I was there April 28th and DL had a special SP line: picture

Edit: now that I think of it, this could also have been DL's regular SkyPriority, although the signs looked like Skyteams concept.

New sign for something that DL had already been offering at most stations.

Probably the 'original' SkyTeam indeed :) But imho all Skyteam services have been implemented there long ago, so only the signage is missing :)

Boarded at a bus gate today, where priority boarding is a pointless concept. Nevertheless, I saw a SkyPriority sign behind the desk, near the exit to the bus stop. There was one very long queue to the single scanner, which was manned by a single GA.

Johan

At Gate D5 (AMS) on Saturday Evening (for my AMS-TLV) there was one line for the scanner, but once beyond this there was a dedicated SkyPriority Lane, with comfy seating, and a table with power sockets really did look good, and to top it off the Priority boarding was strictly enforced :)

I'm still reeling, or else I may just have been dreaming, but I boarded at B36 this afternoon and priority boarding worked.

B36 is one of the few gates with seating areas on both sides of the BC scanners, allowing pax to rise en masse and storm the gate from all sides simultaneously. Having played this game before, I carefully but with ostensibly nonchalant insouciance selected a strategic starting point to make my move at the first hint of boarding. A proper (recorded) announcement was made, after which the priority side only was opened. I would have been first, had I not out of courtesy allowed two other pax to cut in line in front of me. By sheer coincidence this also allowed me to peek at their boarding cards and confirm that they were entitled to SkyPriorty boarding.

I don't know what happened after I boarded, but they actually managed to get everybody on the plane 10 minutes before STD. Another shock to the system. Somebody then decided this was just the right time to start refuelling the plane, otherwise we might actually have pushed back on time. As it was, we left only a minute late.

KLM and the GAs are to be congratulated. Now all they have to do is keep it up.

Johan

Just back from a trip to Bergen (MAN-AMS-BGO, BGO-AMS-LBA).

The gate at MAN had two sets of seats, that formed two queues. Was in the SP side - not sure how strongly it's enforced, but GAs were saying "business or skyteam elite" or words along those lines.

AMS (to BGO). Actually impressed at this. Had a dedicated SP lane at the gate, it was pretty much empty when I got to it, with fairly long line in the economy one - suggesting it was being enforced. After the scanners, there was a SP 'holding pen' after with chairs, power points etc, and the economy side was 'roped off' from the air bridge.
Was one of the early D gates - D60 maybe?

BGO. The cut in the line setup. I may not have bothered to do so but I happened to be at that end of the line anyway. Probably got cursed no Norwegian for it by other pax, but GA said nothing other than to scan my boarding pass. Also don't think I was the first to cut in.

AMS (to LBA). Bus gate D6 so not really much to be gained by early!

So things are improving. Let's hope KLM can keep it up!

Just returned from a longhaul return trip. SP worked like a charm on both flights.

At AMS: <10mins for baggage drop-off and customs (one flight crew cutting through, no biggie). At the gate, 3 other SP members followed me into the SP line, triggering a crowd of followers. This alerted a suspicious gate agent who quickly checked and booted people from the line where appropriate.

On the way back: clearly identified SP lines which worked like a charm. (Although I dropped off my bags at the regular drop-off, as these 2 desks were empty while all 4 SP desks were occupied :D. Premium heavy destination I guess....).

So a big ^ for KLM's SP on this trip.

Today I was shocked. KLM and Air France in Oslo Airport were offering passengers who checked-in their carry on luggage priority boarding, making the priority boarding considerably longer than previously... Can someone confirm this at other outstations or even in Amsterdam Airport

SB

What? ? ?

Flew from CPH today, and priority boarding sort of worked for the first time ever. That's to say, it was properly announced and a half-hearted effort was made to stop those not elligible. I was first to board, and when the GA said "J class and elites only" I just answered "that must be me!" and walked straight past without showing my BC. Maybe he recognized me though, which is quite possible at CPH.

Johan

It was being enforced at HEL last week as well, for the first time ever. Problem was, there was no dedicated line so there was a big mob formed with people trying to push through, but the agents not letting anyone else through unless they were SkyPriority. Clearly they could have done a better job by ensuring that people were in one line vs. another depending on boarding priority.

Took a leisurely stroll from one end of AMS to the other yesterday evening. Several longhaul flights were (pre-)boarding from F-gates, all but one codeshares. These all had airline representatives supervising the KL GAs. The one KL metal flight also happened to be the only one where SkyPriority access to security was not policed, and consequently abused.

KL may get there in the end, but they still have some way to go.

Johan

I took a quick walk around the F-gates in the evening, a couple of days after Johan. There were only 3 flights (pre-) boarding at that time - 2 KL metal, and 1 KL code-share. However, all 3 seemed to have a KL GA at the entrance to the queuing area, checking eligibility for the SkyPriority lane. Admittedly a small sample, but still ^

An article in the January issue of Holland Herald promotes SkyPriority under the headline "New Flying Blue Benefits".

New? New? SkyPriorty has been around for a while. Getting it to actually work would indeed be something new, though.

I boarded an almost full flight at a B-gate yesterday. The departure was handled by a single agent. She first made an announcement for pax with small kids (there were lots of those), and then played the standard recorded boarding announcement, which resulted in the usual Charge of the Light Brigade (yeah, all six hundred of 'm. Their hearing had probably been impaired by too much Russian gunfire). As I had sneakily lined up behind the infants, I did not witness the scenes that followed. When the GA came on board with the pax manifest she told the FA that boarding had taken an extra 10 minutes because she was alone, and that this was the case at most gates due to staff shortages. She described the place as a madhouse. Maybe her colleagues were all still at exoctic locations waiting for non-rev seats home, or else they had not yet recovered from their New Year's Eve partying.

Johan

Or (being more charitable) maybe there was just an unusually high incidence of illness?

There is a lot of it going around... I've been struck down no less than four times in as many weeks (three colds - two of them bad enough to knock me out for a couple of days - and the dreaded Norovirus).

And, BTW, Cold No 3 struck, literally, as I was disembarking from my most recent KLM flight last Sunday. I must have, unwittingly, given it to quite a few people along my journey, possibly including some KLM staff.

So - maybe you should blame me for the chaotic boarding!