Originally Posted by irishguy28

I had a rather frustrating experience at Berlin Tegel recently.

It used to be that the staff here wore AF uniforms, but on last week's trip this was not the case. It may have already changed some time ago, and even the fact that an employee wears a uniform doesn't necessarily mean that they are directly employed by that firm - does anyone know if/when checkin at TXL was outsourced?

Anyways, the check-in opened well past the advertised 2 hours prior to departure. A large crowd had gathered when I arrived 5 minutes before check-in was due to open, but at least the SkyPriority line only had 4 other parties ahead of me.

It took 25 minutes for the gentleman dealing with the SkyPriority queue to handle these 4 other parties. I couldn't quite see or figure out what the issues were. The regular economy/bag drop lines weren't progressing much faster, either.

When it was my turn, he saw and accepted my Flying Blue Gold card, saw (once I pointed it out) that I had since been upgraded to platinum as indicated on the boarding pass, had already accepted my check-in bag and attached the luggage label, when he informed me that there would be a charge of €45 for the bag. I pointed out that, with either gold or platinum status, I was allowed 1 free checked bag above the allowance of the ticket itself.

He countered with the fact that, as I was connecting to a partner airline, there was a fee for the checked bag. I pointed out that the "partner airline" was actually a train - Thalys - booked under a KL code number, and that the "partner airline" had no independent chargeable baggage policy.

Then he changed tack, and stated that the ticket had no baggage allowance, and must therefore be paid. I replied that all Skyteam Elite and Skyteam Elite Plus members get an additional baggage item above that associated with the ticket. I even showed him the baggage allowance as shown in the KLM app. He turned his computer monitor and showed me the "0" that was associated with the e-ticket. He said I would have to go to the WISAG counter and pay the €45 there.

I again appealed to him stating that all KLM Light tickets come, by default, with "0" as the baggage allowance, but that frequent flyer status allowed an extra item, as I had shown him in the app. He then decided to "ring Amsterdam". Who exactly he got through to, I don't know, but after 5 minutes he got the all-clear to "waive" the €45 fee that he still maintains a Platinum should pay on a KLM light ticket.

I thanked him and managed to not roll my eyes before I had turned away from the counter....