jedicat666

I'm writing for advice on what to do due to my flight KL836 DPS-SIN on Z being cancelled to technical reasons.

We were sent to a nearby hotel with meals covered, but the rebooked flight kept shifting 4 more times and subsequently the 3:45am flight the next day was cancelled.

Next day rebooked to Silkair business and then it was changed to jetstar. I did not accept jetstar and was offered either SQ or Silkair business the next day, of which I chose SQ.

They replied, lying that there were no availability even though I sent screenshots of availability & changed their story that this is the best flight (jetstar) that I could book at the moment.

KLM Office said I will get compensation from the downgrade to jetstar. Submitted a compensation request and everything was denied, generic email. Really angered by their unethical business practices and wish to pursue this matter if possible.

irishguy28

Send a brief note to KLM on Twitter or Facebook. Be succinct and precise - I had to read your note several times to figure out that you did not actually travel on SQ. It may also be that the claim you submitted on the website was misunderstood.

Just mention the bare bones of the story - extra "colour" just hides the message. Something like this:
When they ask for further details (only the facts, ie personal info, booking numbers, dates and flight numbers, etc - don't add further narrative) send these by Direct Message or in a Private Message. Don't post identifying details in public. And don't mention the SQ/Silkair stuff - it's of absolutely no relevance now. You just want the person handling your query to know the bare facts of the only compensable grievance that you have - being forced to travel in Economy on a Business Class ticket.

Please come back and let us know how it gets resolved.

nldogbert

Could you not have been routed with Garuda via CGK in J? Since they are part of ST..or was this not an option.
But indeed, strange that they are being difficult on this since you were downgraded from J to Y class. You could try and do it directly with the HQ customer service instead of the office down in Indonesia or Singapore (I am assuming here).

Though on a side note: I don't really understand their compensation policy - just had a friend whose flight got cancel and was rerouted to LH, arrived about 2 hours late into LAX, but still got 400 Euro compensation from KLM [afaik - you only get compensation if you arrive at your destination > 4 hours than original]

Cheers!

brunos

Your post is hard to understand (including this mysterious 3:45am flight).There are some ten daily nonstops DPS-SIN, some with J (GA/SQ/MI, some without. But with the cancellation of a KL/GA 77W rebooking of pax must have been difficult in that busy period. and it is only a 2+ hour regional flight.

if you submitted a downgrade compensation request as confusing as your post, you have little chance to succeed. I suggest that you do exactly what irishguy28 suggested.

irishguy28

Compensation for delays as per EC261/2004 would not apply in the present case as the journey is entirely outside the EU (DPS-SIN). Whether there is some other compensation due under Indonesian or Singapore law, I don't know. However, the length of the delay may be moot, given that the OP apparently refused several options that would have got them there earlier than they eventually did.

The issue was apparently NOT with the delay (the OP could have travelled sooner - still on Jetstar - and arrived a day (or more?) sooner, but refused. The issue is with the forced downgrade. Or, at least, that was my take.

(Again, it may not be surprising that the request was refused, as no-one here seems to understand fully what the OP asked from KLM)

Often1

Also, note that the term "compensation" is incorrect. You are due a "refund" of the fare difference.

As others note, be clear, concise and only provide the information which KL requires in order to issue you your refund. The people who review these things, see hundreds per day. If they are hard to understand, they get denied. The entire issue with the delay is also confusing because it is irrelevant, at least under EC 261/2004 (which does not apply).

Terms such as "unethical" and "lying" have no place in what is simply a business request.

jedicat666

Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply.

1. I will do a re-submission of the downgrade refund request, although this might not be very much especially since I am not eligible for EC261/2004 compensations.

2. I knew this at the time, and tried my hardest to get a business class flight to avoid any sort of compensation claims.

3. My anger with KLM is that they offered me to be rebooked on business class flights, but then said I could only fly jetstar due to NIL availability, despite there being availability (and infact was rebooked to silkair Z 4th sept before being dropped to jetstar Y 3rd sept. In my eyes this is an unethical attempt to save as much money as possible.

------- What happened in order :

1st sept 9pm KL836 (Z) Cancelled -> rebooked KL836 (Z) 2nd sept 10pm -> delayed to 2nd sept 11:55pm -> delayed to 3rd sept 3:45am & cancelled -> rebooked to MI 175 (Z) 4th Sept 10:25am -> rebooked [downgraded] to JQ 116 (Y) 3rd Sept 10:15pm > After declining, Offered either MI 175 (Z) or SQ 947 (Z) on 4th sept > Claims no availability after choosing SQ 947 (Z) & claims JQ 116 (Y) is the only option I can take.

irishguy28

From the image you have posted, they did not offer to re-book you on SQ or MI. They ask for clarification as to which of two airlines/flight numbers you apparently introduced to the discussion was your preferred - they were checking to make sure that they were making enquiries for your preferred flight - and you chose SQ. They said:There may very well have been tickets available in business class on both those flights, but KLM doesn't just go to the website of the airlines in question and book them as you would. There may simply not have been a mechanism for them to rebook their passengers on to these carriers, or just these specific flights, from this origin. Such rebooking normally results in the same e-ticket number being used, with your travel instead being transferred over to another airline for a particular sector. This is clearly not possible for every airline and/or every route for reasons that have nothing to do with availability (which you have focused on as being the sole valid reason for not being able to be rebooked at will).

For the record, earlier this summer I had a KLM flight cancelled, also in business class, but before I awoke to go to the airport to take that (by then) cancelled early-morning KLM flight, they had already rebooked me onto another carrier, outside the alliance, in business class, and better still, on a direct routing that didn't require a detour via Amsterdam!

We have had numerous reports of cancellations on KLM this year, mostly affecting SFO for some reason, and posters here have experienced numerous rebookings onto various other carriers, also being able to change to a different carrier again when requested, and where possible:

KL608 cancelled, rebooked on LX but I was planning to earn AS miles

I do not doubt that KLM checked to see if they could rebook you on those MI and SQ flights but found that they were unable to. You may have had more success in this particular case if you had asked to be rebooked onto Alliance and codeshare partner GA, but given your KrisFlyer membership, I can understand why you wanted them to go with SQ

EDIT: Having re-read your post, I see that you did, briefly, have a confirmed booking on the MI flight, apparently in business class (Z is business class on KLM, no idea if the same is true for MI [but given that it earns at 125% it seems a pretty good bet]). But you asked to be switched to SQ. When told this was not possible, why did you not ask to be put back on MI??

jedicat666

I did ask to be put back on the MI 0175 (Z) flight OR the SQ (Z) one, whichever available. I'm happy with either.

But they replied that there was no availability (in previous screenshot), and that the best available flight I could be booked on was Jetstar (Y).

After i checked into the Jetstar flight, they specified there wasnt any availability on 3rd sept and that since my Jetstar flight was about to depart, they are unable to assist further. When I've been talking about 4th Sept (Z) flights all along, and we should be on the same page as the offer for rebooking from KLM in the previous screenshot indicated sept 4th and not sept 3rd

Ditto

Sometimes, and especially in such cases it is best to pick up the phone and talk to someone (or go to the ticketing desk in person if you are at the airport), dealing with IRROPS for a 5th-freedom flight over chat, with the mix of 3 different airlines, on 2 different dates, saying "tomorrow" to an agent that is most likely in a completely different timezone is just a recipe for confusion.

jedicat666

Phone support was not active on sept 2 & 3 (weekend) despite trying many times.
Also went to the KLM office at Denpasar airport but the agents told me that changing flight might pose complications and to just file a compensation request for the downgrade when I was back, maybe I was not aggressive enough.

Even if i said tomorrow or today, the agents should be trained to know it is referred to from the time of the country im currently on, and dates were used as well e.g KLM specifying 4th sept. also given that bali is on a GMT+8 timezone, its pretty much ahead of most countries.

UPDATE: Called KLM complaint department & they said they will give a refund of the fare difference once it has been calculated by the reservations department, and will reply via email. Additionally, they have put my case in priority, will get back to me tomorrow regarding additional goodwill vouchers since I am not covered under EU regulations and after I remarked that the fare difference will probably be minuscule.

Ditto

KLM phone support is available 24x7, did you try the Dutch number as indicated on their website?
https://www.klm.com/travel/id_en/cus...ht_changes.htm

And they might be right, at that point in time, after rebooking has been done, it would make things more complicated, there might have not been available seats anymore on the other flights, perhaps being more aggressive would have helped, hard to say.

I wouldn't expect agents to properly calculate timezones for the purposes of today/tomorrow etc, you should always specify absolute times/dates to avoid confusions.

irishguy28

Always use dates or the name of the day, unless perhaps you are not standing in front of the person who is rebooking you. You assume that the agent will "switch" to your timezone, I would assume that I should "switch" to the agent's timezone, and if either party makes an incorrect assumption or calculation as to where the other is - disaster ensues.

jedicat666

UPDATE : Today received 2x 150eur E-vouchers as "goodwill". Additionally, the refund request approved and undergoing review. so I will be updated with the refund total once they have calculated it.

Will update the refund amount offered here, but im not expecting much. Should I push for more ?
(as a point of reference, i paid 350eur X 2 tickets return trip)