ok986

I was on a late-evening KL short-haul (ex-AMS) and after the gate agent asked for volunteers to stay behind, I volunteered, having been promised a compensation of 250 Euro and connection via GVA (KL+AZ) the next day noon (putting me to my destination early afternoon).

After the flight departed, I was supposed to have been picked up by someone to get the compensation and new travel arrangement. This didn't happen, and after about 40 minutes waiting, I was brought to the Transfer desk by the gate agent. On our way to the Transfer desk, the gate agent told me that after a discussion with her supervisor, I would be offered either 250 Euro in cash or 350 Euro in vouchers towards future travel.

Already when the gate agent handed me to the supervisor at the Transfer desk, things were odd, because the supervisor very loudly complained about the "klotzaks van Air France" who are on strike and KL staff must work extra.

After about another 20 minutes (it was about 10pm at this point), the agent came over to me with an already-opened prepaid credit card for 250 Euro and a booking for a new flight - via LCY (without consulting with me beforehand). I explained the supervisor that the agent mentioned the possibility of getting 350 Euro in vouchers, which clearly upset the supervisor, because she told me that I should be thankful for getting any compensation at all, given that KLM's company policy is not to give volunteers more than 70 Euro in compensation.

Then I told the supervisor that if I fly on BA via LCY, I would not have any SkyPriority benefits (extra bag, lounge access etc), and asked whether she'd give me any vouchers for lounge use or anything else (I had two checked bags). She got really upset, told me that my behavior is "helemaal apart" and "echt vervelend" (in the most aggressive way) and underlined that due to the AF strike, I should be “dankbaar” for any seat at all.

She then proceeded to explain how "apart" would it be if KL opened its lounges to passengers of other airlines, as from then on, I was a BA passenger and KLM had no more business with me. She literally said "iedereen wil komen, spullen op de tafel zetten , lekker koffie drinken, misschien e-mailtje rustig schrijven" but that was only for "onze business class passagiere en veelvliegers".

So I was handed envelope (containing the already-opened credit card and a 10 Euro coffee voucher), the itinerary for the BA trip and the lady walked away.

Next morning, I went to the KLM Ticket Counter to ask whether the originally-promised connection via GVA is still possible. I was told that it was sold out, but the agent advised me not to travel via LCY given the short connection time (35 min). Instead, she advised to fly to directly to a nearby destination (on KL) and take a train/bus from there. My bags arrived 2 days later.

The day after, I succeeded to submit my complaint through KL Facebook team and am now waiting (7 days, at this point) for a reply.