Avis du vol KLM Cityhopper Düsseldorf → Amsterdam en classe Economique

Introduction

Ladies and Gentleman,

I dare to welcome myself into this page as finally a writer. I have been reading various FR for the past few years and decided, finally, to do FRs myself starting off today.
About myself: I am a 20 year old student in Scottish Aberdeen and fly mostly Air France/KLM for the following reasons: I have a Gold status with them, and will be Platinum by the end of 2018 if my calculations with the new XP system are made right, and LH has stopped servicing ABZ so I am stuck with SAS (not very convenient schedule as I prefer morning and late evening flights with a quick layover or really long layovers if time permits me to do so, BA (Byob (bring your own booze) and a loyalty program which makes it hard for me to achieve status with mostly intra-Europe flights in Y). So I turned myself to AF/KLM.
I am originally Russian but have lived mainly in EU-Europe during my life so friendships and family are spread out around the whole world and I enjoy visiting them. My trips are mostly private and right now I am working in Germany for a short amount of time so DUS is my base for the next 5 weeks.

Before the flight

So I took the train from my Airbnb and was on my way to pick up a suit from a store in town.


With my suit in hands I am off to the airport and what impresses me as well as positively and negatively are the various ways to get to the airport.
The Airport of Dusseldorf can be reached from town with the S11 which goes directly to the airport, the ICE or RE train (intercity ones) and S1 which lead to the airport's train station which is linked to the SkyTrain some of you may know, some local busses which link the whole town and the airport itself, a subway line going almost to the airport, then a short ride with the previously mentioned busses is required and finally cabs (no UBER). I chose the S11 as it goes directly to the airport in no matter of time (10-ish minutes from Dusseldorf central station).
From the store I took the "sub"way (which in fact is under and over ground) and I was impressed by the modern station.


I arrived at the closest station linking me to the S11 and hopped on the train that was late by 5 mins but I had a lot of spare time.


I was originally booked on AF on 07/07 but the flight DUS-CDG has been cancelled so I opted for a departure a day earlier as I planned to take the Friday off anyways. In the past 10 days, AF cancelled 3 of my flights, while apparently there is no strike.
At checkin I, as usual travel with one check-in suitcase and one cabin one and on a light fare. So as a FB Gold member I am entitled to 1 suitcase and every time I ask, they are happy to check in my small suitcase so I have my hands free. This time the checkin agent told me, when I asked her about my small bag, I could not check it in for free and that I had paid for my large suitcase. In shock I told her that I am Gold and presented my card and the issue was resolved. I asked her about my small suitcase again and rushed a bit given that my toiletries are inside. She told me to wait and I asked again as I could have put them in the large suitcase. Two bag tags later, I had priority on it, and by bags left. She told me that my FB number was not in on the ticket. Which sounds wrong because it shows on my mobile boarding pass.

Fast track was VERY efficient while there was no guard or what so ever. And what I really like is that belts do not have to be taken off in DUS!
I went to the Hugo-Jenkers Lounge which left me in shock after my last visit. The poor food selection was bad so no food, almost no soft drinks and a coffee that was worse then anything. This time, the coffee and drinks selection was better but food wise I would not touch it. Sorry for no pictures of the buffet, the pictures are very blurry. There were scrambled eggs, some old and small pork sausages, bread and some packed jams.

the flight

After some wait I went to the gate (10 mins before boarding), changed my seat as KLM allows pax to go for Economy Comfort 40 mins before departure for free. 5A it is with the row to myself. After some time I check and the flight from AMS was late so I asked what the delay for my flight was and the result was an official 15 minute delay, published and shouted seconds after I asked. The KLM app still showed on time. The 15 minute delay became a 55 minute delay. My connection time was 2h45 so no worries at all. But the pay who lined up first at SP boarding, who had an hour in AMS was very inpatient.


Boarding started and here is my bird.


Blind finger/arm. Call it as you wish

I don't know why but KLM seems to have put their seats in such a way that most windows are no near to aligned.


The space is good, some people pay a lot for the few extra centimetres.


While I saw that there was cleaning during the turnaround of the plane, the seat in front of me does not look like it.



No neighbour means I can leave my bag under the seat next to me. The tag was strangely put during boarding.


Taxiing



and take-off… We climbed very steeply


A flight time of 35 mins was promissed and service started promptly.
KLM Cityhopper has sometimes very unusual snacks, last time I flew the short route they served garlic nachos which made the whole plane smell like a movie theatre. This time it was a cookie and water (no choice in drinks)


As I finished my snack we started descending into AMS
No Polderbaan!



Thank you for reading me and see you on my next hop.