The €59 upgrade offer at check in. It certainly is an eye catching number which deserves some consideration, especially for someone like me who enjoys flying up the front.
Regular readers may remember my dual news and complaint post in November. At that time I noted KLM decided to start flying to Dublin and that flights were very expensive in Business Class.
It Didn’t Stop Me Booking
Despite the complaint I booked anyway. Economy Class. KLM is a new airline for my rear end and I am looking forward to giving it a try. My flight cost €82.78, which includes seating in Economy Comfort.
These are seats at the front of the Economy Class cabin with the same leg room as Business Class. Essentially you pay a small fee for a couple of extra inches of leg room and a couple of inches can make a big difference in so many areas of life.
A Hunch
I have no interest in FlyingBlue which is the loyalty programme of Air France and KLM. In fact, in my head, I refer to it as FlyingPoo. Despite this, I decided to join.
Why would I do that when I am solidly wedded to British Airways as a Gold Frequent Flyer? Partly because it feels wrong to leave free points go begging and partly the possibility of upgrading. Alas, there appeared no way to buy miles to use them to upgrade the flight. Oh well!
Check-In Time
Not being au fait with the KLM system, I did a little research online and discovered online check in opens 30 hours before flight time. Luckily I often work from 7am so this put the time at 7:20am.
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- Shame it’s not KLM World Business Class!
Outlook suddenly had a calendar entry for 7:15am complete with booking reference all ready to pop up and remind me to check in on the button when it opened.
Hello €59!
Ready to go at 7:20am I logged in to the web site and commenced the check in process. There is quite a wait between screens and eventually one popped up that offered me an upgrade to Business Class for €59.
€59! I nearly jumped out of my skin! A one way flight booked on the web site from Dublin to Amsterdam is usually a shade over €500, so this is an excellent deal. To put it into perspective, €59 plus my original flight price of €82.78 is €141.78.
Needless to say, I nearly left burn marks on the keyboard in my haste to take advantage of that little offer! Sequence number 1 as well, so the early bird truly does catch the worm.
Overall Thoughts
My hunch that if I checked in early I would be offered an upgrade turned out to be correct. In my head I thought if it came up, I would go for it if it was reasonable. Not only is €59 reasonable, it is a little bit of a steal!
Of course, it may turn out to be money badly spent as I have no idea what KLM Business Class is like in Europe. I am flying at lunch time so I plan to review it and then compare it directly to the new British Airways Club Europe on board service so keep your eyes peeled.
What do you think? Worth it? Thanks so much for reading and if you have any comments or questions, please leave them below.
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Featured image via KLM.
Always worth it!! I was scheduled to fly on a charter with a Turkish Airlines subsidiary in Feb 2016. (A really inexpensive, 2 week tour, first week guided with BBD and second week all-inclusive at a resort in Antalya for under €500 pps). When I got to Dublin airport, I was informed that it was a regularly scheduled flight, as they had had so many cancellations that the charter was cancelled. That was great news, in itself. However, I chanced my arm and asked if there were any upgrades available. Lo and behold! On the day, at the counter, they… Read more »
That is an awesome story! I would have leaped all over that upgrade for €150! Absolutely love it – it’s a really good distance so sitting up front would have been brilliant. Especially at that price! Thanks for sharing that. Hopefully one day I’ll have a comparable one haha!
Wow, I’d have paid twice (or more!) thn that for an upgrade and considered it a good deal! Well done!
In my head I was prepared to go to about double actually! Don’t tell KLM that, it’s nice that it is only €59! Thanks for the comment!
I would definitely have paid the extra. I’m looking forward to seeing direct comparison with BA Club Europe now..
Glad you agree! I’ll hopefully have the comparison out next week. Thanks for the comment!