Digicola

I would usually recommend doing the positioning flights in Y as generally their price to XP ratio is pretty bad but even Y prices are inflated at the moment.


I would like to add that for the more... adventurous kind, the AF/KL deals ex Spain with double or even triple connections at CDG/AMS for up to 324 xp (good luck booking that routing though) offer a similar yield as the LON ones.

And this isn't specific to the double XP promo but the AM deals ex Spain to most of latam offer between 136 and 166 XP depending on if you start in MAD or not. Worse price/xp ratio but way more miles.

maalloc

FYI, I tried to book a LYS-CDG-AMS-KRK round trip this morning that was supposed to yield 144 XP for 470 €, so a great 3.3€/XP.

However, the booking process kept failing after flights selection. While calling the Platinum line, they could offer me the same trip for a mere 770 €. Their explanation was that "the website has outdated fares availability". It seems like a strange thing to say in 2020, but who's to say....

Long story short: those MR fares are not secured until payment is done (which makes MR deals hunts a pain when comparing options). I ended up booking a 130XP/514 € trip. It's still less 4 €/XP -- rate unheard of before 2020 !

Thanks @offvoice for suggesting KRK, that unlocked the last MR run of the year and will secure me status for 2021 "whatever happens".

Wil973

no problems for booking a hotel in krk?... normally only guest for business are allowed

maalloc

Didn't try to.
AMS KRK lands at 22:30 and KRK AMS takes off at 6. I'll just stay in the terminal in the meantime.

fifty_two

do yourself a favor and book an hotel around airport, it doesnt cost much in krakow (around 50 euros per night) , which is a small percentage of what you will give AFKL for your MR

The airport doesnt close during nights as far as i remember but with covid things are different , so just in case think about hotel as its winter now or in worst case scenario you can go to central railway station to wait for few hours

you are lucky cause only KL fly there now (AF stopped, but i think it was seasonal flights) so it will often add layovers between CDG and AMS. other good options are GDN and KRK

you will be asked to fill-in a form in polish proving that you are there for specific reasons (business is one of them within a list of 4)

The hotels (accorhotels) where i usually go in krakow , are emtpy or closed nowadays.

I heard of teenagers going to mountains resorts (zakopane) and declaring they go to business trips , so i guess as a foreigner you wont have problems

Just don't play the tourist asking for maps or things to do , ask upfront for the form and bill for reimbursement , so you will look a bit serious

it usually happen with such complicated routes , or even in the end the price get way higher than what you found

that's the golden rule , the real price is revealed when you are ready to click purchase

For good deals , you should book by end of october (or mid november max)

ranskis

Actually for AFKL, the fare is already fully confirmed when you arrive on the payment page, there should be somewhere the PNR reference, in case there is a problem with payment, you can call and get it sorted on the phone, and the seats are booking for a little while to give time for payment processing and ticket issuance. Exceptions are: an error fare being corrected (but well, that's part of the game!), booking a ticket with a special offer fare that is about to expire when you book close to midnight (so you get the seats booked in the PNR but at time of ticket issue, the fare that is stored is different from the current applicable fare, resulting in an error and then a reprice).

criced

I keep on trying to book a MR to anywere in Europe in Business class LPI-AMS-CDG-XXX-CDG-AMS-LPI for the beginning of 2021 (already done with XP for 2020). Fares around €600-700 are shown on Google flights/ITA Matrix but can't be booked on AF website or in the app. Fares are then going up to $1600-1800 in the end or changing to economy. Tried to get help from KLM Whatsapp but they could only price in KLM Amsterdam fares, and it needs to be in AF-ticketnumber i think. Any idea to call AF you think or is this golden fare gone? I have used it a few times before in 2018 and 2019 to keep my FBG.

Digicola

If it prices out in matrix maybe try using powertools or BookWithMatrix. It might give you an OTA instead of AF/KL though.

747jetter

Just trying to do a bit of math but if you do this for FBG only and then you dont reach Platinum, how many times a year you actually use this status then? Spending 600-700 EUR to have lounge and maybe bag on two or three more trips?

maalloc

Google Flight is notoriously optimistic when preparing this kind of trips.
Ending up with a 2x, 3x price tag when moving on to the official website is quite common. In my experience, the hotline always has higher fares than the website, so calling them would be a waste of time.

criced

Got a €700 voucher from cancelations so has to be booked with the airline. A normal year I would not have any problem to keep FBG from normal flying, but also nice to fly Business sometimes on AF in Europe, eg Kiev flights are great value.

criced

So no solution?

maalloc

Not that I'm aware of.
When Google Flight (or ITA Matrix) start losing touch with real fares, I just give up for the given dates/route combination.

An AF hotline operator told me once it's because of KLM Cityhopper flights that don't publish up-to-date informations about fares availability. You might want to try again with a MR that doesn't involve Cityhopper -- but it's hard to do since these dual-AMS-CDG stopovers are what makes MR worth it... Also, note that time doesn't seem to fix the issue as these optimistic fares are sometimes kept online until last minute on Google Flight/ITA Matrix.

Hunting for multi-destination MRs is not an exact science yet

fifty_two

Yes , do a long haul MR , this way you have way more options , your trip is in 2021 so no more double xp/miles , you are free to choose whatever airline you want from skyteam or use your AFKL vouchers later and there are lot of cheap flights available now

As you qualify through XP and not simple segments , better book long haul trips with layovers than a basic "MR eurotrip" as you describe

simply wait , if you plan your trip a bit later prices will go down . Use google flight alerts to keep an eye on it

As said earlier and as other mentionned again , prices shown by google (they are also owners of ITA Matrix) , are just a possible indication , but the real price is displayed only when you buy through airline .

One issue is that now the price google will show you is the best price but this might come from a 3rd party like OTA , so you need to check the list of results to see what are prices available from AFKL (if available)

Another issue is that prices fluctuate based on supply/demand , and covid19 doesnt help . With less flights prices are very likely to increase quickly . I even have troubles to find correct prices in january for flights which are usually cheap

criced

Another problem is that the voucher is getting less worth day by day now when the swedish krona gets more value to other currencys. I finally found it working from ARN to BLL today. KRK is also working but i avoid Poland atm for LGBT-problems. Booking done ARN-CDG-AMS-BLL-AMS-CDG-BLL for may, will probebly change a few times before departure and I will then ask for other route

Lounghaul is not an option for Sweds due to goverment recommendations making travel insurance not working outside EU atm. Hope that change after summer 2021

Thanks for all help and comments today dear FlyerTalkers