As community manager of Voice123, I want to thank you for this. It is inspirational.

This position is quite challenging, more than many understand, and these discussions simply help break one out of a funk. Rock on!

Steven
Voice123 Community Manager

The flight to Amsterdam was slightly delayed and, as we were landing in Amsterdam, one of the flight attendants announced there were “no connections” to Bucharest and we would have to go to the Transfer Desk.

I was seated, together with my wife and daughter, in the last row. Having heard that we would no catch our connection and since my daughter had just fallen asleep shortly before landing and given also that we were in last row, my wife and I decided to wait for all passengers to go out and then we made our way out of the airplane.

Since my wife was carrying my (sleeping) daughter on her arms, we decided that it would be best for her to wait close to the arrival gate, while I would go and book us on the next available flight. As I was walking towards the Transfer Desk, I heard an announcement requesting two passengers for the Bucharest flight to get to the gate. I started to run and arrived at the gate very quickly – there were about 5 minutes (brisk pace) between gates (probably 2 minutes running).

There, I explained my situation to the KLM employee behind the desk and asked whether there would be time for me to go and get my wife and daughter to embark for the flight. I explained I would be there in 5 minutes. The person I was speaking to replied that if my wife was not already on her way and would not get to the gate in 2 minutes, then we would be unable to embark, since the gate would be closing “in 2 minutes”.

I was then reassured by her that she would make all the arrangements for us to be booked on the next flight, to have a room at a hotel near the airport for the night and to be transported with the shuttle back to the airport. I took this to mean that she would do this shortly after the gate would be closing, so I waited there. As I was waiting, a passenger from Düsseldorf, who was scheduled to go to Bucharest arrived, but he was not on the passengers’ list. He was registered and given a boarding pass. After about 10 minutes of waiting, I asked the same officer whether I should go and get my wife and daughter to board the flight, but I was told that it was too late, since the gate would be “closing in 2 minutes”.

I decided to run to get my wife and daughter more than 10 minutes after my initial discussion with the aforementioned officer. At that point the passengers that I initially heard being called for boarding were not there, since another announcement had just been made. When I arrived with my wife and daughter at the gate, the gate was closed.

We went then to the Transfer Desk. The person I spoke to suggested that perhaps the initial announcement that there were no connections to Bucharest had been made because it would have been impossible for the luggage to be taken in such a short time to the next flight. Of course, he acknowledged that we should have had the option of choosing to fly and get our luggage later, rather than being told there were no connections.

Yet, on the next day, our luggage did not arrive with our flight. Moreover, we received one piece of luggage on 8 September and the second one on 9 September.

Unfortunately, there is more: at the Transfer Desk in Amsterdam I asked about the possibility of making a complaint and I was advised to use the KLM website. I was told I can place the complaint on the same evening and ask for a refund. I tried to do this on that evening, but the KLM ecomplaint system was not working. To register my complaint, I completed a refund form and I also sent the complaint by email to KLM Reservations, mentioning that the ecomplaint system was not working and requesting them to forward my complaint to Customer Care.

On the evening of 19 September, in Bucharest, when I tried to do the online check-in for the return (the return flight being scheduled on 20 September), I noticed that my ticket was not on the system. I phoned KLM the next day in the morning (to: +44(0)8712310000) to double-check everything was fine only to be told that my ticket had been cancelled, since my request for refund was processed, approved and the transfer was executed between 8 and 19 September! I was told that a request for a refund made before the return flight automatically cancels my tickets. Yet, nobody mentioned about this when I was advised to make a complaint and request a refund at the Transfer Desk, nor was this mentioned on the KLM website. On my return to the UK I noticed that an email was sent to me about the refund on 12 September, but there was no mention of the cancellation of my ticket in that email either.

The person I spoke to on the phone on the morning of the 19th (I was calling from Bucharest to the UK number above) advised me that there was nothing they could do and I should go to the Airport to try to sort out the problem there, since she had made a note to my records, so the KLM employees at the Otopeni Airport would be aware of the situation. To cut a long story short, I should say that at the Otopeni Airport nobody was aware of my situation and nobody could help – I had to buy a new ticket to be able to travel with my family on that day. I was under a lot of stress, since my wife had back problems and could not travel on her own with our daughter (who was quite big for her age) and also because I had important meetings on 21 September and I needed to get in the UK on 20 September.

Unfortunately, there is more: in Amsterdam, before boarding on the flight to Birmingham, we asked one of the KLM employees from the gate desk whether we had time to change our daughter’s nappy; we were told we had plenty of time – a few minutes later, however, another KLM employee from the same desk came to the toilet tell us that we needed to board “immediately”, that “there is no time for baby dippers”. When I mentioned that we had just asked for permission to do this and that we had just been told that there was plenty of time, we were told that that was wrong – no apology, no word to explain how KLM employees one minute tell us something and the next minute something else.

Finally, just before boarding, I had to fold the baby’s pushchair to hand it over to be taken to the luggage compartment; the KLM employee who had to take it to the airplane told me that I had to empty the small bag attached to the pushchair (there were only a few items there). She told me that it was too heavy for her to carry. I explained that it was difficult for me on the spot to carry the things in the bag (mostly baby food), that on the way from Bucharest to Amsterdam we were not asked to do this and that it should be made clear from the beginning that this was what we had to do in order to be able to prepare ourselves properly. Not only was there no apology or polite request, but the next KLM employee we encountered, who had initially rushed us out of the baby changing room, went with us on the plane and started to complain (in Dutch!) to the flight attendant. Fortunately I know German, so I could understand some of the things said and these were inaccurate (no mention for instance about the heaviness of the small pushchair bag and emphasis was put on security!).

I sent a complaint to the KLM shortly after 20 September and have corresponded with them since then. My request was to have the flight from Bucharest to Amsterdam refunded (the one I had to purchase on 20 September), which I was told by the KLM representative in Bucharest would be done for me, and to be compensated for the disruption to the flight on 6 September. I also requested that the phone conversation on 20 September be refunded.

The responses I received denied any responsibility and most recently I was told I exhausted all avenues for complaint with the airline. KLM does not deny providing the wrong information – they only claim it was my decision to place a refund on their website and, hence, that I am not entitled to a refund. Concerning the missed connection, they claim that it was standard procedure to be given the wrong information – which I am sure cannot be the case.

It seems to me we can say about most of the actions we do that they are in a sense our own responsibility (unless we qare physically constrained to do them), but this is not the relevant sense for the situation here. If we act by following the advice of an authority, then that authority should take some responsibility for what they say/do. I cannot suddenly stop trusting what a flight attendant tells me and start thinking whether I should decide as advised or act otherwise.

I mention that I have been travelling with various air companies (including KLM) at least twice per year since 1996 and I have never had such a bad experience. I also mention that I requested KLM to send me their complaint procedures several times – I still have not received it, although my request is acknowledged; all I am told is that the procedure had been followed from the moment of my first complaint.

If I will be able to avoid it, I will never fly KLM again.

Complaining got me 10000 miles on my klm account.

The “my colleague” is typical Dutch, no native would think twice about that.