IberiaA319 From Spain, joined Sep 2005, 560 posts, RR: 40 Posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 7779 times:
This report is about the KLM flights I took to the Middle East a long time ago in wintertime, in 2010. Highlights for this report are the pictures of the de-icing of planes and AMS airport with lots of snow and I also include some pictures of the city of Amsterdam on my way back to Madrid, due to my long layover.
KLM is not usually the most convenient flight option from Spain to the Middle East, as Qatar and now Emirates offer the shortest way to this region, but in this case I took KLM as the QR flight was fully booked. Also a few months ago, I went to the Middle East (Abu Dhabi) on Air France for business reasons, but QR will be always one of the shortest options.
These were the flights to Bahrain:
KL 1700: Madrid (departure at 10.15) – Amsterdam (arrival at 12.55)
KL 447: Amsterdam (departure at 14.05) – Bahrain (arrival at 22.00)
As you see, the connecting time was very tight in Amsterdam, and due to a delay of 20 minutes in Amsterdam, I just had the time to go from one gate to the other.
The journey begins at Terminal 2 in Barajas, which was the former domestic terminal. In 2009, both Air France and KLM moved from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 in order to join his Skyteam partner Air Europa in Madrid. Also Lufthansa and Swiss did the same joining Spanair in Terminal 2.
Some pictures from terminal 2
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After going through security I went straight to the lounge located in the northern pier of the Terminal 2 (with the “E” gates)
I went quickly through the passport control, as I was taking a flight to a destination outside the Schengen area, and arrived at the gate where the A330 was parked. This A330 was going to Bahrain and then to Kuwait, before returning to Amsterdam (a triangle route).
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This was my seat, the last business row. Unfortunately, I did not get any window seat. Surprisingly it seems that an aviation geek was next to the plane on the apron, taking pictures from the plane. I never would imagined that this would be possible.
View from the seat:
One of the first snacks:
PTV screen:
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Over Germany
The buttons for the seat position
The menu
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Appetiser
Main course
View out of the window:
Dessert:
Some views of the PTVs
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Over Iraq
This one of the KLM Houses collection: “Empty due to customs regulation on this route”
Arrivals at Bahrain airport
After spending a few days working in Saudi Arabia, I was taking the flight back to Europe from the Dammam airport. In Saudi Arabia it was raining one afternoon, which is quite uncommon. As it was in February, the temperatures were really nice.
KL 440: Dammam (departure at 02.55) – Amsterdam (arrival at 07.40)
KL 447: Amsterdam (departure at 13.30) – Madrid (arrival at 16.00)
So I would have enough time to visit Amsterdam.
This is the view inside the terminal in Dammam:
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The lounge:
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Towards the departure gate:
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For the boarding we were just a few passengers, the flight was doing the triangle route: Amsterdam-Doha-Dammam-Amsterdam, if I am not mistaken.
Just when we were boarding, before going to the jetway, I saw a B744 from Saudi Arabian airlines. An agent at the gate noticed that I wanted to take a picture, and he told me that he would open a door to the apron, so that I could take a better picture. He also told me that there is a site on the internet, which is airliners.net, where I could find all kind of pictures from planes from all over the world. I was amazed that he knew the site, and told him: “Thanks a lot. I will check it out!”
So I took this picture with the open door:
View from inside the aircraft
Some pictures from the PTVs:
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The meal:
More screenshots:
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Breakfast
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As I had a long layover in Amsterdam, I took the train to the main station:
Some pictures from the city, it just stopped raining, so did not need any umbrella.
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Lots of bikes
And time to go back to the airport:
The lounge:
At the airport:
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KLM asia
The 737 to Madrid:
The meal offered onboard, I even got an ice cream!
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Towards Madrid
The mountain range next to Madrid (Sierra de Madrid) with snow
The city of Alcorcón, located southwest of the capital
gabrielchew From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2005, 2512 posts, RR: 13 Reply 1, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 2 hours ago) and read 7736 times:
Interesting TR, not many cover Saudi Arabia.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter):
This one of the KLM Houses collection: “Empty due to customs regulation on this route”
Thats a shame, but at least KLM still givr you a house for your collection. Did you get a full one of the way back?
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): Just when we were boarding, before going to the jetway, I saw a B744 from Saudi Arabian airlines. An agent at the gate noticed that I wanted to take a picture, and he told me that he would open a door to the apron, so that I could take a better picture. He also told me that there is a site on the internet, which is airliners.net, where I could find all kind of pictures from planes from all over the world. I was amazed that he knew the site, and told him: “Thanks a lot. I will check it out!”
It's good to see that a.net is followed all over the world!
airbuseric From Netherlands, joined Jan 2005, 4068 posts, RR: 51 Reply 2, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days 1 hour ago) and read 7559 times:
hi E.!
How's life! You told me about these flights, interesting now to read the report!
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): Seats in business class, with the same seats and legroom as in economy
KLM 737's have more legroom in C then in Y regular, but since the amount of rows can differ per flight, the C-class pitch is found on all rows up to emergency rows, further the back the pitch is smaller. There is a significant difference between e.g. row 4 and row 19 even both can be in Y.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): Surprisingly it seems that an aviation geek was next to the plane on the apron, taking pictures from the plane. I never would imagined that this would be possible.
Why not? But maybe it was for a official reason like some report or so. I must admit, when I had the ramp access, I also made a lot of pics, but that's common everywhere, also in Spain
btw, very kind from the agent at DMM that the door was opened to let you make a picture, especially since photo's are prohibited in Saudi Arabia iirc?
KLM's meals look really good, nice touch with the Australian branded icecream, it's one of my favourites. Such a shame is the business class seat which is seen on e.g. the A330s
Regards
Eric
"The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going"
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): Surprisingly it seems that an aviation geek was next to the plane on the apron, taking pictures from the plane. I never would imagined that this would be possible.
There are many of them at MUC - spotters who work at the airport.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): Just when we were boarding, before going to the jetway, I saw a B744 from Saudi Arabian airlines. An agent at the gate noticed that I wanted to take a picture, and he told me that he would open a door to the apron, so that I could take a better picture. He also told me that there is a site on the internet, which is airliners.net, where I could find all kind of pictures from planes from all over the world. I was amazed that he knew the site, and told him: “Thanks a lot. I will check it out!”
ROGERBCN From Andorra, joined Sep 2006, 1140 posts, RR: 19 Reply 4, posted (1 year 11 months 6 days ago) and read 7381 times:
Hola Eric!
Great to see about this TR covering some unusual airport, DMM; I think it is the first time I have heard about it.
KL always deliver a very nice, professional service on their flights. In fact, I still have the pictures and part of the text of my last trip with them: BCN-AMS-YYC last winter, so I would have to finish it some time.
Interesting to see that they oblige to alcohol-free spaces emptying their nice houses. It would be better to give it full to passengers and drink it before you land, don't you think? I would gladly agree to this idea.
I am not particularly keen to those seats, I'd rather prefer the new ones which are much more cozy, these ones seem too much robotic to me.
Nice to see there are some a.net colleagues around the world, I remember mentioning it to one of the birder officials at JFK last time I went in order to explain my strange routing: TXL-MAD-JFK-SEA-AMS-BCN.
IberiaA319 From Spain, joined Sep 2005, 560 posts, RR: 40 Reply 5, posted (1 year 11 months 5 days 20 hours ago) and read 6905 times:
Hi all, thanks a lot for your replies!!
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 1): Thats a shame, but at least KLM still givr you a house for your collection. Did you get a full one of the way back?
No, I did not. Due to alcohol restrictions in some countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,...) you get the KLM house empty on both ways (to and from the Middle East).
Quoting gabrielchew (Reply 1): It's good to see that a.net is followed all over the world!
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 2): btw, very kind from the agent at DMM that the door was opened to let you make a picture, especially since photo's are prohibited in Saudi Arabia iirc?
Actually in some public place in Saudi Arabia they tell you you should not take any pictures, but fortunately the agent at DMM I met at the jetbridge is also an aviation geek and it seems that also an airliners.net user, so I was lucky! Even that a door was opened to get to a restricted area, just for taking a picture, was really nice!!
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 2): How's life! You told me about these flights, interesting now to read the report!
Yes, thanks Eric. I really wanted to write this report a long time ago, but now that I met in Frankfurt so many a.netters who write trip reports I really wanted to write this.
Quoting airbuseric (Reply 2): Why not? But maybe it was for a official reason like some report or so. I must admit, when I had the ramp access, I also made a lot of pics, but that's common everywhere, also in Spain
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 3): There are many of them at MUC - spotters who work at the airport.
Ahh good to know that! Thanks!
Quoting PlaneHunter (Reply 3): It has real engines, no hairdryers, so it's a -600.
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): A slight correction here, it is an A340-600; if I remember correctly as it took me for the first time to EZE.
Hi, actually I am surprised that I typed -300 when I was thinking in a A340-600. Anyway thanks a lot for the comments.
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): Great to see about this TR covering some unusual airport, DMM; I think it is the first time I have heard about it.
Yes Roger, the reason for not so many reports covering DMM (I don't know if there are many here on a.net, but I guess there some) is that the airport of Bahrain (with more international flights than DMM) is not that far away from the area, and you can go there by crossing the causeway (bridge) that connects Bahrain with Saudi Arabia.
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): KL always deliver a very nice, professional service on their flights. In fact, I still have the pictures and part of the text of my last trip with them: BCN-AMS-YYC last winter, so I would have to finish it some time.
Sure, you can finish it anytime. I thought I would never publish this report with KLM, and in just two days I managed to finish it.
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): Nice to see there are some a.net colleagues around the world
Yes Roger, I thought that a.net would not be so well-known around the world!
Quoting ROGERBCN (Reply 4): Ich freue mich darauf, mehr von deinen Reisen zu lesen
Natürlich, und es freut mich auch so viele positive Kommentare zu lesen!
I wrote a report covering the Qatar flights to Madrid, it has already more that 20.000 views, you will remember it for sure:
FLIEGER67 From Bulgaria, joined Sep 2003, 4423 posts, RR: 56 Reply 6, posted (1 year 11 months 4 days 20 hours ago) and read 6149 times:
Hi, Eric,
good to see you´re new story.
Great pictures, Saudi Arabia is definitely not common here, well done.
What a weather difference between you´re waypoints, from warm to snow and further to sunny MAD again.
That´s life these days.
eastafspot From France, joined Jan 2008, 479 posts, RR: 4 Reply 7, posted (1 year 11 months 4 days 3 hours ago) and read 5795 times:
J product looks like pretty decent, since the european C class has been improved i really want to try it
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): This one of the KLM Houses collection: “Empty due to customs regulation on this route”
too bad, you don't even have the choice of drinking it prior arrival,
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): An agent at the gate noticed that I wanted to take a picture, and he told me that he would open a door to the apron, so that I could take a better picture. He also told me that there is a site on the internet, which is airliners.net, where I could find all kind of pictures from planes from all over the world. I was amazed that he knew the site, and told him: “Thanks a lot. I will check it out!”
very kind and rare
Fly with Air Burundi, Air Tanzania, Air Uganda, Kenya Airways and Rwandair...Jumuiya ya Afrika mashariki
akhmad From Netherlands, joined Sep 2005, 2336 posts, RR: 53 Reply 9, posted (1 year 11 months 2 days 3 hours ago) and read 5252 times:
Hola Eric,
Very nice report of KL and especially your DMM covering. I remember the visa you showed me at FRA. It was for this trip, I assume.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): but in this case I took KLM as the QR flight was fully booked
I see, that was the reason for not flying with QR.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): In 2009, both Air France and KLM moved from Terminal 2 to Terminal 1 in order to join his Skyteam partner Air Europa in Madrid
Do not forget Korean Air.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): Seats in business class, with the same seats and legroom as in economy
That time, the middle seat was still allocated. Luckily, KL keeps the middle seat empty now.
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): This one of the KLM Houses collection: “Empty due to customs regulation on this route
Could it happen to be the Bahraini regulation?
Quoting IberiaA319 (Thread starter): An agent at the gate noticed that I wanted to take a picture, and he told me that he would open a door to the apron, so that I could take a better picture.
What a pleasant surprise! I would have expected him to sternly forbid you to take a picture.
Thanks for sharing. I think you will make a particular fellow A.netter happy with this report.
Actually the airlines that moved their check-in in Madrid from terminal 1 (former international) to terminal 2 (former domestic), are the ones that fly to European countries within the Schengen area that belong to Skyteam or Star Alliance.
The ones that moved within the Skyteam alliance were: Alitalia, KLM and Air France, joining Air Europa in terminal 2. so Korean Air remains in terminal 1, as the final destination is outside the Schengen area. By mistake I wrote in the report that the airlines were moving from T2 to T1.
Quoting akhmad (Reply 9): Could it happen to be the Bahraini regulation?
In Bahrain alcoholic drinks are allowed and you can get them in bars and also stores. In the Middle East alcohol restrictions apply specially to Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, and as this flight was doing the triangle route AMS-BAH-KWI-AMS, I guess it was due to Kuwaiti regulations that you get the House from the KLM collection wthout any drink (but I am not sure about this). Anyway, I really prefer to get this house empty.
Quoting FLIEGER67 (Reply 6): What a weather difference between you´re waypoints, from warm to snow and further to sunny MAD again.
Yes, that was really nice, so many weather changes.
Quoting The777Man (Reply 8): Nice with pictures from DMM; don't think I have ever seen pictures from there before. Lounge there seems very nice.
Yes, the lounge in DMM is really nice, and i was very calm and quiet. I enjoyed it there in Dammam.
Quoting akhmad (Reply 9): What a pleasant surprise! I would have expected him to sternly forbid you to take a picture.
Thanks for sharing. I think you will make a particular fellow A.netter happy with this report.
Yes, I thought the same. I expected to hear that I should not take any picture, and what a nice surprise in Dammam!!
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