Coming home in the lounge
Skyhigh Service in the Lounge
In the KLM lounge, passengers can do more than just relax, eat, or work. We also answer all their questions—whether they want to upgrade or change their ticket. Iréne has worked in the lounge for eight years and now knows many regular passengers by name. That personal touch is exactly what we strive for at KLM. Iréne combines her job as a personal lounge assistant with her board position at Connecting Colours. In both roles, she can put her social side and connecting skills to good use.
“I’ve been working as a personal lounge assistant at KLM for eight years now,” Iréne begins. “Business class passengers and Elite Plus cardholders can use our lounge for free. Other travelers are welcome too, for a fee. In the lounge you can eat and drink as much as you want, there are showers, and free Wi-Fi. In some cases, there are even sleeping cabins.” The goal of the lounge: to take care of passengers completely. Iréne explains, “We’re a kind of one-stop shop where we help visitors with everything: rebooking tickets, changing seats, lost and found, or upgrading. Passengers can go straight to the lounge after customs, and don’t need to go to an information desk for questions. That way, they start—or continue—their journey as pleasantly as possible.”
First-Class Service
According to Iréne, recognition is key in the lounge. “The same people come here often, I know most of them quite well by now. To offer personal service, it’s important that we know their preferences. For this, we work closely with Customer Experience, which provides us with the most important details. We don’t just know your name, but also, for example, if you eat vegetarian and which destination you often fly to. I notice that passengers really appreciate that we remember these kinds of things.”
On a Journey, Yet at Home
“We want visitors to feel at home in the lounge. They consciously choose to fly with KLM, not with another airline. We want to encourage that, so we reward them for it. To keep improving our service, we’re introducing various automations. For example, passengers with a request are placed in a digital queue—rather than a physical one. While waiting, they can just do their own thing. There are also robots going around where passengers can place their dirty dishes, keeping the lounge tidy at all times. At the moment, we’re working on the next innovation: we want visitors to soon be able to enter with an iris scan—so they no longer have to look for their boarding pass.”
What does Iréne like most about her job?
Here I can really go the extra mile, and every day I hear the most special stories from travelers. I’m also the one who trains new lounge colleagues: I teach them the basic skills and explain what it’s like to work with High Yield passengers. I really enjoy mentoring these colleagues and passing on my knowledge.Iréne
Outside Your Bubble
Next to her work in the lounge, Iréne is on the board of Connecting Colours. “It’s a network within KLM that strives for more diversity, equality, and inclusion,” she says.
We want to create a workplace free from racism, discrimination, and microaggressions. A place where everyone feels seen, heard, and valued. Our ultimate goal is to become the most diverse and inclusive airline in the world.Iréne
“There are 74 nationalities working at KLM—so in that sense, we’re already quite diverse. But: the higher up you go in the organization, the whiter it gets. So at first, the focus was mainly on awareness, by giving presentations in various departments. That helped remove a lot of blind spots. You notice: if you don’t experience inequality yourself, you often don’t see the problem.”
No More Stereotyping
To get the whole organization on board, Connecting Colours organizes lectures and workshops. “For example, by Madhu Mathoera, author of the book The Inclusive Organization. Also, every year on March 21st—the International Day Against Racism and Discrimination—there’s a large-scale event with speakers.”
Together with her fellow board members, Iréne regularly sits down with executives, but also with colleagues from Learning & Development. “We help develop new trainings and e-learnings. That increases awareness among KLM staff. We also talk to the media team about KLM’s representation to the outside world. Think about commercials, promo videos, photos, and flyers. For example, we want to show how diverse the crew is.”
Celebrating Together
Finally, celebrating all sorts of holidays is an important part of Connecting Colours. “We celebrate Keti Koti, Eid, Diwali, and Chinese New Year. We also organize themed days at Schiphol Plaza—for example, 2023 was all about the Remembrance Year of Slavery History. On July 1st, there were special themed flights to Paramaribo and Curaçao, and during Ramadan we handed out dates.”
“This introduction to each other’s cultures is valued not just by colleagues—passengers respond well to it too. In the lounge, we also regularly have themed days, and adjust the catering to match. It’s always something the visitors really enjoy!”
