Delta vs KLM vs Air France for same flights

[jrowland]

Need some advice. For a flight I'm looking to take to Ireland leaving from Jacksonville Fla, I found the same flight (i.e. cost,Times, Layovers etc) but are listed under 3 seperate airlines:

 

Delta - Carrier of Record

KLM

Air France

 

I know KLM and Air France are Delta Air Line Partners but given everything is equal for the times/cost/price and realizing there may be advantages for picking one over the other in regards to mileage programs each airline has, is there any other reason I may be overlooking in choosing to make my reservations with one of the 3 airlines?

[CruiserBruce]

Looks like it is a code share flown on Delta. It shouldn't matter which one you book it on, it is essentially all the same.

 

Occasionally it might be cheaper on one airline, but that is rare. Also in a rare case, booking thru one airline in a discounted fare class may not get you miles on the airline you want the miles. So you need to know the frequent flyer program rules.

[jsmeeker]

What ever you do, make sure you book it in a way that earns you miles in whatever frequent flyer program you use. It would suck to book it under flight number or fare code that didn't give you a few more Sky Pesos or whatever you want to earn. And not just redeemable miles, but also elite qualifying miles/points if that is something you need.

[FlyerTalker]

On some code-shares, there are arbitrage possibilities due to the nature of the code-share (hard block, soft block etc). However, DL/AF/KL have a joint venture across the Atlantic, so you will almost never find those kinds of opportunities on those routes. As long as the underlying rules are the same (and you can verify that through EF and other sources), go for the one that provides the best price and FF mileage benefits. One thing to consider is that DL upgrades its elites on code-share tickets (such as JAX-ATL) after it processes its own tickets. So a Diamond Medallion on DL should not buy the KL or AF ticket, for you lose elite perks.

 

For the run-of-the-mill (and that is NOT used in a pejorative sense) flyer, take the cheapest ticket bought from the airline directly. You should be fine for this routing.

[alcpa1]

If you are after the miles stick with Delta. Make sure the flight(s) are on Delta stock with a prefix of 006.

This will aid you also with schedule changes and in the case of IROPS.

[headhunterke]

For earning miles, it doesn't matter if you fly DL or KL. In fact, a short connection from AMS even gives you an extra 500 miles. So if I fly BRU-AMS-JFK (just as an ex.) I earn 500 miles more then BRU-JFK. Even though BRU-AMS isn't nearly 500 miles...

Only thing I noticed is that KLM is a little easier to upgrade you then DL. On TATL flights, DL doesn't do upsells last thing I flew them.

[Ine]

In case you might want to upgrade to economy plus be aware that KLM flights booked as a Deltaflight (with Deltaflightnumber), you cannot prebook these seats. Only at the airport before departure you can then upgrade to economy comfort, if still available.

Somehow their computers donot work right on this.