~/flights/2025/kl/1024-lba-ams
KL1024 & KL855 Leeds → Amsterdam → Seoul
2 flights · 9,014 km · 12 h 53 min block time · 49 min in Amsterdam
LBA TMAIN · gate 3 → AMS T2 · gate D25
Leeds Bradford Airport → Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
- aircraft Embraer 190
- registration G-CMWI · 11 years old
- seat 3A window
- block time 1 h 5 min
- distance 462 km
LBA 15.9 °C · 17 km/h W · overcast
AMS 11.8 °C · 12 km/h WNW · clear
| scheduled | actual | delay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| gate departure | 17:25 | 18:40 | +75 min |
| take-off | 18:50 | 18:50 | |
| landing | 20:10 | 20:42 | |
| gate arrival | 19:35 | 20:45 | +70 min |
Leeds Bradford
This was the start of an XP and miles run to keep my KLM Gold status: Leeds to Seoul and back via Amsterdam over a long weekend, in Business for the most XP.
It didn’t start smoothly. Flights from Leeds Bradford earlier in the day had been cancelled and it was chaotic all round, made no easier by the building works and their temporary walkways. KL1024 was still running, but not on time: by the time the aircraft was on stand the delay had reached 75 minutes.
On paper that was fine. The plan had been a comfortable hour and fifty minutes in Amsterdam, plenty of time for a wander, a drink, and a shower and change after a long day. So there was nothing to do but head to the lounge, settle in with a beer and keep an eye on the board.
The lounge was being refurbished and was about half its usual size, which would have made it busy on any day. With everyone from the cancelled and delayed flights earlier in the day in there too, it was very crowded. I ended up sharing a table with a man who was desperate to get back to Amsterdam for his girlfriend’s birthday party, so at least one of us had more riding on the delay than a connection.
The seat
KL1024 was an Embraer 190 flown for KLM by Eastern Airways (G-CMWI, with Eastern’s safety card in the seat pocket), boarding over a “Fly KLM” airbridge. Business on a regional jet in Europe is the same seat as everyone else with a little more room around it, and 3A was fine for an hour. I was hand luggage only and the flight was full, so my bag went under the seat in front.
The flight
We finally pushed back at 18:40 and climbed out over Yorkshire in the evening sun, then over the North Sea above the clouds. The main thing on my mind was the connection, shrinking with every minute of the delay.
The approach into Schiphol over the polders, all low golden light and long shadows, was some consolation.
We touched down on the Zwanenburgbaan at 20:42. Mercifully it wasn’t the Polderbaan, whose long taxi in would have made the connection far less likely. We were on a remote stand three minutes later, seventy minutes late.
With KL855 due off the gate at 21:25, the hour and fifty minutes had become forty, and there was still a bus to the D pier, then the length of the pier and across to E8 to cover.
AMS T2 · gate E8 → ICN T2 · gate 267
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol → Incheon International Airport, Seoul
- aircraft Boeing 777-200 ER
- registration PH-BQF · 21 years old
- seat 8A window
- block time 11 h 48 min
- distance 8,552 km
AMS 11.2 °C · 12 km/h W · partly cloudy
ICN 18.9 °C · 18 km/h NE · overcast
| scheduled | actual | delay | |
|---|---|---|---|
| gate departure | 21:25 | 21:34 | +9 min |
| take-off | 21:35 | 21:50 | |
| landing | 16:15+1 | 16:11+1 | |
| gate arrival | 16:25+1 | 16:22+1 | on time |
- KLM house No. 14Daer de twee Zeegooden op de gevel liggenHerengracht 510, Amsterdam
Schiphol
I’ve never gone from the D gates to the E gates faster. I even helped my seat mate along the way, who was on an even shorter connection than me, onwards to New Zealand.
When I reached the gate the screen was already showing gate gaat dicht, gate closing, with the last zones being called, and I was pretty much the last person to board. So much for the wander, the drink and the shower.
The seat
KL855 was a Boeing 777-200ER (PH-BQF) with KLM’s newer World Business Class, and, looking back over my KLM flights, this was my first time in it: a suite with a closing privacy door, and 8A at the window. The amenity kit and headphones were waiting in the side cubby, and a glass of Champagne came round not long after I sat down, a welcome change of pace after the dash across the airport.
Departure
Despite the late connection we pushed back only nine minutes behind schedule, at 21:34, with the sun setting over Schiphol and an Etihad 787 at the next stand. Then a sunset take-off at 21:50, the sky glowing orange over the wing as we climbed away to the east.
Food and drink
After take-off came the classic KLM aperitif: cubes of Dutch cheese with a little Dutch flag, and more Champagne.
For the appetiser I went for the chilli shrimps with spicy pickled watermelon, beetroot mousse and watercress, with the mesclun salad and a warm roll. For the main, the signature “taste of delicacies”, a nod to the destination, made a nice change from the usual airline main: chicken thigh in bulgogi sauce, beef tsukune with hot bean sauce, Korean steamed eggplant and kimchi rice. Then the cheese plate of Beemster Royal, fenugreek cheese and blue cheese, with grapes and crackers, and I finished with the forest fruit bavarois and a limoncello. After changing into my PJs I was out for the count until breakfast.
Breakfast came before landing: fruit salad, a cold plate of sliced chicken and Beemster, a warm pancake with quark and apricot, and a croissant with coffee.
And, of course, the Delft Blue house: number 14, a model of Herengracht 510 in Amsterdam, built in 1665.
Arrival
We landed at Incheon at 16:11, four minutes early, and were on stand at Terminal 2 three minutes ahead of schedule, a world away from how the journey had started.
From there it was the AREX express into Seoul Station: the 17:20, on a special ticket celebrating Korea’s Family Month, arriving at 18:12.
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