KLM & Air France 4 day sale

[davidge]

Just got email from Netflights. Don't know what the availability is like.

 

 

[bobbybgood]

Good prices from Cardiff during May/June as low as £450 with KLM only draw back is the 5 hour wait in Amsterdam on the way out. Saying that I can think of worse airports to be stuck in for that amount time.

[davidge]

I've been looking at flights for next Christmas (business class) and I'm struggling to get a decent fare other than picking up China Airlines in Amsterdam. 7 hour wait on the way back to Cardiff though.

 

Agree Schipol isn't too bad as far as airports go. Still don't like the small planes between CWL and AMS.

[GtotheM]

KLM and Air France have been floating around £400 from Manchester for a couple months now. They are really good flights too with 1h 20m to Amsterdam, 2h layover then a straight 10h 50m flight to Bangkok.

 

Same thing coming back, just with Air France and all for £380! sure beats the £450 I paid for Etihad 17h there and 24h back.

[glenman]

Just booked for Sept.

 

Outward Belfast - Ams - Bkk

 

Return Bkk - Ams - Dublin

 

£464.

[thinkingallowed]

Good prices from Cardiff during May/June as low as £450 with KLM only draw back is the 5 hour wait in Amsterdam on the way out. Saying that I can think of worse airports to be stuck in for that amount time.

One of my favourite airports Schiphol but presently it is a bit of a mess due to a lot of upgrading going on.

[deathlay]

Would never book air France as they love to strike

[bobbybgood]

Looks like a trip down to the Smoke to catch either Vietnam Airlines or Finnair to get Business Class, they seem to have not too bad connections.  

[davidge]

Finnair isn't really proper Business Class - especially on the LHR leg. Don't know what Vietnam Airlines is like?

I prefer to fly direct but EVA is too expensive on the dates I have in mind. THAI is always too expensive!

 

I'm not going to book until after I get back in July and I'm not sure I'll be able to get away at all.

 

The only half decent fares are with airlines I don't want to fly with. Air India, Jet, Egypt or Jordanian.

China Air via AMS from LHR has decent connections but not sure it's worth the extra drive compared to CWL to save a few hours in Schipol.

[insider]

Air France are due to strike soon, noticed a notification when booking my flight, went with KLM got my e ticket from Manchester to BKK for £420 on the 17th May (14hr inc. 2hr Schippol stop over) there were plenty of seats left. did see one at £390 sometime in June a couple of weeks back.

[davidge]

Yes, going on strike is something of a favourite pastime for Air France!

[insider]

 

Yes, going on strike is something of a favourite pastime for Air France!

I Know they did a strike notification 2 days before my last visit, was warned 5 days before so phoned up and was told to wait before trying to change flight until the notification came, Phoned back later that day but to KLM this time and explained i needed to rearrange taxi pickups I'd pre-booked and wanted a definite flight now to arrange the re-bookings, 2 days being too short a notice for them, they gave me a few options and i ended up with a more convenient flight time that would have cost me an extra £80 if booked originally online.

[deathlay]

Klm any good?

[insider]

I think so, prices on their site can vary quite substantially tho, so it is worth changing days if you want to get best prices, if I'd booked on the 13th of May i would have gotten the same price but flight departure time would have been a pain (0845), 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 19th all would have been substantially more if i remember correctly.

Food is neither the best or the worst, slightly better than average, I quite like Schipol airport, beats the hell out of Manchester. They just got a couple of new planes, too.

Damn just checked my dates / flight the buggers dropped the price from £420.20 to £384, just emailed them to see if they will deal with this or not.

[swamp donkey]

Just booked for Sept.

 

Outward Belfast - Ams - Bkk

 

Return Bkk - Ams - Dublin

 

£464.

 

 

 

I got the same deal for next month.

Flying out the 3rd, could have got it for £409 on the 2nd 

But don't want to miss the Ports lifting the cup.                   

[hoopbhoy]

£402 from Glasgow with KLM for under 15 hour flight but I have to say I'm not a fan of KLM or that long AMS BKK leg. Emirates still showing at £460 ish and overall I think the extra is worth it. Brilliant fares though. Wish I had a window I could sneak a couple of weeks trip in.

[glenman]

I got the same deal for next month.

Flying out the 3rd, could have got it for £409 on the 2nd 

But don't want to miss the Ports lifting the cup.                   

 

[par47]

Schipol is a pleasant airport to spend a few hours in so the long stopover is worth it for the bonus of being able to fly from a regional airport in UK.

 

Last trip I did NWI (Norwich) - AMS - BKK and it was fine with a 5 1/2 hour stopover. Will do the same next time but the stop will be 6 1/2 hours due to UK clock change. Worth it to avoid the trip to Heathrow in my opinion.

 

Stopover on return is a comfortable 2 1/2 hours, much better

[par47]

Klm any good?

Not the best in economy. The seats are very hard with not much recline so sleeping is impossable (for me). Food is awful but then all economy food is bad except maybe Thai. Good IFE and service.

[rik696969]

just book KLM  out june 10 back july 8 july...£388...a very cheap price

[GtotheM]

Just noticed Emirates is £380 too

 

 

Anybody with experience would you say KLM or Emirates is the better airline/flight? I do think I prefer two 7 hour flights over 12 hours but I've never tried doing 12+ hours.

[insider]

I found the food and seats on emirates better, I preferred Schipol  to Dubai however.

[coolsmoe]

What I like about KLM (AMS-BKK):

 

* good flight hours. I prefer a night flight going to BKK and a day flight returning from BKK.

* good food imo, if you are still hungry you can go to the galley and get sandwiches with cheese and mustard (yummy!), or candy/snacks.

* Free beer, wine, etc

* Schiphol is an efficient airport.

 

What I don't like:

* seats in economy.. they fly 3-4-3 in the 777 and it's cramped.

* flights are always full.

* Heineken.

[deathlay]

What I like about KLM (AMS-BKK):

 

* good flight hours. I prefer a night flight going to BKK and a day flight returning from BKK.

* good food imo, if you are still hungry you can go to the galley and get sandwiches with cheese and mustard (yummy!), or candy/snacks.

* Free beer, wine, etc

* Schiphol is an efficient airport.

 

What I don't like:

* seats in economy.. they fly 3-4-3 in the 777 and it's cramped.

* flights are always full.

* Heineken.

Good information thanks

[insider]

Just been in touch by phone with KLM customer service (about 20 mins ago) as email response cites a 10 day reply time at the moment. They did not want to refund the difference (could have pushed but didn't) however they upgraded my seat to an extra legroom seat (made sure it was aisle not window, as that is smallest width seat on plane due to extruding bulkhead).

Travango have a deal on at the moment, never used them before but they were quoting £368 for the same date with emirates, BUT you have to phone a number( will it still be the same price then i wonder?)