FRI 12DEC AMSTERDAM - NAIROBI 1020 2025 KL 565 B777 Seat 5D

After clearing immigration at Amsterdam, I went straight to the refurbished Crown Lounge in the non-Schengen section of the terminal. This was my first visit to the new facility and I was quite impressed. I certainly felt more spacious than the old lounge. After a quick stop at the coffee machine, I went to work on an assignment for the office, using the free wireless available. About 45 minutes before the scheduled departure, I went down to the F gates for the final security check and for boarding.

I quite like the fact that there is a separate line for premium passengers at the gates. The normal line was very long and stretched all the way down to the next gate. After a wait of maybe ten minutes I cleared security and heard my name being paged. When I had bought the ticket two weeks back, I had already noted that the cheaper booking classes were sold out and I ended up with a B-fare. Secretly, I had been hoping for an operational upgrade since the combination of a full plane, high FF status and an expensive ticket is usually a winning combination on AF/KL. And indeed, when the gate agent put my boarding pass through the reader, there was the PING! sound. She announced that there was a seat change and wrote the new seat number 5D on the boarding pass. Needless to say, she just made my day with this operational upgrade The plane left completely full in both classes and I think there was one other upgraded passenger in the front cabin.

Unlike some other people here, I don´t mind the new business class seats on KL and in the past have also been quite happy with the catering. And I absolutely love the IFE system on most of the long-range fleet with an enormous choice of movies. I recently took CO for a number of flights to North and South America and by the time I was flying back from Bogóta, I was already running out of movies I wanted to see (and that was before crossing the Atlantic again), so I really appreciate the choice. Obviously, the selection of movies would have been similar in coach, but the larger screen made viewing more pleasant.

In December 2008, the signature chef was Sergio Herman of the Oud Sluis restaurant in Sluis and the wine selection featured a number of Dutch wines (in addition to South African, South American, French and German ones). Here is the menu for the flight to Nairobi:

Appetiser

Crab Tartlet
Presented with curry avocado quacamole, citrus jelly and sourdough crisps
Cucumber and coriander soup will complete this appetiser

Wine: De Kleine Schorre 2007

Main Courses

Slow-cooked breast of chicken
Enhanced by tarragon gravy, potatoes fondant and purée of green peas

or

Miso-glaced salmon
Offered with soya butter, fennel creme and cabbage

Wine: De Kleine Schorre 2007

or

Shredded beef
Served with truffle sauce, a basil and aruqula risotto and green asparagus

Wine: Terra Andino Altos 2007

Desert

We invite you to select your choice of a sweet dish, cheese or fresh fruit from our dessert trolley.

I had the Shredded Beef, which was quite tasty and sampled both the Kleine Schure white wine and the Terra Andina Altos Cabernet Sauvignon (as recommended by the menu). I was surprised about the quality of the Dutch wine, it is certainly an indicator of my ignorance, but I was completely unaware that there is any commercial wine production in The Netherlands. I know that many people here are rather critical of the KLM catering in business, but on the rare occassion that I get to try it, I have always been happy with the quality of the main courses. However, like others here, I feel that there could be a bit more choice with the appetisers. I liked the Crab tartlet, but I would not have minded something as simple and good as a decent, freshly tossed salad as an alternative.

Throughout the flight, the service was very attentive and I was always addressed by my name, even though the cabin was booked solid. The only minor slip was the fact that the flight attendant never came back to hang my jacket when I boarded, but he was very busy finding space for people´s luggage in the overhead compartments and I finally stowed it myself. Other than that, I could not fault the crew for friendliness and efficiency. I spent most of the flight chatting to my seat mate (a Kenyan working in New York City and returning to Nairobi for the holidays) and watching a number of movies, which I had missed on the big screen in the last months. All things considered, the time spent in flight went fast. The flight attendants also distributed Kenyan entry cards and visa forms during the flight, which helped to beat the crowds after arrival. About 90 minutes before departure, the cabin crew served a hot snack:

Appetiser

Smoked Chicken
Served with guacamole and fried cherry tomatoes

Hot Snacks

Harira
Traditional Moroccan stew of chicken and mixed vegetables

or

Couscous
Offered with tajin sauce, prunes, apricots, grapes, green cabbage, roasted almonds and mixed vegetables.

I had the couscous together with some more De Kleine Schorre wine. Again, I liked the meal and also the fact that KL tries to offers dishes from different parts of the world (I had some great Indonesian food in WBC a year ago on a flight to Tanzania), but I agree that some more choices would have been nice. Also, I feel that less seasoned travelers might prefer something a bit more run-of-the-mill than Harira or Couscous, such as a simple hot sandwich. My African seat mate certainly was not too impressed by the food choices.

Arrival in Nairobi was on-time, the flight attendants were blocking coach passengers from disembarking until WBC had done so and as a result I was among the first people to hit the passport line. Having bought my transit visa for 20 US$, I walked down to the baggage hall were my single suitcase was among the first to come onto the belt. This was not due to any priority stickers (it seems the SWISSPORT agents in Cologne forgot to attach those), but rather sheer luck as the wait for luggage in Nairobi can be quite long. I was out of the terminal less than 20 minutes after leaving the plane, which must be a personal record for me. A national holiday in Kenya meant little traffic on the road and I made it to my preferred hotel, the Fairview Garden Hotel in less than 25 minutes.

All things considered, this was an excellent flight. Scoring a rare operational upgrade certainly made my day, but the fact that KL brought back the B777 (and it´s superior IFE system) on this route means it´s a good choice for day-time flights for me in coach as well. Combined with Amsterdam as a transit hub, I´m quite happy with KL. Otherwise, my choices to East Africa are usually limited to Kenya Airways (via AMS, LHR or CDG), SWISS (via ZRH) and BA (via LHR) and here KL wins hands down.

To be continued..