KLM Cityhopper, E190, AMS-DUB
Previous parts of this trip:
- Introduction: USA, September 2019
- Trip Report: TAP Portugal | Airbus A330 | London Heathrow – Lisbon
- Trip Report: TAP Portugal | Airbus A320 | Lisbon – Geneva
- Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza, Geneva Airport
- Trip Report: Iberia | Airbus A320 | Geneva – Madrid
- Trip Report: Iberia | Airbus A350 | Madrid – New York JFK
- Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza, HY36 Midtown Manhattan
- In Pictures: New York
- Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | B737 | New York – Miami
- Hotel Review: Holiday Inn, Port of Miami Downtown
- In Pictures: Miami
- Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | Airbus A321 | Miami-Dallas
- Hotel Review: Hotel Indigo, Dallas Downtown
- In Pictures: Dallas
- Trip Report: American Airlines First Class | Airbus A321 | Dallas – Chicago
- Hotel Review: Kimpton Gray Hotel, Chicago
- In Pictures: Chicago
- Trip Report: Delta Airlines First Class | Boeing 717 | Chicago – Detroit
- Trip Report: Delta Airlines Airbus A220 | First Class | Detroit – Newark
- Hotel Review: Crowne Plaza, Times Square
- In Pictures: New York 2
- Trip Report: Finnair | Airbus A330 | New York – Helsinki
- In Pictures: Helsinki
- Trip Report: Finnair | Embraer E190 | Helsinki – Geneva
- Hotel Review: Hotel PAX, Geneva
- In Pictures: Geneva
- Trip Report: Swiss | CS300 | GVA-ZRH
- Trip Report: Austrian | Airbus A320 | ZRH-VIE
- Hotel Review: Ruby Sofie Hotel, Vienna
In Pictures: Vienna- Trip Report: Austrian | Airbus A320 | VIE-FRA
- Trip Report: Lufthansa | Airbus A321 | FRA-TXL
- Hotel Review: Hotel Indigo Berlin Alexanderplatz
- In Pictures: Berlin
- Trip Report: KLM | Boeing 737 | TXL-AMS
- Trip Report: KLM Cityhopper | Embraer E190 | AMS-DUB
After arrival from Berlin, I had around three hours until connecting on to Dublin with KLM Cityhopper. After making a brief pass of the shops and the small outdoor observation deck, I made my way to the KLM Crown Lounge.
I must admit, I had forgotten the lounge had been totally refurbished since my last visit in 2016.
KLM Crown Lounge
The entrance is far better than previously. In fact I’m pretty sure this new lounge is in a completely different location now.
Entry is by self scanning barriers on the first floor. Once past these you’re into the main lounge area. When I visited, it was pretty packed.
Towards the far end of the downstairs area, was a small self serve buffet with mostly salad items and a couple of hot dishes.
The most impressive area of the lounge was upstairs however.
Mostly because it wasn’t so busy, but also because it had a much lighter and airy feel to it.
The area was taken up mostly with a bar. What I did find a little off was that most drinks were paid options. Common in the US, but virtually unheard of in Europe.
There were a couple of free options, but nothing too substantial.
Next door to this was the restaurant area. Again, everything on the menu here was paid for.
Also present was a small outdoor terrace – but again, it was impossible to find a seat when I made a pass of it.
At The Gate
As the flight was announced in app of being a bus boarding, I was expecting it to start boarding a little earlier than than standard 30 minutes before.
As with most, if not all KLM Cityhopper flights, this meant the gate area was downstairs from the main terminal area.
In fact, the app itself even said 15:15. Therefore I left the lounge at just before 15:00. When I got to the gate however, it was announced that boarding would start at 15:35. This meant a good 30 minute wait!
Boarding began at just past 15:30. The gate agents did call for SkyPriority, but going by the stampede towards the gate, I’m not totally convinced it was enforced all that well. Either that or a good 90% of the plane was entitled to priority boarding.
On Board
Once more, I was able to select an economy comfort seat at the front. Maybe not quite as much legroom as on the 737, but it was still more than generous.
Boarding was completed in just a couple of minutes. I guess that’s the advantage of bus boardings – everyone gets on within a matter of minutes.
Departure
Pushback on schedule. Our flight time was given as 1h25.
Whilst we didn’t depart from the Polderbaan, we did depart from probably the furthest runway from our parking stand that wasn’t the Polderbaan. Therefore a twenty minute taxi followed. Schiphol is massive! The captain later said that the long taxi was due to construction work.
Onboard Service
The service got started fairly quickly after departure. In line with most Embraer flights, there were just the two cabin crew members on board. One served business, while the other looked after economy.
The service on this flight consisted of a cheese and tomato wrap.
As with every other meal I’ve had on KLM, it was very tasty.
IFE
Not applicable! Much to the annoyance of the Americans sat in the row behind, KLM don’t offer WiFi on board. And in line with pretty much all airlines within Europe, there’s definitely no seatback screens either. Therefore any entertainment is very much bring your own.
One thing of note was that much like the last time I flew KLM Cityhopper, the cabin became ridiculously hot mid-cruise. And that was with the personal air-con nozzles wide open too.
Arrival
As we passed Liverpool, descent started.
The captain gave us an update, saying we would be on stand on schedule – which is what I wanted to hear as I had an unprotected connection to make!
The next landfall we saw was at a much lower altitude.
Arrival on to stand was pretty much on schedule, as promised.
After this, it was off to catch my Aer Lingus flight back to London…
My thoughts
Another very solid flight with KLM Cityhopper. The food was tasty, the flights were on time and the seats were comfortable.
The lounge at Schiphol is very strong, although it was a bit cheap of KLM to charge for things that virtually every other airline offer for free. Other than that, the upstairs area branded the sky is a very decent place to wait.
