KLM had reduced the AMS Crown Lounge entry fee for non-eligible pax.

Given that the catering amenities have been reduced to next to nothing, I'm not sure why anybody in their right mind would want to pay for access. As the entire airport is deserted, finding a quiet place to sit should be easy enough, and €35 should be more than plenty to buy something to eat and drink at Grab & Fly.

Johan

Maybe they're offering the special price to to exhibit their resident rodent to all who wish to pay.

In that case I sure hope 10% of the monies earned will be set aside to provide said rodent with vitamins and nutritional supplements. The poor critter has been on a starvation diet for over a month now.

Johan

And someone actually gets paid to think about that and take the decision to do that.

I wonder if KLM will make back the investment of this bold decision.

Such a decision proofs that the people who discussed this and took the decision are ‘boventallig’.

Interesting that AMS lounges are still open.

What about Paris? When I left a few hours before the "confinement" the lounge in 2E was open, the full catering was there, but it was served by one of the staff rather than self-service. Everything else in the airport was closed, with the exception of the newsstand.

I think also that in other airports lounges tend to be closed, but not sure.

Only the non-Schengen one.

Aspire, BA and Star Alliance lounges also closed.

One of the two Privium lounges remained open for a few weeks, but then it closed too. I'm not surprised, when I visited late March I was the first guest to arrive in several hours, and the only one there for my entire stay.

Johan

I believe all CDG lounges are closed. Abroad, only JFK and ORD are still open.

Sounds like a bargain, a seat, choice of still or fizzy water and wifi for €35 or has something improved since my last visit late March ?

It's at least good to see that decisions in KLM are still being made by Dutch people. This is a perfect demonstration of that.

KLM outsourced the operation of the lounge to French food group, Sodexo, a few years ago.

I would not at all be surprised if the fact that one of the lounges is still open is due to Sodexo's insistence on their contract being honoured, rather than this being a "decision in KLM" being made by "Dutch people"....it's quite easy to imagine a contract being concluded between the parties that had absolutely no provision for a week- or months-long shutdown as KLM may have done had it been totally in their hands still, as I doubt KLM ever envisaged a scenario in which they would wish Sodexo to shut up for an extended period.

As such, this may be more a "French decision" than a "Dutch decision"...

(Sodexo caters in a lot (if not all?) Dutch prisons, but many of their catering contracts are likely to be inoperative right now, so I would expect Sodexo to push for any cash that it can. If Sodexo insists on still being paid by KLM, then KLM may as well insist that they actually run the lounge for the duration!)

It used to be Sodexo, now it's Vermaat.

https://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/nieu...beheer-lounges

It seems there are "colleagues from Vermaat and Sodexo" both involved in the running of the lounges!

I wonder if Vermaat is responsible for "Blue" (the KLM press release about Vermaat refers to "live cooking" and that "In future, it will also be possible to order and pay for additional premium products in advance"), while Sodexo does the regular slop you don't have to pay for?

(source)
https://news.klm.com/vermaat-to-supp...iphol-lounges/

True. They took over most of the lounge personnel that used to work for Sodexo. Not sure if they are still employed by Sodexo (formerly known as KLM Facility Services).

Yes, they are. They are also the group that owns RIJKS - Joris Bijdendijk's Michelin star restaurant.

When shall Blue obtain its stars, and how many will it earn?

I think Covid will make an extra victim : Blue restaurant....