AMS Lounge News
 

In conversation with a lounge attendant yesterday, I learned the following :

- Schengen lounge to be expanded by June 1. Construction has already started, it looks like floor area will increase by ±75%. The expansion will overlook the new shopping arcade, with the new Grand Café on the other side. The agent did not give any details ("wait and see") but claimed it would all be very nice.

- The two intercontinental lounges will not be expanded, due to lack of space.

- No new lounge will be opened in the non-Schengen section of the D pier.

- The AF lounge will remain open after June 1, but only temporarily. This presumably means it will be closed when the contract with Schiphol Airport expires.

johan

Thanks for the interesting facts, Johan

The new expanded lounge would be a nice improvement, the current AF lounge is nice for pax leaving from the KL gates around the corner of the B pier ( mostly Cityhopper and KLM exel flights )
Have no idea when the contract is due, but maybe */LH/OS would be interested, cause their gates are only a stonethrow away...

The next time I asked (late May), I was told mid August. The lounge agent I spoke to yesterday said 2005, but did not know exactly when. She did reiterate that it would be "very nice" and confirmed that showers would be available. She also told me that the showers in the former Royal Wing lounge have been closed due to persistent problems with the hot water supply, and that all eligible pax are now given vouchers for the Mercure Hotel. Can anyone confirm this?

The Schengen lounge is now full of little KL/AF flags, and French magazines exceed the Dutch and English ones in variety, quality and quantity. This presumably means that few francophone elite pax visit the lounge, and few French magazines are therefore stolen. :)


I popped into the AF lounge on my way to a SK departure from B19 (quite a hike from the KL Schengen lounge). Although small, it was bright and very clean. Nice selection of newspapers, magazines and beverages, limited selection of snacks. There were only two guests, so I chatted for a while with the sole lounge agent. The lounge will remain open at least until the spring of next year. Access policy :

KL PE : when arriving/departing from pier B, on any airline.
KL GE : when arriving/departing from pier B, on KL/AF only.

The lounge is thus very convenient for PEs flying LH and SK, whose flights usually use B gates.

johan

Had a shower in the E/F lounge about 10 days ago. No mention of vouchers so this must be a very new policy.

That made me chuckle. Any airline so long as it departs from a B gate. I can't really imagine all the D/E/F/G pople wanting to treck all that way just to swamp the AF lounges. :)

-- Dambus

I asked for a shower in the RW lounge a week ago yesterday and was given a voucher to the Mercure along with the explanation that they couldn't seem to keep the hot water functioning in their own. So it sounds like we can file that one under "probably true".

Same story last weekend. The lounge staff said there were no immediate plans to "fix" the lounge showers and were handing out Mercure vouchers.

-- Dambus

Let's sincerely hope they never get around to fixing them, then. Give me the Mercure any day.

mvh

johan

Johan,

I agree. Although the Mercure shower rooms are not that great, they are far much better than a cold, or at best lukewarm, shower in the lounge.

Also, I'm really fed up with people who occupy those three shower rooms sometimes for nearly an hour, by passing the key onto all their kins :mad:

I used AF lounge on my recent CDG trip, and it was very nice. In fact I prefer it to KL lounges, smaller and brighter
Now I will be flying on KL on WBC ticket to Prague and I will arrive to AMS in WBC yet my Prague flight will be on KLM cityhopper, so its coach. I am NW WorldPerks Gold and a member of WorldClubs that give me access to all KLM lounges. Will I have access to AF lounge in B pier as thats where my flight will most likely leave from?
Thank you

KLM have officially announced today that KL Europe Select pax and AF Tempo Challenge pax no longer have access to the AF B pier lounge, due to capacity constraints. These pax are more than welcome to take a hike to the Schengen lounge instead, where there are always plenty of seats available.

johan