Review of KLM flight Amsterdam Buenos Aires in Business

Airline KLM
Flight KL 701
Class Business
Seat 02G
Aircraft Boeing 777-300ER
Flight time 13:50
Take-off 08 Feb 19, 20:55
Arrival at 09 Feb 19, 06:45
KL   #41 out of 94 Airlines A minimum of 10 flight-reports within the past two years is required to appear in the rankings. 1057 reviews
Esteban
By GOLD 2414
Published on 4th December 2019

Hello again,

Now the most interesting part of the report can start with the long haul flights!  


Routing


non schengen klm lounge


At the time of my visit, only the first part of the lounge was opened, mainly the right side of it. Since then, the lounge is now fully operational.
The entrance looks really great with lots of Delft houses on display. 


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There is no real welcome desks, the agents are standing behind pods to help customers  but there are also self checking kiosks.

The first impression wasn't that great as the room looked almost the same as the former lounge, with the same kind of old chairs. Plus, it was pretty crowded. I didn't take that much pictures from here.

At the back of the lounge there was a communal table: 


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That part of the lounge was far more nicer.


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A few sofas before going upstairs:


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Water and fruit station:


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This is the part of the lounge that is the less nice, with the old chairs and sofas. The entrance of the lounge is below the blue arch.


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Hot food zone:


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Salad bar:


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And some, not that bad, pizza slices on the right side:


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The hot dishes are being poured in the plates by service personal. The waiter was kind enough to offer to move to the right in order for me to have a nice shoot:


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There is nothing to write a home about the offering but the presentation is pretty nice.


Juices and wines:


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Breads:


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Snacks:


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Soft drinks fountain:


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Beer fountain:


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Cutlery:


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Back to the communal table, I head right to explore the upper part:


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A nice kind of amphitheater to watch TV (no sound):


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I liked the AvGeek decorations:


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It was super quiet upstairs and I really liked the benches separated by the white curtains. Looked very intimate:


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Still work in progress:


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This is the Blue Bar:


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An overview of what is called the "Dutch Mountain" see the guy taking picture at the back of the picture: lots of people were taking photos and the staff seemed very proud about the new lounge.


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Upstairs there is more bread and that awful board of processed cheese. I would never understand why KLM continues to offer that industrial thing given that the Netherlands produce one of the best cheese of the world (after France, of course !)


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Another salad bar:


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The terrace was closed at the time of the visit but is fully operational now:


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View from above:


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There are also rocking chairs close to the Delft houses:


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As well as a few exhibitions:


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The toilets are brand new and I liked their design;


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Elevators are located in the middle of the lounge:


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Another exhibition:


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The Sky side was fully opened at that time, the other part called Sea was due to open soon and is now fully open.


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I really like those illuminated tables:


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Working space:


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An overview of the lounge:


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Drinks upstairs need all to be asked at the bar. The staff was happy to please and serve and again, seemed delighted to work there.


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Vegetables and dips:


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I wasn't that hungry so settled for a Campari orange, a few vegetable and cheese. Upstairs the crockery is all plastic and wood, while downstairs you have real plates and real cutlery.


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A bit later I tried the chicken wings and the pizza. Both were good. USB and power plugs are available at each table on the left side.


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Work in progress on the terrace:


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More lounging area upstairs:


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The time really flew and it was almost time to head to the gate. E22 for me! 


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Bye Bye cute little Delft Houses:


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ams transit


The terminal is also being renovated:


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Here the whole roof is missing:


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This way to the gate:


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It wasn't exactly the closest gate to the lounge.


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OK, if you are a regular passenger you can go to EZE/SCL but if you are a priority one, you'll have to go to Jakarta :)


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inflight to eze


Boarding was launched on time with business passengers first:


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In AMS some of the gates can pass over the wings allowing a boarding via jetty from the rear:


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But not for me today :)


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A/C door:


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Very nice welcome and another door:


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Heading to my seat, 2G. For such a long night flight I don't want to be seated next to a window as I will stand up a lot of time and don't want to always bother my neighbor.


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The headrests are not well fitted and this doesn't help to give a nice premium look. 


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Sadly, the 777 and the 747 are not full access and the cabin is configured as 2-2-2. But still, very nice.


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The safety card is about to reach its end of life :)


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The pitch is great but the feet box a bit on the small side. Did not really bother me though.


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Front view:


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I wasn't able to use the handset for the whole flight, I was happy that the screen is still touch screen but still, absolutely not convenient.


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The purser apologized and offered either a voucher for 80€ to be used for on-board duty free or a travel voucher of 180€. I took the future travel voucher. That was pretty generous, given the inconvenience was only on the handset.


Champagne as welcome drink:


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The amenity kit:


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The content is more than adequate, there is also a pen, something I really like.


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Menus and wine cars are handed out:


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Dinner menu:


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Breakfast:


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Drinks:


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Wines:



The conversion € / miles is outrageous!! 159'600 miles for 399€. Forget it.


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To date, this was my longest flight:


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Actually, the real flight time was 13:22.


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We departed on time and the service started with a hot towel: 


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Followed by a Flying Dutchman cocktail and cheese. I usually don't like gin but in that cocktail it really goes well.


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Before dinner, a quick wash room break. Clean and with appropriate lotions:


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I took the trout as a starter:


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With the cutlery:


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And a closer shoot:


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It was good without being really good. KLM used to serve more elaborate and better starters. For the entree, I went with the veal:


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Here it was just ok. The presentation wasn't great and the taste was just average.

The cheeses were bland, only the fig bread was really good. The citrus mousse was meh at best:


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I had the sweet wine for the whole dinner, and really like it. I find it sad that Air France doesn't offer sweet white as KL or DL do.

Then water bottles and chocolates were handed out: 


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I watched a few movies before reclining the bed in sleep mode and was able to get a good 8H rest.

Two hours before arrival, the second service starts with a hot towel:


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Followed by cranberry juice and a custom form for Argentina:


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There is clearly a cost cutting on the second service. The yogurt was offered in addition to the hot choices, now it is either yogurt or hot dish and not both.  There used to be a cheese plate also which is now replaced by a piece of cheese wrapped in plastic.


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As hot dish I took the french bread that wasn't that good unfortunately. Furthermore the portion is really, really small given the length of the flight.


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The croissant was ok, the fruits not so fresh nor sweet.

After breakfast we are here: 


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Almost landed:


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And arrived!


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Some last cabin shoots before leaving the plane, I'll be back in a bit more than an hour for the second part of the flight.


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First steps in Argentina!


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I will only stay for 2H on Argentinian soil, heading further to Chile with the same bird.

The next part will be online soon :) 

See more

Verdict

KLM

6.2/10
Cabin8.0
Cabin crew8.0
Entertainment/wifi6.0
Meal/catering3.0

KLM Crown Lounge 5 - Non Schengen

9.6/10
Comfort10.0
Meal/catering8.5
Entertainment/wifi10.0
Services10.0

Amsterdam - AMS

8.8/10
Efficiency9.0
Access9.0
Services9.0
Cleanliness8.0

Buenos Aires - EZE

9.8/10
Efficiency10.0
Access9.5
Services10.0
Cleanliness9.5

Conclusion

The seat is really comfy but I regret not to have a full access as this becomes to be the norm in the industry.

The crew was nice but not as nice as I already had. The crew on the next flight would be ways better. But the 180€ comp for the inop handset was a really appreciated gesture.

The meals were sub-part and not appropriate for business class standard. That's a bit sad.

I was very please with AMS and even more by EZE where transit is a breeze.

Really liked the new crown lounge.

Thanks for reading, don't hesitate to drop a comment if you'd like.

Information on the route Amsterdam (AMS) Buenos Aires (EZE)

Les contributeurs de Flight-Report ont posté 4 avis concernant 1 compagnies sur la ligne Amsterdam (AMS) → Buenos Aires (EZE).


Useful

La compagnie qui obtient la meilleure moyenne est KLM avec 7.4/10.

La durée moyenne des vols est de 13 heures et 53 minutes.

  More information

11 Comments

If you liked this review or if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to post a comment below !
  • Comment 532436 by
    saintpiev GOLD 2545 Comments
    Merci pour ce FR Stephan, même si je ne pige rien à l'anglais !
    J'ai quand même remarqué, d'après l'IFE, que tu as volé à 26 km/h à 6 mètres du sol (lol !)
    A bientôt
  • Comment 532534 by
    YGeorgeW GOLD 276 Comments
    Hi Estban, thanks for the report!

    I recently flew with KLM in their J and agree with you on their catering: food was okay, but not great. The completed non-Schengen Crown Lounge looks great, it's too bad they did not complete it earlier. In my case, I was 3 days before they opened it (I went to the Schengen lounge anyways because of time). Otherwise, the 2-2-2 layout looks very old and tired. The footwell in particular looks tight.

    Do they not offer a house on this leg? Or is it because this is continuing on, it is offered the next leg?

    Thanks again!
    • Comment 532544 by
      Esteban GOLD AUTHOR 20009 Comments
      Thank you for the nice comment! Actually I forgot to take the house in picture on that leg but they offered it even to passengers on connecting flights. Three years ago I flew with them AMS SIN DPS and upon landing in SIN only the passengers with final destination SIN got one. Which, in my opinion isn't fair. This time I got two houses :)
  • Comment 532536 by
    757Fan 632 Comments
    Great report. My wife and I just passed through AMS and I enjoyed seeing photos of the Crown Lounge. It looks like you had a great flight with KLM!
  • Comment 532562 by
    atco 134 Comments
    Hello Esteban,

    What a great report and very complete coverage of the KLM lounge in AMS. Looks like an enormous lounge with a lot to do.

    I enjoyed my KLM 777 flight but it was only a very short SIN-DPS leg so the 2-2-2 seating wasn't an issue, nor was the very tight looking footwell. Not sure how well I would sleep with my feet squeezed into such a small space. I'm glad KLM went with a better product on the 787 though. I also found our crew missed on some things, this despite only have 9 pax to deal with which was disappointing.

    That breakfast looks truly dreadful.


    Thank you for the excellent report, enjoyed it very much.
  • Comment 532681 by
    KévinDC TEAM SILVER 6768 Comments
    Thanks so much for the thorough review of the new Crown Lounge which looks really great--a huge improvement! It's good they expanded the lounge because it could get very crowded in there...probably what earned the nickname "Frown Lounge" haha

    I find it odd that KLM installed new J seats with full aisle access on some a/c (787), but not others. KLM have never tried to position themselves as a premium carrier, so the lack of aisle access isn't surprising, but it's just odd that they decided to do a full access product on the 787s, but not others. Either way, KLM J is vastly improved over what it was just a few years ago with those awful angled WBC seats.

    Thanks for sharing!
    • Comment 532698 by
      Esteban GOLD AUTHOR 20009 Comments
      Thanks Kévin for the nice comment ! Yep, the WBC really improved in terms of comfort but when it comes to catering there is no improvement though. The new lounge is really great but I read that it is also really crowded sometimes.
  • Comment 574440 by
    zoechow 4 Comments
    Thanks for this great review. That pic showing the size of the footwell is really, really helpful -- though not very encouraging. It is interesting that the bulkheads visible in the background look so much better. I wonder how hard it is to score a middle seat (for aisle access) bulkhead, and how good the footwell is there. Thanks again!

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