Quick report on this afternoon's flight.

Online check-in

Didn't even try the app, used a PC. All done in less than a minute. My assigned seat 2C had vanished, but I managed to get an aisle seat in the first row of GO. It probably helped that I OLCI'd just under 30 hours before STD, well outside the official 22-hour window.

Lounge

Used the AMS Privium ClubLounge, which is head and shoulders about all other lounges at the airport. Requires membership, though.

Boarding

Boarding a full flight does not seem to be SK's forte. It took 40 minutes, we pushed back 15 minutes late. The flight departed from one of the C-gates which has the physical infrastructure to properly organize priority boarding, i.e. screens and (Tensa) barriers. Priority boarding was announced twice, and correctly enforced by the single gate agent. The announcements were in Scandinavian casual style: "Hello everybody! / Hallo allemaal!".

The FAs had taken the precaution of closing all overhead lockers in the Plus rows, but as these were of course opened by priority boarding pax and then left open, several Go pax managed to take advantage of them anyway. Once again there were far too many carry-ons, and far too little space.

Operational Upgrades

The gate agent had neatly arranged nine boarding cards on her desk, and the nine pax who took their aisle and window seats in Plus during priority boarding were later joined by another nine. Strikerbird is right, *Alliance Gold is not going to get me any upgrades on SK. I must add that most of the OpUps did not really look like SK frequent flyers, not even ones returning from an Easter leisure break.

Departure

As mentioned above, 15 minutes late. We arrived only five minutes late, but that was late enough for me to miss my train, and add another two hours to my journey.

In-flight catering

The cabin crew did better this time. Two trolleys appeared in Plus 22 minutes after pushback. The first trolley started with the last row of Plus, and then proceeded immediately to GO, leaving the second trolley to serve the first three Plus rows. The first FA proceeded down the aisle at a very brisk pace, annoucing "in-flight sales". I just managed to stop him, and asked for a glass of water (just for the heck of it, of course). This was offered immediately. I was not asked whether I wanted to purchase a bottle, and the glass I was given was full to the brim. The guy across the aisle from me was left sitting with the menu on his lap. He apparently though the first trolley was serving drinks and the second food. This second trolley of course never made it to GO, and the guy was apparently too shy to push the call button or get up and ask, so he had to go without food, and SK without the profit.

Service in Plus was still very slow, possibly because the OpUps seemed clueless (which also argues against them being frequent flyers). They had not studied the menu, the FA had to explain what was available, about which they then had to think for a while, etc. A normal business class service with one or two choices is far more efficient and customer friendly.

In conclusion

The experience was marginally better this time round, primarily because the crew seemed a bit more organized. And hey, I got the glass of water I asked for without any fuss.

Johan