Hello.

I was scheduled to fly on 29 April 2022 from VRN to POZ via AMS. VRN to AMS on HV5466 and AMS to POZ on KL1273. Ticketed via KL.

On 27 April, KL notified me that the flight from AMS to POZ was cancelled. According to an email, this was due to the ground handling staff strike at AMS. It is my understanding that these are KLM staff and not third-party workers, but I could be wrong about that.

KL rebooked me on Lufthansa via FRA; however, the proposed itinerary had me arriving over 10 hours after my originally scheduled arrival. I elected to cancel my booking entirely for a full refund.

I believe that I may also be entitled to compensation via EC 261, so I submitted a claim via the webform on KLM's website. I received a response today that said I should contact Transavia for compensation. This makes absolutely no sense, since it is the KL flight that was cancelled, not the HV flight.

I have replied to the email ([email protected]), reiterating the point that I am requesting compensation from KL for a KL-cancelled KL flight.

I also attempted to open a new compensation claim, since the original was marked as closed. However, the booking code for the cancelled flight is not recognized. I get the message, "Sorry, we couldn't find your booking."

Has anyone encountered this problem with the booking code not being recognized? Any ideas on how to rectify it? Thank you in advance.

There was no ground crew strike on 29 April that I am aware of - a wildcat strike on Saturday 23 April did, however, bring the airport into a state of paralysis, and which exacerbated the problems that Schiphol experienced right through to today. Flights have been cancelled almost daily since late April to the present, and there have been many cases of passengers missing flights despite reporting to the airport 3 or more hours in advance due to the horrific delays caused by an understaffed Schiphol unable to cope with the planned number of passengers. The airport even took the novel strategy of directing airlines to cancel planned flights, and to stop selling any more tickets on services during the periods of greatest pressure.

According to the free flight check on https://www.euclaim.co.uk/free-flight-check#/problem, they seem to be willing to pursue cases involving KL1273 on 29 April.

I would suggest you turn the case over to the claims agency of your choice; once you fill in the initial details and provide a power of attorney, they will (in theory anyway) chase up the case on your behalf. If you were successful, they would take a cut of the compensation. If they can't obtain compensation, you would not have to pay the agency (but check their terms before engaging them. I don't know of any agency that doesn't work on a "No Win No Fee" basis but that doesn't mean there may not be some who do operate on a different basis)

One final question - have you already been reimbursed for your cancelled trip? I assume so, given that you don't address this issue, which would seem to be the more pressing issue here.

I suspect that, having requested a reimbursement, which is either in the system for processing or which already has been processed, the "normal" website flow of claiming compensation is closed off, because they presumably don't expect that flights that a passenger has requested full reimbursement for should also be eligible for payment of compensation. Or, maybe it is just as simple as that, having marked the case as "closed", it cannot be reopened by the passenger in the usual manner.

Again, another reason to just pass the details on to a specialist, and forget about it (because these things take time).

Back in March six colleagues were booked on an afternoon AMS-GDN flight. It was canceled a week or so out, and they were rebooked on the evening flight. That flight in turn was canceled five hours before departure. They were all put up in hotels and flew the next day. All six submitted claims to KL, and all six were denied. The funny thing is that the cut and paste form letters gave different reasons. Some blamed Covid, others blamed the weather. There was nothing wrong with the AMS weather, they had airport views from their hotel rooms and could watch planes landing and taking off all evening. Flightradar24 showed there was nothing wrong at GDN anyway.

All of them have now enlisted the services of a claims agency, and are confident of getting compensated.

Johan

Why do the airlines may recovering money from compensation so challenging? I'd much rather get the total amount myself as opposed to sharing with an agency that sues the airline.

And, the airline would save more by avoiding deal with with those courts.

I would have thought the answer was obvious!

KLM has long since figured out that if they initially deny all but the most obvious claims, the vast majority of claimants will not take the matter further. The money thus saved will easily cover the few cases they choose to fight in court, with plenty of change to spare.

Johan

I was hoping not to have to go through a third-party, but it looks like that will be the best way. Thanks for the suggestions/comments.