KLM Flying Dutchman - "Inconvience" package

Was delayed for three hours on a NW flight from AMS-DTW, when they developed an engine problem after they had boarded us (three hours on the ground in Y - oh joy - they kindly did an additional drinks round!). But at the end of the delay they handed round an inconvenience package which included an international phonecard, a voucher for $10 off on-baord purchases or 1000 miles (no duty free, so useless for our flight unless you wanted the miles - strangely, I did http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif ) and $50 off another KLM/NW flight. Whilst obviously not too happy with the delay, I was pleasantly suprised to receive this - never had one before - is this a new thing?

No...at least 2 years old.

del.

[This message has been edited by ralfkrippner (edited 04-09-2003).]

just deleted the rubbish I posted about this. I should fully read the question before answering it... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by mike turnbull:
No...at least 2 years old.</font>

Ok, don't think I've been this badly delayed in that time. That'll be why then!

The other day I was on KL617 AMS-DTW sitting in Y for 3 hrs waiting til they load food onboard. I was having "fun" watching the catering trucks stop buy, lift the plaform, NOT load anything, and leave. Eventually, they loaded food, though.

A few weeks later I got 7,500 miles from NWA (very nice from them!) for this delay of 3 hrs.

--Jano

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Ok, don't think I've been this badly delayed in that time.</font>

That's 'Worldwide Reliability' for you http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I was on a Easyjet flight that arrived 20 minutes early and I had to spend 20 euro on beer to pass the time away. I complained bitterly to them and they sent me a gold bar,a lifetime free travel pass and asked me not to write in again.

Not bad really as I only paid 30 euro to travel all the way round Europe.

The amazing thing as well is they still make profit.

That must be why they dont want me to write in too often and the postage is too expensive

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by stut:
That's 'Worldwide Reliability' for you http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

Absolutely - they even confirmed that by losing my luggage on the way out and the way back - first time I've had the double whammy!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by stut:
That's 'Worldwide Reliability' for you http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif</font>

Sometimes their "reliability" can really be counted on. I was flying from Munich to Miami via Amsterdam a few days ago. Plane couldn`t take off on time in Munich because they had to exchange a part in the cockpit. after more than 1,5 hours the problem was fixed but it was obvious that we couldn`t make the connection. I told my wife not to panic since I was pretty sure that for some reason the AMS-MIA flight would not be on time either. On Arrival we were told to contact a transfer-desk to rebook our flight but instead we took the chance and ran to the Gate for the Miami Flight. We made it and even spend more than 1 hour in that plane before take-off due to misloading of luggage, pilots not able to start the engines (had to be done manually !!) etc... But now comes the most amazing thing: our luggage actually arrived in Miami together with us!!

You obviously confused the baggage losing system by making the Miami flight - they must have assumed you wouldn't make it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Off-topic, but I have to add: Last year I had a very tight connection in AMS from EDI to STR. After running to the gate we were the last with the bus full of passengers waiting for us. They fixed a yellow sticker onto our BP that due to the late aircraft our luggage will not be with us and that we should contact them for delivery at home. But in STR the luggage showed up on the belt. I have no clue how they made that miracle happen.

Doesn't sound overly impressive.

Similarly OT, flying AF from CMN-CDG-LHR about a year ago, the CMN-CDG leg was delayed. Landing at CDG, they made everyone sit down so the transiting passengers could get off first, collected their luggage off the plane, zoomed round the airport in a minibus to the connecting plane, and put us straight on with our luggage. Excellent!

And again, transiting from OU to LH on ZAG-MUC-CDG, they tried similar, but failed to reach the flight. As my ultimate destination was London (via Eurostar!) they just put me on an LH flight to LHR.

This is the kind of transit service I've come to expect... AMS is an excellent airport - come on KL, make it worth our while to transit there!

I've made a 10 min connection on AF at CDG and retrieved luggage at the other end which was truely outstanding (also my 1st ever op-upgrade, so good flight for other reasons!). To this day, I still don't know how they did the baggage transfer.

But one of the annoying things about AMS is the baggage transfers. It's a joke, considering that they have one of the tightest Minimum Connection Times of European airports - 29 minutes, compared with over an hour for LHR. I suppose they presume that they will not get your luggage on the same flight so the only constraint at AMS becomes walking distances!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Jenbel:
They have one of the tightest Minimum Connection Times of European airports - 29 minutes.</font>

Where do you get 29 minutes from? KLM's minimum connection time is 45 minutes - their reservation system will not allow a booking where the connection time is less than 45 minutes.

I was at a seminar on airports and one of the speakers was talking about constraints of hub airports and was quoting MCTs - AMS was the lowest, and I'm sure then it was 29 minutes. This was a few years ago though (2000), so they could have revised it since then - maybe to allow for increased security?

Hmm. Having a single MCT for AMS seems like a bad idea. The 'one-terminal' idea obviously makes it easier than LHR for the actual passenger transfer - except for the notoriously unpredictable Schengen passport control counters. OK, a D-gate to G-gate walk is going to take a while (although they now have scheduled carts to whisk you round!). And if you don't get on an airbridge (I'm thinking F50s here), you can add on another 15 minutes, if you're parked out by Hoofddorp or Schiphol Rijk.

But, maybe this is where AMS falls down. LHR has far greater connection times due to the complexity of passenger transfers (esp inter-terminal), but the baggage handling, all airside, won't be significantly more complex at LHR - even T4 is closer to the CTA (airside) than the B-gates to the G-gates. So, where LHR has the luxury of extra time, AMS's baggage handling is constrained because the passenger transfer is so much easier.

That's my theory, anyway. And, given I came up with it a minute ago, it could well be bollix.

Stut,

my understanding was that MCT was based more around bags than people. The general premise in airport operations is that bags are more slow than people, just because of the complexity involved in removing bags from a flight and making sure that they go on the correct flights. But at airports like LHR, where the MCT is greater, I think you're right, they do have a little more breathing space.

We were luck enough http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif to get 7 of these because of a 2.5 hour delay DTW-AMS April 19th.
Then another 7 because when we got to the gate at AMS April 20th at 11:20 for an 11:25 flight the door had been closed and we had to be rebooked onto the 19:50 as there were no other flights with seats.

Very peeved that I had to buy 5 Crown Lounge vouchers and use 17500 miles to get the family into the lounge but the staff were great and we got to play with the mice http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

pmcg