Originally Posted by
Duke787
+100000. If you are buying D1, just take the carrier you like the best and stop chasing status.
Google "LHR" or "Heathrow" and then decide if you really want to have that be your primary connection point (admittedly AMS isn't much better)
Yes, luggage handling is a mess right now due to staff shortages, but I'd still take an AMS connection over LHR any time of the day.
1. You will not have to re-clear security on inbound flights from the US, which is still the case in almost any other EU airport due to passenger seperation restrictions.
2. AMS is setup with just a single terminal building and gate-2-gate walk time is at most 15 minutes.
3. Both KL lounges are good, prefer the non-schengen flagship lounge (lounge 52) though.
4. KL's European network is dense, with most locations being serviced multiple times per day
5. DL and AF/KL are easy to work with on irrops
Just keep in mind that right now, short connections carry a high risk of luggage not making your new flight. But AFAIK the MCT's for AMS have recently been raised to compensate for that.
As for BA/LHR, the negatives:
1. BA has been reducing their EU footprint, with loads of flights taken off the schedule lately
2. BA is closing lounges in EU airports (AMS has now permanently closed)
3. With irrops, good luck! Recent (couple of days ago) horrorstory on a misconnect BRU-LHR-LAS: 30+ hours extra connection time for those pax.