Shamelessly plagiarising Tocsin thread title from his recent Krakow Trip Report, I am heading to the land of dentists on a zero notice trip.

Something has felt a little off with the bionic teeth for the last couple of days although there had been no outward sign of anything amiss and I half wondered if I was imagining things. Alas, no, late this morning there were signs of a little swelling and that’s enough to set my paranoia to maximum. Clearing it with the chief, it was time to head to the dentists. I gave them a call at a little after noon and secured an appointment for 9am. Side note: my dentists, Dent Estet are amazing!

Appointment in hand it was time to find flights. Business class was insane, for timings that worked the cheapest return was almost �1,750. Economy on KLM was a much more wallet friendly �400 and I snapped those up, out this afternoon, back tomorrow afternoon.

Next up, check in. Out of curiosity I clicked a free business class seat for AMS-OTP and, �83 upgrade. Now given the business class fare was �1,350 more than economy this makes no sense but who was I to argue… sold!

Having checked into the outbound, time to do the same for the return, and trying a business class seat OTP-AMS I noticed a pay with points option! Given a surfeit of points and no plans for them, 16,400 points secured business class for that one too!

I’ve picked exit row seats for the NCL-AMS and back so happy to sit back of the bus for those, I have yet to fly KLM economy.

The hotel was a no-brainer given the arrival is after midnight, 20,000 points for the Hilton Garden Inn next to the airport. I does mean I need to be up and out early, but better than than faffing around with getting into the city in the dead of night.

And now, less than a hour after I finished all the booking and upgrading, and after some rather rushed packing, here I sit in an Uber where we are rapidly approaching the airport.

Life is never boring

Clearly "To ________ by SkyTeam" is going to become the next big trend in TRs.

I couldn�t resist

As we arrived at the airport I was greeted by roadworks outside the terminal. Apparently they are rearranging the lanes to make exit from the car park easier



Inside the terminal it was very quiet. BA check in has been moved next to Jet2 and Easyjet are now using the ex-BA counters




As the AF/KLM check in was deserted I thought I’d ask the price of an airport upgrade for the NCL-AMS leg. �149 was the answer, which makes absolutely no sense against the earlier online upgrade prices. Declined with thanks.

I have Sky Team Elite status with four various programmes and I took the opportunity offered recently to status match BA to FlyingBlue platinum and so Sky Priority provided fast path security and lounge access.

Nothing notable has changed in the lounge, some danish pastries are new to me and the Gluten Free cake is now Chocolate and that’s about it.




When I arrived there were seven assorted Aspire and airport bods wandering around with notepads so something is afoot although the staff didn’t know, or wouldn’t say, what.

Anyhoo, now settled in the a glass of fizz and a cup of coffee… I’ve given up on the trio in this lounge, all the juices are nigh undrinkable.

I have a (bog standard, direct, Y) trip to BUD with KL up this weekend, shall I join the fray?

It's not starting in NCL though.

The mystery of all the people around the lounge is solved, they’re plotting out new cameras.

Lunch is served



And the remainder of the buffet





Nothing to do now but kick back for an hour before boarding

Go for it

Looks like KLM want to make things interesting! My 17:25 departure is now delayed to 17:55 with a 20:07 arrival. My OTP departure is at 21:00! This may require some serious hustle and some strategic queue jumping at the D gates to make that connection now.

Fingers crossed for no further delays!

Forgot that OTP is now Schengen.... Look for the Short Connection queue at passport control. The OTP flight is almost always late though, I gather to hold for connections.

17:25 and gate 20 was announced which is only a short wander from the lounge. A walk on gate this evening .

Our plane for this evening



Final call was made just as I arrived at the gate which, three minutes after the gate was announced, seems slightly premature!

The gate holding pen is divided into Groups 1&2 to the left and groups 3,4, and 5 to the right. Looks like that’s as far as group priority goes.

Fingers now firmly crossed that we do not pick up any further delays

No leg room issues here in 15 A



Definitely the ‘view from the wing’ seat



A look at the safety card




17:40 and it looks like boarding is complete on this very lightly loaded flight.



I was going to ask if I could move to the front for landing but there are so few passengers, plus they have announced a ‘stay where you are for weight
and balance’ that I think it is probably not worth the effort.

And as I write this we are pushing back at 17:41, 16 minutes late but 14 minutes ahead of our revised departure time.

Next Stop: Amsterdam

As the plane was climbing, the crew lead made an announcement that she was aware that a number of people were concerned about their short connections and that she had no information at this time but would make another announcement at 15 minutes to landing when she would have more information.

It didn’t take long for the drink and a snack service to start. This is a bag of tomato biscuits that were surprisingly tasty, and a refreshing alcoholic beverage! It feels decadent after BAs mini popcorn and water offering.



A little later this sweet arrived, it a mystery to me how these things happen



The rest of the flight I spent reading on my iPad and occasionally staring out into the darkness.

The pilots announcement that we were twenty minutes to landing and that there would be a fifteen minute taxi to the gate. He also announced that according to the system everyone should make their connection so hopefully he is right. Despite this assurance a couple of people moved to seats closer to the front and were sent back to whence they came.

I didn’t get to interact with the crew much on this very short flight but they all came across as delightful which is what I have come to expect from KLM crews.

Seats for landing at 19:35 and we were wheels down at 19:42. All being well I should have 45 minutes to clear into the Schengen side and get to my gate.


Wish me luck

Well that was fun

Ten minutes from gate to security
Five minutes in security
Seven minutes in the lounge
Six minutes to the gate

And here we are minutes before boarding is supposed to start



Made it! Hot and sweaty, but, made it!

Boarding has commenced, and it’s the same crew! I have no idea what the odds are but they have to be remote. I wonder if it will be the same again on the return tomorrow afternoon?

plenty of leg room here in row 2 (row 1 was fully taken)



USB charging, Wi-Fi, and a device holder, all the mod cons



Boarding complete at 21:00 and ground crew off the plane, however the flight deck is still open so clearly we are going to be a little delayed on departure.

Next Stop: Bucharest

Ten minutes past our scheduled departure the pilot announced that our pushback tug had finally arrived and we would be on our way shortly.

With a few minutes to wait I was playing around with the wifi. Free messaging connected with no issues and no authentication. The on board web pages include a simple map and a basic trip info screen.

Push back was at 21:15 and a fairly long taxi before we were wheels up at 21:29 and on our way for our 2:20 trip to Bucharest

It didn’t take long for the service to start. The first offering was a hot towel and the offer of a bottle of water. The towel was really hot and also moister than most, and much appreciated! Food and drink service was around 15 minutes later and the standard trio to kick things off. The coffee is rocket fuel, just what I like.



The box meal is always cold and this time almost entirely went back to the galley, however the warmed quiche was tasty and served as my meal, and the macarons were very good!





Once everything was cleared away these celebratory chocolates were offered, and then a second drinks run which was coffee and brandy for me.



The rest of the flight I spent reading on my iPad intermittently chatting to the crew. I was surprised to learn that the minimum layover for KLM is 11 hours, hardly time to get a decent nights sleep. I will not be seeing this crew tomorrow, they’re taking the earlier flight back to Amsterdam.

With about twenty five minutes to go the crew lead came to clear my glasses and deliver a little gift. Have I mentioned that I love KLM crews?



The pilots announcement that we were twenty minutes to landing came shortly thereafter and we were on the ground in OTP at 00:48 to the applause of many on board, not heard that for a while!

Just now trundling around the very white and snowy airport on the way to the gate.



Next Stop: The Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.