Review of KLM flight Amsterdam → Panamá City in Business

Hi,

Transfer at Schiphol airport was very easy and I really like the Cosmopolitan atmosphere and the nice shops, restaurants & relaxing areas of the terminal complex.
On the way to the lounge I spotted some nice airplanes including those nice dreamliners - e.g. the exotic Xiamen Air 787.



Afterwards I headed to the KLM Crown lounge which was very busy this morning. I hardly found any seat.
With a lots of people around this lounge felt stressed and the buffet areas were often somehow dirty or missing items.



In the end I spent ca. 40 minutes at a window seat I luckily crapped.

On the way to my gate I snapped this picture of the beautiful Queen of the skies - the 747 really still is the most beautiful plane around. Too sad they are disappearing more & more.



Once at the gate my Boeing 777-200 with the name 'Galapagos islands' was already waiting:



Boarding started soon and very relaxed & orderly with SkyPriority perfectly working.
Boarding through door 1L I was greeted by a friendly flight attendant & directed to my window seat 3K.

The cabin is not the most private one on the market but still it looks very nice and I found the seat very comfortable for this daytime flight.
Especially the padding of the seat is perfect and much better than e.g. the SAS Business Class padding.
Pillow, blanket & headsets were already waiting in my seat area.


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Boarding atmosphere was very relaxed with nice background music playing and a selection of welcome drinks offered soon. I opted for a nice glass of champagne.



This was followed by this nice looking amenity kit - however the content unfortunately was very limited without any cosmetic products like skin care etc.



Once boarding was completed a selection of newspapers was offered and the captain welcomed us on our 10hrs15mins flight to Panama City.

We left the gate perfectly on time but taxied for aes to a very remote runway before heading off and leaving the Dutch coastline within a few minutes.



Once the fasten seat belt was turned off inflight service started with a hot towel.



This was followed by menu & wine list in a nice design.


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The headsets are noise cancelling and of good quality. Also I really liked the remote control with a separate small display. The entertainment selection was huge & very good.



About 30 minutes into the flight aperitif service started by trolley and I had a 'Flying Dutchman' cocktail with some nuts. Cheese cubes were offered as alternative.



Drink refills were offered and meal choices for starter & main course taken by the purser while calling every passenger by name.



The starter tasted very good & was served in nice design porcelain. Warm bread from the basket & olive oil or butter were also offered.



As main course I opted for the cod which also tasted nice.



The meal ended with a selection of cheeses, fruit and desserts where I opted for the mango mousse & some ice cream.



Finally the whole service was concluded by some tea & great looking Dutch chocolate houses.



While the service was always by trolley it was no problem for me at all. Actually I think this speeds up the process and drink refills from the trolley were provided at least 6 times thoughout the lunch service - great! The cabin crew did a great job and was always very caring, smiling, remembering drink preferences & extremely friendly. This is how Business Class service should be like.

I watched three movies, slept for one hour and ad this nice ice cream snack ca. 3,5 hours before landing.



Ca. 1,45 hours before landing a hot towel started the second meal service.

I opted for the first hamburger of my life on a plane. It tasted good but still was far from the burgers you might get on the ground.



Warm dessert cakes were distributed as well which tasted excellent.



All in all a nice pre arrival snack.

I finished my meal with a last cup of tea - even served with some fresh milk :)



Approach to Panama was through quite thick storm clouds.



A queue of container ships confirmed the Panama canal cannot be far ;)



The coastline before touchdown provided some very nice scenery as well.



We landed ten minutes ahead of schedule and parked in Copa Airlines homeland.



Thanks for reading,
FlyAlex