KL luggage handling and priority boarding to improve dramatically!

"KLM asks pilots to help out with other jobs

Airline KLM has asked its pilots and cabin crew to help out by doing other jobs during the summer peak period so spending on temporary staff can be cut.

The Telegraaf reported on Tuesday that pilots have been asked to deal with baggage and man the gates and lounges on a voluntary basis.

A spokeswoman for KLM said the reactions had been positive. 'People feel involved and they like the idea,' she said. "

Source: dutchnews.nl

Assuming for a moment that pilots possess above average organizational skills and intellectual ability, they may actually (and finally!) get things right.

Johan

How many pilots will volunteer to load your suitcases?

What this really means is that upgrades for friends and family will be done at the gate instead of on board :-)

Passengers will be asked to help out by doing some tasks during the summer peak period. MS flight simulator trained pax can support flying the aircraft while other passengers make the pre-flight checks (because voluntary pilots have to load the bags during that time).

Announcemnt from the cockpit:
This is your captain speaking. We are almost ready for take-off. Unfortunatelly a passenger is missing but he has bags loaded on this flight. I will now go down to the cargo door, unload the bags until I have found the missing passenger's bag, unload his bag and load the other bags again. Expect me back in the cockpit in 60min. The copilot will repair the broken armrest in seat 11A in the meantime. We will take-off afterwards.
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I always expected that Ryanair would start with some additional tasks for pilots...

HA HA HA ^ Brilliant

I certainly hope the title of this post is sarcasm, I have yet to see any improvement with KLM on these issues, don't think this will help much either. However having untrained volunteer KLM staff will probably be better than the rent-a-wrecks doing the job now. I mean, how hard can it be?

And hey, I rely on the friends and family upgrades on board :-P (never got one though). Would be nice to have the pilot give me an upgrade at the gate whilst cabin crew are hoarding the gate lice into a line. Then again that probably won't happen soon as I try to avoid KLeM wherever possible.

Sarcastic? Who? Me?

Johan

Johan only posts the most serious and carefully considered opinions in this forum. Why, some say he's the de facto conscience of KLM!

Pilots? Umm... no. I say have the upper management volunteer for some of these jobs. @:-) I'd pay for a ticket just so I can see them logging around my bags at Schiphol. I'll be sure to pack extra-heavy.

For flights departing in the US:
How much to tip the upper management if they provide exceptional service while handling my bags?

Luchtvaartnieuws.nl reports that some 100 pilots have volunteered so far. KL have apparently promised them two things:

• the will not be held personally liable for any mistakes they may make on the job.
• Any passenger complaints made against them will not be registered in their personnel files.

More reassuringly, they will receive some training for their temporary tasks.

Johan

From my experience just now, it seems that KLM have moved the IT staff who should be maintaining their website/servers to baggage-handling duties! ...

Following the usual email letting me know that I can now check in online for my flight tomorrow, I tried my normal routine: log on to my FB account and click "Check-in". But I can't log on to my FB account ("Service Unavailable")

So I tried checking in with my booking code ... "A minimal search found no match!"

So I tried typing in my e-ticket number and my flight number and my departure date and my departure airport (all at the same time)! The system then just hangs up completely.

Still, I have to admit, it's a rare occurrence for there to be a problem on the KLM website! Perhaps the baggage-handlers, feeling peeved that their duties have been assigned to the pilots, have been moved to IT duties to keep them happy.

--

How reassuring. Maybe they should focus the training on the staff that are normally expected to perform such duties.

So what will they do if this actually improves the situation? Ask their bagage handlers to fly the planes, with some training of course?

Probably just wishful thinking, but it would be nice to see 'volunteer' KLM pilots and FAs replacing ServisAir C/I staff & GAs at remote, colonial outstations like EDI & GLA! It'd be like you were in the Netherlands 2 hours earlier!

--H

PS: Perseverance and stamina finally brought me victory in this morning's battle with OLCI at klm.co.uk ... takes me back to the Good Old Days, when jousting was still in fashion!

That's because it was the baggage handlers who worked on the website to begin with. Now they're resuming their original duties.