Hi all

This post covers both KLM and Latinpass but becuase of its general interest I have posted it here. Apologies to those so offended.

Like me you're probably studying the Latinpass million miles bonus carefully to see whether it is possible and safe.

As i live in Australia I decided to see what I could actually do with a million miles if I was able to accrue them. As KLM is the only partner that flies in our region of the world I looked at the redemption possibilities for Latinpass miles on KLM. I was amazed to find a real gem of a deal (at least it looks like that)

here are the details

KLM

KLM Flight Awards
Applicable on KLM routes only

From/to North America, Central America, South America 2 or the Caribbean and: Economy Class (One RT Ticket) Business Class (One RT Ticket)

Europe 1 60,000 90,000

Europe 2 70,000 100,000

West, East or Central Africa or Middle East 80,000 120,000

Pacific, Asia or South Africa
100,000, 150,000

From/to South America 1 and:
Europe 1 70,000 100,000
Europe 2 80,000 120,000

West, East or Central Africa or Middle East 90,000 135,00

Pacific, Asia or South Africa 115,000 170,000

Between:

Asia and Pacific 30,000 45,000

Europe 1 or 2 and West, East, Central Africa or Middle East 40,000 60,000

Europe 1 or 2 and Pacific, Asia or South Africa 50,000 75,000

Central America and Mexico 30,000
45,000

The Caribbean and South America 2 30,000
45,000

The Caribbean and South America 1 40,000
60,000

Wholly within:
South America 1 30,000
45,000

or Between Europe 1 or 2 35,000
50,000

Asia 25,000 40,000

Middle East 20,000 30,000

Geographical Definitions for KLM Awards

Europe 1 Austria, Belgium, Czech Rep., Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Norway and United Kingdom

Europe 2 Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey and Ukraine
Middle East Bahrain, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Syria,united Arab Emirates and Yemen
West, East or Central Africa Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Tanzania and Togo
South Africa South Africa and Zimbabwe

Asia and Pacific Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam

North America Canada, Mexico and USA

South America 1 Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay

South America 2 Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela


Ok so fare so good. If you look carefully at the above list you will see that there is an award "Between Asia and Pacific" which is 30,000 miles economy, 45,000 miles business.

Given that Asia dn Pacific is defined as follows:

"Asia and Pacific Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam"

You can see that at face value one could fly x Sydney to all the above destinations for only 30,000 miles.

A million miles adds up to a lot of flights between here and Asia then.



cheers Peter

The problem with your plan is that KLM does not fly to all of those places from Australia

For instance : SYD to HKG on KLM would be via AMS, and that would thus count as 2 awards.

Award 1 SYD - AMS - SYD (50000)
Award 2 AMS - HKG - AMS (50000)

The only place you could fly in asia to is SINGAPORE, for 30000. that is the only stop that KLM currently has between SYDNEY and Europe.

Sorry to burst your bubble

At any rate all is not lost. 30,000 miles to Singapore is quite good anyway by mileage standards and best of all - 50,000 miles to Europe. Outstanding.

cheers peter

[This message has been edited by ffhound (edited 01-30-2000).]

[This message has been edited by ffhound (edited 01-30-2000).]

Quoting from the KLM website:

"Malaysia airlines is a full partner in the Flying Dutchman program".

It leads me to believe that those destinations in Asia can be reached by changing from KLM to MAS at SIN.

Freebird - although Malaysia is a partner with KLM, the LatinPass information says, "KLM Flight Awards Applicable on KLM routes only".... so, I don't think that you can use Malaysia flights with LatinPass.

You are talking about KLM Points (!) are you?
KLM Points are not equivalent to miles ( or Latinpass miles) they have much more value than miles!!! You do not get 1 point for a mile with KLM.

The Latinpass mileage chart for KLM specifically states on KLM routes only, so i would imagine that rules out ALL codeshare flights operated by any other carrier.

The intra Europe award is 35000 miles which is a little bit steep in comparison to mileage requirements ex the UK on KLM itself.

The KLM programme itself has only 1 great feature, and that is the ability to redeem by segment, and according to this method, the only intra Europe route ex LON that takes more than 35000 points ( and points are not equal to miles ) is LON - Moscow, Istanbul and Athens which take 40000 points.

1.6 mile = 1 FD point, so most of KLM's route chart as applies to LP, is not particularly good value !

I have the same gut feeling about code-shares not qualifying. This could make life difficult for people living in certain US cities like Boston. NW operates the direct flight from BOS --> AMS. Thus, you would have to go to JFK or Montreal to get a real KLM flight.

------------------
Cheers.

Leo.

Hi all

My reply came back from Latinpass. The results are intriguing.

First here's my email to Latinpass:

Dear Latinpass

I am writing with a couple of Latinpass queries. I would be very grateful I you could clarify these queries for me.

1. I have been examining your KLM awards at your website. I noted that you have a KLM award within "Australia and Pacific" for 30,000 miles. Does this mean that I could get a ticket from Sydney to Hong Kong return for 30,000 Latinpass miles?

2. I have also been examining your million miles promotion. I am considering flying to Central America to participate in this promotion. I am unclear about one point though -

Your website says that to accrue the 1,000,000 miles one must do the following

"One Million-Miles Bonus Will be earned by any member who flies at least one international segment on each of the ten (10) LatinPass member airlines. Flies at least three (3) segments on any of our partner airlines (KLM, US AIRWAYS and TWA). Stays at least three (3) nights in at least any two of our partner hotels and rents a car for at least five (5) days from any of our Car Rental partners, FROM JANUARY 1, TO JULY 1, 2000."

With respect to the 3 segments on KLM Usairways OR TWA, can these segments be domestic US segments or must they be international segments. The wording above does not state whether they must be international or domestic.

Thanking you

Peter Berrett

and here's their reply:

Dear Mr.Berrett:

1. Yes, you could flight from Sydney to Hong Kong with 30,000 miles from
Latin Pass.

2. The segments with the partner airline could be domestic or international.

Thank You,
Latin Pass

How this works in practice I can only guess but I suspect it means that you get access to the Malaysian codeshares aroudn asia.

cheers peter

Thanks for the update, Peter!!

So how do you get to HKG from SYD using KLM flights only then?
Via AMS and all for just 30,000 miles?
I don't think so.

I presume on KLM codeshares.

cheers Peter

The only currently published code shares between KL and MH are KUL-AMS routes, and nothing else. KLM does not have any other codeshares in the are afaik. It sounds like the LP answer was more like: "If there was an eligible airline flying between SYD and HKG it would be 30,000 miles"