Review of KLM flight Amsterdam → Moscow in Business

Flight #1: Amsterdam to Moscow Sheremetyevo - KL901 - This article
Flight #2: Moscow Sheremetyevo to Bangkok Suvarnabhumi - SU270 - Second Leg

Time for some Holiday I must say so. I decided to drive myself to one of Amsterdam's long car parking as my flight was quite early and I did not want to harass any of my family or friends to bring and pick me up. Although parking is quite expensive, it does deliver you the product they promise with shuttle buses that are driving every 15 min (might be even less) between the car park and terminal.



As I booked my entire flight with Aeroflot to Bangkok via Moscow for a fair price, the first flight was operated by KLM. As a flying blue member, KLM offered me the day before to upgrade me to business class for their first flight for only 30 euros. (You can't really reject that, right?) which gives you access to priority services with check-in, security checks, border control and boarding plus access to their lounge.

Check-in, Security & Border Control

While arriving by shuttle bus to terminal two which literally stops in front of the KLM desks, I went straight to Priority Check-in, which was literally no hassle as there were plenty of open counters to check-in. The lady itself at check-in was very friendly and very efficient and was very attentive by asking me if I had the required documents for my stay (which of course I did have). Within a minute I was already on my way to security to pass, which was very quiet once again as I guess most non-schengen flights will depart slightly later, so the priority was not really necessary. As security was very quiet once again, it meant that the border control would not be a problem too.

Waiting & Boarding

After passing all required checks, I had a spare hour to spend my time before boarding would initiate, which of course is not a problem at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. I, myself, decided to head up to KLM's lounge to enjoy a cup of coffee and some breakfast. While the breakfast does not offer you lots of food or even a huge variety, it does offer you some quality drinks like wine, champagne or even fresh juices/smoothies with very comfy seats.



While I enjoyed my time having a cup of coffee and read a good book, I kind of lost track of the time. When I did check up on my time, I noticed that I was in a bit of a rush to reach my plane as the D gates are quite a walk from KLM's Non-Schengen lounge. While reaching the gates, there was literally no one waiting in line to board anymore and I was one of the lasts to board. KLM used a Boeing 737-700 for this flight, which means that you will not receive real business class seats, but instead they'll offer you extra legroom and a guaranteed empty seat next to you (got two eventually).

Departure

The aircraft was not fully loaded (I think payload was around 65 to 75%) and we departed slightly behind schedule as Amsterdam did not let us depart earlier (stated by the captain). While we received a push back, we were quickly off for a long ride to 36L (which is about a 15 minute ride itself). While we reached the holding point, we were immediately cleared for take off and the flight attendants started to serve us drinks shortly after take off which was offered in a clean and nice matter as the 2nd picture below shows (did have a cup of tea).

Cruise

45 minutes into departure, the purser (who did an excellent job serving us!) started to serve breakfast. The choice of today's flight was an Egg tartlet with chicken sausage or waffles and mini pancakes. I decided to go for the egg tartlet, which I think was decent, though a bit too salty. After breakfast, we were being served another round of drinks. I personally decided to have a quick nap afterwards as I was suppose to have a 6 hour stopover in Moscow (which is very boring!), but noticed that the purser did offer other passengers some more drinks frequently.

Arrival

While the pilots manage to gain some of the time lost in Amsterdam in air, they kept us up-to-date about the estimated time of arrival and current weather in Moscow. They did manage to perform a smooth landing too, however the runway itself in Moscow was very bumpy and quite noticeable so far in front of the cabin. While taxiing to the gate, there was plenty of time to capture some photos of the airliners around as some of them I have never seen before. While being parked into parking position, we quickly deboarded the plane and gave me a nice view of the aircraft itself that flown us to Moscow as I did not have enough time to capture it before departure.

Watch landing below





While I did check-in online before and was a transit passenger, I would highly recommend you to get your boarding card at your departure aerodrome if you travel via Moscow to your destination as the border control you will have in Moscow does not accept an online boarding pass (at least not the one of KLM) and will point you with signs to a check-in counter for transit passengers.