Busy Flagship: KLM Crown Lounge 52 At AMS

I recently flew KLM for the first time since I was a child and as is the case my journey started off with an invitation to this lounge in KLM’s homebase. How does it fare as a flagship lounge of a major carrier?

Location & Access

The lounge can be found between concourse E & F of Schiphol airport.

This lounge is accessible to all KLM and SkyTeam business class passengers. Flying Blue Platinum, Gold members and SkyTeam Elite Plus passengers are eligible to use the Crown Lounges as well. They get to bring 1 guest free of charge.

All other passengers may be able to access the lounge for a fee but that will depend on availability, peak/off-peak time and any Flying Blue status they carry.

FB Silver customers will have a 25% discount on the paid rate. The price is variable and will be shown at time of booking or later in the KLM app or KLM site

When you arrive, you take the escalator up surrounded by hundreds of mini Dutch houses on display. It makes for quite an entrance, there is no mistaking you are in KLM world!

KLM Crown Lounge The Spaces

As you come off the escalator the reception is right in front on the landing area. There were several staff there who can check you in, or you can opt to check-in yourself in via one of the entry kiosks (this essentially just means scanning boarding pass)

You can either enter on the right or left..

Whichever way you go, it is all essentially one large space that you can walk around from the other side..

And there are various sign posts to help you navigate to what you need/prefer.

During my morning visit the lounge was very busy. Almost all the main areas were around 90% of capacity..

This is a large lounge with several different seating zones on the first floor. Each area is furnished and lighted in different ways so that can influence where you may prefer to sit..

With lights flooding into the spaces it helps avoid any feelings of claustrophobia of being on a metal tube already..

After about an hour, some of the crowds did ease up

Within the first floor, there is also another level where you have some seating and meeting room type spaces. This is where you will also find the showers and snooze rooms.

While you can take a further set of escalators up to second floor of the lounge, right at the back you can also get stairs up which are nicely lit up creating their own ambience..

If you are looking for a semi-private spot to work, these seem perfect.. as there will be no one overlooking your shoulders..

The second floor has an identical landing zone, but instead of another reception, they have this setup here with a menu for the Blue restaurant on display

The second floor feels even more bright with a large bar spanning through almost the whole length of it..

On one side of the bar, you have grouped seating options with tables in the middle

On other side, there is a more open leather seating.

On other end of the large bar area on upper level, you have this gorgeous view of the lounge below too..

KLM Crown Lounge Food & Beverage

As this visit was during the morning 10.30 till about 12pm, the catering was focused around breakfast.

The lounge only has self help buffet selection included in entry. The range and choice of breakfast items were adequate..

You will find fruits, fresh pastries, cold meat cuts, breads and cheeses

and some hot dishes with the standard breakfast fare

I found the breakfast to be decent but nothing spectacular. I did really really enjoy the mini pancakes however!

Besides the bars, you also have some juices and wines available to serve yourself.

There are tables spread out right across the buffet area where you can sit and eat.

KLM Crown Lounge 52 Facilities

There are various showers available for use in the lounge which operate on a first come first serve booking type.

I booked via the lounge staff in the area around 11am and had a slot confirmed for 11.20am. You get an email/text notification at your slot time.

The showers were well appointed, with Rituals products that you will also find in the Business Class Amenity kits

By the washbasin, you will also find some dental kits, sanitary packs and shaving kit.

The showers were decent but on the small side.

At the middle of the lounge, you will find lockers to store any belongings you have.

There is also a couple of workstations with PCs should you need to use one and don’t have your own laptop with you

And then you will also find some more formal dedicated semi private work booths

Last, on the top floor, you will also find the Blue Restaurant.

This restaurant has some fine dining options, that you need to pay for.

KLM Crown Lounge 52 Terrace

Finally, perhaps the best feature of all is the large terrace area out the back with sweeping views of various jet bridges and aircrafts taxiing in the background

KLM Crown Lounge 52 Overall Thoughts

This KLM Crown lounge is a pleasant enough lounge to visit before your flight and has most of the facilities you can expect from a good lounge. It is a well designed space and very on brand with KLM.

You will not struggle to find a comfortable to relax or work to suit your preferences.

For an airlines Flagship lounge, I feel the catering is just about average. There is nothing wow here considering KLM serves so many long haul destinations. I would say the lounge is on a similar pegging to partner Air France lounges.