My adventures trying new airlines around the world continues! This time I’m taking on KLM whose full name is “KLM Royal Dutch Airlines” – fancyyy! Learning their full name led me down a rabbit hole where I discovered that The Netherlands currently has a monarchy and a King – I didn’t see that coming.
But learning about random royalty aside, I was curious to fly KLM and compare them to the many other new-to-me airlines I’ve been flying around the world recently. So let’s see how they stack up!
Research
As with all of my trips, I began with research 🙂 . I knew that I needed to get from Bologna, Italy to Amsterdam and I wanted to do it as comfortably and easily as possible (I’ve become quite bougie in my retirement).
Just like always, I checked my beloved site Rome2Rio to see what the options were to get from Point A to Point B, and I was surprised with the results. My Partner loves trains and I try to choose them when they’re not wildly longer or more expensive than other options.
In fact, we took trains all over Switzerland and to Italy and had a lovely time. However, I was surprised to see that getting from Bologna to Amsterdam would be a bit of a saga on a train.
It would require 3 trains, 13.5 hours and be more expensive than a much shorter flight. When I dug into the flight options, I saw that only one airline flies nonstop from Bologna to Amsterdam: KLM! I prefer nonstop flights and take them whenever I can, so I’d found my preferred solution!
Hilariously, this nonstop flight was less than 2 hours long. Yeah I’m definitely not adding 11.5 hours to my travel time along with 3 transfers just to get more train time.
Booking
So I booked the flight! It cost me $244.19 USD after I added a checked bag to my reservation for €25 ($26.23 USD). Like a lot of international airlines, KLM has a smaller carry on luggage allowance than I’m used to in the US.
The maximum combined weight of everything I could carry on the plane was 26lbs. My 40L Backpack is usually 22lbs and slips right under most carry-on weight requirements, but I suspected that the tote I carry as a personal item and includes my laptop, would be more than 4 lbs so I paid for a checked bag when buying my ticket.
Anyway, after paying, I quickly got my confirmation email from KLM and all was well. A day before my flight, I got an email from KLM saying I could check in, so I did and there was a note that said I had to go to the counter to get my boarding pass. Alrighty then. Let’s do this.
Flights Details
- When: November 2024
- Where: Bologna, Italy (BLQ) to Amsterdam, The Netherlands (AMS)
- Flight: KL1664
- Flight Time: 1h 57m
- Seat: 12F
- Distance: 806 mi
Bologna (BLQ) Airport
Check In
An Uber dropped my Partner and I at the door of the airport. Strangely, we had a bit of trouble getting an Uber for the first time since arriving. I tried on my app first and it told me for 10 minutes that they were about to show my driver information, but never did.
Luckily I’m neurotic and was planning for us to leave early just in case. I then tried on my Partner’s app and it instantly connected him with a driver. Weird, but I’m glad I had some extra time built into our schedule for that.
Once we entered the airport, there were TVs right inside the door that listed where to go to check in for each flight. Instead of set check in counters, there are just numbered counters throughout the airport, which I think is a great idea! If an airline doesn’t fly often or isn’t flying that day, there’s no reason to take up a whole check in desk.
We went toward the numbers listed as our check in counter, and there was one person ahead of us in line. There was a Sky Priority line right next to us that was empty. I don’t know if it’s because we were 2.5 hours before the flight or what, but they ignored us peasants that weren’t in Sky Priority 🙂 until the one person in front of me asked if he could come up to the Sky Priority counter and they let him.
After he got his ticket, the people at the counter switched and went back to ignoring us. I assume there’s some unsaid rule that I’m missing here. A bit later we were gestured forward with a “Prego.” Alrighty then.
We gave our passports and put the bags we had prepaid to check, on the belt. Curiously the employee handed us our boarding passes after only checking 2 bags, but we had paid for 3. I explained that and showed them my 40L Backpack I was checking.
They said I had to put my backpack in a bag, which I haven’t heard of before, but appreciated since it had been raining during one of my flights recently and my backpack was wet when I retrieved it. The employee then asked me to tie the back of the bag around my backpack and then they ripped a part of it to put the tag around the shoulder strap. Fascinating. They then put the bag tag on the back of my boarding pass and we were off.
Security
There was a sign by some stairs and an out-of-order escalator that said the gates were upstairs, but there was also a standing sign that said a security check was around the corner. So I was confused 🙂 . I checked around the corner and didn’t see a security checkpoint so we headed upstairs.
Getting to security was a bit confusing and it’s possible they recently changed the layout because the airport was under construction while I was there. There were blue stanchions for us to use for the security check and an employee showing people where it was, so I guess they realized it’s confusing.
We wound through the stanchions and when we got to the front, we scanned our boarding passes at a machine. Some employees were there to help people if we needed it.
Then we wound through more stanchions and scanned our boarding passes again. There was no ID check – I assume because we’re staying in the Schengen area. I then got into the bag scanner line and they have sections with bins so you don’t have to wait in line behind other people. I didn’t realize this so an employee gestured me forward.
I put everything in a bin and didn’t have to take any electronics out, but took off my jacket and put it in the same bin with my bag. I then pushed the bin forward onto the conveyor belt and then walked through the scanner.
My bag came out, the other end and the conveyor belt automatically took the bins so you don’t have to do anything to clean up – cool! The entire security process took less than 5 minutes. I was impressed 🙂 .
The Gate
Then we followed signs to the Gates (Imbarchi). The gates were split between Outside Schengen Area and Inside (mine). We followed those signs and found a big open area with chairs and 6 of the 8 ‘Domestic’ gates.
We arrived at the gate 1.5 hours before boarding so we settled in to chill until that started. I was surprised we had made it through checking bags and security in under 30 minutes because forums online had mentioned that Bologna’s airport had been crowded lately, possibly as a result of the construction.
But it looked like they either fixed that issue or I got lucky with the time I was in the airport (on a Thursday morning) because they had more than enough capacity to handle a large crowd, but the crowd wasn’t there.
Anyway, we found seats near the gate and I signed onto the free wifi (Network: “EmiliaRomagnaWiFi wifiprivacy.it”) to start writing this very post 🙂 .
THE JOURNEY
Boarding
About 20 minutes before the boarding time, people started lining up in front of the gate. I had been tracking the plane on FlightAware like always so I knew the plane hadn’t even landed yet. However, there was only 10 minutes between the boarding time and the gate closing time according to my boarding pass, so maybe they wanted to make sure they didn’t miss the flight 🙂 .
My boarding pass also had a zone on it, but I was curious how they would board and if the zones would be used or if they used more efficient seat numbers to board. Each airline seems to do things so differently. Anyway, at the boarding time listed on my pass, an automated message (in Italian then English and then Dutch) announced that we were boarding by zones.
However, the zones didn’t seem to be a thing. Everyone that was already standing, just went through the line so that was a bit of chaos, but I did appreciate that everyone standing was in an actual line that wrapped around the gate instead of a clump.
It was announced that people in seats 1-16 should use the front door of the plane and seats 16+ should use the back door. They then announced final boarding so in our confusion about zones, we joined the line 🙂 .
When we reached the counter, they scanned our boarding passes and checked our passports.
We then headed down a set of stairs to the tarmac where we waited to climb stairs into the plane.
Curiously, the front of the plane had a way longer wait than the back for some reason.
The Flight
After we climbed the stairs onto the plane, an FA greeted us warmly and then we found our seats.
I got to my seat and was impressed to see that it had more legroom and room for my bags than I expected (based on my experience with US domestic airlines).
My seat had a tray table and an additional cup holder (fancy!) as well as a charger. Once we were settled in, the pilot made an announcement that we were ready to go, but that we had to wait 10 minutes before we could leave. They also said that this might mean we would arrive 10-15 minutes later than scheduled and for people with connections, they would provide an update as soon as they could. Spoiler: We did leave 10 minutes late, but we made up the time in the air and actually arrived a few minutes early.
We left when they said we would and took off into the sky. About an hour into the flight, the FAs came around with a cart and this is when KLM started to really impress me. They offered a snack of a WHOLE SANDWICH – on a flight that’s less than two hours!
I’m used to US domestic flights throwing a tiny packet of peanuts at my head (I’m kinda joking), but not here. An entire sandwich for everyone. The FA then asked what I wanted to drink and I said sparkling water. And they said “Anything else?” That’s literally never happened to me before. I get more than one?!? (Wow – US airlines have really made me feel grateful for any kindness eh?)
So I asked for some tea. Then my partner ordered coffee and the same thing happened. The FA said “That’s it? Do you want anything else to drink?” So he got a diet coke as well.
It’s seriously hilarious that I think this is so luxurious, but it seriously is based on what I’m used to in economy. Anyway, I settled in with my book and quickly after we were landing!
Amsterdam Schiphol (AMS) Airport
We got off the plane onto a jet bridge and into the airport. We then followed signs to the baggage hall.
Baggage
After walking a bit, we arrived at the baggage hall and there was a TV with flight information saying which baggage belt our bags will arrive on. Once we arrived at our correct belt, there was another screen saying where our bags were, which I appreciated.
Our flight number said that the bags weren’t here yet so I took a seat and by the time I sat down, the screen changed to say “bags on belt”. Alrighty! A few seconds later we saw them come out and they were our bags! I think that’s the first time that’s happened 🙂 .
Transit
After grabbing our bags, we followed signs to the exit and then to the “App Pick Up Point”. We followed those signs to the exit of the airport where I ordered an Uber on my phone because the pick up location looked close to where I was on the map. Oops – that was a mistake!
The pick up location isn’t super close to the exit door so we hustled over, but luckily our driver was very kind and when he saw our hustling by the location dot on the app, he circled the terminal again so he arrived a little after we did.
There were signs showing what part of this pick up section was for apps compared to buses and other forms of transit. App Based Pick Up is E1-E6. There were signs on the ceiling of the structure so we waited for a minute and then our car arrived. It waited at the end of the taxi line so we walked back there after I got a text that he had arrived.
Then we were on our way! We paid €37.34 ($39.26 USD) for a ride in an “Uber Green” Tesla to the heart of downtown. Curiously, there were Uber ads all over the airport, but when I ordered the car, it said all of them are independent and not Ubers. Sneaky. I suspect that’s why there were cars with taxi lights that looked like they were picking up Uber passengers.
Anyway, we had a totally normal experience and the driver even helped my partner not take out a biker with his car door when we arrived downtown. Gotta watch for those bikes!
THE REVIEW
So that’s what happened, but now let’s get into the actual review portion and what I thought of the experience 🙂 .
Customer Service
As I mentioned, check in was a little confusing with me thinking there was an unsaid rule I didn’t know about, but after the employees acknowledged us, we were good to go with the exception of them not seeing we had prepaid for 3 bags, and not 2.
But everyone we encountered was helpful, kind and efficient. I still don’t fully understand the boarding process, but it was less chaotic than what I experienced with IcelandAir so I’ll take it!
Also the FAs were very nice and welcoming and I obviously thought it was amazing that they asked if we wanted extra drinks, which seems standard on KLM based on me eavesdropping on other seats 🙂 .
Seat
The seat was comfy for our short flight and it seemed like the legroom was larger than usual, but when I checked Google Flights, it claims that this KLM flight has “average legroom” of 31 inches. Alrighty then – I guess it just seemed like it 🙂 .
I did enjoy the charger as well as the tray table and separate cup holder – I didn’t realize how much I wanted this amenity! I can put things in the cup holder when I’m waiting to hand over my drink trash for example without having to keep the entire tray table down. Nice!
Food
As I mentioned, I was blown away. I was so impressed that we got a whole sandwich instead of a tiny bag of stale pretzels or absolutely nothing given the short flight length. I’m definitely not in the US anymore and am very happy with the cost I paid for this flight for a lot of reasons, but this sandwich is in the top 10 🙂 .
In-Flight Entertainment
There wasn’t a TV on the back of the seat in front of me, but I didn’t expect one. The in-flight magazine said the airplane might have Wifi, but the flight was so short I didn’t even check to see if we did and if there were streaming options there. I just read my book and before I knew it we were landing.
Conclusion
And that was my first experience flying KLM! In summary, I’m very impressed. I was impressed with the custom service, happy with KLM’s efficiency and blown away by their food and drink offerings for such a short flight. I’m excited to fly them again!
What’s an airline experience that surprised you lately?
I’m excited for Purplemas! After reading about splitting your baggage up, I was wondering what do you carry around the globe with you? Is it the same list as you posted in 2020, or have there been many serious adjustments? (I’m really curious about the Vanguard glass for some reason LOL!)
Yay! I’m glad you’re excited. And ugh I really need to write that packing post – I’ve been too lazy to do it thus far. And in 2020 – oh goodness I don’t even remember what I said, but I’m sure it’s changed. I definitely don’t carry anything breakable like a glass with me everywhere.
I have been very impressed with KLM. I fly them if they offer where I want to go. They are worth it!
Good to know! Thank you for sharing.
I haven’t flown KLM before but have early memories of watching videos of their massive 747 planes landing at Princess Juliana airport in the Caribbean. Their runway is right in front of a beach that plane spotters go to.
Also, I’m sure it depends on the airline but some of them allow you to remove your laptop from the bag before they weigh it? Just happened to me for the first time with Norse Atlantic but YMMV.
Oh cool! I didn’t know that was them. And I didn’t know about that laptop thing – very good to know! I’ll look out for that.
Hi Purple, first time commenter, but long time reader here. Just had to tell you something that I think you would like. We indeed have a monarchy and our king is Willem Alexander. He’s a pilote and to keep experienced and to keep his license he flies a flew flights per month in a passenger aircraft of KLM. So it could be possible that you were flown from Bologna to Amsterdam by his majesty king Willem Alexander. How about that? Thank you for your blogs, I love the way you write and everything travel related
Haha thank you for telling me that. A friend actually mentioned that to me recently and I thought it was wild. And thank you for your kind words!! I’m so glad you like the blog.
cancelled transit flight delayed six hours pushed over to a cheaper airline lost our luggage KLM refused pay anything for 16 pounds sterling complete and utter s***
Good to know – thanks for sharing.
I love KLM! Obviously there are always off days for anyone/any company, but far and away any KLM flights I’ve taken have been noticeably nicer than what I was used to back in the US.