KLM cancels flight, then charges flyer 200 euros for missing his connection
Mar 18, 2012, 9:02 am
#1
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KLM cancels flight, then charges flyer 200 euros for missing his connection
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/new...-knockout.html - scan down
M. L. writes: I am a university professor and was due to attend seminars in Montreal and Utrecht. I arrived at Cardiff airport for my KLM flight to Schiphol, Amsterdam.
There was then an announcement that the plane could not fly. This meant I missed my connecting KLM flight from Schiphol to Montreal. However, when I applied for a refund, to my astonishment KLM charged me an ‘administration fee’ of 200 euros (about £165).
It is almost impossible to believe. KLM itself cancelled your flight from Cardiff to Schiphol and then penalised you for failing to catch the connecting KLM flight to Canada.
When you protested, the Dutch airline quoted its small print, insisting that ‘passengers are offered a wide variety of fares and each fare has restrictions associated with it’. One of those restrictions allowed KLM to make a deduction from your refund even though it was KLM’s fault you missed the flight.
After I asked KLM to comment it reversed its decision and repaid you the 200 euros, but added that this was ‘a gesture of sympathy’.
You, meanwhile, have switched your custom to BA.
There was then an announcement that the plane could not fly. This meant I missed my connecting KLM flight from Schiphol to Montreal. However, when I applied for a refund, to my astonishment KLM charged me an ‘administration fee’ of 200 euros (about £165).
It is almost impossible to believe. KLM itself cancelled your flight from Cardiff to Schiphol and then penalised you for failing to catch the connecting KLM flight to Canada.
When you protested, the Dutch airline quoted its small print, insisting that ‘passengers are offered a wide variety of fares and each fare has restrictions associated with it’. One of those restrictions allowed KLM to make a deduction from your refund even though it was KLM’s fault you missed the flight.
After I asked KLM to comment it reversed its decision and repaid you the 200 euros, but added that this was ‘a gesture of sympathy’.
You, meanwhile, have switched your custom to BA.
(I don't think so. I imagine EU regulations would have helped.)
Mar 18, 2012, 10:15 am
#2
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Beyond belief indeed!
The unfortunate fact is that they get away with treating their customers this badly far too often.
Not all passengers are articulate professors who know how to complain and how get the media involved the the matter is not dealt with to their satisfaction. The functionally illiterate and poorly educated who struggle to write a coherent complaint can easily be fobbed off by KL (and other airlines) who send a reply full of difficult words referring to T&Cs that are beyond the comprehesion of many.
Johan
The unfortunate fact is that they get away with treating their customers this badly far too often.
Not all passengers are articulate professors who know how to complain and how get the media involved the the matter is not dealt with to their satisfaction. The functionally illiterate and poorly educated who struggle to write a coherent complaint can easily be fobbed off by KL (and other airlines) who send a reply full of difficult words referring to T&Cs that are beyond the comprehesion of many.
Johan
Mar 18, 2012, 10:22 am
#3
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I just wonder if that's the whole story, though.
Normally refunds are pretty much automatic with KLM when a flight is cancelled (I've been through the process in the last few weeks - online form, immediate auto-acknowledgment, money was back on my card within days).
I wonder if the second flight was on a separate ticket? Sounds like he had commitments both in Canada and in the Netherlands, so if his return involved a stop-over of more than 24 hours (for his seminar in Utrecht) the whole trip may well have been booked on two PNRs.
Only speculating, of course... but I think it's quite possible.
Normally refunds are pretty much automatic with KLM when a flight is cancelled (I've been through the process in the last few weeks - online form, immediate auto-acknowledgment, money was back on my card within days).
I wonder if the second flight was on a separate ticket? Sounds like he had commitments both in Canada and in the Netherlands, so if his return involved a stop-over of more than 24 hours (for his seminar in Utrecht) the whole trip may well have been booked on two PNRs.
Only speculating, of course... but I think it's quite possible.
Mar 18, 2012, 10:41 am
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Mar 18, 2012, 10:57 am
#5
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I agree. The story does sound very iffy. KL can certainly be mercenary with respect to consumer rights but even they I would not expect to stoop that low.
Bear in mind that this comes from the daily, i.e. a newspaper whose level of accuracy is comparable to what one would expect from Wayne Rooney explaining quantum mechanics.
Bear in mind that this comes from the daily, i.e. a newspaper whose level of accuracy is comparable to what one would expect from Wayne Rooney explaining quantum mechanics.
Mar 18, 2012, 2:24 pm
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Mar 19, 2012, 11:46 am
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I wonder why KL paid up, though, given their derisory response to those affected by the Icelandic volcano.
Mar 19, 2012, 12:18 pm
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I've been persuing a delayed flight compensation with them for over 2 years and have basically given up ever getting anything.
Mar 19, 2012, 6:09 pm
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I just wonder if that's the whole story, though.
Normally refunds are pretty much automatic with KLM when a flight is cancelled (I've been through the process in the last few weeks - online form, immediate auto-acknowledgment, money was back on my card within days).
I wonder if the second flight was on a separate ticket? Sounds like he had commitments both in Canada and in the Netherlands, so if his return involved a stop-over of more than 24 hours (for his seminar in Utrecht) the whole trip may well have been booked on two PNRs.
Only speculating, of course... but I think it's quite possible.
Normally refunds are pretty much automatic with KLM when a flight is cancelled (I've been through the process in the last few weeks - online form, immediate auto-acknowledgment, money was back on my card within days).
I wonder if the second flight was on a separate ticket? Sounds like he had commitments both in Canada and in the Netherlands, so if his return involved a stop-over of more than 24 hours (for his seminar in Utrecht) the whole trip may well have been booked on two PNRs.
Only speculating, of course... but I think it's quite possible.
Mar 20, 2012, 4:29 am
#10
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Good luck to him flying BA from Cardiff!!
I would really expect that he was travelling on two separate tickets. Particularly as there is this talk of attending a seminar in Utrecht as well as in Montreal.
I would really expect that he was travelling on two separate tickets. Particularly as there is this talk of attending a seminar in Utrecht as well as in Montreal.
Mar 20, 2012, 5:35 pm
#13
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Under the Montreal Convention, airlines are in principle liable for damages caused by delays to transportation (Art 19 of the Convention). Missing an onward connection (whethe on another plane, or a train, boat, etc...) would constitute such a prejudice that the airline may be under a duty to compensate for, subject to the limits on liability within the Convention. So if you had to buy a new ticket as a result of this, you could sue the airline for that cost.
Airlines, however, have a somewhat wider escape clause under the Montreal Convention than they have under Reg 261/2004: they can escape liability if they can establish that they took all measures that they could reasonably be expected to take to avoid the damage or that it was impossible for them to take said measures.
Airlines, however, have a somewhat wider escape clause under the Montreal Convention than they have under Reg 261/2004: they can escape liability if they can establish that they took all measures that they could reasonably be expected to take to avoid the damage or that it was impossible for them to take said measures.
Mar 22, 2012, 10:21 am
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Any story published by those rabid lunatic rags (Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday) should be treated with much suspicion, mainly as they have a history of making stuff up especially when it's to do with anything a plucky innocent Brit being oppressed by those pesky Europeans. Every week they have non-stories like this floating about.
Sounds like the a two ticket itinerary gone wrong to me.
Sounds like the a two ticket itinerary gone wrong to me.
