Hello,
After finishing my shift the previous day, the company booked me on a Scandinavian flight from Copenhagen to Amsterdam at around 19.40 local time, but when checked in and passed security, I received a notification on my email that my flight was canceled as SAS was unable to get a slot at Amsterdam for this flight due restrictions by weather. By that time the callcenter and chat with employee were already closed and the only option was to go to the service center in Copenhagen, which of course turned out that I'll be number 300 in line.
I informed my operations about this problem and they rebooked me on a KLM flight the following day at 12 PM for a total price of 512 EUR in J Class as all flights were already fully booked or even more expensive. Around midnight I received finally a notification from SAS that I was rebooked on the KLM flight of 5 pm, but as operations already rebooked me, I asked for a refund of that flight.
For the night I stayed in the Comfort Hotel Copenhagen, which is just across Terminal 3 and meant I had a short walk to terminal 2 which was being used by KLM for it's departures.
Two check-in counters were used by KLM for that flight with me being able to skip the entire line using the Sky Priority, so it took about two minutes to drop off my luggage.
Sky Priority unfortunately does not give you access to fast track and it took quite a while to clear security, which was overcrowded and very slow moving. Bought some christmas gifts airside as well as this cancelation did not give me enough time anymore to buy them in the Netherlands.
KLM's J Class will give you access to the Atelier Lounge, but was quite overcrowded when I checked, so I simply opted to use my priority pass and head over to the Aspire Lounge as that one was pretty deserted.
The Aspire lounge itself is pretty basic with limited food and drink offers ranging from coffee/tea to soft drinks and a small selection of liquor.
Food wasn't impressive either with just minor options for some cereal, bread, crackers, spread and salad.
The seating area with no view.
Another angle with some extra seating.
About ten minutes to our boarding time, I proceeded to my gate for today's departure, which was going to be Gate A14. On the way I spotted this ATR 72 of Danish Air Transport boarding for it's flight to Ronne, Bornholm.
Alsie Express being pushed back for it's flight to Sønderborg. Can't imagine that this livery is very comfortable in summer in warmer destinations :).
And here's our bird that was going to bring us to Amsterdam. PH-BGB is a 15.7 year old bird that was named after the bird ''Whimbrel''. It was newly delivered to KLM in May 2008 and is powered by two CFM engines.
An Airbus A319 of Croatia Airlines boarding for it's flight to Zagreb with a sister Airbus A319 in the back that would perform a flight to Split.
Seating area around our gate when an announcement was made that boarding will be delayed as this flight given the windy conditions in Amsterdam was not able to depart for another solid hour and they didn't want us to wait in the aircraft any longer than necessary.
Eventually thirty minutes past our boarding time, they started with the boarding procedure to get us ready when there may be an improvement to our departure. Boarding went via zones and gates did not allow you entry if you were not in the correct zone.
Upon embarking the aircraft, we were kindly greeted by the two flight attendants for our flight and with just a short walk I was in the seat for my 90 minute flight to Amsterdam. Seat 1F with good legroom, though the width of the seat is a bit reduced as the table is stored on the armrest to the left of you.
View out of the window with an Embraer of SAS next to us parked.
Literature in the seat pocket in front of you contained a safety card, sick bag and the Holland Herald, which is KLM's magazine.
Boarding was completed after an additional thirty minutes when the captain came out of his cockpit explaining us that we still need to wait 15 to 20 minutes for our departure given the runway restrictions in Amsterdam and that the aircraft had to be pushed back to a remote stand as Copenhagen needed the gate for the next flight. He kindly requested that he will make a walk through the cabin to answer any questions, but asked us to please refrain from asking questions about their connecting flight as he didn't have that information.
Eventually twenty minutes were passed when the engines were finally fired up for our departure to Amsterdam.
With a total delay of 1 hour and 10 minutes, we were now on our way to Amsterdam departing from Runway 22R
About twenty minutes in the flight, the flight attendants handed us a fruit shot, which was a berry burst made out of Apples, Strawberries, Raspberries & Blackberries.
The flight attendant asked us whether we wanted a meal for today's flight or not. Given that I skipped my breakfast, I opted for it.
The menu of today's light.
The meal itself was a salad of seasonal vegetables with hummus and falafel. Next to that you received a hot bun, smoked salty almonds and a mousse of pear with blackcurrant jelly & bastogne crumble.
The dish on itself was alright, but nothing too fancy. The almond nuts were a bit too salty or me, so I didn't really touch it and the mousse was alright.
I asked for a the full bodied red wine, which was served in a standard drinking glass of KLM with their logo on it.
Upon finishing half of the meal I've had enough and closed my box.
Flight attendants kept asking us whether we wanted to have a refill or something else, so I opted for another red wine and a cup of coffee.
A chocolate cookie is served with your cup of coffee with KLM's logo branded into it.
Cheers to a good flight!
While the wind is raging down below, the air above was very smooth.
Despite the age of the aircraft, Wifi was installed on board.
The prices were as followed and all were for the entirety of the flights.
* Message - Free for the entire flight
* Surfing - 8 EUR for the entire flight
* Streaming - 12 EUR for the entire flight
While surfing and Streaming are somewhat expensive for a 1.5 hour flight, it's nice to see KLM offering you a free usage for messaging.
About twenty minutes to landing, I made a quick visit to the toilet which was in an alright state. Flight attendants told people from Economy to use the cabin in the aft and did not allow them to use the one upfront. No amenities could be found in the toilet though.
Runway 27 would be used for our arrival today and the approach itself was quite bumpy given that it is still very windy in Amsterdam.
After making a smooth landing, I spotted the Airbus A350 of World2Fly which is currently performing flights to Curacao for Corendon Airlines and so far the airline has announced that the line is a huge success.
Parked at Gate D63 with a sister Boeing 737-800 being pushed out for it's departure.
Disembarking followed soon with a few economy passengers pushing forward in the cabin while not even disembarking yet as they had to make their tight connection.
Belt 15 was used for our flight and took a solid 30 minutes for our luggage to be on belt.
Thanks for stopping by!
Yikes sorry to hear about the cancellation! Another consequence of AMS messiness, but glad you were able to find another flight to get home before the Holidays. While KLM service in short-haul Y is above-average by today's standards, the short-haul J product remains mostly meh, especially on these shorter flights. Though the contents seem decent, the cardboard box and plastic trays look cheap for Business class and feels like leftovers from the pandemic. It's like they ordered way too many boxes during Covid and now they need to liquidate the stock haha.
Thanks for sharing!
The flight this time wasn't canceled due Amsterdam's messiness, but simply that they were unable to open sufficient runways due to the windy conditions of up to 45 knots. It basically reduced operations to two runways rather than three or four. Can happen unfortunately. In terms of food, it was rather disappointed indeed like you said, though cabin crew did a good job providing us with drinks :).