On a recent ticket, i noticed a line which I haven’t noticed before: “Are you travelling with a Basic or Light ticket? If the flight is very full, we may ask you to gate check your bag - this is free”.



My simple question is - does this mean that buying a Standard or a Flex ticket guarantees that carry on bags would not be gate checked?

The wording seems to exclusive and apply only to Basic and Light fares.

As a Platinum, this is not a concern, but it is a concern to Ms ok986.

There is never a guarantee.

However, based on group boarding, those boarding last will be most likely to have their carry-on bagage gate checked if space starts running out.

But group boarding is - as far as I can tell - based on seating, not fare. But maybe I am wrong…

(on short/medium haul) group 1 is business class, group 2 is Skypriority, and the remaining groups will be largely dictated by fare family, not by chosen/assigned seat.

The text you've highlighted just means that - as the last to board - those holding Light and Basic tickets are the most likely to be required to check their carry-on bag. The last to board are always the most likely to have to sacrifice their carry-on when the onboard staff flags that the bins are full.

There are never any guarantees. If you are not at the gate prior to boarding starting, and turn up late (missing the chance to board with your zone), the chances are increased that your bag may have to be gatechecked, whereas if you boarded early, you are less likely to have your bag taken.

Comfort seems to get group 3. I find KLM does a good job at trying to accommodate hand luggage.

I agree. As a matter of fact, they are often overly tolerant towards the steamer trunks some are passing off as hand luggage.

Surely gate checked bag is not "gratis" on the Basic fare (assuming no status)? The entire point of the Basic vs Light fare is that the former doesn't include carry-on.

And a very bad job at enforcing its own baggage policy... unfortunately too many bags make it through that shouldn't on KLM, causing constant delays.

No; it's only free on very full flights ("Als de vlucht erg vol is") when they have to take carry-on luggage from the late boarders. They will always make an announcement before boarding in such cases requesting people to volunteer to check in their bag for free in such scenarios.

In the absence of any such airline initiative, though, you can't just decide voluntarily to gate-check a bag for free; either they take a bag from you and charge you to check it because it's above your allowance/the allowed dimensions/weight, or they take your bag to be checked when they have run out of onboard space.

That's not my point. My point is that Basic fare does not include a carry-on, so I don't understand why a carry-on would be gate-checked for free on the Basic fare.

You can add hand-baggage as a paid extra on any Basic fare.

That, or have it as part of status benefits.

Indeed.

I assume that, if you hold status, you would still end up with Zone 2 boarding on a Basic ticket and thereby "miss" the likelihood of being required to give up your handluggage if you're one of the last to board - with the other Basic and Light ticketholders - if the gate agent is informed that the overhead bins are full and all remaining carry-on bags need to be checked.

I'll be travelling on a Basic ticket for the first time in the next few weeks so will be able to confirm afterwards if I get Zone 2.

Maybe it’s just the result of my travel patterns, but I regularly see gate agents coming out among the customers with bags in the boarding area ahead of the boarding, and demanding to check the bags. So my question is whether telling them “but i travel on a standard/flex ticket” will placate them.

In my experience, they always ask to see your boarding pass and if they see a low group number they leave you alone.