Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

As mentioned here:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/flyin...l#post11065392

Zaventem will be starting March 1 offering bus service from Rotterdam, Utrecht and Breda to the Brussels airport before the major intercontinental pushes.

Today an announcement was made that Amsterdam and potentially other cities will also start on that date.

Travelers on Brussels Airlines, Jet Airways and various other airlines pay nothing for the bus shuttle service, escape the Dutch governmnt tax of 45 euros and have access to *A alliance as an alternative to Schiphol/AFKL.

This should be a potentially helpful boost to improving Zaventem's position against Schiphol. For example, German field Weeze has gone from 850K to 2M passengers in two year's time of which more than half come from the Netherlands.

Vote with your feet & enjoy a free bus ride to Belgium.

PJK

This bus won't be free-for-all. A regular return ticket will be €37,50

http://www.luchtvaartnieuws.nl/news/?id=29215

Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

Even if you are flying an airline that doesn't make the trip free, it is still cheaper than 45 euro in Dutch tax, not counting the lower fare of not paying captive hub prices...and you get increased access to real FFPs still rewarding your flying rather than FB=Fraud, Baby.

Mofomat

So you would save 8 Euro's in tax and have the convenience of a long, long bus ride from Utrecht for example instead of a direct train to Schiphol. Makes sense.

Klm is Dead - Long Live KLM

The savings will in most cases amount to much, much more than 8 euros....

It might not make sense for you or for me always or every time.
Will make lots of sense for lots of others, just as it has for the millions switching to airports in Germany.

When you factor in the AFKL overpricing at the Schiphol hub, the difference for a family of four can be in the hundreds and hundreds of euros and enough to pay for a substantial portion of the hotel, meals or other vacation expenses

In addition, sometimes, good citizens, even the Dutch, take decisions out of principle rather than solely on an economic calculation per-transaction. If one believes that Schiphol is losing sight of their primary function as public utility, that they are abusing their market position, that the Dutch government is taxing activities unfairly, that AFKL is reneging on their long term promises to their loyal customers and abusing their growing local monopolistic market power, then, out of principle and moral responsibility one should not spend money with them but with reasonable alternatives even if those other options represent a certain degree of inconvenience. Better inconvenience in the short term than being taken advantage of in the longer term.

irishguy28

What a gimmick! Trust me, this service won't last long - particularly with those dreadful departure times.

And why would anyone want to take a bus to Zaventem, when you can travel in greater comfort with NS and pick a departure time that's more convenient? A return ticket (valid for 2 months) from Utrecht Centraal starts from €40,40; from Rotterdam starting from €31,20; and from Breda Prinsenbeek, starting from only €24,80.

The original poster failed to mention that the "free travel" is only for the first month, up to April 1st. After that it will be €37,50 per journey. You'd be mad to pay that, or even to take a free journey on that bus.

I really laughed when this was presented as a viable reason for leaving Schiphol/FB!!! I find hilarious the suggestion that the provision of a dodgy twice-a-day bus service, free or otherwise, would suddenly convince even larger numbers of people to fly from an airport outside the Netherlands!!! People grumble about using the bus station known as CDG, so I doubt taking the bus to Brussels is going to be a hugely popular new pastime for 2009.