After three days in Prague we had three flights between us and Tromsø, Norway. First up, we had a KLM Cityhopper flight on their new E195-E2 between Prague and Amsterdam in Economy.
Booking
When we first started looking at this trip, we were trying to fly from Istanbul to Tromsø. After many changes, some fairly last minute, we found ourselves needing to get from Prague to Tromsø. I turned to Google Flights and found that there weren’t any good options whatsoever. The cheapest flights had multiple stops and the one stop routings were astronomically expensive, especially for Intra-Europe Economy.
After pouring over all of the equally terrible options, I ended up booking the lesser of all evils which was PRG-AMS-BGO-TOS in a combination of KLM and Widerøe Economy. I ended up paying $350 per person for our tickets. This included our seat selections towards the front of the aircraft.
Pre-Flight
We left the Andaz Prague bright and early and were dropped off curbside by our Uber at 7:15a.
Once inside, we followed the signage towards departures and found the shared Air France/KLM check-in counters 260 and 261.
There were a few passengers ahead of us in the Sky Priority lane and it took about 5 minutes for us to get our boarding passes and drop our bags. The agent issued our boarding passes all the way through to Tromsø but informed us that we would need to collect and recheck our bags in Bergen.
With boarding passes in hand we headed for security where I had one of the strangest interactions in all my years of flying around the world. We went through the priority lane which was virtually empty. Something alarmed while I was going through the metal detector which led to a circus of re-scans, pat downs, unpacking, repacking, and rescanning of luggage all before being given the green light after 15 minutes. From there, we headed off to the lounge.
Lounge
There are two airport lounges at Prague’s Václav Havel Airport. The Mastercard Lounge in Terminal 1 and the Erste Premier Lounge in Terminal 2. Access to both lounges is available to premium passengers for a variety of airlines as well as Priority Pass members. The full review of our lounge experience can be found here.
Boarding
Our flight to Amsterdam was scheduled to depart at 8:55a. We left the lounge at 8:15a to start our walk over to gate C4.
It only took a couple of minutes for us to make our way over to our departure gate. We arrived just as our Embraer E195-E2 was arriving from Amsterdam.
Though our inbound flight was slightly delayed, we still managed to board on time with Groups 1 and 2 being invited to board first. Our boarding passes were scanned and we headed down the jet bridge only to be stopped at a secondary door as they weren’t ready for us on board yet. After a 5 minute wait, we were able to continue onto the plane.
KLM Cityhopper
KL 1352
PRG-AMS (Prague Vaclav Havel – Amsterdam Schiphol)
Seat: 11D (Economy)
EMB-195 (PH-NXE)
Scheduled: 8:55a-10:35a
Actual: 8:58a-10:31a
Seat
The KLM Cityhopper EMB-195 is laid out in the standard 2-2 layout throughout the plane. Business Class on Cityhopper flights don’t have a blocked seat which means, aside from the catering and service, you’ll get the exact same experience in the Economy cabin.
I assigned us seats 11D and 11F, a pair of standard seats on the right side of the aircraft a couple of rows ahead of the emergency exit.
Legroom was on the tighter side but considering this is essentially a regional jet, I was just happy my knees weren’t touching the seat in front of me.
The tray table was located in the seatback and was barely large enough to hold my Surface Pro tablet. The keyboard hung over the edge of the tray table.
Fixed to the seatback was a cupholder which could be folded down.
USB-A power ports were located under the seats in front and a reading light and individual air nozzle was located above each seat.
Departure
Due to our delayed boarding, we ended up pushing back a few minutes late. Prior to the aircraft door closing, a couple decided to self upgrade from Row 28 to Row 10 at which point the cabin crew sent them straight back to their seats. After pushing back, we sat on the tarmac for a few minutes before starting our taxi out to the runway.
It was a short taxi out to Runway 24, due in part to the fact that we departed from the middle of the runway. With nobody in front of us, we were wheels up by 9:10a.
In-Flight
We were still pretty low in our climb when the Captain turned the seatbelt sign off.
With the seatbelt sign off, I headed to the rear of the aircraft to check out the lavatory. I always find the lavatories on regional jets to be tight and this one was no different. The lavatory was sparse but kept clean throughout the flight.
On the way back to my seat, I noticed that the Embraer E195 E2 is one long airplane. The thing seemed to go on forever.
Back at my seat, it was time for the snack and beverage service. The cabin crew came through the aisle offering a sandwich and complimentary non-alcoholic beverages only 15 minutes after departure. The sandwich was actually pretty good and I accompanied it with some sparkling water and coffee.
I passed the remainder of the flight working and after another hour of flying, we started our descent into Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport.
Arrival
Every trip to Amsterdam that I can remember we’ve arrived on the remote Polderbaan runway and today was no different. We touched down at 10:22a and began our long taxi over to the terminal.
After a 15 minute taxi we arrived at our arrival stand where a bus was waiting to take us to the terminal. We blocked in a few minutes ahead of schedule and deplaned via airstairs.
A five minute bus ride later and we were deposited at the terminal to head towards our connecting flight to Bergen.
Summary
With its 2-2 seating and complimentary snacks and non-alcoholic beverages, the KLM Cityhopper Embraer E195 E2 is a great ride in Economy. The legroom wasn’t fantastic but it was manageable and the lack of a middle seat is great for couples traveling together. We find ourselves on KLM quite often thanks to their Austin to Amsterdam route and will likely find ourselves on another of their E195’s soon.
In This Trip Report
- Introduction
- Delta B737-800 Comfort+ (AUS-JFK)
- Delta Sky Club Terminal 4 Concourse A (JFK)
- Lufthansa Business Class Lounge Terminal 1 (JFK)
- Lufthansa Senator Lounge Terminal 1 (JFK)
- SWISS A330-300 Business Class (JFK-ZRH)
- SWISS A220-100 Business Class (ZRH-PRG)
- Andaz Prague
- Three Days in Prague
- Erste Premier Lounge Prague (PRG)
- KLM Cityhopper EMB-195 Economy (PRG-AMS)
- KLM Boeing 737-800 Economy (AMS-BGO)
- Widerøe EMB-190 Economy (BGO-TOS)
- Clarion Hotel The Edge Tromsø
- Exploring Tromsø and Chasing the Northern Lights
- Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) A320 Premium Economy (TOS-ARN)
- Sheraton Stockholm
- Exploring Stockholm
- KLM Boeing 737-800 Business Class (ARN-AMS)
- KLM B787-9 Business Class (AMS-AUS)
