Comments on: Why KLM is [maybe] the Worst Airline

By: Samuel

Samuel — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:34:58 +0000

I flew KLM and arrived at my destination on Tuesday.
I watched and waited and eventually discovered my second baggage was missing.
Someone helped me file something at the airport.
It was stated my baggage was in Amsterdam. Remember that was Tuesday.
It is Friday. Online Tracker said my baggage would arrive on Thursday.
I’ve heard nothing. I’m quite patient. I probably would be less patient if I had no baggage.

We need to stop saying all airlines have this problem. It is the nature the of business. You should buy insurance. This is mentality we customer had in the 60′s and 70′s. Automobiles are expected to have problems, breakdown, and occasionally or often be total lemon. We excepted poor quality and we received poor quality. If delayed or lost baggage was a problem of the 70′s; it should have less of a problem in the 80′s; and much less of a problem in 90′s; and a very small problem in 2000′s; and relatively no problem in them 2010′s era.

As an industry you are supposed to find the root causes of problem and resolve the root cause not continue to accept the problems as “The way it has always been”. Honestly I think FedEx and UPS do a pretty effective job at routing goods (baggage) from one location to another without things going missing. How can one baggage dropped of at the same time end up at its desired destination and the other be someone in the world?
Fix the problem; don’t make excuses; develop a zero defect mentality; improve your business process to eliminate errors and problems. In my profession, I don’t accept poor quality and recurring problems. I don’t except from other either.

Here I sit not know if and when I will ever get my stuff. Most of my hygiene products are with the lost luggage.

By: Jason Schmidt

Jason Schmidt — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:31:32 +0000

KLM rude from the ground up. I have never experienced poorer customer service with any other travel company.

They booked me on an Iberian flight from Amsterdam to Madrid when I missed my connection and never sent my bags. My bags, according to Delta and Iberia are in Amsterdam but the customer service people at KLM will not even bother to trace it for me. They have disregarded my phone calls and correspondence and could care less. Even though Iberia never received by baggage they are forcing me to do all tracing etc. through them. I booked my flight originally through air France Malaga to Las Vegas operated by Delta. I rebooked and was reticketed through KLM on my return flight to Malaga. Do yourself a favor and avoid KLM. They are rude, inconsiderate and incompetent.

By: bryan

bryan — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 13:59:43 +0000

I was still in the airside area of the airport terminal, pointing at the airplane I had just gotten off, telling the KLM staff (including stewardesses from the plane) that my MP3 player was still on it, in the flap in Seat 9B. They refused to do anything. “Maybe it will turn up at lost & found,” was their advice. Of course it didn’t.

Now I am trying to get the airport tax back for a flight that I booked with them but didn’t fly on and they are ignoring me and/or directing me to their disastrous website. Missed a flight once with SAS and the money was deposited in my account THE NEXT DAY.

I have lived in Holland, it’s normal that customer service is absolutely rubbish in Dutch culture.

By: Harris Faigel

Harris Faigel — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:19:33 +0000

KLM managed to lose our bags on both the outbound and inbound flights from the US to South Africa via AMS. Worst service we’ve experienced in over 50 years of flying.

By: Jordan Lawrence

Jordan Lawrence — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 19:56:55 +0000

On a recent trip to Australia they (KLM) served me a “vegetarian meal” comprising of a chicken salad!! i was not impressed as I only realised after eating a couple fork fulls (tired and all) – that was the first time I had eaten meat in years… was there an apology? no prizes for guessing the answer – “you should have ordered a Vegetarian meal” – I F((()))_ng did order a Veggie meal, go check! “Oh yes you’re right” I don’t know what happened…
Rude staff with no sense of customer service – GO AIR MALYASIA – way better!

By: Emery

Emery — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 18:43:16 +0000

I’ve always had really good experience with KLM. I think it’s all about how uptight the individual employee is. I remember having to catch a connecting flight taking me to Sweden from Orlando that I was supposed to catch had already taken off 10 minutes after getting at the airport. I freaked out but the KLM guy was nice enough to book me on another connecting flight (going to Newark, same as the one before) leaving 30minutes after that one so I could still catch the international flight from there to Stockholm with no rush. And he also got me in the front of the line through security so I wouldn’t miss it again. It was awesome I would have been totally lost otherwise. :)

By: Guus

Guus — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 21:35:14 +0000

Does anybody understand the new Frequent flyer rules of KLM? Even Elite members flying KLM for many years do get 25% miles on cheapest tickets. If you would like same quantity of airmiles as other companies are giving for same flight you have to buy more expensive tickets (normaly hundreds of Euro’s more expensive).
Looks like they would like to say goodbuye to their frequest flyers. KLM had been my favorite for many years and I did fly many miles but I am ready with Flying Blue program because of this. I do not want to pay that much extra money just for miles.

By: Tony

Tony — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 13:41:19 +0000

@Richard,

In the case of a family emergency passengers should call their travel insurance. It is for these kinds of situations that passengers should take out travelinsurance. Anyone travelling without insurance is not very smart to say the least.

And if a ticket is non-changeable it is the passenger who is to blame. It is the passenger who only looked at the ticketprice and didn’t mind the ticket conditions because he was being cheap and only cared about his wallet.

So it’s not KLM’s corporate greed, but the customer’s shortsightedness which is the real problem.

By: capitalism can suck my d*&%

capitalism can suck my d*&% — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 21:45:47 +0000

i flew with klm and they are fantastic, it’s not the airlines fault that he lost the ipod it was yours. If you were smart enough and had more common sense you would take it with you on carry on. also its good riddance that your ipod was lost because apple is the company of Hitler and the devil and it is good that it has been cast down into hands of people who deserve it, not ignorant American snobs who are so spoiled that if one little thing goes wrong they have to go out and cry their story to the world

By: orangetree

orangetree — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 13:31:06 +0000

Electronics item should not keep in checked in luggages as all airlines restriction. It is not fair for KLM. I travelled with KLM for many destinastions from Arlanda-Amsterdam, Istanbul-Amsterdam, Amsterdam -Lima.. They are quite professional and friendly.