KLM Flying Dutchman - Stuck in Amsterdam

A few days ago my wife and children were traveling MME-AMS-DEL. KLM staff checked all passports and docs at MME and checked baggage through to DEL, issues transit boarding passes, etc.

At AMS they were denied boarding to DEL flight due to one child's PIO card (which lets you enter India visa-free) having a number in it which does not match the passport. This is a new rule (or so says KLM) - child has traveled with these same documents between the countries multiple times before.

Baggage was offloaded and they were told to fend for themselves. KLM refused to transport them back to MME. We had to pay KLM another $1000+ to get them back to the UK and, predictably, the bags were lost.

QUESTION: I can understand refusing boarding due to a doc problem, but for single-ticket shouldn't this be enforced at the point where the airline puts you on the plane, i.e. MME? Travel docs were checked and accepted there by KLM staff, bags accepted, boarding passes for DEL flight issued. What would have been a minor inconvenience of having to catch the flight a day later with additional docs turned into a longest-day odyssey.

Seems improper that KLM would profit ($1000 to fill 3 empty seats back to UK) for their gate staff at MME's oversight. Do I have any recourse here? Are there rules on this stuff?

Thanks for any thoughts/suggestions.

samozvanetz, welcome to FlyerTalk. As your concerns focus on KLM, I'll move this to the proper airline forum for discussion. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

I feel your pain. However, the responsibility for having proper immigration documentation lies primarily with the passenger. At the same time, the airline can be seriously fined if they allow someone to travel without proper docs and are caught.

You may have been turned away arriving at your destination if it was not caught in Amsterdam. Had you been denied boarding at MME, depending on your ticket fare class, you might have been responsible for similar change fees.

I recommend that you meticulously check your immigration documents in future to ensure that they do not contain incorrect spellings, dates of birth, passport numbers, etc. in order to avoid this kind of trouble and expense.

samozvanetz, I would suggest that as a first step you contact the Indian High Commission and check with them if what KLM told you is in fact correct. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that the gate agent was just making things up as they went along. It's human nature, and it seems to be particularly common with airline staff (some years ago my husband witnessed a Dutch citizen being turned away from a flight to the UK because their passport had less than six months to run, and I've had a UK check-in agent try to tell me that I needed a visa to enter the Faroe Islands which are part of Denmark and part of Schengen)

Your next step will depend on what answer you get from the High Commission. If they tell you that there has not been any recent change of rules or policy then this will become a case of denied boarding and you will have a case against KLM. If they tell you that there has been a recent change and that your child would have been denied entry then it's a different matter - though you should still complain to KLM about the fact that this was not spotted at MME. Considering the size of the Indian community in the UK I would have thought that any such changes would have been clearly communicated to UK airport and airline staff, so it really seems very strange that your family was allowed to board at MME if there has been such a change.

Had you been denied boarding at MME, depending on your ticket fare class, you might have been responsible for similar change fees.


The extra $$ was not change fees - it was a last minute ticket to get back to UK (i.e. where we started) from Amsterdam!

samozvanetz, I would suggest that as a first step you contact the Indian High Commission and check with them if what KLM told you is in fact correct.

Absolutely agree, don't take KLM's word for it but check if they were correct. Whatever the case because they accepted you in the first place I would say that they need to send you back "home" and not leave you stranded in AMS.

Globalist

Sorry to hear about your problem regarding the PIO card. I have also observed inconsistencies by the gate staff at Amsterdam on flights to India, most recently a US passenger with an OCI card. They informed him that he required a visa for India which is not the case. I advised him to contact the Indian Embassy in the Hague for support but it was too late for this particular flight.

and I've had a UK check-in agent try to tell me that I needed a visa to enter the Faroe Islands which are part of Denmark and part of Schengen)

Sorry Aviatrix but you're partly Wrong on a technicality.

The Faroe Islands (and Greenland) are correctly part of the Danish Kingdom but are NOT part of Schengen or are even members of the EU.

Still, you don't need a VISA to enter the Danish territories with an EU passport.

Whatever the case because they accepted you in the first place I would say that they need to send you back "home" and not leave you stranded in AMS.

Is the checkin staff at MME KLM or is it outsourced?

I have often learnt that where the ground handling staff is outsourced in out stations (like DUB) that they not always know the routines, what type of allowances E/E+ PAX have and you can be told to take it up with AF/KL at either CDG or AMS when transferring/connecting though these hubs or contact the airline by fax or phone :(

Now, either way, KLM should have sent the marooned PAX back to Durham Tees Valley Airport at their expense (i.e. not the PAX) so I would contact KLM and ask kindly (but firmly) for a refund of the extra expenditure implied if you're 100% sure that you have all the correct paperwork to back up your claim. I could imagine that many airlines are every day bombarded with nonsense claims because passengers haven't quite understood what the rules are, so very important to have it all sorted :)

Also, if you can get some kind of document from the Indian High Commission that you where in the right to travel with the documentation in hand, then I would definitely make KLM aware of this and again demand new flights to DEL (again) at their expense.

Good luck and hope you get it cleared. Let us know how you get along...

Is the checkin staff at MME KLM or is it outsourced?



I don't think there are many stations where KLM has its own staff except AMS.
Milan Malpensa and IIRC Madrid are the only stations.
There are a few where mother company AF does the handling like CDG (and a few German stations I think).
But all handling parties should be aware of the regulations as well so that is no excuse.

But all handling parties should be aware of the regulations as well so that is no excuse.

Just like I said :(

I have often learnt that where the ground handling staff is outsourced in out stations (like DUB) that they not always know the routines, what type of allowances E/E+ PAX have and you can be told to take it up with AF/KL at either CDG or AMS when transferring/connecting though these hubs or contact the airline by fax or phone :(

Just like I said :(

I wasn't disagreeing with you.
KLM does not fly to DUB (I guess you mean Dublin).
It's Aer Lingus, albeit with KLM codeshare.

Small claims court in the UK seems the way to go. KLM denied you boarding to prevent fines in India for transporting a pax without proper travel documents. Since you should be able to prove that the same documents where accepted by India authorities before KLM should have made a bigger effort to validate their assumption that this time you would be refused entry. They could have contacted Delhi or whatever before denying you boarding. Faxing te documents to Indian customs could have helped.

Ridiculous that they made you pay to go back to the UK.

Is the checkin staff at MME KLM or is it outsourced?

They wear KLM uniforms - so if it's outsourced, they're well disguised!

Good luck and hope you get it cleared. Let us know how you get along...

Thanks for the well-wishes.

Upon return to India (they made it finally) my wife asked the immigration official whether the old passport was required.

His answer: "Absolutely not necessary, madam" :p

Upon return to India (they made it finally) my wife asked the immigration official whether the old passport was required.

His answer: "Absolutely not necessary, madam" :p

There you have it - KLM making it up as they go along, just as I suspected.

You DO now have a case against them. Make sure you claim everything you are entitled to.

As mentioned in a previous post you can do this through the UK County Court system. They have a registered office in the UK (which you can look up at companieshouse.gov.uk). I have used my local county court to claim money from KLM, so I know it can be done. You will need to write to them, outlining your claim in full and giving them a deadline for settling your claim. Once the deadline has passed (or if they refuse to settle) just go ahead and file your claim through the County Court - it's pretty straightforward really.