In July of last year, Air France and KLM introduced a new Basic fare for European flights. With this move, they followed the low-cost carrier trend, as the new fare no longer includes hand baggage, only a personal item.
The situation is different for frequent flyers. They can still check a bag for free and (with Flying Blue status) also bring a large piece of hand luggage. However, another annoyance was introduced to discourage frequent flyers from booking: since its launch, the Basic fare has awarded no status points (XP) at Flying Blue.
Now Air France-KLM has made an adjustment. As of this week, the Basic fare also earns status points. However, it’s only 2 status points per segment instead of the usual 5 XP on international short-haul routes. The change has already been added to the XP table and is also shown during the booking process.
As before, the Basic fare is only offered on selected routes. In the current test phase, these are flights between Amsterdam / Paris and the following airports:
Athens
Dublin
Florence
Helsinki
Munich
Prague
Stockholm
Tunis- Turin
Vienna
Bottom Line
A small improvement, and therefore good news for now. However, the fact that Air France and KLM are continuing to tweak the Basic fare likely means it will be rolled out to more routes in the future. And that’s where it could quickly turn negative. Ultimately, introducing the Basic fare amounts to a hidden price increase for what is currently the cheapest Light fare.
Translated by Ditmar