TRIP REPORT: KLM, Amsterdam - Belgrade

TRIP REPORT

I took this trip during the summer and was anxious due to all the news about the chaos at Amsterdam Airport. As I was a connecting from a long haul flight, I avoided the mess that is mostly concentrated to check-in and security.

It was the first time I ever flew with KLM, so I was interested to see what they are like. I had a long transfer time of several hours, as I was on the evening flight to Belgrade, but I did not want to leave the airport in order to avoid those long lines which stretched outside of the airport terminal. So, I purchased access to KLM’s lounge which I was able to do through the “Manage your booking” section on their website. In all honesty, I can’t remember what the lounge access price was, but it was not too expensive.

The lounge is huge. There is a solid selection of food and drinks, showers and there is also a balcony overviewing the tarmac. It is a good way to burn some time.

After that I headed to the gate which was a bus gate on the ground floor. We were right next to the Zagreb flight. I noticed there were a lot of transfers from the US (or maybe it was Canada) and a notable number of Asian passengers but I don’t know exactly where they were from.

The flight turned out to be full. We were bussed to our Embraer plane and were greeted by some quite senior aged crew. The plane seemed in good condition with 2x2 configuration. The seats were leather and they had USB ports which is a great feature.

We pushed back on time but there was a long wait at the runway.

I was exceptionally surprised by the service that was offered on board on an intra-European flight. All economy passengers got a big complimentary sandwich which was basically dark bread with avocado and complimentary non-alcoholic drink. I asked for some diet coke and was given the entire can. I know it is nothing special, but this sort of complimentary service has become so rare on European airline and intra- European flights that it was a nice touch. After the snack, tea and coffee was offered and the crew cleared any rubbish.

Return flight

The rest of the flight was uneventful. In Belgrade, we parked at the remote B stands and were bussed to the terminal. Unlike before, when passengers would be bussed straight to passport control, we were bussed to one of the A gates, then went up to the new floor and then down to passport control.

Although I wasn’t overly confident my luggage would make it, to my pleasant surprise it did (the luggage was already delivered when most passengers arrived to baggage claim). Overall, I was positively surprised by KLM on this intra-European flight and would recommend them in general based on my experience. My return flight 2 weeks later was the same.

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