SkyTeam members KLM, Delta Air Lines and Virgin Atlantic currently sell discounted premium economy tickets from Scotland to the USA. With departure from Inverness, you can New York for as little as £625 (~€730) with a change of planes in Amsterdam or London.
Our availability calendar highlights all possible flight dates at the lowest price for trips up to 28 days. It will forward you to KLM with your selected flight dates. You can also check what OTAs have to offer, as they sell these tickets up to €20 cheaper.
Flight from other Scottish airports like Glasgow or Edinburg are roughly €150 more expensive.
Flights between Inverness and Amsterdam are KLM Cityhopper flights, operated by Embraer 175 aircraft with a 2-2 seat alignment. These segments are ticketed in economy class. Transatlantic flights are operated by either KLM’s Boeing 787 fleet or Delta’s Airbus A330. Both feature a 2-3-2 seating pattern in the premium economy section.
It is also possible to route one leg via London. In this case, Virgin Atlantic takes you from New York back to Britain, while British Airways takes you back to Inverness.
KLM has a really bad track record when it comes to premium economy tickets. Since they sell these aggressively, but only a fraction of their fleet is equipped with premium economy class seats, downgrades tend to happen often and on short notice. We recommend picking Delta on flights to New York where you can.
While KLM’s premium economy can be quite evasive, travel-dealz author Ditmar was rather pleased when he tested it:
Search & Book
These tickets are valid without a travel or sales period. You have to stay at least one night from Saturday to Sunday in New York to get the lowest fare. Availability is fairly good for departures in the first three months of 2024.
Google Flights helps you find additional availabilities. While the cheapest tickets are sold by online travel agencies, we always recommend booking directly with the airline. In light of KLM’s shaky premium economy availability, this applies here even more.
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 tickets in premium economy in booking class A, economy segments are booking class Y. An all-KLM-roundtrip via Amsterdam earns the following miles & points:
- 12,156 RDM + 2,016 MQD on Delta SkyMiles
- 8,996 Miles on MEA Cedar Miles
- 8,270 Miles on Vietnam Airlines Lotusmiles
- 8,270 Miles on Korean Air Skypass
- 8,270 Miles on GOL Aéreos Smiles
- 8,270 Award Miles on Etihad Guest
- 8,270 Miles on ITA Volare
- 7,866 Award Miles + 120 Tier Points on Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
- 5,634 Miles on Aeromexico Club Premier
- 5,134 Miles on CSA OK Plus
- 4,638 Miles on Aerolíneas Argentinas AerolíneasPlus
- 4,638 Miles on Saudia Alfursan
- 4,638 Points on Malaysia Airlines Enrich
- 4,638 Miles on Garuda Indonesia GarudaMiles
- 4,638 Miles on Air Europa Suma
- 2,276 Award Miles + 50 XP on Flying Blue
Cover Picture: Ditmar Lange
Comments (2)
It happens often that the XP and Miles that you can reach KLM’s own frequent flyer program are not in the list 🙂
Hi Paul! That was a mistake be me, I fixed it. Thanks!