AMS-CUR (9h 35m)
Boeing 747-400
ETD: 9.15am (GMT + 2)
ETA: 12.50pm (GMT - 4)
My BFF and I could've flown straight to Paramaribo, Suriname from Amsterdam, the Netherlands by Suriname Airways. However, we decided to have a stopover at Willemstad, Curaçao in the Caribbean before flying to South America. That was my very first long-haul daytime flight, which turned out to be the worst flight ever.
When we reached Gate F7, we saw a huge number of people waiting to board KLM's Boeing 747-400, a.k.a. the Queen of the Skies.
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| I wonder if that aircraft nicknamed "City of Nairobi" was the first one to fly to the capital city of Kenya? |
I've taken the staircase of an Airbus 380 aircraft to go up to the upper deck, but I haven't had the opportunity to do so in a Boeing 747-400 aircraft.
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| As someone with a bit of an OCD, I wanted to tidy up the headrest fabric before taking the picture. |
I settled down on my window seat on the right-hand side of the aircraft.
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| What do you call this nice shade of blue? |
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| The quality of the earphone jack that I got was low. |
Right from the beginning, there was something wrong with the In-Flight Entertainment (IFE). As the safety video couldn't be played, a live demonstration was performed by the flight attendants.
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| At the end of the live demonstration, the safety video started playing, but was quickly turned off. |
The engines roared, and off we went on time.
Pre-lunch service began as soon as the seat belt sigh had been switched off. I really like KLM's roasted almonds. At the end of the service, the flight attendants went around to distribute wet wipes.
Throughout the flight, many people experienced issues with the IFE, including those seated in the Business Class cabin. As a result, the system had to be reset quite a few times.
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| I managed to catch Coco that was animated by Pixar. |
I'd wanted to try one of the a la carte meals that can be ordered online prior to the flight, but eventually forgot about it. Anyway, do visit my food blog to find out more on the food and beverages served onboard by clicking
here.
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| Lunch main course #1: Creamy Mushroom Penne |
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| Lunch main course #2: Chicken in Black Bean Sauce with Rice |
The female flight attendant serving me was friendly and polite. After she had cleared most of the trays, she went another round to offer more beverages.
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| I couldn't resist the temptation of Baileys Irish Cream, of course! |
So why was it the worst flight I've ever experience, you asked? There were so many babies and toddlers that were crying non-stop during the journey. On top of that, many people were talking at the top of their voices. I spent most of the time playing games, such as Pac-Man, to kill time.
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| Interminable 6h 49min... |
The cabin lights were then dimmed, but the noise level didn't subside at all. That was when I visited the lavatory.
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| Some guys just can't aim properly. Why is it so difficult? |
I walked to the galley to see if there were any stroopwafels. To my dismay, there was none, so all I took was a small packet of salty crackers.
It was a pleasant surprise to see the flight attendants giving out ice cream to each passenger, together with a cup of water packed in Turkey.
I kept checking the route map to see where we were as I was feeling impatient to get out of the aircraft. I watched all the episodes of Bluey, a series of short animation videos featuring a tough little KLM plane.
After that, I remembered that I had to fill up the immigration form that was handed to each passenger much earlier.
Subsequently, it was time for the much-anticipated second meal - not so much for the food, really, but more of the fact that we were getting much closer to our destination.
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| Light meal: Vegetarian Pizza |
Words couldn't express how much I wanted the flight to be over.
Once the cabin lights had been turned on again, I opened the window shade to enjoy the view.
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| Can you see the coastline of Venezuela? |
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| At last! Many people instinctively clapped upon touchdown. |
The queue at the immigration checkpoint was pretty long, but it was moving rather fast. My BFF and I waited for about 8 minutes before spotting our luggage at the carousel.
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| Welcome to the sunny island of Curaçao, the birthplace of Blue Curaçao liqueur! |
Despite the terrible experience, there was at least something redeeming. Due to the IFE issues, passengers were told to write an e-mail message to the company. After waiting for about two months, I received a compensation of 5,000 miles credited to my Flying Blue account. Well, from now on, I'm going to avoid long-haul daytime flights as far as possible.
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