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Most of us are probably most used to having to wait for the regular Flying Blue promotions to get any kind of deal out of KLM but, right now, the airline is offering some very tempting Business Class fares out of London. You can fly to Asia from £1,361 and to the Middle East or the Caribbean from £1,351 and availability looks pretty good all year.
I should stress that these are ex-London fares that I’m discussing here so no one should be expecting a stunning set of fares like we used to see from Qatar Airways for departures from Northern Europe – departures from London carry some of the highest taxes around and, with demand being as high as it is, London is not known as a low-fare departure point.
But these fares are still pretty good….and some are fantastic.
Here are some of the better fares I’ve noticed:
KLM London – Middle East Roundtrip Business Class Fares
- Abu Dhabi – from £1,351
- Bahrain – from £1,398
- Dhahran – from £1,465
- Dubai – from £1,448
- Kuwait – from £1,434
- Muscat – from £1,602
Importantly, these fares aren’t just limited to a few low-season months – availability looks very good throughout the year.
Taking Dubai as an example, the lower fares are available throughout the winter months and into the cooler months towards the end of 2019 too.
KLM London – Asia Roundtrip Business Class Fares
- Bangkok – from £1,680
- Delhi – from £1,361
- Hong Kong – from £1,858
- Manilla – from £1,588
- Mumbai – from £1,546
- Seoul – from £1,532
- Tokyo – from £1,689
Once again availability looks fantastic and destinations like Seoul (which can get very cold in the winter months) have availability throughout the year:
KLM London – Caribbean Roundtrip Business Class Fares
- Aruba – from £1,351
- Bonaire – from £1,686
- Curacao – from £1,624
- Saint Martin – from £1,528
Thoughts
All of these fares will require a stopover in Amsterdam but, thanks to its proximity to London, that means that you’ll only have to put up with short-haul Business Class for a very short part of any trip you book – most of the time you’ll be booked into long-haul Business Class and that’s a vastly better experience.
The KLM Business Class fares page doesn’t give any hint as to the rules that these fares come with but the Matrix tool suggest these are in force:
- Bookings must be made at least 60 days before departure
- 6 night minimum stay
- 12 month maximum stay
- Stopovers allowed in each direction at a cost of £75 each
There’s no obvious end date for these fares so they could disappear at any time.
I should point out that KLM is still in the midst of upgrading its long-haul fleet so not all aircraft have the airline’s new Business Class cabin.
If you’re booked on to a KLM Dreamliner you’ll be fine as they all offer a great reverse herring bone Business Class product….
…..but a lot of the A330s and 777s still have an older style Business Class cabin which doesn’t offer all-aisle-access seating…..
…and there are still aircraft around that don’t even offer lie-flat seats (they’e angle-flat).
These cabins are all still considerably better than any Economy or Premium Economy cabin but they’re a big downgrade from what you’ll find in the Dreamliners and the refitted aircraft.
Bottom Line
If you’re not set on visiting one particular destination I suggest checking which aircraft operate on which routes and then choosing a destination served by the KLM Dreamliner.
If you have a particular route in mind and a Dreamliner is not on offer then check what the seating configuration looks like (a dummy booking on KLM.com will let you do that) and then decide if you’re happy to pay for what’s being offered – if it’s 2-2-2 seating you’ll have lie-flat seats if it’s 2-3-2 I’d avoid the aircraft as the seats will be angle-flat.
Overall this is a very nice sale from KLM and there are number of excellent fares on offer…and the fact that they’re available for large swathes of 2019 makes them all that more attractive.
Regarding “…..but a lot of the A330s and 777s still have the older style Business Class cabin which has definitely seen better days.” — unless there has been a new development, 777s used to be 2-3-2 in biz the new cabins are 2-2-2. I also believe the A330s are a new version of 2-2-2 (used to be an older variant). Only the 787s are 1-2-1. I didn’t think they were updating the A330s and 777s again.
That’s interesting because I thought the same…but I’m sure I’ve seen comments from Pieter Elbers (KLM CEO) suggesting otherwise (I can’t find the link now).
I’ll re-word the post to add more doubt into the re-fit.
My belief is that the re-fit was to “lie-flat,” if you review the KLM promotional stuff they mention that direct aisle access is ONLY available on the 787. (In theory, there are a few seats on the lower deck 747 that have direct aisle access by virtue of them being solo seats.) I was on a KLM 777 AMS-ATL right after the re-fit a few years ago (lived in AMS for 3 years, now in London for 2+ years). I just can’t imagine that the 777 that was only modified within the past 2-3 years would be modified again. I’ve complained about this a bit, but never officially. I hate inconsistency (i.e. some aircraft with direct aisle access and some without). But, honestly, that’s sort of how Air France is too. I had also flown the same 777 by KLM JFK-AMS when it was 2-3-2 (yes, in the middle section of the “3”), and that was only a short time before the re-fit.