So, yesterday was my flight KL771 from Amsterdam to Bonaire. Full in business, almost 90% full in economy.
Also some news about a possible next step up in catering below the pictures!

Schiphol looked like it was 01:00 AM, but it was 10am. So few people walking around. Empty and closed shoppes. It was plane ;) eerie.

Went to the new KL lounge to check out what they did. Still no open buffet. It was 10am so it was a choice of the famous Cheese Sandwich or Egg Salad. Shortly after the hot station also opened with a soup and something I can't remember. I did order a G&T at 11am, but I thought heck this will be the only one for the next 10 hours. Went up to the terrace to watch the platform and wait to board as late as possible.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d1f61346a.jpeg

Was the last one to board. Went for a window seat (1A), but still felt kinda narrow so switch with the nice lady besides me. First I thought better to be away from the isle, but I'm not that Covid scared. It did surprise me how many time FA's walked from one galley to the other.

On the flight it was still only 1 meal, served directly after take-off. No pre-departure drink, bottle of water after take-off, no towels. One tray with main meal, salad, cheese plate, dessert plate. One choice of white or red wine, went for the Merlot. The meal was 'meh' at best. The dessert has shrunk to petit four size and the 'cheese plate' was actually a plastic Beemster cheese. O no wait. It was wrapped in plastic, but also tasted like it.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...b2a7cfed0.jpeg

No choice of meal, just 'Chicken Oriental'. I really think it was the same meal as in Economy, but on Marcel Wanders plates. But it was not, in Economy they had the infamous vegetarian pasta. Which somebody in Business demanded, since there was no vegetarian option in C.
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...d3bf62006.jpeg

After meal service it was announced that half way through the flight a snack-bag would be distributed. It came precisely at that time and consisted of:
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...6aeffb81d.jpeg

Thank god for the Cheese Sandwich (once again ;), because on a 10 hour flight it was not enough food. Send KLM an e-mail that I understand and can accept that lot's of things changed over Covid-19. But the reason to downgrade the quality of the food on this 'one tray' service is just a budget cut, plain and simpel. Curious to what they will say.

Had a lovely talk with an FA mid-flight. The have much less taks during the flight, but luckily she said the flight was full. Last week she had a Sao Paulo flight, which was almost empty. They had trouble staying awake, since there was nothing to do for almost all of the crew. She also hoped that KL would say more about the reason of the lesser alcohol. It is mostly due to aggression and violence, then the number of times you go the bathroom. This morning a video came out of a drunk passenger on an Ibiza flight, so there is your reason. But lot of people complained about it.

I told her I could understand, but not the reason for the low quality and quantity and she understood. She told me that only two weeks ago she also served NY flight with NO food whatsoever. She did tell me that they are gradually going back to a full(er) service. It was announced earlier every two weeks, but the next step up will be from August 4th. From that point on she thought that on these types of flights, they would go back to a second service. Will see, flying back next week!

I happen to have psychic powers so I have divined the future for you.

You will receive a non-personalized template apology and 8000 FB miles.

This consultation was free. No need to thank me.:cool:

Hey,

Well this was Amsterdam - Geneva, last flight of the day. 03/08.

Decent meal, with Menu and drinks.

No complaints for once !

Jonny
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...ef5b735f1e.jpg

from the pictures of those Europe lunches, they also seem nicer then what u get on an ICA flight.

Not an in-flight experience per-se, but transiting in AMS today after 12PM, and wanting to go to the NS Lounge, the strangest discussion happened at border control.

While all my previous post-COVID border hops went seamlessly, the officer in the booth advised me more and more heavily not to go to the Non Schengen area.
What started as the usual chit-chat ended up as a heated negotiation. His last words were « I can’t prevent you from going to the lounge but you will miss your return flight » (on a 6h layover at a time when AMS is a deserted place...).

It felt like we were back to March/April when everything was upside-down and no one knew what to do.

Consistency is definitely not the word at Schiphol !

Only a 6 hour layover? You're really cutting it close there :D

For the record, as of august 5th, going from Int’l to Schengen zone took a whooping 90 seconds (stopwatch in hand, yes, I’m that kind of guy).
Chit-chat about how empty AMS still is included.

tl;dr: don’t let customs officers get in your head. Any layover over 2h should be fine if you want to enjoy Lounge 52. And as they say « they cannot stop you... »

Flew back BON - AUA - AMS.
Catering indeed picked-up!

Crew did their overall best and at the start of the flight made several notes that they sincerely apologise for the 'less then usual' service. The Senior Purser even came by each seat in C to make a short introduction. Really sympathetic that she did and the crew really did do there best to give service as possible.

Choice of 2 meals, the veggie pasta or a Sea-bass. I choose the later. It was ok.
At least the desert became a trio and the 'cheese plate' actually was a cheese plate this time.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...25c354b0e.jpeg

After meal service it was time to sleep. No snack-bag on this flight anymore. We would actually wake up to breakfast on this flight.

Being a 1 plate service, I did like that the only started the breakfast service 90 minutes before arrival. Instead of the usual 120 or 150 sometimes.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...731f02868.jpeg

I didn't taste though. I could somehow make up what this mash and sausage dish was suppose to be, but I didn't touch it. The mini croissant was cold, stale and dry. Same for the cheeses.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...791564edd.jpeg

If you ever travel from BON to AMS, here is one tip. This brown paper bag!
In the terminal area there is a kiosk with food an drinks and they have the best 'Chicken patties'. There $3, but if you have lounge access you can ask inside. They will get them for you. Tasted a hell of a lot beter then onboard service.
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...383d3c1d9.jpeg

But at last the quantity of the food is going up, now the quality :).

Side-note: The lounge in AUA is still closed. Somebody told that KLM didn't want to pay for the lounge just to open for the KL customers. Since the airport is for the most part empty.

Quality of food has never been a reason to fly KLM. Unless you like soup. The soup starters are almost always pretty tasty.

I have booked IAH - AMS in J for the upcoming Wednesday. Will update on the extravaganza of cuisine once I’m back on the ground.

The NS Lounge at Schiphol is for train passengers; "NS" is the Dutch Railway operator (Nederlandse Spoorwegen).


https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/me...the-lounge.jpg

Maybe I'm just not gettting this kind of humor. The poster clearly meant NS in the sense of non-Schengen. The train lounge isn't airside as you certainly know. Not a real lounge IMO, either, more a glorified waiting area.

I too didn't get that he meant non-schengen, but I also didn't think it was the NS train lounge. However having been many times to that NS lounge I can say it is better than a nice waiting area! You can have a drink and WiFi and it is usually very peaceful.

Indeed, « NS lounge » was, in this context, a shortcut for Non Schengen.

Maybe it was an unfortunate way to save a few seconds writing my post — but you need to be as fast as possible when your border crossing time is supposed to be 2h long ;)

To me it was perfectly obvious from the context: "the officer in the booth advised me more and more heavily not to go to the Non Schengen area." As the whole world knows, the NS lounge is not located in the non-Schengen area.

Johan