Flight in the Night

Trip Start Dec 22, 2011

Trip End Jan 13, 2012

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Where I stayed

Yotel Schiphol Airport Haarlemmermeer
Read my review - 4/5 stars

Flag of Netherlands Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands
Friday, January 13, 2012

Total chaos on KLM. Worst boarding ever. Everything seemed to be going smoothly. They had families with young children board the bus first. It was once we got to the plane that the trouble began. Double espresso man, traveling alone without children, made sure he was first off the bus. Next, another family, who hadn't checked their seat numbers, sat in the wrong seats (ours). They try to sort themselves but blocked the aisle while doing it. After a while, with passengers lined up out the plane and down the stairs, a flight attendant finally tells them to move out of the way' "You're blocking all the passengers from boarding."

We discover that KLM has segregated all the families with children under 12 to the back of the plane. Babies are crying. Toddlers are in a frenzy of exhaustion. It's 1 a.m. Behind us, we have a set of young moms, one of which has been assigned seats away from her children. She gets hysterical as the flight attendant tells her to have a seat so that other passengers can board. He says he'll sort this out, but mom keeps yelling "I have a young child, I can't be separated from my baby."

TT is woken up from her sleep. The toddler sitting behind her is in the final stage of restless exhaustion. He's flipping the table up and down, kicking her seat, and the goes into a full throttle temper tantrum. TT is royally ticked. We try to help her empathize with the little boy. His eyes are glazed. As soon as the plane starts to move, he's down for the count. And TT slept, too.

Back in Amsterdam at the Yotel, in our sleep deprived state, we manage to figure out the lighting and the TV. And again, sleep.

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