KLM... What happened to you...
Dear KLM,
I am writing this because I am genuinely concerned... I recently had the worst flight experience in 35 years of air travel on KLM and can't understand how it went so poorly.
We have just travelled ZRH - AMS - BKK with KLM, simple enough I believe.
Firstly, we tried to upgrade in the days before the flight from Economy to premium economy, but even though the option (with a quoted price) is available on the website, when we went to pay, the website suddenly failed. After calling KLM, they expained that this may be because we can only update when we check-in. Fair enough, but then don't have the option available before check-in..
So, it comes time to check in and of course, by the time we check-in online, no upgrades are available (Our fault for not being fast enough), but we can get extra legroom on the AMS - BKK leg if we (wife and I) are willing not to sit together, not ideal but at least got some more space (I'm 1.8m for a few more cm is creatly appreciated). Great, all set to fly!
We get to check in and ask the person at the baggage drop if it is at all possible to get my wife and 1 seats next to each other on the AMS - ZRH leg. He says he will make plan and actually does, AMAZING, we go to board and are super happy.
Our departure from ZRH is unfortunately delayed by 30min, which is normally not a problem but we only have a 1h20min layover in AMS. Check-in agent is confident that we will be able to make it though so we are relaxed-ish.
Arrive in AMS, run through the airport and we make the flight! Great! As we board, we realise that we are no longer in the extra legroom seats that we paid for.. we inform the purser and they try to make a plan but they say that all the seats are now gone and its not going to happen. Not much to do about it.. but we paid for the extra legroom seats and now don't have them. Purser says we need to register a complaint online and it will be dealt with, she can't do anything automatically. This was back in May and we registered the complaint online and I am STILL waiting for a response from the system. We have registered a complaint and it automatically got closed by the agent without addressing the issues. We then complained through the Chat and were told that we cannot complain there, because we needed to submit another complaint form to complain about the complaint form not working (not really logical). We were asked is we wanted customer service to contact us, to which we said yes, and I am still waiting for them to reach out 1 month later. Honestly, just pathetic for one of Europe's (former) premier carriers.
Sadly, that was not the final issue.. Although we made our connection in AMS, our luggage didn't. Honestly, not a surprise because we needed to run between gates and only just made it! The problem, though, is that I was going to a business meeting in Korea (from BKK) about 10 hours after landing in Bangkok with very different luggage allowances on that flight. We negotiated with the KLM lost luggage agents (outsourced company) that the bags would be sent to our accommodation in BKK, repacked by my wife, and returned to the airport, before being sent to Korea with all my work clothes. Complicated, but they agreed, so all OK. The bags arrived the next day, were repacked, and returned to the airport by the KLM lost luggage agents; however somehow, they never arrived in Korea. On the day of my departure from Korea, we managed to get through to someone at the KLM lost luggage agent and the bag had been waiting in BKK airport since being returned to the airport..
When we landed in Bangkok on a Sunday morning, we tried to speak to a KLM rep at the airport.. There was no one at arrivals. Then we thought, if planes are arriving, maybe planes are departing with KLM agents. There is a "help" desk, but of course, they can't do anything; you need to call the offices. We call the offices, and guess what, the offices are only open Mon - Fri, during office hours.
If something goes wrong, you are on you own and you better be self-sufficient enough to survive. We know BKK well so we survived.. I have never been treated so badly by an airline in all my years of travel. It's just really sad to see how far KLM has fallen.. or maybe airlines just don't see themselves as part of the service sector anymore.
When we returned to Zurich, a few weeks later, we chose to fly through the Middle East war zone, rather than risk travelling with KLM again, and yes, nearly 2 months on and we are still waiting for our reimbursement..