I've been a a WorldPerks member almost since NW started the program. Over the past ten years I've been either Gold or Platinum. Several years ago I started doing a lot of business in Europe. Now I spend over 80% of my time here. My dilema is that I've accumulated a ton of miles on NW. In the past I routinely used them for upgrades. It was relatively easy to upgrade when I was buying the tickets in the US. I've found that NW has become much stingier with upgradeable fares. It seems that I need either Y or B tickets to upgrade, when I buy my tickets in Europe. In the past 3 years I've only used miles once to upgrade. Lately I've been using my miles for vacations with my wife...usually business class. I still end up with a lot of unused miles. In the past I've tried to find out about upgrade possibilities on KLM, but until recently KLM's website didn't offer too much information. However, after reading posts on this forum (and a few other places), it seems that I'll have a much easier time upgrading my KLM tickets as a FD elite. Is this a correct assumption?

Should I bite the bullet and begin accumulating KLM miles in 2005? I've considered doing this in the past, but I'm very reluctant to give up my 100% (or 125%) bonus miles that I receive as a NW elite. A friend at Lufthansa offered to give me its equivalent of Silver status if I made the switch. Would KLM do anything similar? If so, who might I contact?

What is the situation with upgrades for FD members in the US? I make several trips a year in the US traveling between the East coast and West coast. I love my automatic upgrades as a NW elite. It's also been really nice in the past couple of years getting the upgrades on CO flights as well. What is the upgrade situation for FD members?

I fly to the US next Saturday, so any help on deciding whether to check in with my WorldPerks card or a Flying Dutchman card would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

As a Plat, if it wasn't for the KL/AF merger, I would have jumped over to KL in 2004 -- Platinum points and companion upgrades wouldn't be worth the advantages of upgrading internationally (not to mention getting EQM on MH, which I flew for 26,000 miles in 2004 and got neither EQM nor elite bonus miles for).

But AF's FFP doesn't seem so good, so I chickened out and stayed with NW. I'll probably stay with NW in 2005, but primarily because I suspect my globe-girdling days are over for a while and I'll be needing to do domestic MR's in 2005 just to make 75,000 EQM.

Steve

You should switch. All you have to do is call NW and they will ask for your address in Europe and convert your staus from NW-PL to KL-PL they will also convert your banked miles into KL miles. Once you have requested the conversion it is not reversible. The big advantage is that KL allows upgrades from all paid fares. And KL-PL have access to all KL lounges worldwide and NW Worldclubs in US. CO does not allow Upgrades for KL-PL. NW allows upgrades 5 days before departure but no Companions. Overall KL-PL is your best option.

Thanks for the quick reply! I'm assuming they'll do this for NW-Gold members as well? It looks like I'll fall short of Platinum this year (Took advantage of some dirt cheap CO flights to US, but paid the price in only getting 50% EQM)...

Yes NW-GD to KL-GD. As for club access, it is alittle different. KL-GD can visit all NW World Clubs and KL lounges in AMS. But not worldwide. Another differnce is KL-PL requires 60 segments on NW CO KL. Also you get 100% miles on CO. KL-GD I thinks is like 45 segements

Because of all the recent changes to KLM's FD programme including the introduction of non-mileage earning fares, I would wait and see what happens with the KL progragramme first.

As you may be aware KLM & Air France plan to integrate their programmes this year, and AF programme is a lot stingier with upgrades than NW.

You may want to wait and see.

I think another benefit to switching from NW Gold to KLM Gold is that KLM Gold cardholders have SkyTeam Elite Plus status, while I think NW Gold are only SkyTeam Elite (not Elite Plus).

Elite Plus status brings greater benefits in the SkyTeam alliance.

On a different note - you may also want to take out a US issued diners club card - this will get you into the menzies lounges in amsterdam, NW Wclub at EWR and a bunch of other clubs in Europe. It's worth the annual fee if you fail to requalify for gold one year.

Thanks. This is a very interesting point. I just checked the SkyTeam website and it looks like you're right. I'm very close to picking up the phone and making the change...

If you have been reading past posts comparing FD to WP, you may not be aware of the recent and general erosion in benefits with FD, such as the reduced availability of transatlantic upgrades, restriction of day-of-departure upgrades to Y/S/B fares on those routes, introduction of non-mileage earning fares tomorrow, etc.

FD Gold members are NOT officially entitled to automatic US domestic upgrades on NW.

Also, the AF F+ program with which FD is slated to be merged sometime in 2005 currently does not allow upgrades from anything but full fare coach tickets. Nor does it provide automatic US domestic upgrades for any elite level.

In short, for a flyer with your profile, the current FD PE status would be of interest; GE, a little less so (better international benefits vs. lesser US domestic ones).

However, the uncertainty over the future AF/KL FFP (few of us here expect expanded benefits...) may make WP a safer choice for the time being.

This is a really tough call for me. When I'm in the US, I love the automatic upgrade. However, traveling back and forth over the Atlantic, I really miss the ease of upgrading. I suppose if I really want to get the best of both worlds I ought to make certain that I'll get myself to FD PE... The uncertainty about the future with AF/KL FFP does worry me. I'd hate to transfer my status and all my miles only to find out that I'm no better off (or even worse off when traveling in the US).

A quick question to you and others...I just realized that I'll have a couple of trips from Europe to Asia this year. What is the upgrade situation? How many miles would I need for an upgrade to Beijing or to Manila? I can't seem to find this info on the FD website.

One needs to log in as a FD member to access the mileage calculator, not that the info is secret. 40K miles one-way from anywhere in Europe to the Far East, so far from any fare. This is one of the main reasons I am sticking with FD, as it is one of the last FFP's to allow this from discounted fares.

Availability is better on routes with less premium traffic, and perhaps on those with 74M combis, which have a higher ratio of WBC to coach seats. With this logic, I usually have no problem finding WBC upgrade seats to KIX or ICN, while for instance NRT would be more problematic.

The non-stop to MNL is only a month old, I have no idea of the loads in WBC, but assume most traffic would be in coach.

As for Beijing, seeing it is often discounted as a 'Web@award', I assume WBC upgrades should be accessible as well.

Are you not able to use NW miles to get your upgrades on KLM flights through World-Perks or do different rules apply?

One of my main reasons for considering the big switch is NW's stinginess on upgrades. To upgrade on a KLM-issued ticket on a transatlantic flight I need purchase a Y or B fare...my company rarely purchases these. FD allows upgrades on virtually any category. As far as I can tell from the WP mileage calculator there is no way to upgrade a KLM ticket from Europe to Asia. The last time I checked it was possible to upgrade using WP miles between Europe and Asia, but this required the purchase of a NW ticket in Asia. I haven't flown to Asia in two years, so I haven't really checked. However, even if it were possible to upgrade with WP miles between Europe and Asia on a KLM-issued ticket it would almost certainly require a Y or B fare.