I recently posted about having booked a trip to Taiwan with my mother for Spring 2027. Well, I just booked another trip: for Christmas 2026, I’ll be heading back home to visit family and friends. Let me bring you up to speeds to what I booked and why, because… well, the price is a little crazy, so why would I spend so much money? And, what can I expect for that price? For one, I’ll be flying KLM premium economy there and Air France business class on the way back, but let’s go through the details!

I’m Visiting The Netherlands for Christmas!

About once every year I like to head home to visit family and friends. For me, home is The Netherlands, in the city of Leiden. While I wouldn’t Christmas is an especially nice time to in the Netherlands, given that it’s tends to be grey and rainy and the flights are expensive, it is however a time when my company is closed for winter break. Last year I took the opportunity to go to Mexico City with my husband and Stockholm with my mom – this time my husband and I will visit The Netherlands.

Over the years, Leiden has started offering some events and festivities, like and ice skating rink and Christmas markets that are fun to visit. Above all, I’m mostly excited to see my mother and my friends, indulge in Dutch foods and drinks (I know Dutch food is not really known for being good per se, but I like it).

So, how am I going to The Netherlands? You may be shocked I did not using points to book the flights. Instead, I purchased my tickets with cash, and my husband will do the same. Since he will fly back a few days earlier than me, we are buying our tickets separately.

Fares for the 2026 Holiday Season are Crazy…

As exciting as all this is, when I was considering what to book, I quickly fell face down into the reality of fare prices for the 2026 holiday season, which have been simply outrageous. Part of that is on me, since:

• I preferred flying a Skyteam airline to make use of my Flying Blue status
• If I’d specifically fly KLM or Air France, I could buy Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and buy my way to Flying Blue Platinum Status.

I succeeded in getting what I wanted, but it cost a pretty penny. I bought my flights cash, rather than redeemed points, as the points value of these flights simply wasn’t good enough (they wouldn’t get to 2ct/pt valuation). So, what was my thought process?

Economy Flights are Expensive for my Preferred Dates

Looking at Google Flights, the cheapest fares were with Scandinavian Airlines, which I did fly before in business class, premium economy and economy, though I didn’t review the latter. It was generally a pleasant experience, and I’d be fine doing that again.

As you can see, the quoted price for the return itinerary is $800. That’s… pretty high, but obviously we’re looking at the holiday season, so a markup is expected. Unfortunately this is one of the cheapest itineraries out there, Skyteam or not! Even flying other airlines in different alliances, the $750-800 range is generally the bottom of the price range as of right now.

I decided to look for alternatives that wouldn’t make me feel totally ripped off.

Premium Cabins Cost More, But Are More Reasonably Priced

From my visit to the Netherlands back in 2024, I remembered that flying on specific dates in December may return cheap(er) business class flights, so I decided to consider those dates specifically. As it turned out, there was indeed a deal to be had.

As mentioned, KLM/Air France has my priority, as I’d be able to buy SAF, which would help me attain Flying Blue Platinum status. If I picked to fly KLM premium economy, I’d pay $1020. Great! I thought, because the return may then be ~$2000. Wrong…

Beyond some basic rules, Air France/KLM make it hard to predict how much you’ll end up. spending. What I can tell you, however:

• Selecting a basic (light) economy outbound flight, you have to fly basic economy back.
• Conversely, if you pick anything besides basic economy for the outbound, you can’t fly basic economy back.
• Generally, in my experience the return flight is not the same price as the outbound flight (no idea why though).

This can make the price of any itinerary hard to predict, but mixed cabin itineraries especially so. In this case that turned out to be the case:

Unfortunately, the return flight would add another ~$2100 for a total of over $3000… which makes absolutely no sense to me.

However, if you noticed, business class shows a ‘promo fare’ and is about the same price as premium economy. This is what I was hoping for: by traveling on dates that are less desirable, I’d be able to score a better deal and fly back in business. Specifically, given that I’d be flying ‘back in time’ from Europe to the US, I decided to take a detour through Paris and try out Air France business class in their new A350 cabins, which is a product I’ve been wanting to try.

As such, I ended up buying a return ticket with KLM premium economy on the outbound, and then a routing via Paris CDG to experience Air France business class on the way back, for about $3200. Ultimately, it means I pay about double what I was going to pay initially, but with more than double the value, since I’m flying a mix of premium economy and business class, rather then basic economy there and back (plus perks from Flying Blue Gold).

To Amsterdam in KLM Premium Economy

So clearly I spent a lot of money on this. What will the experience be like? Well, I have already flown KLM Premium Economy (reviews here and here) and Air France business class (review here), so I have a good idea of what to expect.

Truthfully, I very much enjoyed KLM’s Premium Economy seat, service and food. The seat feels wide and comfortable with great padding and good recline. I think it’s a genuinely comfortable seat, and a greta midpoint between the somewhat cramped economy seat and the full-flat bed of business class.

Service in KLM’s premium economy is also clearly differentiated from the economy experience, and surprisingly I didn’t think it was all that different from business class service. In my mind, KLM flight attendants have a generally friendly, professional and engaging service style that I personally enjoy, and that is not specific to the cabin they work.

On the flip side, what this also means is that the general service attitude is actually quite similar in all cabins. The main difference is how much time they have to chat with you, and the bigger the cabin the less time they have. That means that in economy crews can be quite curt. The premium economy cabin on KLM’s jets is not very big, and so they have more time to spend with you.

The result is a pleasant service flow that in my mind finds a nice balance between speed of service and engaging chatter. Unlike in economy, you can still ask for extra drinks and such and crews are happy to oblige. And so I feel as though premium economy service borders the service quality of KLM’s business class.

Finally, the food is clearly elevated over economy. I’d go as far as saying that it’s not much different from KLM’s business class catering, except that the plating is less nice. On my two flights in KLM premium economy, I thought the food was tasty and had a good portion size. There were three courses that had some healthy and interesting ingredients, with a Dutch twist.

I’m very happy to fly KLM premium economy and genuinely feel that it’s a great way to cross the Atlantic without breaking the bank too much. I think it provides extra comfort at a price point that is very reasonable.

Return to New York via Paris in Air France’s NEW A350 Business Class Seat

Then on the way back is a familiar yet new experience, as I’ll be flying back to new York via Paris in Air France business class. I flew Air France business class in 2025, on the way to see my mom in Lyon, and thought it was a lovely experience. While that flight featured Air France’s older cabin and seats, it was a perfectly comfortable ride. The food was good and above all, I loved the interactions with super friendly and engaging crew! Truly the highlight of the flight. Read my review of this flight here.

So what’s different on the flight I booked this time around? Well, the flight back from CDG to JFK is supposed to be operated by one of Air France’s A350-900 aircraft. I anyway like this plane, as it’s a newer aircraft type that feels spacious and new.

However, this particular plane features Air France’s new business class seats: the Stelia Opera platform in a 1-2-1 configuration. These have started rolling out since 2024 or so, and are much elevated over the old seats, featuring a cleaner, more comfortable and spacious design. I for one think it looks like a gorgeous design, and Air France’s signature colors look fantastic on it!

You will notice some similarities with the old seat, though these are from two different manufacturers (the old seat is by Safran), including the design and placement of the closed storage compartment and the screen popping out from an angled position. So those familiar with the old seat should find the new seat to have some points of recognition.

There’s two things about these new seats that are specifically exciting. The first is the much improved technology, including a much bigger 20″ HD screen (from 15.6″), bluetooth headphone connectivity, USB-C ports and wireless charging.

The second is that with this new seat, Air France is offering an extra spacious ‘suite’ product in the bulkhead rows. Since there are two bulkheads, that means two rows of these seats. These seats make great use of the fact that there’s no seat in front, to greatly increase the size of the ottoman. That allows for an unparalleled sleeping surface.

Of course that bulkhead seat is not free. These days Air France charges for seat assignments in business class, at a cost of a whopping $231.99. The bulkhead seat, on the other hand, is more expensive, at $289.

This is where Flying Blue elite status does help, because I can assign regular business class seats for free at least, and the bulkhead at a reduced cost of $231.99. All seats are available for free upon checkin however, so that is what I will do: I’ll simply wait until then and of such a bulkhead seat is available, I’ll assign myself to it.

Otherwise, the food and amenities should be about the same as I had last time, with the difference being that this time I’ll be departing from Paris rather than JFK. Hopefully that means that the food will be higher quality, so I look forward to seeing what I’ll be served. Though there is another change I look forward to: a little while back Air France started providing mattress pads in partnerships with Sofitel. I’m curious to see how soft these really are and how they change the sleeping experience on board.

Summary

I’m excited to head back home for Christmas, flying to Amsterdam aboard KLM’s Premium Economy, and then on the way back in Air France business class, featuring Air France’s A350-900 with the new Stelio Opera seat platform. I’m excited to try these out, given that they are a nice upgrade over the older seats that I got to experience last year, featuring much improved tech, and a special ‘suite’ in the bulkhead rows. Though whether I’ll get to fly that aprticular seat will remain uncertain since I’ll wait until checkin to assign myself these, as it will be for free at that time.