Published June 17, 2014 by

Flights: Houston (IAH) to Amsterdam (AMS) $856 non-stop, NYC free

[06/16/2014 @ 8:19 PM] This fare was last seen here: Orbitz , Expedia.
[06/19/2014 @ 2:29 AM] Looks like this deal is dead. Price now $1107.

United and its star alliance partner Lufthansa have gotten into a price matching war with Delta and its Skyteam partner KLM for the non-stop route leaving Houston (IAH) into Amsterdam (AMS). If you avoid Lufthansa these flights have 100% mile accrual.

Cheap non-stop flights to Amsterdam (AMS) have become less common recently, so this is a nice change of pace. This route regularly prices out of Houston (IAH) for about $1000 with stops, which is why I’m posting this here despite the slightly high 8.5 CPM.

It should be noted that Turkish Airways is also available for this route and it includes a free stopover in Amsterdam (AMS) on the way to Istanbul (IST). The fare code will probably be familiar to some of you that follow this blog closely: “WV33XPC”. That fare code was what I used to construct the itinerary for: [Ideas: Houston to Istanbul and Milan and Rome for $779 + $49 rail?] and [Flights: Houston (IAH) to Thessaloniki, Greece (SKG) $760 r/t 2-stops]. Keep in mind that the “W” booking class for Turkish has 0% accrual.

I won’t go into detail on constructing an itinerary with stopovers, it is covered in our [Budget Travel Tips] article here: [How to use stopover rules when buying airfare].

As you can see, there are several good options, but the United flight looks like the way to go, it allows a free stopover in New York (NYC). The KLM flight has no stopover component at all and The Turkish flight has an awesome free stopover in Istanbul (IST), is about $90 cheaper,  but it doesn’t accrue miles. It should go without saying, but if you really want Amsterdam with a slice of Istanbul, you should definitely go with the Turkish flight and not worry too much about the miles; the cheaper fare will offset that loss some.

Here is the stopover component from United’s KLXNC13S fare rule:

  • 1 FREE STOPOVER PERMITTED ON THE PRICING UNIT IN NYC.

I really wish this fare was available in July, as I have plans to be in Manhattan — getting a free stopover would have been really nice. Oh well. The example itinerary here is a round-trip without the free stopover. If you want to hang out in both New Amsterdam and Old Amsterdam just squish the stop into your itinerary, you’ll only have to pay about $15 in airport taxes.

Flight Details:

  • Availability: Lots of availability. From end of October until Mar 2015. Except during Christmas and New Years blackout weeks.
  • Documentation: Passport for Amsterdam. If you stopover in Istanbul: [read this]
  • Departure and Destination Airports: IAH – AMS
  • Example Dates:  November 5th – November 12th
  • Carrier: United or Turkish or KLM/Delta
  • Fare Basis Code: United (KLXNC13S) / Turkish (WV33XPC) / KLM (VLXP13US)
  • Fare Class: K
  • Mile Accrual: 100% (UNITED or KLM) / 0% (TURKISH)
  • Stopover component: one free NYC.
  • CPM: 8.46 (10069 miles)
  • Full Route: IAH – AMS 0r (IAH – NYC – AMS)
  • Open this itinerary on: Expedia, Orbitz

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Ren P. Artemio

Ren P. Artemio

Ren is the Chief Director of Nap Times at Escape Houston, Escape ATX, Cheap DFW, and Escape Flights. He really likes researching airfare and the travel industry, especially when it means getting a cheap flight to anywhere (he's not picky).

Airfare Deals Amsterdam Delta KLM Lufthansa New York Turkish United