f4free

Next Saturday various OTA are selling almost hourly flights from AMS to DUS operated by A1 (APG Distribution), equipment type being BUS.
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The flight time is an amazing 2h 0m. I've never done it by car under 2h30m and had tickets on traject control when I did.

Tickets start at 110 Euro, one way.

What is this??? Any information??

I searched and found nothing. Too fast to be true but it must be something. I found no flixbus or any bus connecting both airports.
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Goldorak

when you say "flights", is there any KL (or LH) flight number ?

irishguy28

No, they do not have KL or LH flight numbers; they have their own "APG Distribution Systems" codes.

According to Schipholtickets.com, the flights are operated by limousine...

palmanfr

Yeah I saw that last time as I am a relatively frequent DUS-AMS flyer. Could it be a train service? ICE or something ? 2 hours for a trip between those 2 cities sounded extremely optimistic by car, so not even mentioning by bus...
The dutch gov't wants KLM to start scrapping their shortest flights to replace with train services. AMS-BRU being one of them, but I can see DUS-AMS being next...

irishguy28

I was thinking it was far more likely to be a train service, but there is no real way of knowing. Those prices are far too high for a regular train ticket bought sufficiently in advance. The frequency of the service - almost 1 per hour it seems on most days - may mean it could be a train service - but there is no direct service from AMS/Schiphol to DUS so I am not at all sure what this relates to.

It doesn't appear in any way a KLM initiative, so I don't think that this is related to KLM moving shorthaul to trains.

(A full-flex economy train ticket on the same dates as I showed above for these "flights" can be had for less than half the price - but take more than an hour extra)

maastrichtmouse

The ICE from Amsterdam Centraal to Dusseldorf HBF gets you no change from 2 hours. Then you need to add on the fiddly bits to each airport so unlikely to be a train. It would also be a huge increase in the number of services per day between the two cities (and ultimately the two airports), and I'm not sure they would get the paths for them. It's quite a busy line to Germany.

Given APG appear to be some sort of distribution agent could this be some back-end things not intended for public consumption that has found its way onto Skyscanner and will eventually flush itself out. Such things happen.

fifty_two

Ohh , world is very small , so we probably came across each other in plane or lounge , cause me too iam flying this route on "too high" regular basis, but thanks to covid19 i was able to take a break ..

Did they gave KLM a threshold , like (<= 45 mins) ??? based on what you said , i guess we can add BRE in the "bye bye list"

if this happen i wont have any other choice than transit by FRA or CDG to keep flying ST

irishguy28

Indeed, but it is still rather suspicious that such a specific route and such a number of "flights" should suddenly appear online.

I find it hard to think that any new entrant is about to enter on this route - whether by private jet, bus, or train - so while I accept this was likely never intended for public consumption, I am also at a loss to understand why anything even remotely like this may have been conjured up for "private consumption". I just don't understand why anyone would have gone to the effort of creating these "phantom" flights in the first place, even if they never intended to have them end up for sale via some OTAs.

As far as I can tell, the international buses have not even yet gone back into service (though I did, from my apartment window in The Hague, catch sight of a rogue RegioJet bus passing last week or the week before) and I am really struggling to think that demand for traffic will be such that an hourly service will be required on this route as and from the next few days.

Is there anyone here who wants to be a guinea pig and book one of these tickets to see what happens?

I wonder if there are any other such "flights" offered by APG on other routes?

irishguy28

Have you been banned for life by DB and NS?

fifty_two

what is NS ?? When i transit by FRA , it's because KL flights to DUS are sometimes too expensive , so the ast step is with Deutsche Bahn or private transfer

most probably i will be the lucky pig , if restrictions are lifted this month and iam sure i can get some XPs out of it

irishguy28

The “flights” under discussion in this thread have nothing to do with KLM, and cannot possibly ever earn XPs.

Still, if you book one of these APG “flights”, let us know!

fifty_two

ok thanks

yes sure

what is NS ??

Palal

Nederlandse Spoorwegen - the main passenger train operator in the Netherlands.

maastrichtmouse

Or if feeling less generous "Normally Sh*t" or "Normally Slow".

maastrichtmouse

Just checked DUS-BRU, and our friend in the jet powered limousine is going that way, too.

You're right that this is very weird whether for public or private consumption (back-end suggested as far easier to make a fat fingered mistake or a command that got a little out of hand).

International coaches don't appear to be running (I saw a Flixbus here in Maastricht, but it was on NS rail replacement service), though international buses are running down here in the south (De Lijne and TEC are back.