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Taken August 2005 from Leeds/Bradford - LBA to Amsterdam (Schiphol) - AMS

I was apprehensive about my Cityhopper flight. My last flight with them was delayed 4 hours, the aircraft was a disgrace and the ticket price was very expensive. I thought I would risk them however, given the fact that the JET2 fare was £70 more expensive. But I must be honest, it was actually a very pleasant experience.

Check in was smooth, but gate and boarding process was last minute and rushed. It seemed strange that we had to go on a bus at Leeds when the two airbridge stands had aircraft on them – all closed up and clearly not departing till later. The troops of tracksuit wearing Alicante goers can board their aircraft in comfort while businessmen, people connecting to the tropics are thrown on a bus and driven half way down the apron.

We arrived at our aircraft ten minutes prior to our 0605 departure, a Fokker 100. It had been painted into the new KLM livery and actually looked like new. The last one I flew on had the old Cityhopper stripe and was in need of a wash.

I was greeted onboard by a very happy stewardess for such an early hour and was surprised at the great condition of the cabin. It was really bright and clean and a business class passenger infront of me said to his companion “its got the new seats”.

The seats themselves, very comfy unlike last time – wide and well padded and the legroom was very generous.

I sat on row 5, rite behind the business class which has also appeared since I last flew KLM. The aircraft was unbelievably quiet on takeoff, the beauty of rear mounted engines.

The crew offered a choice of sandwich which was OK, they have certainly got larger, but who wants a tuna sandwich at 0630 in the morning.

My fare cost £82 return and its nice that KLM still offer food and drink inclusive. However, the economy bar is reduced to orange juice, tea and coffee which is fare enough.

Despite the slightly late departure because of boarding at Leeds, we arrived on stand in Amsterdam 5 minutes early even after landing on a really remote runway.

All in all a good experience, they have put money into the fleet at last, the ticket price was great and you still get food and drink. The cabin crew also get top marks from me, all English, but also spoke bits of Dutch which was a nice touch.

My return flight was 2 hours late due to a technical problem and I must say – the whole bus situation at Amsterdam and that small gate area is terrible. Despite this, nice aircraft again though not in new colours and a really nice crew. Afterall, aircraft are cars with wings and like cars brake down. Nothing you can do about it, all airlines have this problem!

Iam going to fly with them again soon and they have restored my faith in them.