KLM Muscat-Amsterdam-Billund in Business Class

There's always something exotic about airports in the Middle East. 

The luggage...

The fluffy luggage...

The flight departures to...well..I couldn't say for sure...

The sultan waving goodbye. "Please come again"...

Check-in is in a separate hall, your baggage is scanned before you get to the check-in area and there is quite a queue. -Though, of course, if you're travelling Business Class, you just walk to the head of the queue. And hope the other passengers can see that you so obviously belong in Business Class, because there aren't any signs so you might just be a queue-jumper and you have heard of air-rage (on the ground).  It went off without a hitch, check-in was fairly smooth and if there isn't a group of 10 travel agents ahead of you, you don't have to queue much. If you're in Business Class that is (oh, I said that before? Well, it does suit me fantastically)

The airport in Muscat is fairly tame. Get there 2 hours before your flight, but expect to be a little bit bored once you're through check-in and security.

KLM have a good Business Class service. I liked it much better than Economy, but who doesn't?  Except for one (ze cabin general?) the flight attendants were very friendly, friendlier than Lufthansa but not as friendly as SAS (the Swedish ones) but that is probably just a coincidence :-)

The Airbus 330-200 has lie-flat seats in Business Class, but in the fully reclined position they're actually sort of at an angle even though the seat itself probably is 180 degrees. The seat is extremely comfortable when it is in its "almost-flat" position (for reading or relaxing) but when you recline it fully to go to sleep, it feels a bit awkward, you have the feeling that any minute you will start sliding down and end up in a crumpled heap on the floor. (KLM is not the only airline with that kind of seat).

Welcome on board! The pillow was great by the way.

With a seat like this, you will never be bored...

I love these. I can't help it!

I snuck behind the curtain to take a picture of the Economy Comfort seats. That is a couple of rows in the front of the Economy cabin (free of charge in B+S class, or if you have a Flying Blue Gold card). You get a bit more legroom than in the normal Economy Class seats...

But not as much as in Business Class! :-)

The flight from Muscat to Amsterdam takes about 8½ hours, but a lot of that time is spent on the short hop to Abu Dhabi (passengers getting on and the aircraft taking on fuel again (they also did that on the outbound flight so I'm guessing fuel is cheaper in Abu Dhabi than in Muscat?) so "please do not leave your seats but please leave seat belt unfastened") and then there's dinner and we don't want to miss that, so even though it's a night flight do not expect a full, good night's sleep, lie-flat seat or not.

They were very good and served dinner very soon after take-off from Abu Dhabi.

Noodle-egg thing. Tasty dessert (again! the Dutch do good desserts)

And then it was time for a lie-down. But even though I did sleep, I wouldn't have minded a couple of extra hours.

Much too soon I was woken up by a flight attendant happily chatting away in Dutch. Breakfast was served and all the passengers in Business Class got a little present, a Delft House - I think some frequent travellers are avid collectors; one guy took ages agonising over which house to choose and even had a little booklet so he could check which ones he already had.

 

 

 "You are here" - or, you will be in a few minutes. The monitors also show the gates of the flights passengers are connecting to within 30-60 minutes of landing, so they can Be Prepared. For transit in Amsterdam, see separate post)

The full moon reflected in one of the canals around Schiphol

Arrival at Schiphol was on time, we mostly spent our waiting time for the Billund flihgt hanging round the lounge (which is nice, and huge, but has lousy breakfast, sorry KLM. You should get the dessert guys to run it) and then got on the flight to Billund. Within Europe KLM doesn't call it Business Class, you travel Europe Select (clever naming so you're not fooled into expecting too much?).  You do get more legroom and a nicer meal than the poor sods in the back. I would say it is on the same level as SAS and Lufthansa (who do call it Business Class)

Those are my knees. And aaaall the way over there is the seat in front

Yummy. Like I said, KLM do great desserts!

Thank you KLM. We like the retro paint job!

 

Transit in Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

Schiphol is big. One of the busiest airports in Europe. Lots of people passing through. They generally require only 45 minutes check-in; I'm a pessimistic-sort-of-passenger so would recommend a bit more than that. Especially if you are transiting Schengen/Non-Schengen and have to go through passport control. When we went through the queue was very short, half an hour later there was a 20-minute wait or so.  As KLM generally like to board 30 minutes before departure and the taxi from the runway to the gate can take 10-15 minutes, I like to have a little extra time to get through the airport.

There are plenty of transfer desks, and the really handy thing they've put in since the last time I was there was "self-service transfer machines".  You enter your flight number, or scan your boarding pass, and whoop - up pops information about your gate, any info about delays, and sometimes you can even be rebooked on the machine. I didn't get to check out that particular bit as our trip was running like clockwork and we had plenty of time. But it is very neat, especially for savvy frequent travellers who can do the whole trip without ever speaking to a member of the ground staff...

Many people find Schiphol confusing, or so I've heard. But they have done a lot of work on their sign posting, and sometimes you just have to do a 90-degree turn and then you know just where to go:

Apart from that, Schiphol is all about the shopping.

Awww... 'tis the season to be jolly

And recycling - we like!

Although I was a little unsure about the bin on the right. Until I spotted the picture on the side, I suspected this was the place to dump unwanted puppies and other pets that you couldn't take with you on the flight...

And if you are tired, with 4 hours transit time and no lounge access, they've provided a nice quiet area. Which is actually rare in big airports.

It's on the first floor, follow the signs to the KLM Crown Lounge

KLM Billund-Amsterdam-Muscat in Economy Class

OK, this is long overdue. Oman was back in November, oh the shame.  But here is a quick review of KLM's economy class service on one of their routes to the Middle East.

First of all, check-in is a breeze. At least if you do it online. klm.com, and just follow the instructions.  Baggage drop-off in Billund is always easy, small airport, relatively short queues, no fuss.

KLM board early. Departure was at 06:00AM and at 05:30 they started boarding. As the flight was only 1/3 full it didn't take very long, so we took off on time.  It takes about 1 hour and is fairly uneventful.  You're given a little something to eat, not the full meal I raved about on Sun-Air, but then again, no worse than most other airlines and at least you get a little something to nibble on without having to pay for it. (Enjoy while it lasts)

A few hours transit in Amsterdam - for which see separate post - and then we all poured onto the Muscat flight. Early boarding again, so good idea to have at least 1 hours transit in AMS; they require only 45 minutes but when the next flight is boarding at least 30 minutes before departure it's good to have a little extra time.

The flight to Muscat wasn't that full either, so some of us had two seats to ourself which is a real treat in Economy Class. Seat pitch is 32", fairly average I think. Dining was good. And the KLM crew friendly!

Main course was a chicken thingy, the dessert was the best but I'm not 100% sure what it was.

It had a twist of lime in it.

The flight stops in Abu Dhabi, it's on the ground for just under an hour. At first we all wandered around in the cabin, stretching our legs and enjoying the extra space now that most people were getting off. But then the crew suddenly remembered we were refuelling so could we please return to our seats. I would have guessed they knew this beforehand, but it seemed to come as a bit of a surprise to them.  Nevermind, we didn't have to get off the plane and sit and wait in the airport which was good.

(naughty passengers not in their seats)

The last little hop-skip-jump to Muscat only takes about 45 minutes.

Immigration procedures in Muscat are easy, you have to pay a small fee for the stamp in your passport (how much? no idea, paid by KLM - thank you! - will investigate). The flight arrives around 10:00PM so the airport was more or less empty and baggage retrieval etc. took no time at all.  There's a small shop in the arrivals hall where you can buy a bottle of wine etc., if you're afraid of running out of alcohol this might be the place for you as it can be difficult to get hold of if you're arriving, say, on a national holiday like we were.