For the second time in less than two months, my Transavia flight back from Amsterdam is heavily delayed, this time by 2:40 hours, at the least. Add to that the discomfort of having to drive to and from Bergamo (I left home yesterday with enough advance that I could have almost got to Amsterdam by car) and it really makes you want to just say no and tell the customer that next time they’ll have to pay the price of a KLM flight, no matter how high.
The problem is that KLM prices flights into Amsterdam with only a night out and reserved on short notice at levels that would be appropriate for a transcontinental flight. And we’re talking coach class here; I don’t even have the stomach to check what business class would cost. Alitalia, belonging to the same group as KLM, is no better in this respect.
Technorati Tags: traveling, transavia, klm, schiphol, amsterdam, alitalia, flying.
The solution to KLM’s high prices is to book dummy flights at the same time as your real flights. Flight A goes from Italy and returns in 1 month; flight B goes from Amsterdam and returns in 1 month. If you’re lucky, it may coincide with your next business trip. If not, well, you usually still only pay half the cost of a short turnaround flight.
KLM and pretty much every other european airline.
Cross booking is fine if you can arrange it more than a week in advance, but on a short notice flight that isn’t going to help.
If you have a bit of extra time, then flying out the evening before or flying back the morning after is often worth the price of the hotel.
The sad thing is that I already know that I will be going to and from Amsterdam at least once in October, in transit to Austin, but that trip has been reserved long in advance.