Rant of the Day: KLM!

[Spinal]

Rant of the day... need to vent.

I travel for work, flying 2-4 times a week, and normally fly BA for loyalty card reasons.

A month ago, I noticed that KLM had a petroleum club, which granted me some privileges in Schiphol, so I signed up and got confirmation that I had signed up successfully.

I was told I could print my card from the website while waiting for my proper one to come through the mail.

Still nothing, so I tried calling them... I've been on hold 40-odd minutes (and that's after spending ages navigating their infuriating phone menus).

I'm starting to regret booking KLM, but it's too late now. Never again, I guess I'll just stick to BA in future. At least they answer the phone.

M.

 

[Druk]

Partners with Air France. Nuff said

 

[Spinal]

Finally got through - and the person on the other end couldn't hear me talk so hung up. Ugh.

Re-dialling...

Don't get me wrong, BA isn't perfect... but at least you can call and speak to a human.

 

[Simon_M]

Could be worse, you could have booked Swiss.

 

[Spinal]

I could have booked Southern China... oh wait, no, I couldn't as I would have refused to fly with them again...

 

[grober]

I hear AEROFLOT are cheap, but I did hear about one passenger's experience where his plane was diverted mid flight due to an engine problem. After waiting several hours on the tarmac the flight captain revealed to the passengers the engine required a small pump to repair it. A pump had been located but the supplier wanted cash only and was not prepared to supply it to the airline on a line of credit [ wonder why] . The passengers were faced with a choice of being marooned somewhere in the heart of mother Russia for several days or------- a whip round was organised- the pump obtained- engine repaired and normal service resumed- I never heard about whether the passengers got their money back.

 

[Spinal]

Aeroflot were in the southern china league... I'm going to be forced to fly with them in summer (only airline out of Ulan Ude) , so I hope they've improved.

The old tupolevs were a tad noisy for my tastes...

 

[Sp!ke]

I had a friend that worked for KLM. He was loading cargo into a plane and managed to fall out of the cargo door, falling about 12 feet onto his neck on the tarmac. He was hospitalised for months and remains severely impaired several years on.

I can't go into too much detail but suffice to say that the airlines response was well below what I would expect from any employer of their size.

It was enough to tarnish my impression of them permanently.

 

[Peter T]

Don't get me started on KLM!!

Of all the airlines I've ever flown, and that includes Sabena, Alitalia, and others of that ilk, they are the rudest, ignorant, most couldn't-care-less outfit I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

 

[Dryce]

I travel for work, flying 2-4 times a week, and normally fly BA for loyalty card reasons.

I never fly an airline because of their loyalty / FF schemes. Either for work or personal.

If I *happen* to pick up miles/points as an unplanned side effect then that is fine - but I won't choose one carrier or route or timing over another *because* of their loyalty schemes.

(I will choose a carrier on a particular route because of good service. )

We avoid KLM at the moment - last long haul flight my wife took she didn't like the way the cabin crew favoured some passengers and were offhand to others.

 

[noy91]

Aeroflot from Moscow to Chelyabinsk is surprisingly pleasant. Newish Airbus and plain but edible food.

 

[st13phil]

Some airlines understand the concept of customer service and some don't. Some aircrew understand that they're "the face" of the organisation and provide something that makes you feel good about the organisation and some don't.

I flew back from Keflavik (Iceland) yesterday on easyJet. The flight was delayed just over 3hrs due to bad weather and many of the pax were a bit irritable by the time they boarded. Illogical to get angry with the weather I know, but some people get wound up about these things.

The Captain gave his welcome briefing from within the cabin, and I can say that as well as being informative it was one of the most amusing and entertaining briefings I've ever had on a flight. It was that good that he was given a spontaneous round of applause from the cabin at the end of it. I'd be willing to lay money that the majority of pax on that flight will remember the briefing and will tell at least a couple of friends how great it was and pretty much forget that the flight was late. That Captain deserves huge credit for that, and easyJet have probably won a few more return pax as a direct result.

 

[Giantvanman]

Don't get me started on KLM!!

Of all the airlines I've ever flown, and that includes Sabena, Alitalia, and others of that ilk, they are the rudest, ignorant, most couldn't-care-less outfit I've ever had the misfortune of dealing with.

last long haul flight my wife took she didn't like the way the cabin crew favoured some passengers and were offhand to others.

You are describing CTA (Cyprus Turkish Airlines), the now defunct state carrier to a tee there.

The new outfit, Pegasus, are little better. I bought two tickets in 2009 and then paid £250 to make them open open. They were meant to be open and available to use until 2099 (I was looking forward to using them then as the oldest ever human ) but the tickets magically couldn't be found on 'the system' in 2012.
Until, that is, someone obviously found them and used them last year……..I have no proof but it can only be someone connected to the airline as the same booking reference was used. I could fly to Istanbul and plead my case direct to the company, apparently, but I think not.
What this particular outfit do is host their online ticket sales in Turkey so there is no ATOL? protection. Lesson learned to the tune of several hundred pounds.

 

[Dryce]

What this particular outfit do is host their online ticket sales in Turkey so there is no ATOL? protection. Lesson learned to the tune of several hundred pounds.

Presumably you used a credit card so you could try a claim against your card company under Consumer Credit Act?

 

[flango]

Klm air France are useless like you I fly regular and I am gold card on BA Lufthansa and Delta they all vary but BA pretty good at the moment my last transatlantics with them last week were some of the best I've had

The other reason I don't fly lair France is their safety record it's shocking

Sent from my iPhone using MBClub UK

 

[Darrell]

Some airlines understand the concept of customer service and some don't. Some aircrew understand that they're "the face" of the organisation and provide something that makes you feel good about the organisation and some don't.

I flew back from Keflavik (Iceland) yesterday on easyJet. The flight was delayed just over 3hrs due to bad weather and many of the pax were a bit irritable by the time they boarded. Illogical to get angry with the weather I know, but some people get wound up about these things.

The Captain gave his welcome briefing from within the cabin, and I can say that as well as being informative it was one of the most amusing and entertaining briefings I've ever had on a flight. It was that good that he was given a spontaneous round of applause from the cabin at the end of it. I'd be willing to lay money that the majority of pax on that flight will remember the briefing and will tell at least a couple of friends how great it was and pretty much forget that the flight was late. That Captain deserves huge credit for that, and easyJet have probably won a few more return pax as a direct result.

EasyJet have upped their game tremendously over the last couple of years. I flew to Denmark with them last week and the flight was faultless.

At 0845 tomorrow I am flying to Athens with the dreaded RyanAir. Really not looking forward to it and to make things worse I am going out of Stansted. A real bummer because I am 20 mins from Gatwick as we speak.

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Aeroflot from Moscow to Chelyabinsk is surprisingly pleasant. Newish Airbus and plain but edible food.

I've flown with Aeroflot several times in Airbus and Tupolev. Although not the height of luxury I've always found them to be perfectly OK (and the best airline tea in the world). However Sheremetyevo airport (Moscow) has nearly always been a total disgrace, made even worse when you have to transfer terminals. The facilities are diabolical and the ground staff even worse. But I'll admit it's a few years since I've braved it there, so hopefully it's a bit better now.

As for China Southern Airlines, they're almost bad enough to turn me religious so my prayers may be listened to. Laughing has helped - but only as an alternative to stabbing yourself with the long knife that's no doubt easy to get through the feeble security.

 

[Scott_F]

The airline industry, the various service companies and those that run airports treat their staff and their suppliers appallingly.

Therefore, poor customer service is the industry standard - especially for the masses who don't pay a premium for first / business class travel.

 

[Chrishazle]

OK, it was a long time ago (about 2003) but Air Gabon out of Libreville via Marseilles to Paris takes some beating. For a start, it was the world's oldest operational 747-100, the scrum once they opened the doors from the departure lounge was epic - as right behind the door was security hand searching every piece of carry on baggage. I got though as one of the first, got to my seat - and waited and watched. An hour after planned departure they were still boarding and trying to find places in the stuffed overhead lockers for all the junk being carried on. The in flight service, food etc was worse than Aeroflot mid-90's internal flight standard - I have never been so pleased to get off a plane as when I got off that one in Marseille - and boarded a BA to Gatwick!

As for Aeroflot mid-90's internal, I swear the bloke 5 rows back had a full 5 gallon jerry can of petrol with him! Having you tea served from a massive 2 hanled "kettle" full of boiling water was worrying, on the way out to Raduzhney we were on a private charter, and I swear the pilot flew a box search to find the airport.

 

[def90cars]

Travel First Class on Emirates - don't know what you are all talking about.
Car to and from the Airport. Fall over themselves to help you. Incredible in Airport facilities (esp. DXB) and 4 "hostesses" for 12 passengers.... in fact 3 of us... 9 empty seats.

In RyanAir and those types I usually pay the £10 or so to specify my seat.