train versus flying Munich to AMsterdam

Of course you just make the compelling argument for why you should have bought open jaw tickets. Personally I would take the train. Life is less complicated than dealing with airport security, bag limits, etc. And you forgot to add in the two hours early you have to show up for checkin. Where are you getting your ticket pricing and schedule? I find it odd that the train would be sold out at this time.

On the Bahn website, http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en, I see an ICE leaving Munich at 8:20 on Dec 10, changing once in Hannover, and getting into Amsterdam at 17:02. It has an online advance purchase Europa-Spezial fare of €78 for 2 adults. If that's too early for you, there is another ICE at 10:20, getting in two hours later. However, the lowest fare for it is €178.

Don't let the seemingly low flight time mislead you. It's 40 minutes by S-Bahn to MUC, then 1-2 hours at the airport for checkin, sucurity, waiting, then 20+ minutes into Amsterdam.

Thanks for the replies. We couldn't fly open jaw as these are mileage tickets and only booked 2 weeks ago. We had planned to drive through parts of France to AMS but returning the snowtires in AMS became impossible. I beg your pardon, the trains are not sold out,I should have said the discounted fare is sold out for the middle of the day.
Lee, I'll look again for that later flight. DH is 60 so we both get discounts- have been on DB trying to calculate the best time after we return the car in the morning.

Any reason not to book seats in a compartment for this long ride?

I would definitely suggest reservations for a trip of this length. If you purchase tickets online, the reservations should be only €2,50 per person for the whole trip "per seat and direction (for max. 2 trains in each direction)".

People often think they cannot get open jaw with ff miles. But that is wrong or at least it is incorrect with United. All of our recent flights with United FF have been open jaw. Our most recent flight was into Amsterdam and home from Rome. And the miles used was exactly the same as any round trip. Just have to ask.

Thanks Frank, I've had only Delta or Continental miles and it's the connecting flights into Austin that have been a problem in the past. These are low mileage tickets since it's winter. I did consider changing the flight to come back from Munich, but at this point we'd have to redeposit miles and pay that fee for 2 persons,and change planes twice instead of once which would add 4-6 more hours. I agree about the open jaw- I could be spending another couple of nights in Italy instead of a train and yet another night in Amsterdam.

All I can say is that from my experience, I'd advise against the night train from Munich to Amsterdam.

Check Transavia, AirBerlin and Easyjet! You can get good fares from them - usually.

Have you considered this possibility? Go from Munich to Prague by train or bus, then EasyJet to Amsterdam? That flight is 23 Euro base per person, 16:35 to 18:10. Looks like you could even do this on the same day if need be, and the bus fare appears to be 29 euro. Train into Amsterdam is negligible time, as is trip to Prague airport.

Frank is right. You can use FF miles to fly open-jaw. Last month we flew into Rome and home from Munich, using our Continental miles. We flew United and Air Canada (from Toronto - Rome).

If you leave on the 8:20 ICE out of Munich, you can connect in Hannover to Amsterdam at 17:02. Right now, tickets for Dec 9, the last Thurs currently on the schedule, are still available at €39. If you take that same ICE and get off in Nürnberg and take the bus to Prague hl.n., you'll get there at 13:26. The U-Bahn to Dejvicka leave hl.n. at 13:30, getting there at 13:45. The bus leaves at about 14:10, getting to Ruzyne airport at 14:35. If all goes well, you'll have 2 hours for before your flight. If you take the 9:20 from Munich, you should get out to the Prague airport bus stop at 15:35. I think that is too close for December 30. The flight arrives at AMS at 18:10. If you can get off the plane and find the train station in 18 min, you can get to Amsterdam Centraal at 18:43, 15 min before the train from Hannover arrives. Do you really want to go through all that, risking connections in December, just to save 15 minutes? And what about the fare. Easyjet shows the lowest fares in December at about €25, but that's not for that flight. I just checked that flight and it was €72.85 ($101.65).

KLM flies to Amsterdam from Munich. Much better than taking the train that distance w/ transfers.

Since when is paying an extra $600 "much better"? That flight costs $656 (€470). The flight itself is only 1h35m, but with transportation to the airport, preboard time, flight time, and getting into Amsterdam, you're looking at over 4 hours with 2 connections (MUC and Schiphol). The train takes 4 hours more than that but only costs $54.