Review of KLM Cityhopper flight from Bristol to Amsterdam in Economy

Airport Experience at Bristol Airport

Bristol Airport was an Airport on my list of UK Airports I hadn't flown from and wanted to tick off, however I had visited the Airport on spotting trips in the past, so getting to fly from it was a pleasure, despite needing to take a night time Coach service with National Express from Bournemouth to Bristol via London… We arrived just before 3am in from the London-Bristol coach.

I got a bus to Bristol Airport just after 3:30am on the morning of August 4th 2024. The AIRPORTFLYER service runs every twenty minutes roughly from Bristol Bus Station to the Bristol Airport stopping at various local stops including historical Bristol Temple Meads Station. A one-way journey costs about £4 and it dropped us off at the side of the Bristol Airport Terminal.

Bristol Airport's largest operator is easyJet- the British LCC. The airline entered Bristol Airport back in 2003 when they took over BA low-cost airline spin-off GoFly. Other airlines who operate large bases here include: Ryanair, Jet2 & TUI Airways UK. Swiss, Aer Lingus Regional and KLM Cityhopper all offer feeder flights to their hubs to allow for one-stop connections to long-haul flights outside of Europe. Other UK regional operators here as of late 2024 include: Loganair, Aurigny and Loganair with Sun Express and Aegean Airlines also offering seasonal holiday flights to Türkiye & Greece.

Early August is the heart of the Summer Holidays in the UK, and the early morning at Bristol Airport was rammed as families were preparing to head off on their trips to the Sun. Most of the routes during the first two hours of the day offered were headed for Spain, Greece, Türkiye and Portugal. My KLM flight to Amsterdam was the first of the "City Break" destinations leaving, though this flight was likely scheduled to allow for connections to late morning flights out of Amsterdam to Africa, North America and Asia.

I saw a few kiosks offering Priority Security access for £7, I thought about it as it was busy, but I had plenty of time before my 06:20am flight and the ques appeared to be moving promptly. In the end I got through security in about 10 minutes, not bad considering the amount of other passengers were there.

Passing through into the airside area, I found a single window overlooking a ramp full of easyJet Airbus A319/A320 aircraft preparing for the morning rush of flights. The main area of the Terminal was rammed with people shopping, enjoying some pre-flight pints and looking for food.

I also passed the 1903 Lounge which is the main Airport Lounge for Bristol Airport and you can access if you have the right level of status with Flying Blue or flying on a Business Class ticket with KLM Cityhopper!

I noticed there was hardly any windows to see aircraft from, and I wasn't interested in shopping at Duty Free, I managed to find a seat in a café and opted to buy a small breakfast. For £8 I ended up with a hot tea and a brioche bacon roll.

On the way to the main gates is a corridor which is full of Airbus advertisements as Bristol is the home of Airbus UK from their heritage of British Aerospace (BAe) and British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) where they both in the past built aircraft at the nearby defunct Filton Airport.

Near the former Filton Airport you can still find the corporate offices of AIRBUS UK Division. Though most the aircraft factory work goes on in Wroughton, Wales.

Eventually the gate was called and after a prolonged stroll, I eventually entered the que for boarding and everyone who was due to fly on this KLM flight was ushered into this little waiting room as we awaited the crew of our flight to get the plane ready for boarding. There was plenty of seating and standing space for the passengers on this Embraer ERJ-175.

KLM Cityhopper KL1074 (BRS-AMS)

We had a short walk to our aircraft which was KLM Cityhopper Embraer ERJ-175 PH-EXM. Delivered in March 2017, the ERJ-175 was introduced by KLM Cityhopper as the main aircraft to replace the Fokker F70 fleet and provide smaller capacity compare to the larger and older KLM Cityhopper ERJ-190 fleet whilst also providing fleet commonality.

An open board through the front door was the boarding process for today's flight, but it didn't take long to load up this small 88 seater Embraer Regional Jet. KLM Cityhopper offers a huge range of UK regional routes to and from Amsterdam Schiphol, using KLM's extensive long-haul network to help feeder passengers.

The KLM ERJ-175 offers a 2x2 configuration in its cabin with dark blue leather seats. The overhead panels offer reading lights, air vents and a sign board to indicate the seatbelt sign and no-smoking signs.

We had a reasonably on time push back, which was almost a given as we were one of the first flights of the day out of Bristol, I even think we were the first non-easyJet flight to depart that day. We made a short taxi across Bristol Airport towards the threshold of Runway 27.

Our ERJ-175 did not hang about once the pilots put full throttle on and our aircraft shot off into the cloudy summer morning over the West Country. The dawn provided some nice atmosphere to my video footage and photographs as we departed out over the rural surroundings. Miles away from the main city of Bristol.

We flew over the Bristol straight during the climb out of Bristol Airport, which provided some very nice views! To think the straight separates England and Wales our turn to head in the direction of Amsterdam took us on a bank towards the North-East before lining up over Filton, the Airbus Capital of the UK!

I flicked through the KLM Holland Herald magazine, its one of my favourite perks of flying on KLM. I love that KLM still posts the fleet of the airline (Mainline & Cityhopper) as well as a lot of airlines don't do it so much. A lot of airline's don't publish physical copies of their magazines as of 2024, so this is something I hope KLM continues for a few more years at least!

KLM still offers a complimentary bar service for economy class passengers, though a recent report in September 2024 implies they're also looking at adopting the "buy on board" practice that they seem to be one of the last hold outs on. I opted for a tea and orange juice, the main snack item was banana bread, which I don't like- but I accepted anyway as my parents like this stuff and I knew they'd enjoy a slice of KLM banana bread!

The flight passed quickly as UK-Amsterdam flights have a reputation of doing and as we began our descent into Amsterdam the coastlines of the Netherlands came into view as we flew over them on descent. I do love the arrival into Amsterdam as we cross the coast and fly over the mainland as its quite scenic on a good day!

We landed into Amsterdam Schiphol on Runway 06, and it was amazing to not have to arrive on the Polderbaan Runway! We slowed up on the Runway as we came to what used to be known as the "Fokker Farm" which KLM Cityhopper used to operate most of their regional flights using Fokker F50, F100 & F70 flights from, now dominated by the more modern Embraer ERJ-190/175 & E2-190 fleets.

Our flight arrived onto Pier-B, which is a Schengen Zone gate, so we had to get a bus over to the non-Schengen D-Pier, personally I quite like a bus gate on arrival, I always try to be last off so I can see the planes as we drive about the Airport and not be staring into some random persons armpit…

Overall it was another pleasant experience with KLM Cityhopper, it ticked all the right boxes for me and we got an on time arrival into Amsterdam Schiphol which isn't always possible at points in the year. On the way out I grabbed a few photos of the ERJ-175 cabin as it was my first ever flight with a KLM ERJ-175, having only previously flown the Fokker F70 & larger ERJ-190!

After getting off and hopping onto the Airport bus I grabbed one last snap of our Embraer ERJ-175 before we left for the short drive over to the D-Pier Gates. 

After getting off and doing some plane spotting around the D-Pier Gates, I went through passport control to enter the Netherlands so I could have a day in Amsterdam, and I started off with going to the Plane Plaza Shop in the Schiphol Plaza! It goes without saying that I left with a new model aircraft for my collection!!!