We arrived at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport after a fantastic flight from Austin and headed for passport control. After being stamped into Europe we headed for the KLM Crown Lounge 25, the lounge for Schengen departures, to relax during our layover.
Location
The KLM Crown Lounge Number 25 is located in the Schengen area of Schiphol Airport, for flights departing to other European Union countries. The lounge signage in Amsterdam is great and, regardless of your arrival gate, you can easily use the signage to make your way to the lounge.
Once you’re in the main hall of the Schengen terminal, follow the signage up a flight of stairs towards Gates D59-87. At the top of the stairs, down a short way, you’ll see the entrance to the lounge on your left. The Aspire Lounge and Star Alliance Lounge are also located nearby.
Hours of Operation
The KLM Crown Lounge Number 25 is currently open between 4:45a and 10:00p daily. This covers virtually all of the departures from the airport, as no take-offs are allowed at Schiphol between midnight and 6:00a.
Entry Requirements
The lounge can be accessed by those on KLM and SkyTeam partner airlines traveling in First/Business class as well as elite status members (Flying Blue Gold/Platinum and SkyTeam Elite Plus). They also provide access to partner airlines Georgian Airways, GOL, and Virgin Atlantic frequent flyers. For those that don’t have access via the requirements listed above, access can be purchased for €50 on a space available basis.
Layout
The lounge is laid out as one large, rectangular fishbowl with the reception area in the middle. Yes, I said fishbowl, as the lounge is essentially surrounded by glass, giving those on the inside a full view of the terminal and those on the outside a full view of the lounge.
Upon entering, there was a large buffet area to the right, with a few different seating areas. Most of the seating on this side of the lounge consisted of armchairs arranged in pairs of 2, 4, or 6.
On the right, in the rear, there was a self service bar which separated the main portion of the lounge from some high top, communal tables.
While the right side of the lounge was dominated by the buffet and bar area, the left side featured a larger variety of seating. First, close to the check-in desk, was a large set of café style tables. There was also a set of booths running the length of the rear wall.
Further back, there was a ‘Business Corner’ that had a few semi-private cubicles. All of these were occupied during our visit.
Similar to the right side of the lounge, there was another large grouping of armchair seating though there were some high top counter seats available as well.
Finally, to round out the seating options, there were a few clusters of large, wingback chairs that provided a decent amount of privacy.
Food and Beverage
The lounge has a central buffet area, laid out in a large oval shape, with a separate beverage station on the right side of the lounge. There is a smaller buffet/beverage area on the left side of the lounge though it wasn’t in use for the full duration of our visit.
Breakfast was being offered when we arrived and featured a selection of fruits, yogurts, bread, cheese, cold cuts, two kinds of vegetable soup, and some hot dishes. The hot dishes consisted of roasted potatoes, roasted mushrooms, and some sausages. There was also a couple of coffee machines available along with a selection of teas.
Later during our visit, service switched over to lunch. This consisted of a large salad bar, a selection of breads, meats, and cheeses and the two vegetable soups that were available during breakfast. There were also 4 hot dishes on offer which included a truffle pasta, beef stroganoff, vegan vegetable stew, and more sausages.
The bar was located on the right side of the lounge and was self service. It featured a selection of low to mid tier spirits, water and Coca-Cola machines, Heineken beer on draft, red wine, white wine, prosecco, and a juice machine. I had a glass of prosecco with breakfast which was downright awful and only became drinkable by adding orange juice. After that, I switched to Heineken.
Atmosphere
Though the lounge was packed, it was decently calm and quiet. We found a table over in the corner and everyone seemed to be speaking with one another quietly. During our visit we didn’t see any screaming kids or adults having loud conversations on speakerphone. The only downside to this lounge is the aforementioned fishbowl nature of the space. With two sides of the lounge being floor to ceiling glass windows looking into the concourse, we almost felt like we were on display. This was especially true at our table near the window.
Summary
The KLM Crown Lounge Number 25 is a slightly above average airport lounge, especially considering it is the carrier’s home airport. While KLM has a much nicer, flagship lounge in the international departures area, this was a perfectly adequate space to spend a short layover before our Schengen flight. Unlike the international lounge, I can’t imagine that many Schengen passengers are spending long periods of time here between flights.
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