The meeting this week is not in Toulouse itself, but in a place called Auch, roughly ninety minutes away from Toulouse Blagnac Airport. The town has a beautifully preserved old centre and a cathedral set around a lively square with plenty of outdoor restaurants.

Auch is probably most famous for its link to Alexandre Dumas’ novel Les Trois Mousquetaires. The leading man, D’Artagnan, is supposedly from Auch.

Getting to the Airport

At 12h30 our meeting ends. The Flying Dutchman and I have a flight to Amsterdam at 17h00, and he also has a suitcase to check in. For the first hour or so of the drive back to Toulouse, the journey takes us along narrow winding roads and lanes, through a beautiful landscape of gently rolling hills. It’s only about thirty minutes out of Toulouse that the wide, sprawling fields of gold and green give way to a more urban cityscape.

KLM Business Class Check-in

Air France KLM check in on row D of Terminal 2. By the time we hand back the rental car, it’s just coming up to 15h00. The check-in agent apologises and tells us that they can only accept suitcases for check-in within two hours before departure, so we’re still ten minutes early. We go back down to arrivals and grab a coffee from Starbucks. Once we’re done, we head back up to check in at the dedicated SkyPriority counters.

It is probably not really surprising that Air France KLM have the best check-in location, closest to the entrance to the security checkpoint. The security check itself is quickly done and the staff are very polite.

Toulouse is home to where all the fat… I mean, where the very big-boned Airbuses are born. Hence, it’s hardly surprising that there’s a corner in the dutyfree shop where you can buy Airbus memorabilia.

The Toulouse Airport Croix du Sud Contractor Lounge

Air France KLM do not operate their own lounge here in Toulouse. They use the same contractor lounge operated by the airport as all the other carriers serving the airport. The lounge is quite nice and spread out over two levels, with reception exactly opposite gate 33.

The lounge has a good selection of hot and cold drinks, as well as a small but interesting buffet with salads, cheese, and snacks.

KLM Business Class Boarding

Boarding for the flight starts at 16h30 for our 17h00 departure. For some reason, the process is taking for ever. There are a lot more interesting things happening outside. So, I step out of the queue and just manage in time to capture a photo of one of the Belugas gliding down behind our B 737-800.

The KLM Business Class Cabin & Seat

Unlike the B 737-700s, the -800 fleet has been retrofitted with the new seats with the adjustable headrests and the larger Space Bins by Boeing overhead storage compartments.

On this flight, there are two rows of Business Class seats, for a total of eight passengers, all of which are occupied. I’m seated on 2A and the seat pitch is generous. The bulkhead on the -800s has been updated and is different to the one on the -700s, with a slightly altered design and a much lighter shade of blue.

KLM Business Class Service & Crew

There are two cabin crew serving the Business Class cabin, both of them are female. The purser is in her late forties, if I had to guess, and her colleague is younger. The latter doesn’t say much, but somehow still manages to be quite charming in her interactions. While we’re still on the ground, the crew pass through the cabin with the same apple juice, dragon fruit, and banana shot that was served on the outbound. Ten minutes behind schedule, the doors close, the airbridge is removed from our aircraft and we push back. Our flight time to Amsterdam is ninety minutes. As we climb out of Toulouse, I’m glued to the window, watching the final assembly line at the Airbus plant right next to the runway, which includes several A 350s bound for Emirates and the first of the QANTAS A 350ULRs.

The KLM Business Class Meal

The service starts soon after we level off into the cruise. The meal consists of a small container with cashews, and the main meal, which is red cabbage and a potato and hot smoked salmon salad. For dessert, there are the usual macarons, although for some reason there are only two instead of the usual three in the container. Thankfully, this is a much better meal than the one on the outbound.

To conclude the meal, I have a coffee with milk. The purser notices that I didn’t have the macarons (not again…). So, when she brings me the coffee, she asks me if I’d prefer a biscuit instead and then hands me a nice, buttery almond biscuit, which is a nice gesture, I think.

Arrival in Amsterdam

The flight passes surprisingly quickly. From Toulouse we fly more or less in a straight line in a northeasterly direction until we hit the coast, and then continue to Amsterdam from there. It’s a gorgeous day for flying.

We land in a southerly direction on the Polderbaan and schlepp to the central terminal area and the D pier. On our way, I spot two Japanese government B 777-300s resplendent in pristine condition, looking as though they only recently received a fresh lick of paint.

I now have slightly over two hours to make the onward connection back to Basel.