Indonesian Adventure 2024. KLM Buisness Class. London- Amsterdam- Kuala Lumpur

 29th May 2024.

KLM Lounge at T4 LHR, Crown Lounge at Schiphol. 

KLM buisness class London Heathrow to Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. May 2024

The walk from the Terminal 4 Premier Inn to Terminal 4 ( LHR) is via the covered corridor, so its a very quick and easy walk. 

The KLM check in desk was open, and the bags were checked through to Kuala Lumpur. 

KLM use the Plaza Lounge; this is also a lounge that you can also pay to use. Upon entry I turned left into a very gloomy, dark bar area, no windows and just a few seats, 

I was surprised at such an awful area so went back to the check in desk. there was more, as to the right there was a larger room with windows that overlooked an unused concrete apron; so no plane spotting from here. This appeared to be the main lounge area.

It was 12.00 so lunch was on offer, the food selection was very poor, watery soup (no bread), a few curries, ramen type noodles and a really poor selection of wilted salad ingredients. One lonely bread stick. It was an absolutely dreadful display, you would have to be desperate to eat any of it. 

The bar had a very limited selection of ‘free’ drinks; one beer, one red or white wine that was it.

Everything else had a surcharge on it. 
The lounge appeared to be generally worn out and grubby; no hand soap in the ladies toilet along with broken taps is just an example. 
Overall this lounge was awful and I am shocked that people were willing to pay to use it, they must have been disappointed by the experience. 
KLM needs to rethink its use of this facility, the lounge needs closing down and a complete renovation to bring it up to an acceptable and  decent standard.   

We left. 

Terminal four is a nice terminal at Heathrow and had a lot of good shops, bars and eating places, we were happy to wait in the main area and use the facilities. 

The flight KL1010 to Amsterdam was a little late departing but landed on time, the crew were good and we got a delft decorated snack box with a salad and macaroons and a bottle of cava. 

Flight KL809 goes to Jakarta via Kuala Lumpur,  we were going to stop in KL for two nights, for this flight KL was our destination. 

At Schiphol airport we had a long wait, it was easy to find the KLM Crown Lounge 52. 

This lounge is massive and has two floors, the top floor was not open today. 

As in the lounge at LHR, again the food offering was very limited and there was not much left; Soup, a dried up pasta dish, some cheese sandwiches, a small salad bar - luckily with a delicious cheese and nice olives. I wanted to have a meal in the lounge, rather than on the aircraft,  so that I could get off to sleep just after take off, due to the extremely limited choice this was not possible, but I did  enjoy the cheese and olives. 

There was a full coffee bar and a bar, serving small glasses of Cava - one at a time! 

We went to gate 7 at 20:35; there was an aircraft at the gate but the ground crew announced a late departure due to technical issues and said to come back to the gate at 21: 30. So we went back to the lounge, it was however being prepared for closing. The cleaners were in and all food and beverages packed up. So just provided an area to sit.

At 21:35 we went back to gate 7 to find the gate closed, no staff, no passengers and we thought was had missed the flight 🙃🙃🙃

However, the gate for our flight had been changed- no communication to this fact, but panic over! 

Boarding was at 21:45.

Left Amsterdam at 22:31. 

Nice greeting from the mature crew and a small glass of champagne or water on arrival. An amenity kit, pillow, blanket and headphones were on the seat.  

KLM Buisness Class. Boeing Dreamliner. 

Configuration in 1/2/1, so each person has access to the aisle. The seats are angled, quite narrow, but do lay flat, KLM do not give a seat pad and this is needed as you can feel the ‘gaps’ in the seat. The TV was a good size and entertainment selection OK. 

The meal was served promptly:

KLM Buisness Class Menu. Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

 

KLM Buisness Class Menu. Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

KLM Buisness Class Menu. Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur

Starters

• Salmon with poppy seeds, asparagus, fried capers and pea salad, served with Hollandaise sauce and dill
• OR
• Thai red curry soup

Side dish

• Mesclun salad with pine nuts, sweet pepper drops and olives, served with Italian balsamic vinaigrette

Main dishes

• Asparagus à la Flamande with ham, scrambled eggs and baby potatoes in herb butter, served with Hollandaise sauce
• OR
• Vegetarian sweet potato tartlet with pickled celeriac and oven-roasted sweet potato served with mustard and piccalilly sauce
• OR
• The Taste of Asia: Nasi kunning with red chili rings, beef rendang with vegetables sajor lodeh and ayam pangang chicken with spicy bumbu sauce

Desserts

• Cheese plate with Blue cheese raisin salad, Beemster Royal cheese, fenugreek cheese and grapes, served with crackers
• OR
• Coconut almond bavarois with glazed pineapple, topped with chocolate crumble

I had the salmon as a starter, it was blocks of salmon with salad. 

I though the choice of mains were a bit odd 🙃 ham with scrambled egg, a fish dish and a beef curry/stew? 

I chose the ham, scrambled egg and asparagus with a creamy sauce. Then the cheese selection of three cheeses. Dairy overload but it was served hot and very tasty.

Then I went to sleep for just four hours to try to get onto Kuala Lumpur time. 

Although we were flying into daylight, and the route was good, going very close to the Himalayas the Dreamliner windows were kept blacked out- you can not override this and I found it very frustrating as I wanted to look out of the window.

Just before landing, breakfast of fruits; mainly apples, mushroom omelette slice, and orange juice. The choices had run out by our row but it was all ok. I dont think KLM will win any prizes for its food. 

Apart from the two services you didn’t see the crew, you could go to the galley if you wanted a drink. 

We landed at Kuala Lumpur airport at 15.57. 

As the passport control eGates had a Union Jack poster next to them we tried them, and it worked. We cleared immigration in minutes. 

Kuala Lumpur air port is a long way from the city. Over an hour by taxi.

As we walked towards the arrivals hall, there were lots of very vocal taxi touts. But I found the official booth in the arrivals hall, and got a voucher for the taxi, it was £19.00 and we were on our way into the city of Kuala Lumpur.