- BSL - AMS KL J / E190 : HERE
- AMS - LIS KL J / B737-700 : Now Return Journey
- LIS - AMS KL J / B737-800:
- AMS - BSL KL J / E190 :
As Lisbon is Schengen, there is no need to go through security again, I head directly to the Schengen Lounge.
At that time of the morning the lounge is crowded and the Wi-Fi almost dead. I wait a bit with a cappuccino:
A bit later, at around 09:30, the lounge begins to empty and then the Wi-Fi___33 signal becomes much better. That allows me to finish some due Flight Reports, that's enough to spend the 3:00 layover I have.
Minutes before my boarding time, I proceed to my boarding gate and here's a bit of spotting:
The 737-700 spotted is mine.
Boarding is launched a few minutes early with a strict respect of priorities. Maybe I begin to be old and grumpy, but in my opinion, boarding should be organized in Europe like in the USA, special assistance, business class and then elites. In Europe, business class boards with all Elites. That makes quite a lot of people. As said, I may begin to be old, as those kind of things did not worry me years ago :)
Welcome is really friendly and nice, but I hardly could distinguish which hello was Dutch and which was Portuguese ^^
Two cabin shoots quickly made as there were pax boarding behind me:
Our neighbor:
Good pitch:
On time push back and line-up:
The PSU and the IFE that will only consist in the moving map:
737-700W:
Menus are being handed out, and to be honest, I find everything tempting ^^
Aperitif time, but no nuts, this is something KLM should think about. They are not served on flight lasting less than 3H according to the purser.
A-propos the purser: she was absolutely top. Professional, charming, great! She addressed each passenger by name and with his mother tongue. I don't know how many languages she was fluent in.
Bacardi coke:
The tray:
Starter:
Cheeses:
Dessert:
I took the pasta as I really like pesto. I hesitated with the beef, but braised beef is often too dry in airplanes.
The starter was to die for. The salmon absolutely amazing. The entree was really good, the pasta did taste like pasta, what is not always the case in the air. The pesto had lots of flavor. The hard cheese was really good, the cream cheese with raisins was a kind of blue cheese cream, really smelling strong. Although I love blue cheese, that one was really to smelly :)
The dessert was wonderful but not enough :(
Coffee / Tea and digestives followed the meal:
Here we are after the lunch:
After that good meal, I reclined my seat (the recline is really improved in J). KLM does not supply pillows on EC flights, I'll use mine (a little one I once stole on a TK flight, which was a real pillow, not what you can find today on most of the airlines). I slept for a good hour, which was a first for me. Sleeping an hour on a European J class seat, never did that before ;)
Nice views of Lisbon as we approached the airport:
A bit of spotting as we arrived, with two airlines that are not so well known: White and Med View.
On time block on, and farewell by name for all J class passengers by the purser. Amazing.
You've been a prolific writer lately ! Thanks for sharing all these trips and information with the community :)
Thanks for sharing this report with the nice bonus and pics.
The red bridge reminds me so much of SFO that LIS could be a twin sister of the city by the Bay.
It's nice to see that KL puts some effort into its J cabin and provides printed menus on all intra-European flights. I remember when I took them a long time ago (early 2000's) in J from AMS-VCE and the J cabin was just like Y with little differentiation.
@ Thomas: trying to keep the english website updated ^^ (more reports in French to come soon!)
@ Adan: that was exactly what I thought when I saw the bridge! KL has a strong business class product, still room for improvement (like a welcome drink for instance).
Thanks for the report Stephan!
A business class that seems fair if the price was too.
The lounge is often crowded and surprisingly passengers manage to find the way there.
Maybe coz ure an old fart and were travelling business eheh!
Thanks Chris for the comment and ... calling me old fart ^^ The last time someone called me like that it was Kévin, but a long, long time ago :) :)
ahah english humour: when you tease a person that means you like the person.
which americans and french don't usually get so maybe kevin was actually calling you an old fart XD ??