Fly into Europe enough and chances are you will have a connection through AMS (Amsterdam Schiphol Airport). Set foot into the airport and prepare to be inundated with pleas to "SeeBuyFly", sign-up for Travel Credit Cards, a Casino, and even a visit to the Museum. For a breather you might consider the KLM Crown Lounge.
To enter the lounge you should be a SkyTeam Elite Plus member (that translates to Delta Gold Medallion or higher), if not you might still wander up the escalator/stairs between Terminal E and F as some of the better resting spots are up here on the second level (just outside the KLM lounge is a collection of Chaise Longue set before a couple of Projection Screens that show peaceful images all day long and a non-denominational meditation room.
Inside the lounge (no problem as StringGirl has amassed 100,000 miles already this year) you get to see one the the largest Airline lounges ever. No Stats for you, but it stretches over the entire corner of this part of the airport probably about 100m + of airport frontage.
READ MORE for food, wifi, and booze
Large Brown Chairs dot the areas near the windows and allow customers to kick back, plug in or tune out. Each chair has a reading light and outlet. You'll need a plug converter if not from Benelux or Germany, they lend them out at the desk. Also there is FREE WIFI throughout the lounge. Just set your WIFI to connect to the network (KLM LOUNGE 2) and launch your browser. From their you'll get a slash screen for their portal. Just use the passcode klmDDMMYYYY (DD = day, MM = Month, YYYY = year. for example today was August 19, 2011. So i used [klm19082011].
In the lounge the KLM staff keeps stocked a variety of food thoughout the day. In the evening (like this current visit) they had dinner offerings, soup (beef broth), cheese, sausages, salad, little bits of omelette stuffed with potato.
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| not sure and some meat balls |
Some hot plates contained what was described on the card as Beet Root and Cherry Curry, but I did not give it a go. The meatballs were savory, but had some spice in it that did not make my world go round.
The rest of the lounge stretches off in both directions away from the food. To the North (off toward F and G terminals) there is the "upper deck" of the lounge with a second Bar area, more seating, and the business area. Complete with individual chairs and a study carrel layout you get some privacy and ability to type without scorching your lap with the laptop.
The entertainment room gives each seat their own TV. Each TV is individually tuned, so if you don't feel like watching what is on the other TVs that beam throughout the lounge you can come here for a respite. This lounge also boasts showers free to use for guests, but I have never ventured a trial of them. For my really long layovers I usually book a room in the Mercure.
Back at the Bar you find not less than 1 each white wine, red wine, cava/sparkling wine, among other selections. Heineken (you should have guessed) is on tap along with Coke products. Not shown in any of these pictures is the Coffee service, which allow for push button Espresso, Cappuccino, Latte or other very nearly acceptable coffees.
Then the Hard stuff, gin vodka, rum, Tennessee sour mash, scotch, brandy adorn the wall. Sure they have those nagging portion control units installed, but then again they don't prevent you from pressing them multiple times either. Mixers are a little lacking. You would have to brute force your Bloody Mary here but you can do it (Tabasco, Worcestershire, olives, salt, pepper all present to lend a hand).
And I surprised myself with a new find after dozens of visits by finding something new. The Deep Relax room, which is guarded by opaque doors and minimal lighting offers soft upholstered chaises with individual lighting. At one time these sleepytime spots sported BOSE QC2 noise reducing headphones direct wired into BOSE personal sound units. But it seemed that all the headsets were either off for a walk, or damaged beyond use.
That about does it for this post, but maybe next time I will be in the other lounge (did I mention that there is another for the B, C, and D terminal gates? Been there done that.
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