Düsseldorf International

After I woke up 04:00 in the morning, my uncle picked me up and drove me to the airport at 05:00 and I arrived at the airport at 05:25 in the morning. As this was a working day, there were a number of people in the airport. I headed to the counters of KLM and Air France.
Check in for the flight do Amsterdam was fast, only one person was queuing in front of me. I checked luggage only to Amsterdam, as the flights out of Amsterdam were on United.
At the Security Checkpoint were people queuing at all open lines and the most checkpoints were used. But as usually the checkpoint nearest to the staircase was the one with the most people, while these more far away were emptier. So I headed to one of these and had only to wait three minutes. I had to put off shoes and belt and put my laptop out of the bag.

I could not use the Priority Pass Lounge in this area, which is the Hugo Junkers Lounge, because, this lounge opens at 06:00 a.m. and boarding was announced to begin at 05:45. It began 10 minutes late. We had a bus gate and drove to the KLM Cityhopper Fokker 50.

18 August 2006
DUS – AMS
[Düsseldorf – Amsterdam]
KL 1852 (KLM); Fokker F 50
Gate B 54
06:25 – 07:25 [effective 06:20 – 07:30]
Economy Class
Seat 06 C

Boarding was as usual using a bus gate. Additional hand luggage was collected at the plane, but from my point of view and in comparison with Lufthansa, KLM seems not to be as strict as Lufthansa. The most passengers were able to take carry-ons on the plane which Lufthansa definitively would not have allowed. Safety demonstration was done by the flight attendants.

The Load factor of this single cabin equipped plane was 90%.

We pushed back at 06:25 and taxied to the runway. The captain came over the microphone and told us our flight time to Amsterdam, which was 45 minutes and that we have to queue for take off and there were five planes ahead of our plane.

At 06:35 it was our turn and we were finally airborne.

After the seat belt signs were switched off, the two flight attendants distributed bottled orange juice and some minutes later a roll. After this “meal service” the flight attendants disappeared for the rest of the flights and returned only to collect the cans and trash. The flight itself was uneventful, seat belts signs were switched on later because of some bumps (I would not call this turbulence).

The plane was old as one could notice by seat and interior.

A few minutes before landing, the first officer came over the intercom to tell us we had to use the Poelderbaan and have therefore to taxi app. ten minutes to the parking position.

As we reached our parking position, it took some minutes up to the power generator for the plane arrived and the captain could turn off the engines. A longer bus ride brought us to the Terminal, where I head for the baggage belt to wait for my luggage.

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