I have written about intra-Europe business class in the past, and like I said last time, business class for European flight is truly not worth it and is hardly business class. From what I have seen thus far from my experience, business class in Europe is actually Tommy Class, meaning the middle seat is blocked off/not sold, and there is no difference between the hard product (seat) between coach and business except for maybe a few inches of added leg room.
Despite this, if you’re traveling to or from Europe in a business class ticket and have to connect to an intra-Europe flight, then why not fly intra-Europe business class! And in my case, after a lovely flight from LAX to AMS in Business Class on KLM, I was heading towards Madrid in KLM Business Class, but of course, not without a stop by the lounge first!
Boarding/Preflight
Due to my late departure from the KLM lounge, I failed to notice if the business class cabin was able to board first. By the time my brother and I arrived at the gate, the plane was already boarding and we just proceeded to board. Although, something tells me it’s hard to regulate who boards when because boarding passes are scanned prior to entering the gate area, and when we boarded there was no one checking boarding cards. Preflight did not offer any pre-departure beverage, but a menu was provided with lunch items.
Inflight
The flight from Amsterdam to Madrid is just over two hours including taxi time, or about 1 hour and 45 minutes in the air. Just after takeoff, flight attendants came through the cabin and took beverage and lunch orders. Both my brother and I opted to for fish & lentil. The other option was an Asian infusion chicken dish with bok choy.
Minutes later, both Joshua and I had our first glasses of wine served to us in a single serving plastic bottle with a KLM wine glass. Another 10 minutes passed and we were provided with our lunch. Both Josh and I literally licked the plate clean. The lentils were PERFECT, absolutely scrumptious and the fish was flawless, not to mention just recalling the cookie crumble chocolate mousse makes my mouth water! I would honestly say this meal was the BEST main dish I’ve ever had on an airplane! And to think, it was a short haul flight! Josh and I had our wines replenished, dished cleared and then both slept until we landed in Madrid.
The flight between Amsterdam and Madrid wasn’t anything special. The flight attendants were extremely friendly, the food was delectable and wine delightful, but otherwise this was just another flight to another city. The flight had no inflight entertainment or anything special as far as business class goes, in fact, I would argue that business class is better in the USA than in Europe. At least you have a choice of beer, wine, or spirits, whereas on KLM business class only offered beer and wine. Yet then again, KLM did offer me the best airplane food I had in 8+ years of flying!
