A blogger flying Brussels to Los Angeles on an Air France/KLM Flying Blue business class award booked for 60,000 miles plus $478 in taxes got an interesting wrinkle added to his itinerary: instead of a short hop from Brussels Airport to Amsterdam, he travelled by rail — Eurostar Premier from Brussels-Midi straight to Amsterdam Schiphol airport station. That rail-air connection is worth knowing about if you're building an award itinerary through Europe.
The 5:53am departure arrived at Schiphol at 7:30am, a 1hr 37min run that skips the need to backtrack from Amsterdam Centraal to the airport. That's the main selling point of this routing: you step off the train already at the airport, ready for a lounge and a long-haul flight.
The experience itself was mixed. The Premier carriage felt dated rather than sleek — more like an older TGV first class than a modern luxury product — and his footrest was broken. Check-in was also a bottleneck: one agent handling a long queue at 5:15am at the Air France-KLM rail counter in the rear of Brussels-Midi, and the Eurostar lounge didn't open until 6am, so he couldn't use it before his early train. Lesson: arrive early or don't count on the lounge for first departures.
Once aboard, though, things improved. With barely a handful of passengers in the whole Premier cabin, the ride was quiet and genuinely productive — working Wi-Fi (a 500MB cap that in practice wasn't enforced), in-seat power, and a decent served breakfast: a choice of a ham and Comté sandwich or fresh fruit, plus yogurt, croissant, juice and coffee. He rated it better than what KLM serves on intra-European flights, both in quality and presentation. A standard café car offers pay-as-you-go options for those in Standard.
His verdict is a useful benchmark for anyone weighing the upgrade. Eurostar's classes are Standard, Plus and Premier, and the perks differ sharply by route — London services get multi-course hot meals, while continental runs like this one get the lighter cold breakfast. He was glad Premier was bundled into his award, but says he wouldn't pay a big premium for it separately on this route; around €50 extra would be his ceiling, and only if lounge access applied to his departure.
Who should care? Anyone booking transatlantic awards through Amsterdam or Paris, rail-and-fly enthusiasts, and travellers deciding whether Eurostar Premier justifies its fare. The quiet cabin and reliable connectivity made rail genuinely competitive with a 50-minute flight — just manage expectations on the glamour front.
