Mozart0815

I just find any lounge in China I’ve ever been to (including this one) just plain ugly. They typically feel like the interior designer just is in love with 1990s US office architecture.

And non-Asian food in any CA or MU lounge is just bad.

atflyer

Yes, you have to like dumplings or noodles. Sit in the CE PVG lounge right now and they are good. But the only Western food availabe is a tuna sandwich ;-)

atflyer

And I just see that the experation date of the croissant I took is 2019-11-30 :-( (it is 12-1 now....)

NickB

I thought we were talking about hub flagship lounges here, in which case the AZ lounge in LIN (which only deals with point to point intra-Schengen flights) is irrelevant. As to MXP, I have no personal experience of it but all that I have heard from it was positive (by contrast to the dumpy SEA-run Monteverdi Schengen lounge). In any event, AZ only has a few flights from MXP and it is not a hub, so largely an irrelevance for this discussion. As to FCO, the Schengen area lounge in zone D is a dump but the non-Schengen lounges in zone E such as the Piazza di Spagna lounge are nice and I would choose them over the KL AMS NS lounge in a heartbeat.

As to lounges in Asia, we need to compare what is comparable. KLM is an airline based in Europe. Comparing it to Asian, Australasian, Middle-Eastern, African or American airlines which operate in very different markets does not make much sense to me. IMO, the more meaningful comparison is to the flagship lounges of European airlines. HEre, the comparison is going to be with the AF CDG 2E lounges, the BA LHR Flounge, the LH SEN lounges in FRA and MUC, the LX SEN lounges in ZRH, the AZ FCO E lounges, the VS LHR Club Lounge and the SK and TP lounges in LIS and CPH. I have not been to the new TP LIS lounge and it has been a very long time since I was in the SK CPH lounge so I will refrain from expressing views on either. Setting those two aside, apart from the crowding at times in some of the LH SEN lounges at FRA (but then, the issue arises in the KL AMS NS lounge too), I do not think that I would rank the KL AMS NS lounge higher than any of them.
It is not the worst lounge in the world. I can think of dozens and dozens of airport-run lounges which are far worse but, as far as flagship lounges of major European airlines at their hub are concerned, I would have thought that KL was pretty much at the bottom rather than the top.

As Mozart0815 said, however, it is much more an expectation management more than anything else. If KL had not waxed lyrical about the new lounge, it would be a non-event: just a pretty mediocre lounge but then KL is not famous for the high quality of its lounges, is it? By presenting it as the dog's b...ks, it brought a spotlight on the mediocrity of the lounge and made the contrast between the rhetoric and reality glaring.

George Moore

Really unpopular opinion, but I really rate the new Schengen lounge... My only gripe is that it isn't open and ready for the first KLM arrival from Seoul in the morning... That is annoying! The lounge has been much better than the AF, KE, and DL lounges that I have been in this year, and obviously better than most contractor lounges. Food could be better, but at the same time, I wouldn't call it bad. I had some great lamb burgers last week! Shower rooms are great, and bathrooms are as well... They have been no better, or no worse to what I have seen around Europe with other lounges. It is a market improvement of the old KLMNS lounge.

Now, I do have issues with the lounge... I strongly disagree with the Blue Restaurant / Bar concept, as I do not believe that those who pay for a J ticket, or have STE+ status should be made to pay for services. I feel that in this area, KLM are trying to be something that they are not. however at the same time, I realise that this area is technically separate from the lounge, therefore I have no reason to go and use that area.

In someways, I note what people say about the lounge not being 'very KLM'... I agree, I prefer it when KLM stick to their means and have a standard lounge. That is probably why I love the Schengen lounge! With that being said, I do really like the new lounge... It isn't the worlds best, but I really don't expect it to be the worlds best lounge. I've been in there many times now, and I am very happy with it.

atflyer

That is a point I agree with. But I would rank the KL S lounge above the AF one at the F gates at CDG. There I am right now, overcrowded, looking for a seat, and finally when I found one having a bit of bread with cheese and wine since there is nothing else. The KL S lounge at least has rice and chicken curry, how basic it is.

atflyer

At this point , 17.46 Sunday 1 December, they even do not have any Emmenthal cheese left in the CDG 2F lounge.....I must survive on yoghurts right now, or go out and buy me a meal.

atflyer

But then they come around with champagne right now. That obviously gives the AF 2F lounge bonus points ;-)

Mozart0815

That, and the French are clearly best at baking tasty croissants and pains au chocolat.

Beyond that, the lounges in F and even worse G are indeed just bad. In F you at least have some commercial restaurant alternatives, in G there’s basically nothing. (Both still beat the LH Senator underground bunker in T1, but that isn’t particularly hard).

BobTL

2G is a beautiful lounge with a nice buffet, nice wines and runway view. What’s not to like?
ok, one thing there is not to like and that is the fact there are no urinoirs at the toilets. Very impractical.

Romanianflyer

No surprise there. Germans and building bunkers in France was never a particularly good combination.

NickB

My experiences of the AF CDG 2F lounges have not been quite as bad as that but I agree that the standard of those 2F lounges is indeed very low. Let us hope that when they replace them with a new lounge for both parts of 2F the standards improve. But this is somewhat OT for this thread since these are intra-Schengen lounges.
When was the last time you were in 2G? Since the new lounge opened a few years ago, it has become quite decent. I certainly much prefer it to the 2F ones.

caliform

My opinion has risen a bit with the new Blue bar at AMS. I think if there were good bars (or any, really?) at AMS this would've been a controversial addition, but since there are pretty much zero spots where you can get a good cocktail or whiskey this is a SUBLIME addition to the airport. I really don't give a hoot that it's paid, but I am also probably the least price sensitive traveler category.

Once there's actual competition from better restaurants and actual bars I'll start complaining. In the meantime, the space is open to all and if you want you can buy great booze. Love it.

Mozart0815

About 6 weeks ago. You're right, the lounge per se is actually ok'ish, you can get a shower usually quite quickly, and the very nice pain au chocolat (usually still warm in the morning) is not really helping my dieting efforts.

it is more the overall experience in this tiny terminal in the middle of nowhere that really puts me off, that is more appropriate for a Ryanair or other low cost than for a stopover experience after a 12 h intercontinental flight in J.

But indeed, this is going way of topic comparing a flagship international lounge to it's reasonable peers.

I recently saw this list:

https://theluxurytravelexpert.com/20...lounges-world/

I've only been to 5 out of these 10 (BA LHR, SQ SIA, SA LAX, CX The Wing, AF CDG, and Al Mourjan), and while Al Mourjan is overrated, I'd say all other four, as well as LX Terminal E, are nicer than the Crown Room.

HadesNL

Price of tea of KLM's Blue Bar -- also possible to redeem miles