FlyingBlonde89

I just had a bizarre experience on a cityhopper.

I'm FB Platinum, my partner is silver. On our return flight to Amsterdam this evening I was upgraded at the gate to 1F (business) from 3A (economy) but my bf was not so I asked to stay in my originally assigned spot but instead he was verbally upgraded to 1D (yes this is probably going where you think) ... when the plane doors closed the purser told my bf he had to move to a random seat at the back of the plane and that ground crew didn't have the authority to make that decision. I asked to join him in economy which she didn't respond well to.

In the end (after the purser making a scene and loudly suggesting we were both trying to freeload (despite my boarding pass and confirmation from ground crew) we were both finally moved back to economy at my request.

Has any one had this? Why would they upgrade one person on a booking especially when it seems there were other single plats on the flight?

Worst part: the purser was just incredibly rude and borderline aggressive about the whole thing (she insisted we couldn't sit together even in economy because I'd been upgraded). I didnt want to sit in J for an hour flight, I just wanted a conversation with my travel companion.

It seems like they don't give air crew the same customer service training as ground staff (who generally behave like they've at least been briefed on handling challenges or issues). Any insight on this?

westi2002

At the gate they should have upgraded your bf as well, not verbally but by issueing a new BP. How can you be so sure there were other platinims travelling alone? If that's true. I really don't understand the ground staff.

I have been upgraded alone as my wife was on a different booking. My original seat was left empty, so told the purser I wanted to move back: no problem at all.

mfkne

Weight and balance restrictions are at play here - they are calculated before takeoff based on the seating positions. If the ground crew verbally upgrade someone, the cabin (and cockpit) crew are not aware of this fact and weight and balance calculations will be out of whack. That explains why they didn't allow your partner to sit in the front or you in the back.

Upgrading a single person in a booking happens as well - it has happened to me while travelling with my wife and daughter, but I declined the upgrade at check-in and we were thus seated together after all (and someone else got happy instead).

AnaTFN

There is no good justification for being rude. All what I can think is that probably the flight was oversold in economy, which is the only reason KLM would upgrade anyone to J, and that situation might have also led to later boarding putting extra stress on the crew to get the cabin ready for departure. Also, if the was an evening flight the purser might already have been overwhelmed by previous flights that day and didn't have much patience left. It is more likely one of those situations (i.e. being already in a bad mood and rushed) that led to the reaction, not that your request created the bad mood, but you are absolutely right that rude and aggressive behavior should not be acceptable.

johan rebel

It sounds to me as if the gate agents were the ones who primarily dropped the ball here. They may not just verbally upgrade somebody, it has to be done properly and the pax concerned must be issued with a new boarding card. Period. How is the cabin supervisor (KLC doesn't have any pursers) two know who her J class pax are?

Johan

johan rebel

No, that's not the case. They have discretion.

For example, on boarding a flight the scanner bleeped and I was upgraded (no, not verbally). I turned around and informed a colleague who was standing behind me in the queue. The gate agent hearing this, asked if we were traveling together, told us to wait a minute, went to the gate desk, and came back with a J class boarding card for my colleague. That was a simple act of kindness, or going the extra customer service mile, even though all the other pax in the Sky Priority line were held up for a minute.

Johan

FlyingBlonde89

When I was able to go back to economy it was after they moved another plat into the 1F seat I was assigned (he wasn't sitting with a companion and he and I had a brief chat). Yeah, strange that the ground crew didn't just just change my BP back and assign it to another plat at the gate or that the FA didn't just let it go to avoid a weird game of musical chairs after doors closed.

HadesNL

Echoing above comments.....

Although add in a bit of KLM's "its not possible"mantra without the kind and understanding face....

FlyingBlonde89

You're right, economy was oversold. Based on my observations were I think two (perhaps four) paying customers in business (but they had a €69 upgrade deal at check-in and updated my boarding pass prior to boarding though also verbally upgraded another plat at the gate). I think there was one free spot in economy in the end (which also explains why she didn't allow me to move back when I originally requested it).

FlyingBlonde89

That was it... I think ground crew probably screwed up but seems ridiculous to treat me like some kind of ignorant child or freeloader when I did exactly as I was asked when it came to the seat rearrangements.

Another FA came over later in the flight and I essentially said 'Well that was awkward, sorry, not fun for you either' and she begin telling me how she was training her colleague (i.e. she is more senior and the colleague is new) and it's a shame how my companion and I had chosen to sit there because it's not allowed. When I re-explained what happened with ground crew she said I should have told her colleague... at that point the OG FA came over and said 'they didn't have the authority to make that decision'. My very Dutch boyfriend did snap after she continued the monologue and said essentially 'we've done nothing wrong, we just wanted our original seats and you haven't even apologised'... response 'I apologise that you feel unhappy'.

FlyingBlonde89

Totally agree that it was an initial screw-up by ground crew who are usually kind but quite amature at this airport. (It's a small UK airport with non-KLM ground staff: My last flight from there was a few weeks earlier and ground crew managed to let people board without checking BPs or passports so they had to re-check everyone on the flight who didn't show up as having been scanned... cabin crew were not impressed and considered deboarding the whole flight.)

Ground crew did verbally upgrade the plat ahead of me during boarding (no updated BP, no issues from FAs, plat just told FA when he boarded- the ground crew had already given a heads-up and were chatting with the FA before doors closed so any questions about musical chairs could have been asked)... the whole thing could have been resolved on flight pretty easily if the FA didn't start raising her voice, telling me that [my companion and I] hadn't paid for our seats (but I still couldn't move from J) and behaving the way she did (including some wonderfully condescending 'some of these people have paid a lot of money for their tickets, business class is expensive'... maybe think about how many plats would be unaware of this or not have traveled J themselves?)

FlyingBlonde89

Would you have advised that I should have insisted on the BP being updated (either both J or OG seats) or just chalk it up to random misfortune/bad handling?

johan rebel

Johan

Fabo.sk

They really dropped the ball.

KLC or mainline? KLC is usually quite good in CS...

And at this point I will go full Karen and unleash the highest form of complaint I can think of. "I'm sorry you feel that way" is not an apology, it's gaslighting. Unacceptable. If you don't want to apologize, then don't, but cut this crap.

FlyingBlonde89

KLC. Never had anything like it. They cancelled a few flights on the route so they've gone from being 50-70% full (precovid) to almost always close to fully booked. Maybe they're just cracking under the pressure.


On the 'apology'... I said nothing. I spent my student days as a customer service rep and that statement killed all hope of a reasonable interaction (I don't think you can explain what's wrong with their approach if they trot out those kind of statements). My thick skinned Dutch partner (who has low standards of service) said it wasn't an apology and she rerepeated it ('I've apologised twice that I'm sorry that you aren't happy with your experience') to which he replied 'Good luck with your fabulous airline' or something like that.

I hoped I'd be less irritated today but instead I'm considering channeling my inner Karen and calling the plat line to cancel my Wednesday long haul to make a point (the cost of rebooking with another airline is probably worth it for me not to have to see another rude woman in blue this week).