Antwerp (ZWE) digital boarding card/train ticket
Feb 4, 2024, 1:24 am
#62
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 14
I was able to talk to KLM and they say all is ok with my booking and I shouldnt worry !
Feb 4, 2024, 2:57 am
#63
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 191
I have encountered problems with last minute cancelled trains where I took the earlier train on my own initiative (train manager assigned a seat without any problems). I went to the KLM desk in Amsterdam talking about this, since my ticket was not updated. They still believed the train was operating as scheduled, despite even the railway sign at Amsterdam showed the next one as cancelled.
It seems likely there is not a real-life tracking system on their tickets with Eurostar and in the case of IRROPS this asks for a very proactive customer..
Last edited by EvD86; Feb 6, 2024 at 1:58 am
Feb 6, 2024, 1:55 am
#65
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: VLC
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Posts: 654
Furthermore there's works in the Schiphol tunnel, so some of these weekends the Eurostar also wasn't stopping there.
Feb 6, 2024, 5:27 am
#66
Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 14
Basically every weekend of January and a few weekends in February, Thalys Eurostar wasn't stopping in Antwerp and the IC trains went to Berchem instead of Centraal. It's also the reason KLM rebooked my ZWE-AMS-XXX into BRU-AMS-XXX which was silly as I was in Antwerp and XXX was in the south of Europe, but so be it.
Furthermore there's works in the Schiphol tunnel, so some of these weekends the Eurostar also wasn't stopping there.
Furthermore there's works in the Schiphol tunnel, so some of these weekends the Eurostar also wasn't stopping there.
how much time before were you rebooked please ?
did you get some compensation having to start your journey from another origin ?
thank you
Feb 6, 2024, 5:28 am
#67
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: VLC
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y2)
Posts: 654
I was rebooked in September I believe when Eurostar cancelled the trains from Antwerp / to Schiphol. I didn't ask for compensation. It cost me 14 to take the train from Antwerp to Brussels Airport and 40 minutes of my time, so I'm not going to try to get a compensation at this time.
Feb 28, 2024, 7:37 am
#68
Join Date: Apr 2009
Programs: KL-AF FB Elite Plus, LH M&M, BA, SQ, HHonors, etc.
Posts: 270
And now for some reason no tickets bookable from/to Antwerp beginning mid March, but bookable from Brussels/ZYR via AMS. Hope they are not routing these trains via Berchem by-passing the main station.
Last edited by LH757; Feb 28, 2024 at 7:48 am
Feb 28, 2024, 8:01 am
#69
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: HAG
Programs: Der 5* FTL
Posts: 8,363
They are. I don't know if they do for all of them, or only specific days, but I was on a Brussels-Amsterdam Thalys this previous Saturday and we didn't stop in Antwerp. I'm not 100% sure we went via Oost or Centraal without stopping, but we definitely didn't use HSL up to Rotterdam but the slow line via Roosendaal.
May 11, 2024, 9:35 am
#70
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: FB, M&B, UA, AA
Posts: 2,581
Well. I took the ZWE-AMS train coded KL212 yesterday, so let me share the experience.
New procedure indeed. I was able to get a digital boarding card for this Eurostar leg. It looks exactly like a normal flight boarding pass, but mentions the Eurostar carriage # and seat # - and mentions explicitly to hold on to your luggage.
I did not have to go to the railway station ticket counter anymore like we had to do before (I had to do that as recently as Oct 10 - not sure when they changed over). There was still with a glitch in the procedure for getting the boarding card through the KLM mobile app - but I was able to get it OK through the website.
The Train Manager was very diligent about checking the tickets for the KL passengers. He did not scan though, but put the traditional 'round stamp' on the paper ticket. So no electronic validation (the Antwerp railway station also does not have any electronic gate where you could scan).
At Schiphol luggage drop / checkin this was not really checked though - but I would not take that as a data point as I can imagine I am not raising any suspicion as a Belgian citizen with an Antwerp home address. It might be different for someone with a Dutch passport.
Would love to hear others experiences on this new process.
New procedure indeed. I was able to get a digital boarding card for this Eurostar leg. It looks exactly like a normal flight boarding pass, but mentions the Eurostar carriage # and seat # - and mentions explicitly to hold on to your luggage.
I did not have to go to the railway station ticket counter anymore like we had to do before (I had to do that as recently as Oct 10 - not sure when they changed over). There was still with a glitch in the procedure for getting the boarding card through the KLM mobile app - but I was able to get it OK through the website.
The Train Manager was very diligent about checking the tickets for the KL passengers. He did not scan though, but put the traditional 'round stamp' on the paper ticket. So no electronic validation (the Antwerp railway station also does not have any electronic gate where you could scan).
At Schiphol luggage drop / checkin this was not really checked though - but I would not take that as a data point as I can imagine I am not raising any suspicion as a Belgian citizen with an Antwerp home address. It might be different for someone with a Dutch passport.
Would love to hear others experiences on this new process.
May 12, 2024, 9:36 am
#71
Join Date: Jan 2022
Location: VLC
Programs: FB Plat (Y3), All Accor Gold (Y2)
Posts: 654
May 12, 2024, 12:52 pm
#72
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: FB, M&B, UA, AA
Posts: 2,581
Well, made my ZWE-AMS-MAD stint. Bummer: boardingpass said coach 36 seat 14 but a lovely couple with young kids sat there, and they could show they indeed booked the seats. A Belgian in seat 13 also had to stand between ZWE and Rotterdam in the restaurant carriage since no seats available. There was even a young family with young kids using the 'klapstoeltjes' (not sure if on a KLM ticket). At Rotterdam half the pax went out so space. Bumped into one of the train managers and asked for a stamp - on my ticket, since I had been unable to print out the boarding pass. He gave me a stamp and said ' good luck, normally I stamp the boarding pass'. Took a few photo's of my laptop showing the place and speed of the TGV plus time and date as back-up. At Schiphol not any check and I just went trough security, to the lounge and the boarding process as usual with my AMS-MAD bp. Verdict: 1) the KLM-Eurostar collaboration is still far from seamless. It is just horrible to see your seat is taken by apparently legitimate pax, and at that moment no train steward around to sort things out. 2) if you want to use a ZWE-AMS-XXX ticket and only board at AMS you may get away with it. But I would not risk it. LIke with speeding, chances may be 20% you are caught. But unlike with speeding, the consequences if you are caught are significant - you lose your ticket and have to book an alternative on the spot, without doubt very expensive.
Jun 3, 2024, 7:00 am
#73
Join Date: Jun 2012
Programs: FB, M&B, UA, AA
Posts: 2,581
And on the way back - could check in easily for MAD-AMS-ZYR via the app. Could use the Shengen lounge with my AMS-ZYR boarding pass on my app. Then, bummer, some 15 minutes before I wanted to board the train, the AMS-ZYR boarding pass went grey and disappeared from the app! Queing two times, once for NS information and then NS international, the latter asking the 4-5 pax waiting if I could bypass due to my train leaving soon which they gratefully allowed, and a lady at NS international said I had to get my boarding pass from a machine, but she recommended to jump on the train given the short time and report to the train manager. Since I had not seen any train manager on my outbound, with 6 minutes left I rushed to a machine nevertheless, and got my physical boarding pass thankfully in a minute by passport recognition. Was just on the platform with the right carriage stopping in front of me. This time no issues with my seat being occupied. Did not know you had to print it, also from Schiphol....Another weird thing was that I could not email my boarding passes to myself.
Jun 3, 2024, 9:03 am
#74
Join Date: May 2023
Programs: FlyingBlue
Posts: 26
I took the train from AMS the other day. I had both a printed boarding pass as well as one in the app.
When I boarded the train, I spoke to the staff, who looked at my boarding pass (in the app) and showed me where the "KLM seats" were.
I asked him why he didn't want to scan to boardingpass and he showed me that they still cannot scan the code (their scanners just don't read it out).
So all in all, the system is still pretty free style...
When I boarded the train, I spoke to the staff, who looked at my boarding pass (in the app) and showed me where the "KLM seats" were.
I asked him why he didn't want to scan to boardingpass and he showed me that they still cannot scan the code (their scanners just don't read it out).
So all in all, the system is still pretty free style...