SFO to AMS
 

Which airline would you suggest? It looks like United or KLM would be the most direct. Is there a preference based on service and seats in economy or premium economy?

Much of a muchness. UA has E+ which gives you a bit more legroom. I don't know if their Premium Economy seats are on that route, but it is a decent product. I am not familiar with KL's seating.

KLM doesn’t have a Premium Economy product whereas UA does (Premium Plus).

If you specifically want PE then you might want to consider Virgin Atlantic or British Airways on SFO to LHR and then a connection to AMS which given it’s less than an hours flight is well survivable in economy.

Virgin also have economy delight which whilst still economy does have extra leg room seats included in the price.

it may even be cheaper that the non stop flight to AMS.

If Air France has PE then consider them to CDG then a short economy hop to AMS.

Or Aer Lingus SFO-DUB-AMS



There is more than one way to skin a cat to get a better seat but for not much added time.

As an example and although this is in business I’m doing SFO-JFK-LHR later in the year to get a better seat than the non stop BA flight for what I consider to be a reasonable added time element and a considerable saving over the VS direct flight.

As with all things, you need to balance cost against comfort against convenience.

For KLM and UA in economy, I would choose KLM. If you are entitled to or willing to pay for UA's Economy Plus (just extra legroom), I would choose that over KLM.

If you are willing to pay for Premium Economy, then it's UA - and UA's product is one of the better ones out there.

If you are willing to take a connection, you need to consider how much you need to save to make it worthwhile to add the extra time and hassle involved. Also, I would choose airports where connections are easy rather than difficult. Avoid LHR, CDG and FRA like the plague. ZRH, MUC, CPH, LIS and DUB (I think that's the list from SFO) are ok. With current pricing, I would be surprised if you saved enough to make the connection worthwhile. And none of those airlines have seats or service that are markedly better than UA's or KLM's.

What about between DL and KLM in business class?

If you are looking for Premium economy you should look at SJC-AMS obviously connecting somewhere.
I find that business and premium economy is sometimes cheaper out of SJC and it is no that far from SFO