KLM's 737-800
Since I had the chance to experience the new 737 cabins in 2021 I look forward to have those seats instead of the old cabin….
No luck for me this time. While these seats are a whole order of magnitude better than IB or TP's, the cabin feels dated
Seat pocket contents:
AV'geeks favourite section of the Holland Herald:
Platform view…a bit desolate for AMS
Cabin view from my seat: so 1990s
Enroute to Madrid!
Don't know which RWY we took off but taxi took no time
Most of the flight the views were to the clouds
Somewhere over France the clouds cleared
This BA 777 flew over us
Then Paris came to view
And then the sky gods again shut the IFE off
In the meantime we got our meal. While I didn't feel to hungry as I had eaten at the lounge, it was nice and tasty. Thanks KLM for keeping this perk!
In a matter of minutes, we crossed from green France…
….to yellow Spain
We crossed Iberia and arrived to MAD from the north
We then taxied to Terminal T
BA still had their A380s stored at MAD back then
A short walk to the baggage claim
And I was out to sunny (and scorching hot) Madrid
