Avoid KLM - the flag carrier that think's its a budget airline

Complaints Corner
61
Not sure what you mean, but not when flying to Amsterdam. Even on the cheapest Economy Saver fare one piece of checked luggage is included in the price.

62
Naaa, most of the time was wasted while the check-in woman called her superior to ask if she could check the bag in. She then disappeared off for about another 20 minutes to check in person. She was painfully slow. I was only discussing and then arguing for about 10 minutes.

63
Go and have a look on the Swiss website, i think it's called "economy light" and whilst this may or may not be available on the GVA-AMS route, it certainly is on the GVA-LHR routing.

http://www.swiss.com/ch/en/Book/Outbound/GVA-LON

and you just waited and waited and finally missed your flight.....

64
I simply love KLM. And not only because I'm Dutch. I used to make a lot of round trips between Geneva and Amsterdam and I had to choose between Easyjet and KLM. Even though Easyjet is often a bit cheaper (depending on whether or not you're traveling with luggage), I got fed up of the constant delays and decided that, flying on time, was worth the extra money.

With KLM I have never had any delays. Ok, at times they can't leave from the airport at the scheduled time, but they always catch up during the flight. It's actually more common to land before schedule.

Whenever a flight is not certain (in case of weather conditions), I immediately receive a text and/or email well in advance, explaining the situation and what I can do in case my flight is canceled.

Whenever I've had problems, a short phone call to their customer service was enough to solve things. And I always book the cheap ass economy tickets, so this doesn't make a difference, though I tend to do it through their own website. (Like one time I was trying to book a ticket through their website, for some reason it didn't went through and the next attempt I made, the tickets had increased in price. I called customer service and they just asked me at what price I had originally booked the ticket, and made a ticket for me for the original price. )

Sure they only serve snacks, although I believe they also serve a sandwich for very early fliers, but I really don't mind packing something to eat in case I think I might be hungry. In the end you'll always end up paying for airplane food in your ticket anyway and it more than often sucks.

This:

If you are a flying blue member, you are allowed to take one piece of check-in luggage for free. This was something that was introduced last year, before everybody could just bring one piece of luggage for free.

This:

I have always wondered about this too.

Whenever I fly from Amsterdam, I notice a huge difference in customer service level. (Especially back when I had a flying blue silver membership card.) But Amsterdam is KLM's hub.

Whenever I fly from Geneva, I always get the feeling the ground staff doesn't know what the hell they are doing, since they are never up to date on any special arrangements or deals KLM offers or anything. And if I recall correctly, they wear the generic Swissport shirts indeed.

So yeah, in my opinion you should have just coughed up the extra money and taken it up with cheaptickets, instead of taking this out on KLM.

65

While it was declared as a MERGER it in reality was a TAKEOVER by Air France. In AirFranceKLM. the French hold a heavy majority of shares

66
But I am a German who has lived in the Netherlands and like most stereotypes is there a true core in it. I found the Dutch to be very very cost focussed (while Swiss are completely focussed on perceived quality and Germany is not just geographically right between the two). Just as I find Swiss people strange who pay any price just because they are convinced that "Swiss made" got to be best did I equally shake my head about Dutch friends trying to save money in the silliest ways. So the Dutch were more often than not about finding a "good enough" solution to a problem while the Swiss would find the "best" one regardless of costs. Many times is a good enough solution my preference, but when it comes to airlines to I prefer a bit more than the minimum...

I flew both Lufthansa and SAS last month in Europe and cannot find a difference at all. Wonder how they rated them.

67

Reminds me of the often praised Schweizer Eier

68
These fares are available to most destinations out of GVA but not out of ZRH.

69
A bit like Swiss then?

70
I'm avoiding Lufthansa right now since they seems to make that strike thing as new hobby. Was one of the victim and have to purchase another ticket with KLM last minute (direct on their website) since LH, in my opinion, was not capable to resolve the problem.. The story with KLM was also not that great (apart from the very expensive last minute ticket!)..

I purchased that so called comfort seats for the long haul flight. During check-in, i learned that those seats were sold to another passenger. They assigned another seats which are in my opinion would not be so comfortable. As we prepare to board the flight in Amsterdam, the captain came into the boarding lounge to inform us that the plane is not airworthy. I have to stay 2 nights in Amsterdam because of that and miss 5 appointments at my destination! The hotel assignment were chaotic because i have to change hotel, and KLM did not inform me which one to go. I have to go back and forth between both the hotel and schipol. The last hotel located under the fly path of the planes, so you hear them loud!

They refund the seat purchase one month after the trip. I wrote them a very long email on how dissapointed i was with the service . Their customer service answered it. She said that they have deliver the best solution they could give me. And that they are sorry that my trip were kind of ruined because of the incident. In the end, as a nice gesture, they sent me 2 voucher worth CHF 310 each . So now i will give them another chance!

71

Probably better you missed just these 5 appointments rather than all of the appointments for the rest of your life....

72
I may be wrong, but I'm pretty sure even in their "nice gesture" they've still kind of screwed you. I think according to European travel regulation if you're delayed by more than a certain time, and it's the fault of the Airline, then you're entitled to cash compensation and not some voucher to have to endure their crappy service again.

"How we rate short haul airlines

In October 2014, members of the online Which? Connect panel took part in a survey about their experiences of flying in the previous year. We collected 11,257 responses relating to long and short-haul flights. We asked members to rate their experience on aspects such as seat comfort, punctuality and the boarding process. We need a minimum sample size of 30 to report on an airline, and our research has allowed us to report on 20 different airlines."

73
The trick is to check in before you start an argument. This makes them less likely to fly without having at least called you out and puts the pressure on the airline staff who are holding you up.

A friend of mine did this in Amsterdam and they had to search for his bags in the hold while he was happily arguing with customer service. The irony was they couldn't find his bag so they had to let him fly. Basically KLM was prepared to delay a flight with several hundered people on it for half an hour over an argument over 10 CHF. You can't win against people like that but you can make them look the fools they are.

74
That's the thing though, we were physically checked in and had the boarding passes, the argument was over the baggage. The difference is that obviously my bag wasn't on the plane in this instance. Half hour delay over 10 bucks?! Shows what chumps they are.

75
LOL, no wonder that Swiss wins by a margin... given that the average customer is likely to be Swiss and has by default a rather strong bias towards anything which has a cross on it. So the list is about the perceived quality of the consumers rather than some measurable facts as say for example seat size?

I reminds me of some study I read on Facebook where a Turkish research team asked two hundred men and concluded that guys with a big belly are the best lovers...

76
Just tried to book a flight to England with KLM. Even with my Blue Card, I was charged SFr. 9.80 for one checked-through piece of baggage. The price is double without being a member.

Air France also charged me for checked-through baggage.

77
The seat pitch is included in the ratings. I can't say how many Swiss were included in the survey, but I doubt it's many seeing as it's a UK publication. Which? is the go to consumer magazine for middle aged men up and down the country looking to buy a new lawnmower or satnav.

78
Lots of interesting posts in this thread, some amusing and some that I could have written myself.

But I thought it worth adding that if your flight involves a European airport (origin, destination, or stopover) and you arrived at your destination

two hours or more in the case of flights of 1500 kilometres or less three hours or more in the case of all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres and of all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres four hours or more in the case of all flights not falling under (a) or (b) then you are entitled to compensation under EU legislation 261/2004.

EUR 250 for all flights of 1500 kilometres or less EUR 400 for all intra-Community flights of more than 1500 kilometres, and for all other flights between 1500 and 3500 kilometres EUR 600 for all flights not falling under (a) or (b) All you have to do is contact the airline, provide the details of the flight and its delay, and state that you wish to claim compensation under 261/2004.

http://www.airpassengerrights.eu/en/flight-delay.html

Word of warning 1: apparently RyanAir are notorious for ignoring this legislation, and invite you to come to a Dublin court with your lawyer and sue them for the money.

In 2012 I had a flight back from Scotland to Zürich, via Amsterdam. The plane was late in taking off (technical fault with KLM's aircraft) so I missed my connecting flight by about 5mins. At the airport they issued me with the details of that night's hotel stay and a EUR 50 voucher for KLM and Air France.

About a year later I found out about 261/2004 and contacted KLM, who then offered me EUR 250 cash or EUR 350 KLM voucher.

I opted for the voucher.

Word of warning 2: it appears that when KLM issue you with a voucher, this is not sufficient to be entered on an online booking form. To get to that stage one must first post the voucher to KLM in order to then get a voucher which can be redeemed.

Lastly, there's no defined time limit on how long ago the delayed flight was, so even if it was 5 or 6 years ago it's worth having a go.

79
But cost focussed is not the same as "cheapskate"!

I disagree with the above. The Dutch people* I have met and got to know very well have been anything but what you describe. It is not even a generational thing. But perhaps it is a region thing - the people I know are mostly from the North of Amsterdam and the Groene Hart areas.

* Ironically the only family I know who is stingy (I mean really stingy) is composed of a German father and a Dutch mother. But then I won't go as far as to say German men are stingy

Anyway back to crappy airlines.

80

I do think it that way at that time! That is the thought that keep me calmed down during my layover in Amsterdam! .