baccarat_king

IMO, any long-haul upgrade (in this case on Air France) that is under €400 and from economy to business class (not premium economy, on Air France) is a good value.

Of course, if it's absolutely EMPTY in the back (i.e. you might get an entire row to yourself) that might be a consideration.

baccarat_king

I am REALLY IN AWE of this. I've seen €750'ish "phantom" seat-map offers (economy to business class) from AMS-JFK. And, while those are "too rich for my blood," at least it's long-haul international (and in that example on a 747).

These examples of intra-Europe euro-biz upgrades are just insane and perplexing. Does KLM have any concept of how outrageous these offers are?

carnarvon

They must be computer generated and not even proofread as nobody cares.

baccarat_king

Yes, the algorithm is "genius."

AlicorporateUK

I know we all like to have a bit of rant and indeed those prices are laughable to say the least, yet KL is not really pro-actively offering those upgrades i.e. has anybody received/got a message displayed saying, for instance, Upgrade now for € 876 and enjoy extra comfort on your AMS-OTP flight? If so, that's/that'd be marketingly speaking quite worrying. I never have (or probably a couple of times I got the message displayed during on-line check-in offering an upgrade for ~129 GBP, even though most flights through work are booked in C so my experience with that would be limited anyway). Lastly, I doubt some people would be happy even with a € 9.99 upgrade offer because you can buy a newspaper for much less than that and the food is crap anyway etc. so basically KL is not forcing anybody nor pro-actively offering those upgrades, unless you obviously click on the EBC seat during check-in.

G

Another user name to remember

I don't think that is the point. I just roll my eyes on offers like this (or the "get 80% discount on your upgrade to the last available seat, now only 339..."), but it worries me that the people in KLM HQ are so far detached from reality and the quality of their product. Would any of them suggest to their friends to pay any of those numbers and stand up for the value received towards those friends? I doubt that. Somebody within the KLM organisation should say this does not make sense and revert back to the 100ish range for intra Europe upgrades. I would still not take it, but others might and might actually be pleased with it (think occasional flyer, going on a romantic weekend, trying to impress his/her partner).

toastedcafe

Absolutely!!! Are you sure its from Paris to Toronto ??? And not a taxi ride from your hotel to the airport??

AlicorporateUK

I take your point (poor value of product, out-of-touch approach from KL people etc.) and I do agree. However, what I was trying to say is that most people wouldn't really know about those (again, laughable) upgrade offers, unless obviously a message pops-up during check-in. The random traveller going to AMS for the weekend wouldn't even think to click on the EBC seat to see how much it would cost to be on the front of the bus. As I mentioned above (and I was referring to those posting seat-maps with the ridiculous price popping-up when clicking on a EBC seat), it would be absolutely stupid if a message during check-in would pro-actively encourage the passenger to upgrade his SVG flight for an absurd € 869 but, if KL is not doing that (please correct me if I'm wrong - whenever I had a message during check-in, I never got a figure like that), it means that they have their own reasons (probably silly, probably not - I work in an entirely different industry so that's not for me to comment) for doing so. Some people need to remember that not all travellers have a FlyerTalk mindset and that, for the random bloke going to AMS for the weekend, even a 129 GBP upgrade would probably be worth the extra expense simply because he wouldn't know about all those dynamics which get largely discussed over here.

G

355F1

Good god YES.

I thought I was lucky last week when AF OpUpped me to PE for free CDG-LAX and then let me pay $470 to UG to J.

MasterGeek

but in Canadian dollars it's $445 I could get several massages and restaurant meals with that money

cityflyer369

Well, this just shows that it's all a matter of priorities. I would spend the money on the upgrade, even if that would mean going to the restaurant less often (I prefer cooking at home anyway). For other people it's the other way round. That said, for an upgrade it's still pretty cheap, no matter what your priorities are.

AlicorporateUK

Perfectly said.

G

Another user name to remember

Seems the glitch has been resolved, got the 'normal' €199 upgrade offer AMS-ARN again. So we can resume the original discussion: why would somebody pay €199 for a salad :-)

bodory

I am sure the number of upgrade requests will skyrocket

johan rebel

Now don't forget that free newspaper!

Johan