legends92

I had no idea I can do multi-trip flight on KLM�s website.

I tried on Google FlIghts website�s and couldn�t find a direct flight option.

I just did it on KLM�s website and sure enough for $6,064 dollars I can do LAX > AMX and CDG > LAX.

Thank you!

orbitmic

Adding my voice to those saying buy an open jaw (LAX-AMS // CDG-LAX as a multicity) and certainly not two one ways. However, it is also possible that you may be a little bit too early for the best fares. Many airlines do not release the cheapest buckets that long in advance so assuming that you have flexibility in dates etc (to avoid the risk of one specific day/flight being particularly busy), you may find cheaper fares in 2-3 months from now.

MartiniGomez

Just make sure you book your Thalys tickets on time. I believe you can book them 3 months in advance. Mark this date in your agenda. If you wait too long, prices will be much higher than indicated in one of the posts before!

irishguy28

Yes, for many European rail journeys tickets become bookable only at 3 months in advance.

Note, however, that the Intercity Brussels will always have �25 tickets available midweek up to 7 days prior to travel. They're slightly slower, but far more frequent and flexible.

Read:
https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-ro...s-by-train.htm

BobTL

This is correct however this is the normal Intercity train and it takes 3 hours from AMS to ZYR which is twice as long as Thalys. The Thalys has a seat reservation so never an overcrowded train.
The big benefit with booking Thalys with a flight ticket is that in case of irrops, you'll be rebooked for free on AF/KL, so a no risk operation. Imagine standing with your family at AMS too late for the flight because of a delayed train. Can get VERY expensive.

irishguy28

Indeed; but again, my understanding is that the family wishes to spend time in each of the three cities, so they are not seeking to depart by train from Brussels for the sole purpose of catching their flight from Roissy Charles de Gaulle.

carnarvon

I think the best for the OP is to tell us in plain words where he wants to spend X, Y and Z days. Then we can advise.

Ilove2fly

June, 2023? Perfect timing for booking award tickets. For revenue tickets, I would wait. I would build one or two multi city oj itineraries on Google flights and put the price tracker on. I am willing to bet that prices will drop a few times between now and June 2023.

theFirstDave

Be sure to book well in advance as that �29 will turn into �129 (or more) if you wait until a week before you're wanting to ride it. Found out the hard way 45 days ago.

SteveinA2

Be grateful you are not buying First class. That would set you back $60,000 on AF at $15K a ticket

theFirstDave

Yes. We were astounded at the difference. Sometimes a one way fare was more than a round trip, depending on the airline.

We did Air Tahiti Nui from CDG to LAX mid-June in the middle class. They are a partner for American when using American Advantage Miles so we got the big seats and more for only 40K miles vs 30k miles for economy.

BTW, CDG check-in / security / passport control / etc. take quite some time. Allow for at least 3 hours there and extra time to get there. We had only 20 minutes to spare when leaving near Notre-Dame at 8:30am for a 12:30 flight.

bostontraveler

For US-Europe OW fares are generally very, very expensive-- particularly on major legacy carriers.

Aer Lingus, Tap, Condor, Level and a few others offer some one-way fares but for the most part it is still a round-trip or open-jaw market in both directions.

BobTL

indeed. I flew the other day one way LAX-AMS on KL in J. Costed 10.000 EUR🙈

legends92

Apologize for the silence. Under 10 posts, need to wait 24 hours after 5 posts.

Travel dates and itinerary: June 12th through the 23rd. Husband, wife, and two 13 year olds (considered adults). Los Angeles > Amsterdam > Belgium > Paris > Los Angeles

Learned many lessons from this post and further research.

• One-way tickets are ridiculously expensive compared to round trip
• Multi-city tickets are non-refundable. I could not find a way to purchase refundable tickets when I tried via KLM or Air France (LAX > AMD and CDG > LAX) - bug with KLM & Air France Apple App did not show Flex schedules even thought box was ticked.

One-way refundable tickets from LAX to AMD is $4,900. For whatever reason, this doesn�t sound so bad in my head. Willing to spend the same for the convenience of a direct flight from CDG > LAX. When I realized that one-way direct refundable tickets are over $7,300 via Air France, I just about lost it.

So at this time I�m just thinking of purchasing refundable round trip tickets to Paris via Air France. From Paris, take Thalys directly to Amsterdam and start my vacation that way.

irishguy28

Tick the "Show Flex fares only" box underneath the multi-city entry fields:



At present, this gives you a total of $6882.28 for 4 adults, fully refundable:



Note that if you change the ticket, you would be liable for any fare difference, so don't think that you can change as often as you like with no requirement to pay more. (After departure of the first flight, it may prove possible to change your return flight without any fare difference, but again I would not rely on this).

Is there a reason why you wish to purchase refundable fares? Of course, it's nice to have a fallback situation where you can get everything back, but if there's some reason whereby you are not yet fully certain about whether you will actually be able to travel, I would instead recommend holding off until you know you are committed to the trip. Good insurance would cover you in most other unforeseen cases if the trip became impossible.

If you are absolutely determined to make this trip on these specific dates, then there is really little benefit to buying fully-refundable fares.

EDIT: That said, the cheapest available ticket for 4 adults on the same dates and the same routing (LAX-AMS 12JUN23; CDG-LAX 23JUN23) comes to $6,082.28, so you're not losing *that* much by having full flexibility; however, you could purchase a similar open-jaw on other carriers (as suggested above) for considerably less than the fares offered by AFKL.