Award space in J on KLM SFO-AMS?
Feb 3, 2022, 10:52 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Mar 2010
Programs: DL PM, Bonvoy Gold
Posts: 8,414
Award space in J on KLM SFO-AMS?
As an SFO based flyer, I have tried for years to find partner award space on KLM SFO-AMS in J. I have never once seen a single seat. I always end up having to go through SEA or SLC to get to Europe in J. It's annoying and a major reason I often consider switching to United, even though I absolutely hate them.
I'm wondering, has anyone *ever* seen space open up on this route? Any tricks?
Edited to add: SFO-CDG is also never available. No way to fly to Europe in J with skymiles from SFO.
I'm wondering, has anyone *ever* seen space open up on this route? Any tricks?
Edited to add: SFO-CDG is also never available. No way to fly to Europe in J with skymiles from SFO.
Last edited by jdrtravel; Feb 3, 2022 at 12:03 pm
Feb 3, 2022, 1:21 pm
#3
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Back in Reds Country (DAY/CVG). Previously: SEA & SAT.
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As an SFO based flyer, I have tried for years to find partner award space on KLM SFO-AMS in J. I have never once seen a single seat. I always end up having to go through SEA or SLC to get to Europe in J. It's annoying and a major reason I often consider switching to United, even though I absolutely hate them.
I'm wondering, has anyone *ever* seen space open up on this route? Any tricks?
Edited to add: SFO-CDG is also never available. No way to fly to Europe in J with skymiles from SFO.
I'm wondering, has anyone *ever* seen space open up on this route? Any tricks?
Edited to add: SFO-CDG is also never available. No way to fly to Europe in J with skymiles from SFO.
I didn’t book it since I was able to get a ticket out of AUS but I was playing with different cities and for a trip in Summer 2020 (that I booked pre-COVID and was unable to take), I did see some space on AF J out of SFO to CDG then onward in Europe.
Feb 3, 2022, 2:48 pm
#4
Join Date: Jul 2017
Location: SFO/SJC
Programs: Delta DM | Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 169
Without knowing your specific circumstances I'll say the following has helped me in redeeming GUCs:
- Flexibility on dates, routing, destination
- EF subscription
- Patience with DM desk and lots of HUCA as KL GUC redemptions can be tricky since it involves GTS and
somemany agents are not well versed in the process.
In the past month I've redeemed GUCs for SFO-AMS-DUS and SFO-AMS-BKK-AMS-SFO on KL later this year.
Feb 3, 2022, 3:11 pm
#5
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Location: San Antonio
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This has not been my experience and I'm also SFO based. I've exclusively redeemed GUCs on AF and KL (mostly KL because of the better fare code eligibility) since earning DM 5 or so years ago.
Without knowing your specific circumstances I'll say the following has helped me in redeeming GUCs:
In the past month I've redeemed GUCs for SFO-AMS-DUS and SFO-AMS-BKK-AMS-SFO on KL later this year.
Without knowing your specific circumstances I'll say the following has helped me in redeeming GUCs:
- Flexibility on dates, routing, destination
- EF subscription
- Patience with DM desk and lots of HUCA as KL GUC redemptions can be tricky since it involves GTS and
somemany agents are not well versed in the process.
In the past month I've redeemed GUCs for SFO-AMS-DUS and SFO-AMS-BKK-AMS-SFO on KL later this year.
Feb 3, 2022, 4:43 pm
#6
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 23,050
They can open up near end-of-schedule. KL SFO-AMS has space in business on December 28th - not really seeing anything else on KL. AF SFO-CDG availability is considerably better including a number of dates in July/August. The non-stop filter is set for below so only dates with AF SFO-CDG non-stop partner award availability show. There is some connecting partner availability on SFO-AMS in the summer involving either SFO-LHR-AMS (SFO-LHR on VS) or SFO-CDG-AMS.
Last edited by xliioper; Feb 3, 2022 at 11:44 pm
Feb 3, 2022, 11:49 pm
#8
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Last edited by xliioper; Feb 4, 2022 at 7:27 am
Feb 4, 2022, 7:45 am
#9
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Location: San Antonio
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Unless its a heavy travel day, there's generally always one open seat on any KLM flight. Mainly because everyone knows you can do DoD upgrade.