KLBGO

While checking in luggage at Bergen airport. The agent behind the counter says I have to pay for luggage. I show my gold card and skyteam elite plus mark on the ticket. No, is the answer. Gold does not give free luggage. I simply say, that is wrong. She asks the young KLM agent next to her, wich agrees with her patron...

I show her KLMs benefits on the website.

She calls s collegue, wich obviously tells her that gold has free luggage. I hear she says «I had forgotten that» on the phone. When getting back to me she plays the hero, and says she has overrunned the system and done me a favour. Ie; I am the lucky (and guilty one).

Soon 101 years in the skies...

fifty_two

Hi

Just to be sure , you were travelling on a KL flight operated by KLM ?

i guess at bergen these employees are contractors , which are assigned to all airlines and therefore may not be aware of the rules of each airline

For instance LH/LX light fare don't have luggages included regardless of status

So in your case you can probably blame the bad quality training these employees received and/or misconfiguration in their systems

Please submit a complain to KLM online , so they will receive feedbacks

Next time if you have to pay , then pay , keep the receipt and submit a claim to KLM for reimbursement and a complain

As a reminder , always carry your physical card with you

johan rebel

In case showing a gold card doesn't work?

Johan

KLBGO

KL flight operated by KLM.

They had KLM uniforms, at least.

fifty_two

because some agents in 3rd party lounges or checkin desks or fast-tracks are not aware of rules , and don't even recognize electronic cards or electronic boarding passes and may ask you to prove membership, this happen in remote stations especially

The issue OP had was due to something else , but what i mentionned was an additional advice

thanks for confirmation

Wearing uniform doesnt really mean anything these days , they are probably just contractors hired by a third party company working part time as a side job on behalf of KLM

747jetter

I doubt hired contractors would wear KL clothes?

NickB

It is not unusual for multi-airline handling agents to switch jackets depending on which airline they are checking-in.

irishguy28

I had the same thing in Berlin last month - as a newly-minted Platinum!

I would recommend that you send a brief note via the KLM website contact forms. They need to be alerted to the scale of the misinformation being peddled by their various handling agencies...


That didn't help me!

If an agent thinks that Gold and/or Platinum doesn't allow a checked bag over the terms of the ticket, then waving a physical card in front of them isn't going to change their mind.

Even showing him the website, and the luggage allowance displayed in my booking in the KLM app, didn't help.

The only thing that "helped" was when he "rang Amsterdam" and got "permission to waive the €45 fee" which I was apparently supposed to accept as a huge favour!!!

WISAG check-in staff at TXL

fifty_two

Yes , i think if they see more and more complaints coming about the same topic , they will start to take action

What i mentionned was an additional advice , because some agents in 3rd party lounges or checkin desks or fast-tracks are not aware of rules , and don't even recognize electronic cards or electronic boarding passes and may ask you to prove membership, this happen in remote stations especially

Lol , i hate these kind of people who dont want to admit they are wrong ! Mistakes or lack of knowledge are fine , however this doesn't help that after XXX minutes of useless discussion he/she/they simply don't want to say sorry and thanks

NickB

It used to infuriate me when I was younger. As I get older, and perhaps very fractionally wiser, I tend to chuckle internally but let it go and smile and thank them. It is their way of keeping face and, IME, nothing good ever comes from people feeling trapped and losing face. If it was a backroom supervisor being particularly difficult and obnoxious, I would perhaps feel somewhat differently (and even then....) but frontline agents need to find their way to keep their composure and soldier on and, for some, that little device is their way of doing it.

mike turnbull

Johan. In your post no. 3, you quoted the op's "always carry your platinum card with you", but he said "physical ".
How come it's been wrongly quoted ?

PeteM01

Post-editing.

irishguy28

Oops...never mind!

I think Johan was making a joke anyway.

mike turnbull

Thanks. Think I've got it !

fifty_two

Uniform doesnt mean anything these days , its just a piece of whool , the most important is the one who pays them