Mess in AMS today - April 2022 onwards
Sep 21, 22, 8:15 pm
#2551
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: FB
Posts: 125
No rooms available on the date I'm flying in/out so I'm probably looking at the Ibis nearby (the one I can redeem my points at, since the Ibis budget doesn't seem to allow that). Looks like it's only a couple km, and from what I can tell, my Diner's Club card will get me into either the Aspire lounge or the BA lounge in the non-Schengen area so I can include getting breakfast in the "killing time at the airport" part of my calculations. Still hoping the situation improves soon-ish.
Sep 21, 22, 10:25 pm
#2552
Join Date: Aug 2008
Programs: HHonors Gold, Marriott Lifetime Gold, IHG Gold, OZ*G, AA Gold, AS MVP
Posts: 1,804
The "Airport Ibis" is some distance from the airport, and, the last I checked (7 years ago), the shuttle is of the omnibus sort. If you've got Accor points to burn, I suggest looking at the Novotel in Hoofdorp (the cluster of buildings off to your left on short final to the Kaagbaan 06) or the Mercure by Amsterdam Sloterdijk. Both are 100m from the train that goes straight to Schiphol in 5-7 minutes, more regular and faster than the shuttle. The Mercure has the restaurant/bar on the top floor. Prices between them and the Ibis fluctuate.
Sep 22, 22, 12:50 am
#2553
Join Date: Sep 2018
Programs: FB Gold
Posts: 39
Is this regarding the Economy Comfort seat in Europe for example?
Sep 22, 22, 12:52 am
#2554
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: EU
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y1)
Posts: 478
They didn't specify Eco Comfort specifically, but did speak about "front section", "emergency exit" etc - so for EU narrowbody flights I'd assume Eco Comfort, if there's space, would also be available 72 hrs / 24 hrs before departure for non-Platinum STE(+) members, free of charge, where right now they get a 50%/25% discount.
Sep 22, 22, 1:11 am
#2555
Join Date: Jun 2020
Programs: FlyingBlue
Posts: 1,933
They didn't specify Eco Comfort specifically, but did speak about "front section", "emergency exit" etc - so for EU narrowbody flights I'd assume Eco Comfort, if there's space, would also be available 72 hrs / 24 hrs before departure for non-Platinum STE(+) members, free of charge, where right now they get a 50%/25% discount.
EC seats will be severely commoditized if Silver & Golds get them for free too.
Too bad, the increased possibility of having an adjacent free seat on KL EC was one of the few hard benefits of Plat. I guess that's good for the bottom line on long hauls, where Premium Eco will happily fill this need...
Sep 22, 22, 1:13 am
#2556
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: EU
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y1)
Posts: 478
Ouch.
EC seats will be severely commoditized if Silver & Golds get them for free too.
Too bad, the increased possibility of having an adjacent free seat on KL EC was one of the few hard benefits of Plat. I guess that's good for the bottom line on long hauls, where Premium Eco will happily fill this need...
EC seats will be severely commoditized if Silver & Golds get them for free too.
Too bad, the increased possibility of having an adjacent free seat on KL EC was one of the few hard benefits of Plat. I guess that's good for the bottom line on long hauls, where Premium Eco will happily fill this need...
Sep 22, 22, 1:22 am
#2558
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: EU
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y1)
Posts: 478
They didn't.
Stopover flights would be very soon, as will the changes to seat selection. No concrete timeline though, and there was a mention that they'd bring "more value" to Platinum, as well as "have no plans change the XP requirements for Platinum" (but they couldn't say what "more value" means at this time)
The Ulti spaces was mentioned separately, when there were concerns around Ulti recognition in AMS, namely no "Sky Priority" on boarding passes and the priority security dragons turning Ulti pax guests away because they don't have SP on their BPs. They didn't mention when these changes (ulti space, SP on BPs) would be implemented.
Stopover flights would be very soon, as will the changes to seat selection. No concrete timeline though, and there was a mention that they'd bring "more value" to Platinum, as well as "have no plans change the XP requirements for Platinum" (but they couldn't say what "more value" means at this time)
The Ulti spaces was mentioned separately, when there were concerns around Ulti recognition in AMS, namely no "Sky Priority" on boarding passes and the priority security dragons turning Ulti pax guests away because they don't have SP on their BPs. They didn't mention when these changes (ulti space, SP on BPs) would be implemented.
Sep 22, 22, 1:30 am
#2559
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: the Netherlands
Programs: FB Gold
Posts: 37
How far in advance will KLM announce a flight to be cancelled, in your experience? I am booked for a 5 PM flight on Saturday to Florence. Have not heard anything yet, so am assuming it will depart. But who knows..
Sep 22, 22, 1:33 am
#2560
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: EU
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y1)
Posts: 478
These days? It may be the evening before. Or the morning the day itself. Depends if Schiphol again restricts amount of flights further than anticipated, like what happened last weekend.
Sep 22, 22, 2:58 am
#2561
Join Date: Nov 2021
Programs: Flying Blue Platinum, BA Silver
Posts: 34
Ouch.
EC seats will be severely commoditized if Silver & Golds get them for free too.
Too bad, the increased possibility of having an adjacent free seat on KL EC was one of the few hard benefits of Plat. I guess that's good for the bottom line on long hauls, where Premium Eco will happily fill this need...
EC seats will be severely commoditized if Silver & Golds get them for free too.
Too bad, the increased possibility of having an adjacent free seat on KL EC was one of the few hard benefits of Plat. I guess that's good for the bottom line on long hauls, where Premium Eco will happily fill this need...
Sep 22, 22, 3:18 am
#2562
Join Date: Jun 2020
Programs: FlyingBlue
Posts: 1,933
For EU flights KLM normally pushes the cabin reconfig online 1 or 2 days before check-in (business class seats that suddenly become Economy Comfort), if this falls within the T-72, then suddenly I need to compete with (a lot?) more people to snatch a eco comfort seat if they weren't available at the time of booking (which unfortunately happens often enough).
On a mid-week, not-too-popular long haul route, a 777 (or the late 747s) would provide plenty of EC seats. It used to be quite easy to have a "poor man's J"; so much that at some point I switched to KL instead of AF for my favorite long-haul metal when flying Y, preferred seats on AF 777/787 being a joke.
I'd often cite KL EC as the only real Plat perk when friends & family asked me what was the point of being Plat instead of Gold. I guess that will be over soon, let's see if they can come up with something to Make Plat Great Again;
Sep 22, 22, 3:25 am
#2563
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: EU
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y1)
Posts: 478
Agreed. On EU routes EC is a poor protection against promiscuity.
On a mid-week, not-too-popular long haul route, a 777 (or the late 747s) would provide plenty of EC seats. It used to be quite easy to have a "poor man's J"; so much that at some point I switched to KL instead of AF for my favorite long-haul metal when flying Y, preferred seats on AF 777/787 being a joke.
I'd often cite KL EC as the only real Plat perk when friends & family asked me what was the point of being Plat instead of Gold. I guess that will be over soon, let's see if they can come up with something to Make Plat Great Again;
On a mid-week, not-too-popular long haul route, a 777 (or the late 747s) would provide plenty of EC seats. It used to be quite easy to have a "poor man's J"; so much that at some point I switched to KL instead of AF for my favorite long-haul metal when flying Y, preferred seats on AF 777/787 being a joke.
I'd often cite KL EC as the only real Plat perk when friends & family asked me what was the point of being Plat instead of Gold. I guess that will be over soon, let's see if they can come up with something to Make Plat Great Again;
During the call, they said "they couldn't share anything yet at this time", but seems like they're working on some things. The sceptic in me says it won't be a whole lot, but let's see.
Sep 22, 22, 3:30 am
#2564
Join Date: Jun 2020
Programs: FlyingBlue
Posts: 1,933
That said, we can keep our hopes up and applaud the move. It's not that often in the airline industry that FF levels are actually given more perks!
Last edited by maalloc; Sep 22, 22 at 4:51 am
Sep 22, 22, 3:51 am
#2565
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 101,158
Nothing mentioned by the North Europe sales folk about what new things KLM may try to do to make AMS less of a mess than it is? Encouraging more people to redeem AF-KL miles for award tickets with stopovers in AMS doesn’t seem to be such a way.
