Originally Posted by MJLogan
KL 601 and 602 (the direct flights between LAX and AMS) are, in my experience, almost always full. It's sometimes difficult to book a deeply-discounted coach fare--it can cost hundreds of dollars more to fly the nonstop rather than taking NWA flights connecting at a hub. So I'm sure the number of available award seats on the route is minimal. You may have to bite the bullet and book connecting flights.
One should not underestimate that KLM had already uploaded KL 603/604 (IIRC ) into the reservation systems for the summer season of 2002 or 2003 ( IIRC ) but then decided not to fly it.
So they saw demand for a 2nd daily service in summer, a logical consequence would be that KL 601/602 is indeed packed and from flying it a couple of times I can also confirm this, always a 74M in the last years.
In addition I can only repeat that airlines are getting better at releasing award seats and indeed if they are sure to sell 100 % of the inventory why should they release award seats at all ?? I always understood that award seats are only available, if the demand is not sufficient for the airlines...
In that context I was very surprised when everybody clapped when some US airlines eliminated the blackout dates...
IMO there is hardly any difference between blackout periods and not offering award seats at all like basically all carriers do across the pond during the peak summer season....
Generally I see a clear trend that awards will become available more and more on ( very ) short notice only....