#2001 – AvGeek Weekend Trip #12 (AMS – CDG – LHR – CDG – AMS)

ENGLISH

I went on an Avgeek Weekend Trip this weekend which was very interesting as it involved an Air France’s brand new (not even a month old) Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner. And here is the story of this fun weekend trip I just had.

The routing this weekend. Created with: gcmap.com

So as you know the routing this time was Amsterdam – Paris-CDG – London-Heathrow and back. And so I have decided to skip the Amsterdam – Paris-CDG vv part because I have flown this route so many times, haha. I would just go as far as saying that I flew an Air France’s Airbus A320-200 reg F-GKXL and a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGW on these two flights.

An Air France’s Airbus A320-200 F-GKXL

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGW.

Paris – CDG, Terminal 2E Hall K

After arriving in Paris, I checked the transfer monitor and learned that my connecting flight to London would depart from Hall K of Terminal 2E. So I followed the signage to this hall, which was at the other side of Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport’s Terminal 2. I cleared immigration as well during this transfer, which was really a breeze because there was noone else, haha 😛 .

At Hall K, I immediately went to the Air France’s lounge there. I just realized that this was actually my first time at a non-Schengen Air France Lounge at Paris-CDG Airport! Haha 😛 . The lounge was really spacious, much more spacious than the two lounges at Terminal 2F, though the offering was pretty much the same.

Salon Air France at Terminal 2E Hall K

About an hour before departure, I left the lounge to look for the gate. Though I was travelling via Paris-CDG a lot, this was actually just my second time using its Hall K (the first time was when I was catching my Japan Airlines flight to Tokyo-Narita 2.5 years ago), so I wasn’t that familiar with this hall. The interior design of Paris – CDG Terminal 2E’s Hall K was really beautiful, btw. However, it was clearly not designed for avgeeks because it was very difficult to take pictures of the planes parked at this hall! Haha 😛

The beautiful Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport Terminal 2E Hall K

AF 1180 (CDG – LHR)

Flight: Air France AF1180
Equipment: Airbus A320-200 reg F-GKXJ with a Paris 2024 sticker
ATD: 19:24 CET (Runway 08L of CDG)
ATA: 19:14 BST (Runway 27R of LHR)

Anyway, my flight to London today would be operated with an Air France’s Airbus A320-200 reg F-GKXJ, which was plastered with a Paris 2024 sticker. F-GKXJ was actually parked at the gate next to the Air France Lounge and so I knew that this plane had been sitting there for quite some time. I guess due to the importance of its London-Heathrow route (London-Heathrow is considered as one of the most “premium” airports, in terms of the type of passengers it attracts, in the industry), Air France wouldn’t want to take the risk of any of its London-Heathrow flights being delayed; and so the long on-the-ground time.

An Air France’s Airbus A320-200 F-GKXJ with Paris 2024 sticker

Long story short, I boarded the plane and sat at my 6A seat in the first row of economy today. Not too long after, the push back began and the flight departed. We took off from runway 08L of Paris-CDG and headed northwest towards London. It was a short flight so the complimentary snack service was provided right away.

A flight to London-Heathrow wouldn’t be complete without the plane having to make a few turns above London before being allowed to land, haha. Unfortunately there was some cloud hanging above the city today so I couldn’t really see anything. Anyway, at 19:14 local time we landed at runway 27R of London-Heathrow Airport.

Landing at runway 27R of London-Heathrow

We had to taxi for quite a distance and time (due to the airport’s crowdedness), where I spotted a Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 777-300ER being prepared for its non-stop flight back to Jakarta later tonight. And finally, we parked at a gate in Terminal 4 at the south part of the airport.

London-Heathrow

The last and only other time I was entering the UK via Heathrow was more than four years ago, haha. And I, sort of, forgot the possible inconvenience of entering London via this popular airport: a really long line at immigration!! The line was so long that I remembered the last time I encountered a line at least this “bad” was when I arrived in New York from Mexico City almost two years ago! While I wasn’t spending 90 minutes just for queuing this time (it was closer to 45 I think), it made me think that the next time I would travel to London, it would be better to arrive at London City Airport! Haha 😛

Rump steak for dinner

Anyway, I spent a night at a hotel nearby the airport today, where I also had my rump steak dinner.

The next morning, I checked out just before 7 AM to catch my 9:45 AM flight back to Paris. I already had my mobile boarding pass so I headed straight to security. The officer noticed the “Sky Priority” tag in my boarding pass and informed me that this allowed me to use the VIP security lane. Yeay! I didn’t have to queue with this lane and I cleared security in less than two minutes, haha.

The entrance to the SkyTeam Lounge at Heathrow

Once in the departure area, I looked for the SkyTeam Lounge at the airport. You see, London-Heathrow is not a SkyTeam airport but its importance means that a lot of SkyTeam airlines are using it. So to cater this, SkyTeam invests in a lounge at the airport’s Terminal 4, where most SkyTeam airlines fly to (Strangely, Garuda Indonesia operates from Terminal 3 despite it being a SkyTeam member).

The entrance to the lounge was quite small but the lounge itself was actually quite spacious, as it had two floors! I went to the upstairs area because the attendant told me breakfast was served there. The breakfast was actually quite decent with a selection of English or continental all you can eat breakfast. The design of the lounge itself was also really cool and looked so much better than the overall “outdated” feel of Terminal 4 of Heathrow, haha.

SkyTeam Lounge at Heathrow

AF 1681 (LHR-CDG)

Flight: Air France AF1681
Equipment: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBC
ATD: 10:22 BST (Runway 27R of LHR)
ATA: 12:07 BST (Runway 26L of CDG)

I was very excited when I saw in my Flightradar24 app that my flight today would be operated with F-HRBC, Air France’s newest Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner that wasn’t even one month old! Unfortunately, the flight used Gate 2 today which was a horrible gate at the terminal because it was impossible to take a good picture of the plane! Haha 😛

Long story short, I boarded F-HRBC and sat at seat 18K. This time, I sat in the regular economy cabin unlike my last trip with an Air France’s Dreamliner where I sat in the premium economy cabin. I deliberately chose not to “upgrade” myself for the small fee because I would like to compare the two cabins, haha.

The regular economy cabin of Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBC

The regular economy cabin was actually quite comfortable with good seat pitch and Air France’s newest IFE (Air France Touch). After all passengers boarded, the flight departed and the very chic safety demo was played on the IFE.

Don’t forget to put on your safety belt as, aside from ensuring our safety, it also elegantly hightlights your waistline…

Anyway, a departure from London-Heathrow wouldn’t also be complete without experiencing its traffic jam for take-off, haha. The departure runway this morning was runway 27R so we had to taxi for quite some distance there, and we encountered quite a traffic jam as we were nearing the runway. This doesn’t happen that often at Schiphol or Paris-CDG, and reminded me of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Jakarta! Haha 😛 .

Traffic jam at Heathrow

Long story short, we finally took off and began our short hop to Paris-CDG. As in flight AF1180, the service began immediately after take-off. A Boeing 787-9 was a much bigger plane than an Airbus A320 so I could imagine the flight attendants must be feeling some kind of time pressure for the service, and they did a really great job! Overall it was a very pleasant and smooth flight with Air France’s F-HRBC. At 12:07 local time, we landed at runway 26R of Paris-CDG Airport.

Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBC at Paris-CDG

The plane parked at Terminal 2E Hall L. Then I cleared security and immigration to transfer to Terminal 2F to catch my last flight of this trip back to Amsterdam with KLM.

The departure gate at Terminal 2E Hall K of Paris-CDG

The Paris 2024 candidate city sticker

The complimentary snack service on board flight AF1180

Dusk

A F-GKXJ’s window

Terminal 4 of London-Heathrow

SkyTeam Lounge

Some breakfast selection at SkyTeam Lounge

SkyTeam Lounge

My 18K seat on board F-HRBC

Good seat pitch

Air France Touch

Flying a Dreamliner on a Sunday

Taking off from runway 27R of Heathrow

The complimentary snack service on board flight AF1681

The very short hop from London to Paris

The awesome dimmed window feature

The lavatory in the regular economy cabin

The regular economy cabin on board Air France’s Boeing 787-9 F-HRBC

The wingtip of F-HRBC

Thanks for the smooth ride, F-HRBC!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Aku pergi dalam sebuah Avgeek Weekend Trip akhir pekan kemarin yang mana seru banget karena melibatkan sebuah Boeing 787-9 Dreamlinernya Air France yang baru banget (bahkan umurnya belum ada satu bulan). Dan berikut ini cerita dari akhir pekan seruku ini.

Rute akhir pekan ini. Dibuat dengan: gcmap.com

Rute kali ini adalah Amsterdam – Paris-CDG – London-Heathrow pp. Dan sudah kuputuskan aku tidak akan membahas penerbangan pp Amsterdam – Paris-CDGku karena aku sudah sering banget terbang di rute ini, haha. Cuma akan kusebutkan bahwa aku terbang dengan pesawat Airbus A320-200 rego F-GKXLnya Air France dan Boeing 737-700 rego PH-BGWnya KLM di dua penerbangan ini.

Sebuah Airbus A320-200 F-GKXLnya Air France

Sebuah Boeing 737-700 PH-BGWnya KLM.

Paris – CDG, Terminal 2E Hall K

Setelah tiba di Paris, aku mengecek monitor penerbangan transit dan aku diberi-tahu bahwa penerbangan lanjutanku ke London akan berangkat dari Hall K di Terminal 2E. Aku mengikuti petunjuk jalan ke arah sana, yang mana berada di sisi lain dari Terminal 2nya Bandara Charles De Gaulle. Aku melewati imigrasi ketika transit ini, yang mana berlangsung mulus banget karena nggak ada penumpang lain selain aku sehingga nggak perlu antri, haha 😛 .

Di Hall K, aku langsung pergi ke lounge-nya Air France di sana. Aku baru sadar bahwa ini adalah kali pertama aku mampir di sebuah lounge non-Schengennya Air France di Bandara Paris-CDG loh! Haha 😛 . Lounge-nya sendiri amat luas, lebih luas dari dua lounge-nya di Terminal 2F, walaupun layanannya sih kurang lebih sama lah.

Salon Air France di Terminal 2E Hall K

Sekitar satu jam sebelum waktu keberangkatan, aku meninggalkan lounge-nya menuju ke gate. Walaupun aku sering terbang melewati Bandara Paris-CDG, ini baru lah kali kedua aku menggunakan Hall K-nya (kali pertama adalah ketika aku menaiki penerbangan Japan Airlines ke Tokyo-Narita 2,5 tahun lalu), jadi aku kurang begitu familier dengan hall ini. Disain interior hall ini indah dan kece banget sebenarnya, btw. Namun, jelas disainnya tidak ramah untuk avgeek karena sulit sekali untuk bisa mendapatkan foto pesawat yang diparkir di hall ini dengan oke! Haha 😛

Terminal 2E Hall K Bandara Charles De Gaulle Paris yang indah dan kece banget.

AF 1180 (CDG – LHR)

Penerbangan: Air France AF1180
Pesawat: Airbus A320-200 reg F-GKXJ dengan stiker Paris 2024
ATD: 19:24 CET (Runway 08L of CDG)
ATA: 19:14 BST (Runway 27R of LHR)

Anyway, penerbanganku ke London hari ini dioperasikan dengan Airbus A320-200nya Air France dengan rego F-GKXJ, yang ditempeli stiker Paris 2024. F-GKXJ sebenarnya diparkir di gate di sebelah lounge-nya Air France jadi aku tahu bahwa pesawat ini sudah diparkir di sana lumayan lama. Aku kira karena pentingnya rute London-Heathrow (London-Heathrow banyak dipandang sebagai satu dari bandara yang “premium”, dari segi tipe penumpang yang bepergian ke sana, di industri penerbangan), Air France tidak mau ambil risiko yang bisa menyebabkan penerbangan-penerbangan ke London-Heathrow terlambat; makanya pesawatnya diparkir lama di darat.

Sebuah Airbus A320-200 F-GKXJnya Air France dengan stiker Paris 2024

Singkat cerita, aku menaiki pesawatnya dan duduk di kursi 6A di barisan pertama ekonomi hari ini. Tak lama setelahnya, pesawat didorong mundur dan berangkat. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 08L Bandara Paris-CDG dan kemudian berbelok ke arah barat laut menuju London. Karena durasi penerbangannya yang singkat, layanan snack langsung disajikan.

Yang namanya penerbangan ke London-Heathrow tak akan lengkap tanpa yang namanya berputar-putar dulu di atas London sebelum diberikan izin mendarat, haha. Sayangnya, langit London berawan malam ini sehingga aku tidak bisa melihat apa-apa. Anyway, jam 19:14 waktu setempat kami mendarat di landasan pacu 27R Bandara Heathrow.

Mendarat di landasan pacu 27R Bandara London-Heathrow

Kami harus taxiing cukup jauh dengan waktu lumayan lama (soalnya bandaranya ramai banget), dimana aku bisa melihat sebuah Boeing 777-300ERnya Garuda Indonesia sedang disiapkan untuk penerbangan non-stopnya ke Jakarta malam itu. Dan akhirnya, pesawat diparkir di Terminal 4 di sisi selatan bandaranya.

London-Heathrow

Pertama dan terakhir kalinya aku masuk ke UK melalui Heathrow sebelum hari ini adalah lebih dari empat tahun yang lalu, haha. Jadilah aku lupa mengenai kemungkinan ketidak-nyamanannya masuk ke London melalui bandara ini: antrian imigrasi yang gila panjangnya!! Antriannya panjang banget sampai aku langsung teringat terakhir kali aku menghadapi antrian imigrasi yang “separah” ini adalah ketika aku tiba di New York dari Mexico City hampir dua tahun yang lalu! Walaupun memang sih aku tidak menghabiskan 90 menit untuk mengantri kali ini (sekitar 45an lah), ini membuatku berpikir bahwa untuk perjalananku ke London yang selanjutnya, mendingan aku terbang ke Bandara London City aja deh! haha 😛

Rump steak untuk makan malam

Anyway, aku menginap semalam di hotel di dekat bandara hari ini, dimana aku juga makan rump steak untuk makan malam.

Keesokan paginya, aku check-out sebelum jam 7 pagi untuk mengejar penerbangan jam 9:45ku ke Paris. Aku sudah memiliki mobile boarding pass sehingga aku langsung menuju ke area sekuriti. Petugasnya melihat label “Sky Priority” di boarding pass-ku dan memberi-tahuku bahwa dengannya aku bisa masuk melalui jalur pemeriksaan VIP. Hore! Di jalur ini aku nggak perlu ngantri dan melewati pemeriksaan sekuriti total dalam waktu kurang dari dua menit saja, haha.

Pintu masuk SkyTeam Lounge di Heathrow

Begitu di area keberangkatan, aku langsung mencari SkyTeam Lounge di terminal ini. London-Heathrow bukanlah bandara SkyTeam tetapi pentingnya bandara ini membuat maskapai-maskapai SkyTeam memiliki banyak penerbangan melalui bandara ini. Jadilah SkyTeam memutuskan untuk berinvestasi dengan membuka sebuah lounge di Terminal 4 bandara ini, dimana kebanyakan penerbangan SkyTeam diberangkatkan (Anehnya, Garuda Indonesia beroperasi di Terminal 3 padahal Garuda kan anggota SkyTeam juga).

Pintu masuk lounge ini cukup kecil tetapi lounge-nya sendiri luas loh, dua lantai pula! Aku naik ke lantai atas karena petugasnya memberi-tahuku bahwa sarapan disajikan di sana. Pilihan sarapannya sendiri cukup oke dimana ada sarapan ala Inggris atau kontinental dengan model all you can eat. Disain lounge-nya sendiri juga keren banget dan nampak jauh lebih modern daripada Terminal 4nya Heathrow yang terasa “usang”, haha.

SkyTeam Lounge di Heathrow

AF 1681 (LHR-CDG)

Penerbangan: Air France AF1681
Pesawat: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBC
ATD: 10:22 BST (Runway 27R of LHR)
ATA: 12:07 BST (Runway 26L of CDG)

Aku merasa bersemangat banget ketika aku lihat di app Flightradar24-ku bahwa penerbanganku akan dioperasikan dengan F-HRBC, Boeing 787-9 Dreamlinernya Air France yang paling baru yang umurnya bahkan belum ada satu bulan! Sayangnya, penerbangan hari ini menggunakan Gate 2 yang mana merupakan gate di terminal ini yang menyebalkan sekali karena tidak mungkin bagiku untuk bisa memfoto pesawatnya dengan sudut yang baik! haha 😛

Singkat cerita, aku menaiki F-HRBC dan duduk di kursi 18K. Kali ini, aku duduk di kabin ekonomi reguler, tidak seperti penerbanganku sebelumnya dengan Dreamlinernya Air France dimana aku duduk di kabin premium economy. Sengaja aku memilih untuk tidak meng-“upgrade” kursiku dengan biaya yang sebenarnya tidak terlalu mahal karena aku ingin membandingkan dua kabinnya, haha.

Kabin ekonomi reguler Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBCnya Air France

Kabin ekonomi regulernya ternyata cukup nyaman dengan seat pitch kursi yang oke dan IFE terbarunya Air France (Air France Touch). Setelah semua penumpang naik pesawat, kami berangkat dan video peragaan keselamatan yang chic banget itu dimainkan di layar IFEnya.

Jangan lupa memasang sabuk pengaman karena, selain untuk memastikan keselamatan Anda, sabuknya juga meng-highlight lingkar pinggang Anda dengan elegan…

Anyway, yang namanya keberangkatan dari London-Heathrow tak akan komplit tanpa mengalami yang namanya kemacetan sebelum lepas landas, haha. Landasan pacu keberangkatan pagi ini adalah landasan 27R sehingga kami harus taxiing lumayan jauh ke sana, dan di dekat landasannya ada kemacetan untuk menunggu giliran lepas landas. Ini hampir tidak pernah terjadi di Schiphol atau Paris-CDG, dan mengingatkan akan Bandara Internasional Soekarno-Hatta di Jakarta! Haha 😛 .

Kemacetan di Heathrow

Singkat cerita, kami akhirnya lepas landas dan memulai penerbangan singkat ke Paris-CDG. Seperti di penerbangan AF1180, layanan snack-nya langsung disajikan setelah lepas landas. Boeing 787-9 berukuran lebih besar daripada Airbus A320 sehingga aku paham tentu pramugari/a-nya diburu-buru waktu ya untuk layanan ini, dan mereka meng-handle-nya dengan baik! Secara umum penerbangan ini adalah penerbangan yang nyaman dan mulus dengan F-HRBCnya Air France. Jam 12:07 waktu setempat, kami mendarat di landasan pacu 26R Bandara Paris-CDG.

Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBCnya Air France di Paris-CDG

Pesawat diparkir di Hall L Terminal 2E. Lalu, aku melewati pemeriksaan sekuriti dan imigrasi ketika transit ke Terminal 2F untuk mengehjar penerbanganku kembali ke Amsterdam dengan KLM.

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#1990 – AvGeek Weekend Trip #10 (AMS – OSL – CDG – AMS)

ENGLISH

Not too long ago, I went on another AvGeek Weekend Trip with quite an interesting routing:

The routing this weekend. Map created with gcmap.com

At first, I didn’t plan to write a self-standing post of the trip. But I changed my mind after the experiences I had during the trip, which actually made the trip unique enough for a self-standing post. Anyway, this post is the self-standing post and let just the story begin…

KLM KL1143 (AMS – OSL)

Flight: KLM KL1143
Equipment: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ named “Wielewaal”
ATD: 09:23 CET (Runway 24 of AMS)
ATA: 10:54 CET (Runway 01L of OSL)

To save some budget, I chose KLM’s 09:20 flight to Oslo (the 11:50 would have been better schedule-wise, but it was also much more expensive). Consequently, I had to depart from home quite early. And I departed a bit too early, actually, where I arrived at the tram stop some 20 minutes before the scheduled service! (I should have checked the transportation app indeed, so it was my fault).

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ which would take me to Oslo today.

Long story short, I arrived at Schiphol, waited and had my breakfast at KLM’s Crown Lounge, and boarded the plane: a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ. The flight itselft was a pleasant regular intra-European flight with KLM. I sat next to (I assume) a professor who was working on his grant proposal and was so into his work that he refused all the KLM service provided on his flight, haha.

Anyway, as I said in the teaser post, I was lucky that I was sitting on a window seat in the left side of the plane and the flight was landing at runway 01L. This provided me with a really cool bird’s eye view of the city of Oslo!

Oslo, not Solo!

Oslo-Gardermoen Airport

I have been to Oslo before, just a little over two years ago, actually. But somehow, I didn’t remember Oslo-Gardermoen Airport to be as good and cool as I encountered during this trip! Seriously, I found the terminal building to be really beautiful, one of the most beautiful one in Europe that I have been to!

Oslo-Gardermoen Airport

Anyway, one reason why I said KLM’s 11:50 flight would have been better scheduled-wise was that now, I had an almost six hours of transit, haha. I didn’t feel like going to the city of Oslo, so I was “stuck” at the (beautiful) airport. Though, I wasn’t worried at all as I knew that Air France/KLM had a cooperation with a lounge at the airport. The lounge was the OSL Lounge, located pretty much next to SAS’ business lounge.

OSL Lounge at Gardermoen Airport

The lounge itself was actually quite good! It wasn’t the most spacious lounge in terms of space, but the service and facilities were quite nice. There were quite some selections of drink and (typical lounge) food. The seats were generally comfortable as well. There was a row of three or four recliner chairs which I settled myself onto one of them. The chairs were quite old, actually, but they still worked fine and were still quite comfortable.

Air France AF1375 (OSL – CDG)

Flight: Air France AF1375 operated by HOP! Regional
Equipment: Embraer ERJ190 reg F-HBLE
ATD: 17:01 CET (Runway 01L of OSL)
ATA: 18:50 CET (Runway 26L of CDG)

I boarded my second flight today at around 16:10. It was an Air France flight that was operated by HOP! Regional’s Embraer ERJ190 reg F-HBLE. I sat on my 3F seat in the 2-2 configured plane which was super comfortable today because the seat next to me was vacant, yeay! Haha 😆 Long story short, the plane departed and took off from runway 01L of Oslo-Gardermoen Airport.

Taking off from runway 01L of OSL with HOP! Regional’s Embraer 190

Not long after take-off, the snack service was provided. And I was pleasantly surprised to see that the service standard was higher than the other regular intra-European Air France flights I had taken before. First of all, there were actually options for the sandwich service (chicken or vegetarian sandwich). And second of all, rosé wine was available as one of the wine options! Options and rosé wine were something I had never encountered in short-haul intra-European Air France flights before!

The service on board flight AF1375 from Oslo to Paris. Rosé wine was available and there were chicken or vegetable choices for the sandwich!

I tried to figure out the reason behind this. And then, it hit me that this AF1375 was actually my first intra-European flight with Air France (though operated by HOP! Regional) that was blocked for more than two hours one-way (its scheduled departure time was 16:45 with arrival time of 19:10, making it a 2 hours 25 minutes flight). I knew KLM had different level of service for flights below and above two-hours block, so it was not surprising that Air France appeared to have one too!

Aside from that, it was a pleasant regular flight with Air France and at 18:50, we landed at runway 26L of Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport. The plane parked at Terminal 2G so I had to take the transfer bus to Terminal 2F.

HOP! Regional’s Embraer ERJ190 reg F-HBLE at Terminal 2G of Paris-CDG after arriving as flight AF1375 from Oslo.

KLM KL1246 (CDG – AMS)

Flight: KLM KL1246
Equipment: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGN named “Jan van Gent”
ATD: 20:25 CET (Runway 27L of CDG)
ATA: 21:10 CET (Runway 18R of AMS)

After a super quick dinner at Salon Air France at Terminal 2F, I boarded my KLM flight back to Amsterdam today, that was a Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGN flight KL1246, Air France/KLM’s last flight to Amsterdam from Paris. This was actually a pleasant regular short-haul flight with KLM so there was not much to tell from the flight itself.

However, though, from my side I encountered an “interesting” experience. Suddenly just after the snack service began, I started to feel a terrible stomachache where I needed to go to a toilet soon. But then, it was already halfway through the flight (which was a short one anyway) and the flight attendants were still very busy in the aisle distributing the service. On top of that, I was sitting on a window seat with both the aisle and middle seats next to me taken. And so I thought that it was a short flight anyway so we would land at Schiphol soon and in the meantime I could just “hold” it, haha.

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGN which brought me back to Amsterdam today.

But then, as I suspected as it was an evening flight and was the worst scenario for my situation, we landed at the friggin’ Polderbaan! Damn!! So we had to taxi for another like 15 minutes before arriving at Pier D of Schiphol. Even then, it turned out that the nearest toilet to the gate was under maintenance at the time! Well, talking about my “luck” this evening😅.

On board KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ

Runway 24 of Schiphol

The snack service on board flight KL1143

Drammen, Norway

The food selection at OSL Lounge

Some drink selection at OSL Lounge

A comfortable reclining chair at OSL Lounge

OSL Lounge

Oslo-Gardermoen Airport

A HOP! Regional’s Embraer E190 reg F-HBLE at Oslo-Gardermoen Airport

On board HOP! Regional’s F-HBLE

Empty seat next to me, yeay!

Rosé wine

Boarding KLM’s Boeing 737-700 PH-BGN at Paris – CDG

The snack service on board flight KL1246

BAHASA INDONESIA

Pertengahan September kemarin, aku pergi dalam sebuah AvGeek Weekend Trip lagi dengan rute yang cukup menarik:

Rute akhir pekan kali ini. Peta dibuat dengan gcmap.com

Awalnya, aku berencana untuk tidak menulis posting tersendiri tentangnya. Tetapi rencana ini harus kuubah karena setelah pengalaman-pengalamanku di perjalanan ini, yang mana membuat perjalanannya cukup unik untuk dijadikan sebuah posting tersendiri. Posting ini adalah posting tersebut, dan langsung kita mulai saja lah ya…

KLM KL1143 (AMS – OSL)

Penerbangan: KLM KL1143
Pesawat: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGQ bernama “Wielewaal”
ATD: 09:23 CET (Runway 24 of AMS)
ATA: 10:54 CET (Runway 01L of OSL)

Untuk mengirit biaya, aku memilih penerbangannya KLM jam 09:20 pagi ke Oslo (penerbangan yang jam 11:50 sebenarnya lebih enak sih dari segi jadwal, tetapi masalahnya tiketnya juga lebih mahal lumayan, haha). Sebagai akibatnya, aku harus berangkat pagi deh. Dan aku malah berangkat kepagian lho, dimana aku tiba di halte tramnya 20 menit sebelum tramnya dijadwalkan berangkat! (Iya, seharusnya aku mengecek app transportasi umum dulu sebelum berangkat. Salahku sih memang).

Sebuah Boeing 737-700nya KLM rego PH-BGQ yang akan membawaku ke Oslo hari ini.

Singkat cerita, aku tiba di Schiphol, menunggu sekalian sarapan di KLM Crown Lounge, dan menaiki pesawatku: sebuah Boeing 737-700nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGQ. Penerbangannya sendiri adalah penerbangan reguler intra-Eropa yang nyaman dengan KLM. Aku duduk di sebelah seorang (yang kuasumsikan) profesor gitu yang sibuk mengerjakan proposal permohonan funding untuk risetnya di sepanjang jalan. Ia sebegitu seriusnya dengan pekerjaannya sampai-sampai semua layanannya KLM di penerbangan ini ia tolak loh, haha.

Anyway, seperti yang kuceritakan di posting yang dulu, aku beruntung aku duduk di kursi jendela di sisi kiri pesawat dan penerbangannya sendiri mendarat di landasan pacu 01L. Ini memberikanku pemandangan kota Oslo dari atas yang mana kece banget!

Oslo, bukan Solo!

Bandara Oslo-Gardermoen

Aku sudah pernah ke Oslo sebelumnya, dua tahun lebih sedikit yang lalu, sebenarnya. Tetapi entah bagaimana, aku tidak ingat dong bahwa Bandara Oslo-Gardemoen itu keren banget seperti yang kulihat di perjalanan ini! Beneran deh, bagiku gedung terminalnya indah banget, termasuk salah satu yang terindah yang pernah kukunjungi di Eropa!

Bandara Oslo-Gardermoen

Anyway, satu alasan mengapa kubilang penerbangannya KLM yang jam 11:50 itu lebih ideal dari segi jadwal karena sekarang aku harus transit selama enam jam, haha. Aku sedang merasa malas untuk pergi ke kota Oslo dan jadilah aku jadi “terjebak” di bandaranya (yang kece banget) kan. Walaupun aku nggak khawatir juga sih karena aku tahu Air France/KLM memiliki kerja-sama dengan sebuah lounge di bandaranya. Lounge-nya adalah OSL Lounge, yang berlokasi di sebelah lounge kelas bisnisnya SAS.

OSL Lounge di Bandara Gardermoen

Lounge-nya sendiri cukup oke lho! Memang sih dari segi ukuran nggak sebegitu besar, tetapi layanan dan fasilitasnya memadai banget kok. Ada cukup banyak pilihan minuman dan makanan (yang mana tipikal makanan lounge gitu sih). Kursi-kursinya juga cukup nyaman. Ada sebaris kursi recliner yang mana salah satunya aku gunakan, haha. Kursinya sudah cukup tua sih, tetapi masih bekerja dengan baik dan cukup nyaman kok.

Air France AF1375 (OSL – CDG)

Penerbangan: Air France AF1375 dioperasikan oleh HOP! Regional
Pesawat: Embraer ERJ190 rego F-HBLE
ATD: 17:01 CET (Runway 01L of OSL)
ATA: 18:50 CET (Runway 26L of CDG)

Aku menaiki penerbangan keduaku sekitar jam 16:10. Ini adalah penerbangannya Air France yang dioperasikan oleh HOP! Regional dengan pesawat Embraer ERJ190 rego F-HBLE. Aku duduk di kursi 3F di pesawat yang dikonfigurasi 2-2 ini yang hari ini nyaman banget soalnya kursi di sebelahku kosong dong, hore! Haha 😆 . Singkat cerita, pesawatnya berangkat dan lepas landas dari landasan pacu 01L Bandara Oslo-Gardermoen.

Lepas landas dari landasan pacu 01L-nya OSL dengan Embraer 190nya HOP! Regional

Tak lama setelah lepas landas, layanan snack dibagikan. Dan aku dikejutkan (secara positif) dengan standar layanannya yang lebih tinggi daripada standar layanan di penerbangan-penerbangan intra-Eropanya Air France yang sudah pernah kunaiki sebelumnya. Pertama-tama, ada pilihan lho untuk menu sandwich-nya (ayam atau vegetarian). Dan yang kedua, bahkan ada anggur rosé sebagai salah satu pilihan anggurnya! Pilihan dan anggur rosé kan tidak pernah aku temui di penerbangan jarak dekat intra-Eropa dengan Air France sebelumnya!

Layanan di penerbangan AF1375 dari Oslo ke Paris. Anggur rosé tersedia dan ada pilihan sandwich ayam atau vegetarian!

Aku mencoba menerka alasan di balik ini. Dan kemudian, barula aku sadar bahwa penerbangan AF1375 ini adalah penerbangan intra-Eropaku dengan Air France (walaupun dioperasikan oleh HOP! Regional) yang pertama yang diblok berdurasi lebih dari dua jam satu arah (penerbangannya dijadwalkan berangkat jam 16:45 dan tiba jam 19:10, artinya panjangnya 2 jam 25 menit). Aku tahu bahwa KLM memang memiliki pembedaan standar layanan untuk penerbangan di bawah atau di atas blok dua jam, jadi tidak mengherankan kalau Air France memiliki prosedur serupa ya!

Di samping itu, ini adalah penerbangan yang nyaman dengan Air France. Dan jam 18:50, pesawat mendarat di landasan pacu 26L Bandara Paris – Charles De Gaulle. Pesawat parkir di Terminal 2G sehingga aku harus menaiki bus transfer ke Terminal 2F.

Embraer ERJ190 rego F-HBLEnya HOP! Regional di Terminal 2G Paris – CDG setelah tiba dari Oslo sebagai penerbangan AF1375.

KLM KL1246 (CDG – AMS)

Penerbangan: KLM KL1246
Pesawat: Boeing 737-700 rego PH-BGN bernama “Jan van Gent”
ATD: 20:25 CET (Runway 27L of CDG)
ATA: 21:10 CET (Runway 18R of AMS)

Setelah makan malam super kilat di Salon Air France di Terminal 2F, aku menaiki penerbangan KLMku untuk kembali ke Amsterdam. Penerbangannya dioperasikan dengan pesawat Boeing 737-700 rego PH-BGN penerbangan KL1246, penerbangan Air France/KLM terakhir ke Amsterdam dari Paris hari ini. Ini adalah penerbangan reguler yang nyaman dengan KLM seperti biasanya sehingga sebenarnya nggak banyak yang bisa diceritakan dari penerbangannya sendiri.

Tetapi, aku mengalami kejadian yang “menarik”. Tiba-tiba setelah layanan snack dimulai, aku mulai sakit perut yang cukup parah yang membuatku merasa perlu untuk pergi ke toilet. Tetapi masalahnya, penerbangannya sudah berlangsung setengah jalan (mana ini adalah penerbangan singkat pula) dan pramugari/a-nya juga sedang sibuk di lorong untuk membagikan snack dan minuman. Ditambah lagi, aku duduk di kursi jendela sementara kursi lorong dan tengah di sebelahku terisi. Jadilah aku pikir karena toh penerbangannya singkat, nggak lama lagi pesawat akan mendarat di Schiphol dan untuk sementara itu bisa lah aku “tahan”, haha.

Sebuah Boeing 737-700 rego PH-BGN-nya KLM yang membawaku kembali ke Amsterdam hari ini.

Tetapi kemudian, seperti yang kuduga karena penerbangan malam dan merupakan skenario terburuk untuk situasiku, kami mendarat di Polderbaan laknat itu dong! Sialan!! Pesawat harus taxiing selama sekitar 15 menit sebelum tiba di Pier D di Bandara Schiphol. Setelah itu pun, ternyata toilet yang terdekat dengan gate-nya sedang direnovasi dong waktu itu!  Ini Dewi Fortunaku lagi “liburan” atau bagaimana ini ya malam ini 😅.

#1979 – AvGeek Weekend Trip #9 with An Air France’s Dreamliner

ENGLISH

In the last weekend of August, I went on an AvGeek Weekend Trip with the main purpose of flying an Air France’s brand new Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner on their short domestic Lyon – Paris-CDG sector. I actually took four flights on this trip (Amsterdam – Paris-CDG – Lyon vv). However, as the other three flights were just regular short-haul flights with Air France and KLM, in this post I will only focus on the trip’s main star, that was the flight with the Dreamliner.

AF 7641 (LYS– CDG)

Flight: Air France AF 7641
Equipment: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg F-HRBA
ATD: 10:37 CET (Runway 17R of LYS)
ATA: 11:31 CET (Runway 08R of CDG)

After having breakfast at my hotel near the airport (the breakfast was great, btw), I went to the airport to check-in and retrieve my boarding pass. Then, I cleared the security check and waited for my flight at Lyon Airport’s underwhelming Air France lounge. I checked my Flightradar24 app to see which of the two Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Air France would use on their domestic Lyon route today. I saw F-HRBB was leaving for London-Heathrow already so I figured it would be F-HRBA.

An Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg F-HRBA at Lyon Airport.

Long story short, at about 09:30 AM, F-HRBA landed at Lyon Airport and parked at the gate. Not long after, boarding commenced. I walked to the plane with excitement (haha) and settled onto my 10A seat in the Premium Economy cabin. Ah, yes, I was given a Premium Economy seat on this flight.

The Premium Economy cabin of Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner reg F-HRBA

It appeared to me that the flight was full. All seats in Business and Premium Economy were occupied, and I also saw a lot of passengers boarding to the Economy Class section. So as a result, boarding took some time to complete, haha. Meanwhile, of course I started to play around with the AVOD screen and selected some music for the short duration of the flight. Being the newest member of the fleet, obviously the AVOD PTV was Air France’s newest “Air France Touch”, the same one as what I found on my Boeing 777-300ER flight AF 117 from Shanghai to Paris earlier this year.

Bienvenue à bord

I tell you, it was so much fun to be able to use an AVOD PTV on an intra-European flight, let alone a European domestic flight! Haha 😆 . After boarding was completed, the door was closed and the plane was pushed back for departure. Obviously, the safety demo wasn’t done manually. Air France’s super chic and “so French” safety demo video was played on the screen:

Btw, this Air France’s safety demo video is one of my most favorite safety demo videos, btw. As you can see, it is so “French”, for instance stating that your seatbelt is not only for your safety, it also “elegantly highlights your waistline“, huahaha 😆 . And the general ambience of the video is so “French” with all the elegance and everything!

Taking off from runway 17R of Lyon Airport with an Air France’s Dreamliner

Anyway, we taxied to runway 17R and took off from there before making a u-turn north towards Paris. Overall, it was a really smooth flight with a Dreamliner. Not long after take-off, the snack service was distributed. It was just the standard Economy Class snack service, though; pretty much the service I would expect in Air France’s Premium Economy anyway.

The snack service on board the short-haul domestic Lyon – Paris route flight AF 7641 with a Dreamliner.

A feature of Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the super cool dimming window. And obviously I could also find this feature on F-HRBA!! Yep, no window shades were needed anymore as the windows could change their color and transparency!

Boeing 787 Dreamliner's awesome dimming window feature!! @airfrance 🇫🇷✈️🇫🇷. #Zilkos2017WeekendTrip #AvgeekWeekendTrip #AirFrance #SkyTeam #Boeing #787 #Dreamliner #B789 #Boeing787 #Boeing787Dreamliner #FHRBA #AF7641 #LYSCDG #window #windowseat #✈️ #aviation #avgeek #avgeeks #nofilter #instaaviation #instaplane #AirbusBoeingAviation #instaplane #planeporn #windowdimming #dimmingwindow #frequentflyer #iloveflying #nofilter

A post shared by Aurelius Zilko (@azilko) on Aug 27, 2017 at 4:41am PDT

I only used the AVOD PTV for the music (btw, the seat came with a noise-cancelling headphone, which was good!) and the super cool moving map; as I was constrained by the short duration of the flight. I also saw a wifi onboard sign even though I didn’t bother to check it, haha. Anyway, overall it was such a nice flight with an Air France’s Dreamliner!

An Air France Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner Premium Economy selfie

Time flew by when you were having fun. Suddenly, we were approaching Paris already, haha 😆 . We made a quick “tour” above Paris, though, where I could see the Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, and the famous Champs-Élysées from above. Really cool!! Anyway, we landed at runway 08R of Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport. Here is the landing video:

The plane parked at a gate in Terminal 2E, Charles De Gaulle’s non-Schengen terminal as it would serve flight AF 334 to Montreal, Canada later today. But that meant that the domestic passengers from Lyon would somehow need to be transported to Terminal 2F. For that, they took us with buses, haha.

After arriving at Terminal 2F, I went to an Air France’s Schengen lounge to wait for my KLM flight back to Amsterdam.

F-HRBA arriving from Paris

My Premium Economy 10A seat on board F-HRBA

Amazing legroom in Premium Economy

The safety card of Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner

Two windows for myself in Premium Economy

Dreamliner’s raked wingtip

Business Class’ lavatory

Air France Touch’s super cool map

Dimming window controller

Extending my seat

The Eiffel Tower, Arc De Triomphe, and Champs-Élysées

An Air France’s Airbus A380-800 taking off from runway 08L of Paris-CDG

Wifi On Board sign

The Sky Interior mood lighting on board F-HRBA

My seat controller

Deboarding Air France’s Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner F-HRBA

Taken by a bus to Terminal 2F

Thanks for the smooth ride, F-HRBA!!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Di akhir pekan terakhir bulan Agustus, aku pergi dalam sebuah perjalanan AvGeek Weekend Trip dengan tujuan utama terbang dengan pesawat baru Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner-nya Air France di rute domestik jarak dekat Lyon – Paris-CDG. Sebenarnya aku menaiki empat penerbangan di perjalanan ini (Amsterdam – Paris-CDG – Lyon pp). Namun, karena tiga penerbangan lainnya adalah penerbangan reguler jarak dekat dengan Air France dan KLM, di posting ini aku hanya akan fokus pada bintang utama perjalanan ini saja, yaitu penerbangan dengan Dreamliner.

AF 7641 (LYS– CDG)

Penerbangan: Air France AF 7641
Pesawat: Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner rego F-HRBA
ATD: 10:37 CET (Runway 17R of LYS)
ATA: 11:31 CET (Runway 08R of CDG)

Setelah sarapan di hotelku di dekat bandara (sarapannya enak, btw), aku pergi ke bandara untuk check-in dan mendapatkan boarding pass-ku. Lalu, aku melalui pemeriksaan sekuriti dan menunggu penerbanganku di lounge-nya Air France yang underwhelming itu di Bandara Lyon. Aku mengecek app Flightradar24-ku untuk mengetahui yang mana dari dua Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner-nya Air France yang akan digunakan di rute domestik Lyon hari ini. Aku lihat F-HRBB sudah berangkat ke London-Heathrow sehingga artinya aku akan mendapatkan F-HRBA.

Sebuah Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner milik Air France dengan rego F-HRBA d Bandara Lyon.

Singkat cerita, sekitar jam 9:30 pagi, F-HRBA mendarat di Lyon dan parkir di salah satu gate. Tak lama setelahnya, boarding dimulai. Aku berjalan ke arah pesawat dengan perasaan excited (haha) dan duduk di kursi 10A di kabin Premium Economy. Oh iya, aku diberikan kursi Premium Economy di penerbangan ini.

Kabin Premium Economy di dalam pesawat Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner-nya Air France dengan rego F-HRBA

Penerbangan ini nampaknya penuh. Semua kursi di kelas Bisnis dan Premium Economy penuh, dan aku lihat ada banyak sekali penumpang yang berjalan ke kelas Ekonomi ketika boarding. Sebagai akibatnya, boarding memang memakan waktu agak lama, haha. Untukku sih, aku menggunakan waktu ini untuk membuka layar AVOD di kursinya dan memilih beberapa musik untuk playlist pendek di penerbangan singkat ini. Yang namanya pesawat terbaru, jelas AVOD PTVnya adalah “Air France Touch”, yang terbaru milik Air France, dan sama seperti yang kutemui di penerbangan AF 117 dengan Boeing 777-300ER dari Shanghai ke Paris awal tahun ini.

Bienvenue à bord

Eh, sesuatu banget lho bisa menggunakan AVOD PTV di penerbangan intra-Eropa, apalagi di penerbangan domestik! Haha 😆 . Setelah boarding selesai, pintu ditutup dan pesawat didorong mundur untuk keberangkatan. Jelas, peragaan keselamatannya tidak dilakukan secara manual. Video peragaan keselamatannya Air France yang chick dan “Prancis banget” dimainkan di layar:

Btw, video peragaan keselamatannya Air France ini adala salah satu video peragaan keselamatan favoritku! Seperti yang bisa dilihat, videonya “Prancis banget”, misalnya menyebutkan bahwa sabuk pengaman tidak hanya menjaga keselamatan Anda, tetapi juga berfungsi untuk “meng-highlight lingkar pinggang Anda dengan elegan“, huahaha 😆 . Dan suasana umum videonya yang terasa “Prancis banget” dengan keelegannya dan semuanya lah pokoknya!

Lepas landas dari landasan pacu 17R Bandara Lyon dengan Dreamliner-nya Air France.

Anyway, pesawat berjalan menuju landasan pacu 17R dan lepas landas dari sana sebelum kemudian berputar ke arah utara untuk menuju Paris. Secara umum, penerbangan ini adalah penerbangan mulus dengan Dreamliner. Tak lama setelah lepas landas, layanan snack diberikan. Layanannya sesuai standar di kelas Ekonomi sih; yang mana toh level yang juga aku jangka dari kelas Premium Economy-nya Air France.

Layanan snack di penerbangan domestik jarak dekat Lyon – Paris penerbangan AF 7641 dengan pesawat Dreamliner.

Satu fitur Boeing 787 Dreamliner adalah jendelanya yang bisa gelap sendiri yang keren banget itu. Dan jelas dong fitur ini juga bisa ditemukan di F-HRBA!! Iya, penutup jendela mekanik nggak diperlukan lagi deh soalnya jendelanya bisa berganti warna dan transparansi sendiri!

Boeing 787 Dreamliner's awesome dimming window feature!! @airfrance 🇫🇷✈️🇫🇷. #Zilkos2017WeekendTrip #AvgeekWeekendTrip #AirFrance #SkyTeam #Boeing #787 #Dreamliner #B789 #Boeing787 #Boeing787Dreamliner #FHRBA #AF7641 #LYSCDG #window #windowseat #✈️ #aviation #avgeek #avgeeks #nofilter #instaaviation #instaplane #AirbusBoeingAviation #instaplane #planeporn #windowdimming #dimmingwindow #frequentflyer #iloveflying #nofilter

A post shared by Aurelius Zilko (@azilko) on Aug 27, 2017 at 4:41am PDT

AVOD PTVnya hanya kugunakan untuk musik saja (btw, kursinya juga dilengkapi dengan noise-cancelling headphone, yang mana kualitasnya lumayan lho!) dan peta yang keren banget itu; karena toh waktuku terbatas kan dengan durasi singkat penerbangan ini, haha. Aku lihat sebenarnya pesawatnya dilengkapi dengan wifi juga tetapi aku tidak sempat mengeceknya. Secara keseluruhan, penerbangan ini adalah penerbangan yang mengasyikkan dengan Dreamliner-nya Air France!

Selfie Premium Economy wajib di Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner-nya Air France

Waktu berlalu cepat ketika kita merasa senang. Tiba-tiba saja, pesawat sudah mendekati Paris dong, haha 😆 . Sebelum mendarat, pesawat “tur” singkat dulu di atas kota Paris, dimana aku bisa melihat Menara Eiffel, Arc De Triomphe, dan Champs-Élysées yang terkenal itu dari atas. Keren dah!! Anyway, kami mendarat di landasan pacu 08R Bandara Paris – Charles De Gaulle. Berikut ini video pendaratannya:

Pesawat diparkir di Terminal 2E, terminal non-Schengennya Bandara Charles De Gaulle karena pesawatnya akan digunakan untuk melayani penerbangan AF 334 ke Montreal, Kanada siangnya. Tetapi ini berarti penumpang domestik dari Lyon harus ditransportasikan ke Terminal 2F. Untuk itu, beberapa bus mereka gunakan, haha.

Setelah tiba di Terminal 2F, aku pergi ke lounge Schengen-nya Air France untuk menunggu penerbangan KLMku kembali ke Amsterdam.

#1971 – A Summer Weekend in London (Part I: The Flights)

ENGLISH

Posts in the A Summer Weekend in London series:
1. Introduction
2. Part I: The Flights
3. Part II: London

KL977 (AMS-LCY)

I was quite excited for this trip because it would be the first time I flew on a non-Schengen flight out of Schiphol since September 2016 when I flew to Sint Maarten! Haha 😆 . This also meant that I hadn’t used KLM’s non-Schengen Crown Lounge since then. I just realized though that I liked the Schengen lounge better actually.

Anyway, obviously I chose a KLM flight to get to London-City; and what excited me even more was the flight would be operated with one of the two Avro RJ85s they leased from CityJet! Yep, Avro RJ85! The cute regional jet with four engines!!

Flight: KLM KL 977 operated by CityJet
Equipment: Avro RJ85 reg EI-RJU
ATD: 12:11 CET (Runway 36L of AMS)
ATA: 11:55 BST (Runway 27 of LCY)

Boarding was slightly delayed today, but it went on quite smoothly. After all passengers boarded, however, the captain announced that due to a congestion on the departure runway (due to bad weather in Amsterdam today), we were only cleared to depart in 20 minutes. But not long after, the captain announced that the Polderbaan was open for departure and if he agreed to use this runway, we could depart now. He thought the long taxi there was better than sitting in the tarmac for 20 minutes doing nothing, haha; and I fully agreed with him on this case. So there we went, another departure from Polderbaan! Haha 😆

Another departure from Polderbaan

Anyway, I loved flying the Avro RJ85. It was a small plane but was very stable on air; thus comfortable even though the 3-3 configuration felt a little bit “cramped” in my opinion for its fuselage size. As it was a flight operated for KLM, the snack service was as per KLM’s standard:

The snack service on board CityJet’s flight KL977

which was decent for a short 45 minutes. Having said that, the cabin crews were CityJet’s, even when the flight was operated for KLM. Well, at least they wore CityJet’s uniform.

An aspect I was excited for this particular flight was the landing. I was really, really hoping we would land at runway 09 of London-City Airport. The view while landing there would be spectacular as the plane would have to descend above the city of London along with the cool skyscrapers! This was one of the reasons why LCY was my favorite. I landed there in 2013 but didn’t take a video so I planned to do so this time, haha.

But then, as we were flying from the east, we kept descending and descending above the River Thames without making any turn. Then I realized that we were NOT landing at runway 09 but at runway 27 instead! DAMN!!! Damn you wind direction!! Here is the landing video at runway 27:

Well, I guess this means I would need to fly to London City again in the future? Hahaha 😆 .

Anyway, another reason why I loved London City Airport was its small and compact size. A small airport meant short taxi and quick line at immigration (and baggage belt). I got off the airport in, like, literally less than 20 minutes since EI-RJU touched down at runway 27.

Deboarding at London City Airport from this CityJet’s Avro RJ 85 reg EI-RJU.

KL994 (LCY-AMS)

To go back to Amsterdam, I chose a KLM flight that was operated by KLM Cityhopper. Btw, KLM’s mainline Boeing 737 fleet cannot fly to London City Airport because the airport is too small for them. The runway length is just 1,508 meter; that is only around 2/3 of, say, the length of Adisutjipto Airport’s runway in Yogyakarta.

It was a small airport and unfortunately SkyTeam did not have a lounge partner there. But the general waiting area was nonetheless comfortable, especially that I scored a seat by the window which had electrical plugs and free wifi and offered this view:

An amazing view at the departure area of London City Airport

😍😍😍😍😍

I sat there for a good two-hour, haha.

Flight: KLM KL 994 operated by KLM Cityhopper
Equipment: Embraer ERJ190 reg PH-EZF
ATD: 18:08 BST (Runway 27 of LCY)
ATA: 19:51 CET (Runway 36R of AMS)

Boarding today was, unfortunately, quite chaotic. I found it weird actually that given the high frequency of KLM flights between London City and Amsterdam (up to 7 times daily on a weekday), there was no SkyPriority sign and line to help the boarding process. Sure SkyPriority passengers were announced to board first but it was basically useless as there was no actual line and in reality passengers standing closer to the gate would board first anyway.

A KLM Cityhopper’s Embraer ERJ190 reg PH-EZF

Btw, when scanning my mobile boarding pass, the scanner notified the boarding agent that, apparently, I had been upgraded to Europe Business Class! YESSS!!! Haha 😆 . I was moved from my original 9F seat to 1D and was given a new boarding pass. The downside of this, though, was that I no longer had a window seat 😞. Anyway, so I boarded PH-EZF, a KLM Cityhopper’s Embraer ERJ190, and settled onto my 1D seat. And of course the legroom was amazing, haha 😆 .

Amazing legroom in Europe Business Class; row 1

It was literally a full flight today, i.e. the load factor in both economy and Europe business class were 100%. So I was intrigued with our take-off today given London City Airport’s short runway, haha. We took off from runway 27; and it turned out that a full Embraer ERJ190 didn’t always need the full 1,508 meter of runway length to take off.

Take off was quite bumpy today, as we were making a u-turn above the city of London (which beautiful view I couldn’t really see due to my aisle seat) towards Amsterdam. After the fasten seat belt sign was turned off, the flight attendant offered any drink to us, which I asked for a cup of green tea. She brought me my green tea and my dinner service. Upon which I also asked for a bottle of champagne, hahaha 😛.

The dinner service on board flight KL994 in Europe Business Class

To my delight, the dinner service today was different from the dinner service on board my previous KLM Europe Business Class flight just two weeks earlier. The main dish was salad with chicken teriyaki skewer and two pieces of warm bread which were really nice. A small cup of potato-salmon salad was also served as the appetizer along with a small cup of chocolate and caramel dessert. This dish kept me busy during the entire flight, where we had started our descent towards Schiphol when I finished it. Though, I still had about a third glass of champagne which I finished in one gulp (🙈) because the crews already had to prepare for landing, haha.

Anyway, we landed at runway 36R of Schiphol and it was not a long taxi to the Fokker Farm. We were taken by a bus to the terminal. I cleared immigration, and went back home to Amsterdam.

A CityJet’s Avro RJ85 reg EI-RJU

Boarding an Avro RJ 85

My 4F seat on board EI-RJU

The legroom on board EI-RJU

Stuffies

EI-RJU’s #3 engine

Boarding an Embraer ERJ190

The bulkhead on board PH-EZF

A complimentary bottled water prior to take-off

A green tea service

The lavatory

I love KLM’s dolphin livery!!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Posting-posting dalam seri A Summer Weekend in London:
1. Introduction
2. Part I: The Flights
3. Part II: London

KL977 (AMS-LCY)

Aku cukup excited dengan perjalanan ini karena ini adalah kali pertama aku terbang di penerbangan non-Schengen dari Bandara Schiphol semenjak September 2016 ketika aku terbang ke Sint Maarten! Haha 😆 . Ini juga berarti KALI itu adalah kali terakhir aku mampir di lounge Crown Lounge-nya KLM yang non-Schengen. Aku baru menyadari bahwa aku lebih suka lounge Schengen daripada non-Schengen-nya deh.

Anyway, jelas dong aku memilih penerbangannya KLM untuk pergi ke London City; dan yang membuat bersemangat pagi ini adalah penerbangannya akan dioperasikan dengan satu dari dua pesawat Avro RJ 85 yang mereka sewa dari CityJet! Iyaa, pesawat Avro RJ 85 itu! Pesawat jet regional imut dengan empat mesin!!

Penerbangan: KLM KL 977 dioperasikan oleh CityJet
Pesawat: Avro RJ85 reg EI-RJU
ATD: 12:11 CET (Runway 36L of AMS)
ATA: 11:55 BST (Runway 27 of LCY)

Boarding berlangsung sedikit terlambat hari ini, tetapi lancar. Setelah semua penumpang naik, sayangnya kapten mendapatkan berita bahwa akibat kemacetan di landasan pacu keberangkatan (akibat cuaca buruk di Amsterdam saat itu), kami baru mendapatkan giliran berangkat 20 menit kemudian. Tetapi tak lama setelahnya, kaptennya mengumumkan bahwa Polderbaan baru saja dibuka untuk keberangkatan dan jika ia setuju untuk menggunakan landasan pacu ini, kami diperbolehkan berangkat saat itu juga. Menurut pertimbangannya, lebih baik taxiing lama kesana daripada diam saja di tarmac selama 20an menit kan, haha; dan aku setuju dengannya kali ini. Jadi ya gitu deh, satu keberangkatan dari Schiphol melalui Polderbaan lagi untukku, haha 😆 .

Keberangkatan dari Polderbaan lagi

Anyway, aku suka deh terbang dengan Avro RJ 85. Pesawatnya kecil tetapi terbangnya stabil banget; sehingga nyaman walaupun konfigurasi kursi 3-3nya terasa “sesak” sih menurutku untuk ukuran lebar kabin yang hanya segitu. Karena penerbangannya dioperasikan untuk KLM, layanan snack-nya juga sesuai standarnya KLM:

Layanan snack di penerbangan KL 977nya CityJet

yang mana oke lah untuk penerbangan singkat selama 45 menit. Walaupun snack-nya adalah dari KLM, sepertinya pramugarinya adalah pramugarinya CityJet. Yah, setidaknya sih mereka mengenakan seragamnya CityJet.

Satu aspek yang membuatku bersemangat dengan penerbangan ini adalah pendaratannya di London. Aku sungguh berharap kami akan mendarat di landasan pacu 09 Bandara London City. Pemandangan ketika mendarat di sana akan spektakuler banget karena pesawatnya harus bergerak turun di atas kota London di antara pencakar-pencakar langitnya itu. Kan kece banget yaaa!! Inilah salah satu alasan mengapa LCY adalah bandara favoritku, haha. Aku mendarat di sana di tahun 2013 tetapi waktu itu tidak aku video sehingga kali ini aku ingin mem-videonya, haha.

Tetapi kemudian, karena kami terbang dari arah timur, kami terus turun dan turun di atas Sungai Thames tanpa berbelok. Jadilah aku menyadari bahwa kami TIDAK sedang mendarat di landasan pacu 09 melainkan di landasan pacu 27 dong! SIAALL!!! Dasar nih arah anginnya kok nyebelin begini hari ini, haha 😛 !! Berikut ini video pendaratannya:

Yah, mungkin ini artinya aku harus terbang lagi ke London City kapan-kapan gitu? Hahaha 😆 .

Anyway, satu faktor lain yang aku suka Bandara London City adalah ukurannya yang kecil. Sebuah bandara kecil juga berarti taxiing yang singkat dan antri imigrasi yang nggak panjang (juga bagasi), haha. Hari ini, aku bisa keluar dari bandara sekitar kurang dari 20 menit loh semenjak EI-RJU menyentuh landasan pacu 27.

Menuruni pesawat Avro RJ85nya CityJet dengan rego EI-RJU ini di Bandara London City.

KL994 (LCY-AMS)

Untuk kembali ke Amstedam, aku memilih penerbangannya KLM yang dioperasikan oleh KLM Cityhopper. Btw, pesawat mainline Boeing 737-nya KLM tidak bisa mendarat di Bandara London City karena ukuran bandaranya terlalu kecil untuknya. Bayangkan, panjang landasan pacunya hanya 1.508 meter saja; yaitu sekitar 2/3 dari, misalnya, panjang landasan pacunya Bandara Adisutjipto di Yogyakarta.

Ini adalah bandara kecil sehingga sayangnya SkyTeam tidak memiliki lounge di sana. Tetapi toh ruang tunggunya cukup nyaman kok, apalagi aku mendapatkan satu kursi di sebelah jendela yang dilengkapi dengan wifi gratis dan colokan listrik dengan pemandangan kayak gini:

Pemandangan yang kece banget dari area keberangkatan Bandara London City

😍😍😍😍😍

Aku duduk di sana sekitar dua jam-an lah, haha.

Penerbangan: KLM KL 994 dioperasikan oleh KLM Cityhopper
Pesawat: Embraer ERJ190 reg PH-EZF
ATD: 18:08 BST (Runway 27 of LCY)
ATA: 19:51 CET (Runway 36R of AMS)

Boarding hari ini, sayangnya, berlangsung kacau. Aku merasa aneh sebenarnya dengan frekuensi cukup tingginya penerbangannya KLM dari Bandara London City ke Amsterdam (sampai 7 kali sehari di hari biasa), kok tidak ada tanda SkyPriority dan antrian yang berbeda gitu untuk mempercepat proses boarding. Memang sih diumumkan bahwa penumpang SkyPriority diminta naik pesawat duluan, tapi kenyataannya mah percuma aja karena nggak ada antrian dan yang berdiri paling dekat dengan gerbangnya ya bakal naik pesawat duluan, haha.

Sebuah Embraer ERJ190nya KLM Cityhopper dengan rego PH-EZF

Btw, ketika meng-scan mobile boarding pass-ku, scanner-nya mengeluarkan bunyi dan memberi-tahu petugasnya bahwa, ternyata, aku telah di-upgrade ke kelas bisnis Eropa dooong! YESSS!!! Haha 😆 . Aku dipindahkan dari kursi 9F ke kursi 1D dan diberikan boarding pass baru. Tapi sisi nggak enaknya adalah aku jadi tidak lagi duduk di kursi jendela nih 😞. Anyway, jadilah aku menaiki PH-EZF, sebuah Embraer ERJ190nya KLM Cityhopper, dan duduk di kursi 1Dku. Jelas legroom-nya mantap lah, haha 😆 .

Legroom yang mantap di kelas bisnis Eropa, baris 1.

Penerbangan hari ini adalam penerbangan yang penuh, dalam artian load factor di kelas ekonomi dan kelas bisnis Eropa adalah 100% di kedua kelas. Jadilah aku penasaran bagaimana lepas landasnya dari Bandara London City yang landasan-pacunya pendek itu, haha. Kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 27, dimana mesin langsung dimaksimalkan dari awal; dan ternyata dengan begini sebuah Embraer ERJ190 yang penuh toh tidak membutuhkan keseluruhan panjang 1.508 meter landasan pacu itu untuk terbang.

Lepas landas sendiri berlangsung cukup bumpy hari ini, ketika kami berputar balik di atasnya kota London (yang mana pemandangan kecenya tidak bisa kulihat karena kursi aisle-ku) menuju Amsterdam. Setelah lampu tanda sabuk pengaman dipadamkan, pramugarinya menawarkan minuman, dan aku meminta segelas teh hijau. Ia membawakan teh hijauku beserta layanan makanannya. Jadilah sekalian aku minta champagne juga dong ya, hahaha 😛.

Layanan makan malam di kelas bisnis Eropa penerbangan KL994.

Yang membuatku senang, menu layanan makan malam kali ini berbeda loh daripada menu layanan makan malam di penerbangan kelas bisnis Eropaku dengan KLM sebelumnya, yang mana dua minggu sebelumnya. Menu utamanya adalah salad dengan sate ayam dengan saus teriyaki dengan dua potong roti hangat yang mana rasanya enak. Satu cup kecil salad kentang-salmon juga disajikan sebagai hidangan pembuka dengan satu cup kecil coklat dan karamel untuk pencuci mulut. Menghabiskan satu menu ini memakan waktu keseluruhan penerbangannya untukku, haha, dimana pesawat sudah mulai turun menuju Bandara Schiphol ketika aku selesai. Walaupun, sekitar 1/3 gelas champagne-nya masih tersisa sih yang langsung aku habiskan sekali teguk (🙈) karena pramugari/a-nya sudah harus bersiap-siap untuk mendarat, haha.

Anyway, kami mendarat di landasan pacu 36R Bandara Schiphol dan pesawat parkir di Fokker Farm. Kami diantar dengan bus ke terminalnya. Setelah pengecekan imigrasi, aku naik kereta kembali ke Amsterdam.

#1957 – An Impulsive Wimbledon 2017 Trip (Part I: Getting to London and Back)

ENGLISH

Posts in the An Impulsive Wimbledon 2017 Trip series:
1. Introduction
2. Part I: Getting to London and Back
3. Part II: Wimbledon 2017

***

In short, I followed the same travelling strategy to London as two years ago. IMO, this strategy was quite efficient and economical given the last-minute nature of the trip.

Getting to London

I started the trip by taking the Hoek van Holland – Harwich ferry boat on Friday evening which arrived on Saturday morning. The timing was perfect because I could go straight to Wimbledon after arriving in London with the regional train service from Harwich. Also, this saved me one night of London’s expensive hotel room, haha 😛 .

Anyway, so straight from work, I went to Amsterdam Centraal to take the train to Hoek van Holland. Apparently the Hoek van Holland station was being renovated at the time and so I had to take a bus service from Schiedam.

Boarding Stena Britannica

I arrived at the international port a little bit too early today where check-in had not yet been opened. Long story short, finally they started boarding passengers at around 7:30 PM and I went to my cabin (the cheapest still available one, obviously 😛 ). This was my third time taking this ferry service, the other two being once obviously two years ago and another once three years ago in the winter, so I wouldn’t get to too much details here.

Fish and chips dinner

I had dinner at the restaurant, where I ordered a fish and chips menu. Then I walked about the boat where the facility was quite cozy. It was quite crowded, btw, and I guessed most passengers were passengers with vehicles since I did not notice a lot of “foot passengers” in the departure terminal. Anyway, the boat left the dock at around 9:50 PM and then off to the English Channel we went! I then had a big glass of cider before heading for bed.

Off to the sea!!!

I got up at 5 AM (British time), showered, packed all my stuffs, and headed down to the main deck for my breakfast. The breakfast was a buffet English breakfast which was just okay. Anyway, the walkway connecting the boat with the terminal building was broken this time (just like two years ago) so we were taken to the port with bus at 6:30 AM. I cleared immigration and waited for my train service to London Liverpool Street via Manningtree at 7:33 AM. Here, I realized I should have bought the rail and sail ticket so I could have taken the earlier 7:20 AM, haha. Anyway, both trains were on time so it was really convenient, and I arrived at London Liverpool Street station just before 9 AM.

Back in London!!

Back from London

As I would spend the whole Saturday in London, I planned to come back to Amsterdam on Sunday. Of course, this time I would just fly. And this was where I missed Garuda Indonesia’s fifth freedom Amsterdam – London-Gatwick route which they closed last year. A last-minute London (any airports, London is served by six airports, btw 😮) – Amsterdam ticket was quite expensive these days! Haha 😆 . Back in the day, Garuda still offered their promotional fare even for last-minute reservations. This time, the cheapest option would be to fly out of London at around 7 AM on Sunday but obviously I would never do that, lol 😆 . So I went with the second cheapest option that was easyJet’s afternoon flight out of London-Gatwick.

I missed Garuda Indonesia’s AMS-LGW route which they served using their Boeing 777-300ER. Pictured here was PK-GID at London-Gatwick from two years ago.

Anyway, obviously I did not have time to go around London this time. Even though I did manage to stop by for maybe 10 minutes at the Buckingham Palace as I was staying in the Victoria area, haha. Buckingham Palace was super busy at the time, due to the ceremony involving the famous royal guards there.

A royal guard at Buckingham Palace

I then took the regular train from London – Victoria Station to Gatwick Airport. It was quite convenient where the journey took about half an hour. I already checked-in online so I went straight to security and then to the departure area.

As I was quite early and actually had not had breakfast anyway, I decided to have brunch at my favorite restaurant, Jamie’s Italian, at the airport! Haha 😛 . I had their Italian steak and fries, and swapped the fries with my favorite polenta chips 😛 .

Italian steak and polenta chips at Jamie’s Italian

At about 3:20 PM, boarding for my easyJet flight EZY 8885 to Amsterdam started. Quite funnily, though, even though the gate was equipped with an air bridge, easyJet did not use it and the passengers had to board by going down and up a pair of stairs, haha. Anyway, the flight would be with an Airbus A320-200 reg G-EZWY (equipped with sharklets) and then I settled onto my 8A seat.

Breaking my flight-free streak at six weeks with this easyJet’s Airbus A320-200 reg G-EZWY

The last time I flew easyJet was three years ago, coincidentally also on the London-Gatwick – Amsterdam sector. Unsurprisingly easyJet had retrofitted their cabin in the meantime, and this time I felt like they had really generous legroom! This was made possible by the new very thin seats they installed, and this generosity obviously came with a price because easyJet still fitted their A320 with 180 seats (almost the maximum capacity of this type): the seats did not recline.

EasyJet’s new seat, very slim hence more legroom, but non-reclinable

Anyway, boarding went quite efficiently, and we took off from runway 26L. It was a typical uneventful flight with an LCC to Amsterdam. The flight attendants went on a round to sell stuffs, but I did not buy anything, haha. At 5:50 PM, we landed at Schiphol Airport. Upon arrival, I found it funny that they announced that we were about 10 minutes ahead of schedule. But actually, we landed at the friggin’ Polderbaan so the early arrival would get negated by the long taxi to the terminal we would have to do anyway, haha.

G-EZWY parked at one of the LCC stand in Pier H/M. I got off the plane (via stairs) and headed to the terminal, cleared immigration, and took the train to go back to Amsterdam 🙂 .

My cabin

The restaurant area in the ferry boat

A cozy lounge in the boat

A cinema in the boat

Watching tennis

A window view

A cider before bed

A buffet breakfast

A train to London Liverpool Street from Manningtree

The crowd in Buckingham Palace

The famous royal guards of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace Road, SW1

London-Gatwick Airport

Boarding G-EZWY

On board easyJet’s A320-200 G-EZWY

The generous legroom

Stuffies

G-EZWY was equipped with sharklets!

BAHASA INDONESIA

Posting-posting dalam seri An Impulsive Wimbledon 2017 Trip:
1. Introduction
2. Part I: Getting to London and Back
3. Part II: Wimbledon 2017

***

Secara singkat, aku menggunakan strategi yang sama untuk pergi ke London seperti dua tahun yang lalu. Menurutku, strategi ini cukup efisien dan ekonomis mengingat kondisi perjalanan ini yang serba dadakan.

Berangkat ke London

Perjalanan aku mulai dengan menaiki kapal feri Hoek van Holland – Harwich di Jumat malam dan tiba Sabtu pagi. Waktunya sempurna banget karena aku bisa langsung pergi ke Wimbledon begitu tiba di London setelah naik kereta regional dari Harwich. Juga, ini menghemat biaya hotel satu malam di London yang mahal banget itu kan, haha 😛 .

Anyway, sepulang kerja, aku langsung pergi ke Amsterdam Centraal untuk naik kereta ke Hoek van Holland. Rupanya waktu itu stasiun kereta Hoek van Holland sedang direnovasi sehingga aku harus naik bus yang berangkat dari Schiedam.

Menaiki kapal Stena Britannica

Aku tiba di pelabuhan internasionalnya agak terlalu awal dimana check-in-nya masih belum dibuka waktu itu. Singkat cerita, penumpang dipersilakan naik kapal sekitar jam 7:30 malam dan aku langsung pergi ke kabinku (yang paling murah dan masih tersedia tentunya 😛 ). Ini adalah kali ketiga aku menaiki layanan feri ini, dua kali yang sebelumnya adalah sekali dua tahun yang lalu dan sekali tiga tahun lalu di musim dingin, jadi aku tidak akan menuliskan terlalu banyak detailnya sekarang.

Makan malam dengan fish and chips 

Aku makan malam di restoran kapalnya, dimana aku memesan menu fish and chips. Lalu aku mengelilingi kapalnya yang memiliki banyak fasilitasnya sehingga lumayan nyaman. Hari ini kapalnya cukup ramai, btw, dan aku tebak sih kebanyakan penumpang adalah penumpang yang membawa kendaraan pribadi karena kulihat tidak ada banyak “penumpang pejalan-kaki” di terminal keberangkatan. Anyway, kapalnya diberangkatkan sekitar jam 9:50 malam dan langsung kami berlayar menuju Selat Channel! Setelahnya aku minum segelas besar cider sebelum pergi ke kabin untuk tidur.

Berangkat menuju ke laut!!!

Aku bangun sekitar jam 5 pagi (waktu Inggris), mandi, mem-packing barang bawaanku, dan kemudian turun ke dek utama untuk sarapan. Sarapannya adalah sarapan buffet ala Inggris yang mana rasanya biasa saja. Anyway, gabarata di Harwich rusak lagi kali ini (seperti dua tahun lalu) sehingga kami diantar ke pelabuhannya dengan bus jam 6:30 pagi. Aku melewati imigrasi dan menunggu keretaku ke London Liverpool Street jam 7:33 pagi dengan berganti-kereta di Manningtree. Aku baru sadar saat itu seharusnya aku membeli tiket rail and sail sehingga aku bisa menaiki kereta yang lebih awal, jam 7:20 pagi, haha. Anyway, kedua kereta yang kunaiki untungnya berangkat tepat waktu kok dan cukup nyaman, dan aku tiba di stasiun London Liverpool Street sebelum jam 9 pagi.

Kembali di London!!

Kembali dari London

Karena aku akan menghabiskan sepanjang Sabtu di London, aku berencana kembali ke Amsterdam di hari Minggu. Tentu saja, kali ini aku naik pesawat. Dan di sini lah aku kangen dengan penerbangan kebebasan kelimanya Garuda Indonesia rute Amsterdam – London-Gatwick yang mereka tutup tahun lalu. Tiket penerbangan last minute dari London (bandara mana pun, London memiliki enam bandara, btw 😮) ke Amsterdam itu lumayan mahal akhir-akhir ini! Haha 😆 . Dulu, Garuda masih menjual tiket promonya loh bahkan untuk reservasi dadakan. Kali ini, opsi termurah adalah terbang dari London sekitar jam 7 pagi di hari Minggu tapi jelas dong ya aku ogah, haha 😆 . Jadilah aku memilih opsi termurah kedua yaitu dengan penerbangan sorenya easyJet dari London-Gatwick.

Aku kangen dengan rute AMS-LGWnya Garuda Indonesia yang mereka layani dengan pesawat Boeing 777-300ER. Foto di atas adalah PK-GID di Bandara London-Gatwick dua tahun yang lalu.

Anyway, jelas kali ini aku tidak memiliki banyak waktu untuk berkeliling London. Walaupun aku masih sempat untuk mampir 10 menitan di Istana Buckingham sih karena aku menginap di area Victoria, haha. Istana Buckingham ramai banget waktu itu, karena sedang ada upacara yang melibatkan penjaga istananya yang beken banget itu.

Seorang penjaga di Istana Buckingham

Kemudian aku menaiki kereta reguler dari London – Victoria menuju Bandara Gatwick. Perjalanannya sekitar setengah jam. Karena sudah check-in online, aku langsung menuju pemeriksaan sekuriti dan masuk ke area keberangkatan.

Karena aku datang awal dan juga belum sarapan, aku memutuskan untuk brunch di restoran favoritku, Jamie’s Italian, di bandara! Haha 😛 . Aku memesan steak Italia kali ini, dan meminta menukar kentang gorengnya dengan polenta chips kesukaanku itu 😛 .

Steak Italia dan polenta chips di Jamie’s Italian

Sekitar jam 3:20 sore, boarding penerbangan EZY 8885ku ke Amsterdam dimulai. Lucunya, walaupun gerbangnya dilengkapi gabarata, easyJet tidak menggunakannya dong dan penumpang mesti naik ke pesawat dengan menuruni tangga dan kemudian menaiki tangga lagi, haha. Anyway, penerbangannya akan dioperasikan oleh sebuah Airbus A320-200 rego G-EZWY (yang dilengkapi dengan sharklets) dan setelahnya aku duduk di kursi 8Aku.

Memutuskan rekor “bebas-penerbangan”-ku setelah enam minggu dengan Airbus A320-200nya easyJet dengan rego G-EZWY ini.

Terakhir kali aku naik easyJet adalah tiga tahun lalu, kebetulan juga di sektor London-Gatwick – Amsterdam. Tidak mengejutkan bahwa di selama tiga tahun ini mereka juga telah mendisain ulang kabinnya, dimana kali ini aku merasa legroom-nya mantap banget! Ini dimungkinkan oleh kursi generasi barunya yang super ramping itu, dan tentu saja kemurahan-hati ini juga harus dibayar karena easyJet tetap mengisi A320 ini dengan 180 kursi (nyaris kapasitas maksimal pesawat tipe ini): kursinya tidak bisa digerakkan/dimundurkan.

Kursi barunya easyJet, amat ramping sehingga legroom-nya lebih lapang, tetapi tidak bisa digerakkan.

Anyway, boarding berlangsung cukup efisien, dan kami lepas landas dari landasan pacu 26L. Ini adalah penerbangan uneventful seperti biasanya dengan LCC ke Amsterdam. Pramugara-pramugaranya menawarkan barang dagangan di penerbangan ini, tetapi aku tidak membeli apa-apa. Jam 5:50 sore, kami mendarat di Bandara Schiphol. Setelah mendarat, pramugaranya mengumumkan bahwa kami mendarat 10 menit lebih cepat daripada jadwal. Aku merasa lucu karena kami mendarat di Polderbaan laknat itu sehingga biarpun kami mendarat lebih cepat, pada akhirnya toh akan sama saja karena taxiing ke terminalnya kan lama banget, haha.

G-EZWY parkir di salah satu tempat parkir LCC di pier H/M. Aku menuruni pesawatnya (pakai tangga) dan menuju ke terminal, melewati imigrasi, dan naik kereta untuk kembali ke Amsterdam 🙂 .

#1946 – Early Summer 2017 Weekend TripS (Part III: Thalys and Paris)

ENGLISH

Posts in the Early Summer 2017 Weekend TripS series:
1. Introduction
2. Part I: Lyon
3. Part II: Bremen
4. Part III: Thalys and Paris
5. Part IV: Roland Garros 2017

Thalys First Class

Aside from, obviously, the tennis tournament, one thing I was excited about this trip was how to get (and back from) to Paris, as I was travelling First Class with the high-speed train, Thalys.

A Thalys high-speed train at Gare Du Nord

I went straight from work to Amsterdam Centraal Station, well ahead of the departure because I was curious with the NS International Lounge which I could, of course, access with my ticket. In short, the lounge was underwhelming. While it was nice to be able to sit on a comfortable sofa while waiting for the train, that was pretty much it. Each person was only entitled to one serving of non-alcoholic drink as the service (They served alcohols (beers, wines) but were not free of charge). So the next time I travel first class, I wouldn’t bother to arrive at the station early just for the lounge, haha.

NS International Lounge at Amsterdam Centraal

Thalys arranges a 1-2 seat configuration in their First Class coaches (and 2-2 in Second Class). Upon booking, obviously I chose the “1” seat as it was a window AND aisle seat at the same time. My favorite kind of seat! Haha 😆 . The seat itself was quite comfortable. While it couldn’t be turned into a “flat” seat, who would need a flat seat anyway on a max. 3.5 hours train ride? Each seat also had an electric socket and each passenger was allowed to a 100 Mb complimentary data package, which was quite generous IMO.

On board Thalys’ First Class coach

There were a light snack and a dinner service on my outbound trip and a lunch service on my inbound trip. The heavy meal was served between Brussels and Paris. It made sense, as this was the longest leg and appeared to be the busiest one too. Overall, though, the meal service was just okay; pretty much similar to what you could expect on economy class long-haul flights with full service airlines. Though, this was certainly better than Second Class because nothing was served there, haha. What stood out, for me was that they served rosé wine as one option for the drinks! 😀

The dinner service on board Thalys’ First Class to Paris. The soft cheese was really good!!

From my observation, the crews appeared to be “mixed” in terms of their level of service. Some were really good and attentive, some others were not really.

Anyway, travelling with a high-speed train was always fun! Especially when travelling at full speed next to a highway, just like this:

Travelling with a high speed train next to a highway at around 300 kmh. NOT a timelapse, just a regular video 🚄. #Zilkos2017WeekendTrip #Thalys #Thalys9339 #highspeed #train #highspeedtrain #🚄 #treinleven #instatrain #highway #weekendtrip #ParisAmsterdam #weekend #Sunday #speed #300kmh #highspeed #instatravel #travelgram #wanderlust #trainstagram #bullettrain #cars

A post shared by Aurelius Zilko (@azilko) on Jun 11, 2017 at 9:42am PDT

Yep, at approximately 300 km/hour, obviously those cars in the highway were so “slow”, haha. And yep, the ride was super smooth.

Paris and French Food

Arriving on Friday evening, spending the entire Saturday at Stade Roland Garros, and leaving on Sunday at around noon meant that I did not have any time to explore Paris. Well, to be honest I did not mind at all because I have been to Paris a few times before, haha.

Though, I still managed to stop by at Louvre for my Paris selfie this year 😛

Another aspect of Paris that I really loved was, obviously, the food!!

The positive side of the, rather, underwhelming dinner service on board the Thalys ride to Paris was that I was still quite hungry upon arrival. So I went to a restaurant and ordered my must-have dish everytime I went to Paris: confit de canard! Haha 😆 . This confit de canard was not the best one, but I liked it much better than the one I had last year which did not come with any salad, haha.

My must-have dish every time I am in Paris: confit de canard

After my visit to Roland Garros, I went to my favorite restaurant nearby and ordered an escalope de veau. Actually I ordered this dish there every year, haha. Another dish which I had was bavette boeuf. Well, what can I say, French food never disappoints!

NS International Lounge at Amsterdam Centraal

NS International Lounge at Amsterdam Centraal

My seat on board Thalys First Class

An electric socket

A wrap and rosé wine as a light snack service upon departure

An afternoon tea service

You cannot mistake this view with another city, can you?

Louvre

Escalope de Veau

A beautiful (and busy) Parisian street

A metro stop in Paris could be a museum on its own

Bavette Boeuf

Gare Du Nord

A long line for security check at Gare Du Nord prior to boarding

The lunch service on board my First Class Thalys ride back to Amsterdam. The main course was a quiche

The dessert and a cup of coffee

A chocolate service

Another bottle of rosé for me 🙈

BAHASA INDONESIA

Posting-posting dalam seri Early Summer 2017 Weekend TripS:
1. Introduction
2. Part I: Lyon
3. Part II: Bremen
4. Part III: Thalys and Paris
5. Part IV: Roland Garros 2017

Thalys First Class

Di samping, jelas, turnamen tenisnya, satu hal lain yang aku tunggu-tunggu dari perjalanan ini mode transportasiku pergi ke (dan kembali dari) Paris, karena aku akan naik First Class-nya kereta super cepat, Thalys.

Kereta super cepat Thalys di Gare Du Nord

Aku langsung pergi ke Stasiun Amsterdam Centraal sepulang kerja, cukup lama sebelum waktu keberangkatan karena aku penasaran dengan Lounge Internasionalnya NS di sana yang bisa kuakses dengan tiketku. Secara singkat, lounge-nya ternyata underwhelming. Memang sih enak bisa menunggu sambil duduk-duduk di sofa yang nyaman, tetapi ya sudah itu aja. Setiap pengunjung hanya mendapatkan jatah satu minuman non-alkohol (Mereka juga menyediakan minuman beralkohol tetapi tidak cuma-cuma). Jadi lain kali ketika aku naik First Class lagi, aku nggak akan membela-belain diri datang awal hanya untuk lounge-nya deh, haha.

NS International Lounge di Amsterdam Centraal

Susunan kursi di First Class-nya Thalys adalah 1-2 (sementara 2-2 di Second Class). Ketika memesan tiket, jelas dong aku memilih kursi “1” karena ini adalah kursi window DAN aisle pada saat yang bersamaan. Kursi favoritku nih yang begini! Haha 😆 . Kursinya sendiri cukup nyaman. Memang sih nggak bisa dibuat menjadi kursi “rata”, tetapi siapa juga yang membutuhkan kursi rata di perjalanan maksimal 3,5 jam-an aja kan? Setiap kursi juga dilengkapi dengan colokan listrik dan setiap penumpang mendapatkan paket data 100 Mb secara cuma-cuma, lumayan sih menurutku.

Di dalam gerbong First Class-nya Thalys

Ada layanan snack ringan dan makan malam di perjalanan keberangkatanku dan layanan makan siang di perjalanan kepulangan. Layanan makan beratnya selalu disajikan di antara Brussels dan Paris. Masuk akal sih, karena ini adalah bagian terpanjang dan yang, nampaknya, paling ramai juga. Secara umum, untukku layanan makanannya biasa saja deh; kurang lebih seperti apa yang kita dapatkan di penerbangan jarak jauh di kelas ekonomi dengan maskapai full-service. Walaupun begitu, ini sudah lebih baik daripada Second Class sih karena di sana kan nggak diberikan apa-apa ya, haha. Yang asyik adalah, mereka menyediakan rosé wine sebagai salah satu pilihan minumannya! 😀

Layanan makan malam di First Classnya Thalys ke Paris. Kejunya enak banget!!

Sepengamatanku, krunya sendiri “campur-campur” dalam hal level pelayanannya. Beberapa sangat baik dan perhatian, sementara yang lainnya kurang begitu baik.

Anyway, naik kereta super cepat itu selalu seru loh! Terutama ketika keretanya sedang bergerak dengan kecepatan penuh di sebelah sebuah jalan tol, seperti berikut ini:

Travelling with a high speed train next to a highway at around 300 kmh. NOT a timelapse, just a regular video 🚄. #Zilkos2017WeekendTrip #Thalys #Thalys9339 #highspeed #train #highspeedtrain #🚄 #treinleven #instatrain #highway #weekendtrip #ParisAmsterdam #weekend #Sunday #speed #300kmh #highspeed #instatravel #travelgram #wanderlust #trainstagram #bullettrain #cars

A post shared by Aurelius Zilko (@azilko) on Jun 11, 2017 at 9:42am PDT

Yup, dengan kecepatan sekitar 300 km/jam, jelas dong ya itu mobil-mobil di jalan tol pada disalipin dengan mudah saking “pelan”-nya, haha. Dan iya, keretanya memang mulus banget.

Paris dan Masakan Prancis

Tiba di Jumat malam, seharian di Stade Roland Garros di hari Sabtu, dan pulang di tengah hari Minggu, artinya memang aku tidak memiliki waktu untuk jalan-jalan di Paris. Yah, sejujurnya sih aku tidak masalah dengan itu karena toh aku sudah pernah ke Paris beberapa kali sebelumnya, haha.

Walaupun begitu, aku masih menyempatkan diri mampir di Louvre untuk Paris selfie-ku tahun ini 😛 .

Satu aspek lain dari Paris yang aku suka adalah, jelas, makanannya!!

Sisi positif dari layanan makan malam yang agak mengecewakan di perjalanan dengan Thalys ke Paris adalah aku masih merasa cukup lapar ketika tiba di sana. Jadilah aku mencari restoran yang menyajikan masakan yang harus aku makan setiap kali aku ke Paris: confit de canard! Haha 😆 . Confit de canard yang ini bukan lah yang paling enak yang pernah kumakan sih, tetapi aku masih lebih menyukainya daripada yang kudapatkan tahun lalu yang nggak ada saladnya dong, haha.

Masakan yang harus selalu kupesan setiap kali ke Paris: confit de canard

Setelah kunjunganku ke Roland Garros, aku pergi ke restoran favoritku di dekat sana dan memesan escalope de veau. Sebenarnya aku selalu memesan masakan ini sih setiap kali di sana, haha. Satu masakan lain yang kupesan adalah bavette boeuf. Ah, yang namanya masakan Prancis mah memang nggak pernah mengecewakan!

#1927 – AvGeek Weekend Trip #8 (AMS – BOD – CDG – AMS)

ENGLISH

Posts in the AvGeek Weekend Trip series:
1. AvGeek Weekend Trip #1 (AMS-CDG-STR-AMS)
2. AvGeek Weekend Trip #2 (AMS-MAD-FRA-AMS)
3. AvGeek Weekend Trip #3 (AMS-LYS-NCE-AMS)
4. AvGeek Weekend Trip #4 (AMS–CDG, ORY–LYS–AMS)
5. AvGeek Weekend Trip #5 (AMS-CPH-ARN-AMS)
6. AvGeek Weekend Trip #6 (AMS-CDG, ORY-MRS-BOD-AMS)
7. AvGeek Weekend Trip #7 (AMS–CDG–LYS–AMS)
8. AvGeek Weekend Trip #8 (AMS–BOD–CDG–AMS)

Twelve days ago I went on another AvGeek Weekend Trip. As I said, at some point I hesitated going on this trip but in the end, and I am glad I did this, I decided to put aside the hesitation and still went. And here is the story of the trip 🙂 .

***

My first flight was scheduled to depart at 14:30, but I arrived at Schiphol at around 11:00 so that it was on time for brunch at KLM’s Crown Lounge, haha 😆 .

Flight: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KL 1317
Equipment: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGP (“Pelicaan”)
ATD: 15:05 CET (Runway 18L of AMS)
ATA: 16:25 CET (Runway 23 of BOD)

At 13:45 I went to the gate only to find out that a Transavia’s Boeing 737 (in SunWeb livery) was still there but was already ready for pushback. However, this was a sign that my flight would be delayed. This was not the best circumstance especially for today where my connecting time in Bordeaux was quite tight, so I got a little bit anxious, haha 😣.

Well, at least about two minutes after the Transavia flight’s departure, the KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGP that would operate my flight parked at the gate. Indeed it was really quick! Good job, Schiphol!! Haha 😆 .

A KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGP named “Pelicaan” arrived at the gate some two minutes after the departure of the Transavia flight.

Nonetheless, boarding commenced about 20 minutes behind schedule. There was also a queue for take-off at runway 18L so the plane left the ground 35 minutes after the scheduled departure time, haha.

There was nothing I could do at this point beside to just be in the moment and enjoy. So along with my complimentary snack, I ordered white wine (and this was after a couple glasses of sparkling wine earlier in the lounge). This worked, though, as I felt calmer afterwards.

The complimentary snack service on board KLM’s flight KL1317 to Bordeaux.

Anyway, at 16:25 we landed at runway 23 of Bordeaux Airport. We parked at the gate next to an easyJet’s flight that just arrived from the UK. Knowing there would likely be a border control at the airport, I rushed after deboarding. Indeed there were already quite many people forming lines at the border control, but luckily the lines went quite fast, haha.

I had to change terminals in Bordeaux because I was transferring to a domestic flight but luckily the airport was not really big. I could immediately went to the security check because I already had my boarding pass. And guess what, it was still 10 minutes ahead of boarding time! I made it! Haha 😆 .

Air France’s Airbus A321-200 reg F-GTAK at Bordeaux Airport

Of course, though, I had no time to drop by at Air France’s lounge there as boarding started not long after. Interestingly (I had never experienced this before), we were told to board as quick as possible because the airport would be closed for two hours starting from 17:30 for a training. So we had to make our 17:25 departure otherwise we would be delayed at least until 19:30.

Flight: Air France AF 7637
Equipment: Airbus A321-200 reg F-GTAK
ATD: 17:29 CET (Runway 23 of BOD)
ATA: 18:27 CET (Runway 27L of CDG)

Boarding went efficiently where I settled onto my comfortable seat 1A. I found it quite funny that at 17:19, when boarding was still ongoing, the captain announced we had 11 minutes for departure, lol 😆 . We took off at 17:29, just in time before the airport closure!! 😀

A few of these planes were already in position as we were taking off from Bordeaux

It was a pleasant domestic flight with Air France; and I especially enjoyed seat 1A! Haha 😛 . About one hour later, we landed at runway 27L of Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris.

After getting my boarding pass back to Amsterdam, I went to an Air France’s lounge. I came in with no expectation after my latest experience there just one month earlier where I was very disappointed with the meal offers. This time, though, Air France redeemed itself and the service went back to pretty much how it was before. Phew!!

The meal service at Salon Air France

The meal service at Salon Air France

Btw, the brownies in the right picture above was really, really good!

Flight: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KL 1246
Equipment: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGX (“Scholekster”)
ATD: 20:29 CET (Runway 27L of CDG)
ATA: 21:10 CET (Runway 18R of AMS)

At 19:45, I left the lounge and went to the gate nearby. Not long after, boarding started for flight KL1246, which would be operated by a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGX. The flight was not full today so boarding went quite quickly.

Boarding a KLM’s Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGX as flight KL1246 to Amsterdam.

This was a normal Paris – Amsterdam flight. Probably because it was a late flight, KLM only served a small bag of crackers instead of the usual sandwich/wrap. At least it tasted good, though. Anyway, at 21:10 we landed at the Polderbaan in Schiphol, just six hours after taking off to Bordeaux!! Hahaha 😆 .

Seat 7F on board PH-BGP

The “Kaagbaan” (runway 06/24) was under maintenance

Dutch weather 😣

Approaching runway 23 of Bordeaux

Bordeaux Airport

Seat 1A on board F-GTAK. I really, really like Air France’s peach cabin lighting

Snack service on board Air France’s flight AF7637

The perk of an empty middle seat

Paris – Charles De Gaulle Airport

The famous Air France’s concorde at CDG

Seat 7F on board PH-BGX

Snack service on board KLM’s flight KL1246

BAHASA INDONESIA

Posting-posting dalam seri AvGeek Weekend Trip:
1. AvGeek Weekend Trip #1 (AMS-CDG-STR-AMS)
2. AvGeek Weekend Trip #2 (AMS-MAD-FRA-AMS)
3. AvGeek Weekend Trip #3 (AMS-LYS-NCE-AMS)
4. AvGeek Weekend Trip #4 (AMS–CDG, ORY–LYS–AMS)
5. AvGeek Weekend Trip #5 (AMS-CPH-ARN-AMS)
6. AvGeek Weekend Trip #6 (AMS-CDG, ORY-MRS-BOD-AMS)
7. AvGeek Weekend Trip #7 (AMS–CDG–LYS–AMS)
8. AvGeek Weekend Trip #8 (AMS–BOD–CDG–AMS)

Dua belas hari yang lalu aku pergi dalam rangka AvGeek Weekend Trip lagi. Seperti yang waktu itu kuceritakan, aku sedikit ragu untuk pergi dalam perjalanan ini tetapi akhirnya, dan aku lega aku memutuskan ini, aku tetap pergi. Dan berikut ini ceritanya 🙂 .

***

Penerbangan pertamaku dijadwalkan berangkat jam 14:30, tetapi aku tiba di Schiphol sekitar jam 11:00 supaya waktunya pas untuk brunch di Crown Lounge-nya KLM, haha 😆 .

Penerbangan: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KL 1317
Pesawat: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGP (“Pelicaan”)
ATD: 15:05 CET (Runway 18L of AMS)
ATA: 16:25 CET (Runway 23 of BOD)

Jam 13:45 aku menuju ke gate dimana ternyata sebuah Boeing 737nya Transavia (dengan livery Sunweb) masih terparkir tetapi sudah siap untuk pushback. Hanya saja, ini adalah pertanda bahwa penerbanganku akan terlambat. Dan ini bukanlah situasi terbaik untuk hari ini dimana waktu transitku di Bordeaux amat singkat, jadilah aku sedikit merasa khawatir, haha 😣.

Yah, setidaknya sih sekitar dua menit setelah pesawatnya Transavia berangkat, sebuah Boeing 737-700nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGP, yang akan mengoperasikan penerbanganku, langsung parkir di gate-ku. Sigap dan cepat banget ya! Good job, Schiphol!! Haha 😆 .

Sebuah Boeing 737-700nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGP bernama “Pelicaan” tiba di gate sekitar dua menit setelah keberangkatan pesawatnya Transavia.

Toh walaupun begitu, boarding berlangsung 20 menit di belakang jadwal. Kebetulan juga ada antrian untuk lepas landas dari landasan pacu 18L sehingga pesawatnya baru terbang 35 menit terlambat dari jadwal, haha.

Nggak ada yang bisa kulakukan di waktu ini kecuali untuk be in the moment dan menikmatinya. Jadilah untuk menemani snack komplimennya, aku memesan anggur putih (dan ini setelah dua gelas sparkling wine di lounge, haha). Dan trik ini bekerja loh, aku merasa kalem setelahnya.

Layanan snack komplimen di penerbangan KL1317nya KLM ke Bordeaux.

Jam 16:25, kami mendarat di landasan pacu 23 Bandara Bordeaux. Kami parkir di sebelah sebuah pesawatnya easyJet yang baru saja tiba dari Inggris. Karena aku tahu akan ada pemeriksaan paspor di bandara ini, aku berjalan cepat-cepat setelah turun dari pesawat. Benar saja, sudah ada banyak orang di pemeriksaan imigrasi sehingga antrian panjang terbentuk. Untungnya sih pemeriksaannya berlangsung cepat, haha.

Aku harus pindah terminal di Bordeaux karena aku transit ke penerbangan domestik. Untungnya sih bandaranya kecil. Aku dapat langsung menuju pemeriksaan sekuriti karena aku sudah mendapatkan boarding pass. Dan ternyata waktu itu masih 10 menit sebelum jadwal boarding dong! Aku berhasil dan ternyata tidak terlambat! Haha 😆 .

Sebuah Airbus A321-200 reg F-GTAK milik Air France di Bandara Bordeaux

Tentu saja tidak ada waktu untukku mampir di lounge-nya Air France di sana karena boarding berlangsung tak lama kemudian. Menariknya (belum pernah kejadian kepadaku sebelumnya), penumpang diminta untuk naik pesawat secepat mungkin karena bandaranya akan ditutup jam 17:30 selama sekitar dua jam untuk latihan penerbangan. Jadi kami harus berangkat tepat waktu yaitu jam 17:25 sesuai jadwal. Jika tidak, kami harus menunggu setidaknya sampai jam 19:30.

Penerbangan: Air France AF 7637
Pesawat: Airbus A321-200 reg F-GTAK
ATD: 17:29 CET (Runway 23 of BOD)
ATA: 18:27 CET (Runway 27L of CDG)

Boarding berlangsung efisien dan aku duduk nyaman di kursi 1Aku. Lucu juga rasanya jam 17:19, ketika sebagian penumpang masih boarding, kapten mengumumkan bahwa kami memiliki waktu 11 menit untuk berangkat, haha 😆 . Akhirnya, kami lepas landas jam 17:29, pas banget sebelum penutupan bandaranya!! 😀

Beberapa pesawat ini sudah berbaris ketika kami lepas landas dari Bordeaux.

Ini adalah penerbangan domestik dengan Air France yang nyaman; dimana aku terutama menikmati kursi 1A! Haha 😛 . Sekitar satu jam kemudian, kami mendarat di landasan pacu 27L Bandara Charles De Gaulle di Paris.

Setelah mendapatkan boarding pass-ku untuk kembali ke Amsterdam, aku pergi ke sebuah lounge-nya Air France. Aku masuk tidak dengan ekspektasi apa-apa akibat pengalaman terakhirku kesana sekitar satu bulan sebelumnya dimana aku dikecewakan dengan layanan makanannya. Kali ini, Air France menebus dirinya kembali dan level layanannya kembali ke sedia kala. Fiuh!!

Layanan makan malam di Salon Air France

Layanan makan malam di Salon Air France

Btw, brownies di foto sebelah kanan enak banget loh!

Penerbangan: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KL 1246
Pesawat: Boeing 737-700 reg PH-BGX (“Scholekster”)
ATD: 20:29 CET (Runway 27L of CDG)
ATA: 21:10 CET (Runway 18R of AMS)

Jam 19:45, aku beranjak dari lounge dan berjalan menuju gate tidak jauh dari sana. Tak lama kemudian, boarding penerbangan KL1246 dimulai, yang mana akan dioperasikan dengan Boeing 737-700nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGX. Penerbangan ini tidak penuh hari ini sehingga boarding berlangsung cepat.

Boarding sebuah Boeing 737-700nya KLM dengan rego PH-BGX sebagai penerbangan KL1246 ke Amsterdam.

Ini adalah penerbangan normal Paris – Amsterdam. Mungkin karena penerbangan malam, KLM hanya memberikan satu bungkus kecil crackers bukannya sandwich/wrap seperti biasanya itu. Tetapi crackers-nya enak sih, haha. Anyway, jam 21:10 pesawat mendarat di Polderbaan di Schiphol, hanya sekitar enam jam setelah aku lepas landas ke Bordeaux!! Hahaha 😆 .