SkyTeam members Air France and KLM started to sell business class tickets from Milan to Ecuadorian destinations Guayaquil and Quito for the exceptionally low price of €1,288. While lounge access, priority services and long haul travel in a lie-flat seat are included in this fare, it comes with the catch of at least two stops on either the out- or inbound flight, sometimes both.
All Air France and KLM tickets issued for flights until March 31, 2022, are fully refundable. You’d receive a voucher which can be refunded to your bank account. You can read more about this here. Flights after March 2022 are not refundable.
Worldwide travel restrictions are in place to slow the spread of Covid-19. We strongly recommend gathering detailed information about the travel and quarantine restrictions that apply to your desired origin and destination.
A good start is the International Air Transport Association (IATA) website. It provides current updates on a country’s immigration policies. Even better, the Covid-19 Travel Regulations Map is one of the most useful tools you can find.
Our availability calendar shows you all possible flight dates at the lowest fare for trips up to 21 days. We recommend booking directly with the airlines to benefit from their refund policy.
This deals is also available with departure from Bologna, Rome, Turin and Venice.
All flights feature a change of planes in Amsterdam. In most itineraries, a second stop in either Bogota, Panama City or Paris is necessary. KLM operates all long haul flights from Amsterdam to South America with Boeing 777-200 aircraft. You can expect lie-flat seats in a 2-2-2 pattern in their business class cabin.
By now, modern seats have also become the norm at KLM. Its business class is definitely not a bad choice, also thanks to the good service. Like many other airlines, the Boeing 787 always has the newest business class seats installed.
Search & Book
Tickets at this price are on sale until November 26, 2021 for travel between November 2021 and May 2022. Am minimum stay of six days or one night from Saturday to Sunday applies. Availability is pretty good within the travel period.
Google Flights helps you find additional flight dates or alternative routings. We recommend booking directly with the airlines to benefit from their refund policy, among other reasons.
Why is booking with an airline better than with an online travel agency?
More often than not, online travel agencies offer lower fares than airlines do. We still recommend booking with the airlines directly. There are two main reasons for that:
Better Customer Service
In case any problems like delays, cancellations or missed connections arise, you can communicate directly with the airline. The airline has to take care of you because you have a contract with them.
If a travel agency issues your ticket, you may have to reach out to them first. You also depend on your OTA to forward information like flight changes instead of receiving them directly from the airline. In many cases, you may get a prime exhibition of responsibility shifting rather than problem-solving.
This especially applies to premium tickets. You don’t want to spend more than €1,000 to wind up with some budget OTA’s telephone hotline in case anything goes wrong.
Baggage and Other Fees
Economy fares not including hold luggage are industry standard by now. In most cases, travel agencies charge much higher baggage fees than the airlines themselves. If bags are not included in your fare, airlines are often the cheaper alternative.
This also applies to other things like food services, insurances or priority treatment. In almost all cases, you pay less for additional amenities when booking on the airlines’ website.
Mileage
KLM issues long haul tickets in booking class O, their most discounted premium booking class. Your potential earnings suffer from that. Because of the many possibles combinations, we focus on the Amsterdam to Quito leg in our example:
- 11,870 Miles on Aerolíneas Argentinas AerolíneasPlus
- 11,870 Miles on MEA Cedar Miles
- 11,870 Miles on CSA OK Plus
- 11,870 Miles on Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles
- 11,870 Points on Malaysia Airlines Enrich
- 11,870 Miles on Korean Air Skypass
- 11,870 Miles on GOL Aéreos Smiles
- 11,870 RDM + 2,374 MQD on Delta SkyMiles
- 11,870 Award Miles on Etihad Guest
Cover Picture: © Kseniya Ragozina - stock.adobe.com