Originally Posted by
PlaneHunter
Check-in confusion
All my flights showed a KLM flight number so I left the shuttle at the international terminal and headed for the combined NWA/KLM check-in area, run by NWA. I tried to enter my booking code into a self check-in machine and I got an error message. After trying some more times I went to a counter with a rather unkind female agent. She tried and told me should couldn't find my reservation. She asked where I would go to and I told her I would fly via AMS to MUC after connecting to JFK. She seemed to be confused and said that there would be a nonstop from BOS to AMS on Northwest. Then she asked me which carrier would fly me to JFK and when I said "Delta Connection" she answered I should go to a regular Delta check-in counter. "We don't have access to Delta", she added. The fact that all flights showed a KL flight number didn't matter. So I grabbed my luggage and walk all across the airport to Terminal A...
Sorry to hear about the confusion, but code-shares have been around for quite some while and your itinerary would have shown that you were flying not with KL (which obviously does not operate domestic flights in the USA), but on a different carrier. It also usually shows from which terminal you are leaving.
Originally Posted by
PlaneHunter
KLM Seat map? No access...
At a DL counter a very kind agent checked my reservation and wondered why I wanted to check in so early. She immediately offered me to take an earlier flight to JFK and I agreed. Then she printed a boarding pass for a confirmed flight at 18:00 (at least one hour earlier than planned) and gave me a standby boarding pass for a flight at 14:00. "But I think this one will be hard to get", she added and told me to ask at the gate for a free seat on any of the consecutive afternoon flights.
The next surprise: "I can't get access to the KLM seat map", she said. "I can print a boarding pass but only with a randomly chosen seat." The boarding pass showed a middle seat (B) and she advised me to ask for a new seat at a KLM counter at JFK. Therefore I really hoped to get to JFK as soon as possible because I wanted to reserve a window seat. It had been much easier for the NWA flight to MEM because one can reserve seats on NWA's websites in advance. KLM doesn't offer such a genial feature.
Actually, KLM does allow you to reserve specific seats on their longhaul services. I agree the NWA online feature is nicer, but either contacting your travel agent or making a phone call to the KLM service center would have allowed you to pre-select seats. In addition, when you check-in online with KLM/NWA (which you could have done even with a connecting flight from BOS), you can also chose your seat.
Originally Posted by
PlaneHunter
Then I realized the check-in agent had put me on the SSSS-list because I requested a seat change and a new boarding pass...
I doubt that check-in agents have any influence on the SSSS-list. As the TSA agent told you, the selection is made on a number of criteria such as strange routings, one-way tickets etc. Requesting a seat change is not very likely to feature on that list. Having been selected for SSSS myself a few times, I agree that it can be intimidating procedure (particularly for non-Americans).