Let's find out what it's like to connect through Schiphol airport and fly a narrowbody economy service with KLM.

On Monday, September 26th, I flew from Vilnius (Lithuania) to Edinburgh (UK) via Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in the Netherlands. As previous articles have reviewed the airBaltic A220 experience, the focus of today’s article will exclude the first leg of the journey and start with the transfer experience at Amsterdam airport, as well as a review of the economy class flight aboard a KLM Boeing 737-800. So, let’s get started!

This entire journey began with some anxiety around current levels of “airport chaos,” particularly at Amsterdam airport. While the peak of chaos involving long line-ups and flight cancelations took place over the summer, Schiphol had seen a resurgence of these inconveniences in recent weeks. So what was it like for me in late September? Well, not that bad, actually!

Our first flight with airBaltic arrived in Amsterdam slightly ahead of schedule and deplaning was fairly quick with the use of a jet bridge. The airport’s moving walkways were a great help in moving passengers quickly from the very end of an airport pier towards the central transfer area. This was particularly important as we had to clear customs and border control for the second flight.

With the inbound flight arriving at around 09:40, there was certainly an expectation of a busy and chaotic terminal. While it was indeed busy, things seemed far from chaotic. The situation was further helped by the fact that my travel companion and I both had passports that could be processed using the automated kiosks (or eGates). Thus, passing border control took less than 10 minutes.

It should be noted, however, that a lot of effort was put into getting ahead of other passengers on our inbound flight. Our speedy walking ensured we were "ahead of the pack" for the border control portion of our transfer. Thus, it’s quite possible that the situation could have been different and slower if we had approached customs at a different time.

In my previous experiences at Schiphol, I was expecting to go through another security checkpoint. However, this was not the case with this trip and we were free to head to the gate immediately after customs. At the same time, I do remember from a trip last year that this post-customs area has airport staff randomly choosing travelers to go through a security screening, located off to the side.

All in all however, the two main anxieties of transferring through Schiphol never materialized, with both border control and a security screening being non-issues.

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We reached the gate for our flight to Edinburgh about a half hour before boarding. At this point, it was clear that the boarding area was far too small to accommodate all 180-plus passengers booked on the 737 service. This meant that some passengers decided to sit on a narrow window sill while others had to stand around outside of the gate area. Aside from this, the boarding process was fairly swift and the gate agents did a solid job of controlling the process and clearly telling passengers which zones were currently welcome to get on the aircraft.

Walking through the jet bridge and reaching the aircraft, the first thing we experienced were flight attendants greeting us and handing out packaged wet-wipes to clean hands and/or wipe down surfaces. As we passed through the cabin, it was clear that KLM had refurbished the interior of this particular aircraft. Indeed, it was in May of 2021 that KLM began to introduce its retrofitted economy class cabins on 737-800s. These new cabins offer new slim seats which claimed to offer more comfort, along with WiFi and a few other features, which we will soon go through in a later section.

The aircraft we stepped aboard was a Boeing 737-800 registered PH-BCD. This aircraft is about nine and a half years old and was delivered in May of 2013. Operating as flight KL1281, we noticed that this same service uses a mix of aircraft, depending on passenger demand. Thus, other aircraft types deployed on flight KL1281 have included the 737-700, 737-900, the Embraer E195, and E195-E2. So, while the -800’s relatively new cabin was nice to experience, it would have also been great to experience KLM’s new E2 jets!

Moving on to the economy class seat, these have a pitch of about 30 inches and a width of 17 inches. At nearly six feet (180cm) tall, this felt adequate. It also allowed enough space to place a large backpack under the seat in front.

While the seats on KLM’s narrowbodies lack inflight entertainment systems, the new cabins do at least provide USB ports to charge personal devices. These are situated between the seats in front and have two ports each - making for four ports available to three passengers. Other than this, there weren’t too many other special features. The seats had mesh pockets and little plastic nubs to allow passengers to hang their jackets. Unsurprisingly, the seats also had tray tables, but also had separate cup holders, which meant that you could keep your tray table stowed away while still having a place to hold a beverage.

On this one occasion, my travel compansion opened up their seat-back pocket to find used tissue paper from a previous flight. This would indicate an incomplete and rushed cleaning job performed by the ground crews. Although seatback screens were absent, the airline was supposed to be equipped with inflight WiFi, which was supposed to include 30 minutes of free messaging. Unfortunately, I was unable to connect my smartphone to the network. It’s possible that crews disabled this feature due to how short the flight was - which is typically about one hour.

Despite the short flight, a complimentary inflight snack and beverage was provided - a standard service on KLM's intra-Europe flights. The downside for these short services is the lack of choice, as all passengers were only offered an egg salad sandwich. As for beverages, travelers could choose from juice or soda, as well as water or sparkling water.

The egg salad sandwich was tasty and it was nice to read the “story” of the sandwich on the packaging. Assuming everything written is true, it looks like KLM sources its ingredients from local Dutch suppliers which are also keen to prioritize quality. Furthermore, the cheese included in the sandwich is apparently climate neutral.

With such a brief flight, our final approach began quite shortly after the meal service was completed. This particular flight and approach into Edinburgh offered a fantastic view of the city from the left-hand window. Unfortunately, this view isn't guaranteed, as the approach into Edinburgh Airport appears to alternate, with some flights coming in from the northeast on some days, while on other days flights may come from the southwest. Still, if you want to get the best view of the city on the way in, it's recommended to select a window seat on the left side and hope for a northeast approach!

The landing experience was "okay," as it definitely wasn't the smoothest. After making contact with the runway and slowing down, it felt like the wheels of the aircraft weren't completely round or inflated since the journey towards the terminal was rather bumpy. However, it's much more likely that the runway surface wasn't completely smooth.

We arrived about 20 minutes past the scheduled arrival time but didn't have to wait too long for the jetbridge to be extended. Deplaning was about as fast as it could be on a narrowbody with a single exit point, and we walked quickly towards customs and border control once out of the aircraft. Edinburgh is a small airport which meant that it only took about two minutes of walking to reach border control.

This final part of the journey wasn't too bad as we could also use the automated gates at this airport as travelers holding Canadian and EU passports. Frequent travelers of certain nationalities who might be concerned about running out of space in their passports for stamps won't need to worry about this aspect of entering and exiting the UK. Indeed, the use of the eGates means that once you're through, you can head off to baggage claim- and no stamp needs to go into your passport. At the same time, this might be disappointing for travelers who actually do want to have their passports stamped!

Ultimately, the entire experience went much better than anticipated. With the recent news of travel chaos at Amsterdam Schiphol, there was certainly some worry of a slow transfer and missed connection. However, passport control at Schiphol was quick with the use of eGates, while security screening between flights was not required (or at least limited to the selection of random passengers). Wireless internet connectivity in the terminal was also easy to access and fairly fast, while there were also many locations in the terminal to charge devices.

The KLM flight experience was good, but nothing stood out as amazing. Flight attendants were friendly and professional and performed the inflight snack and beverage service quickly. The only single issue was the used tissue found in the seat back pocket, but these things do happen from time to time - especially for aircraft scheduled for a quick turnaround.

We chose to fly with KLM and transfer through Amsterdam due to a lack of direct options from our origin airport of Vilnius in Lithuania. If we include the allowance of a second cabin bag for each passenger, then the overall flight cost was about twice as much as a low-cost carrier service of similar length. However, if a direct Ryanair service had existed between Vilnius and Edinburgh, we probably would have taken it instead, just to avoid a second flight and an airport transfer.

Have you flown with KLM or transferred through Amsterdam Schiphol airport recently? Share your experience by leaving a comment!

Deputy Editor - An experienced photographer and video producer, Chris is a journalistic natural. Degree educated with a wealth of traveling history, Chris’ insight into routes, networks, and alliances brings a depth of quality to his work that is hard to beat. His strong relationships with Middle Eastern and Canadian airlines make him an asset to the team. Currently based in Vilnius, Lithuania.