Stranded in AMS, stranded in IAD, finally to DTW (long)
 

My wife and I were stuck in AMS on Wed 3/2. Our flight from Rome was late getting in and our flight to DTW left. We were told this while sitting on the runway waiting for a gate. Luckily, the guy next to me had a cell phone with international access and lent it to me. I immediately called NW and found out we had been "protected" onto to same 2:25 PM departure to DTW on Thursday, 3/4.
The multiple missed connections that occurred were numerous, but KLM handled them very well. A deli type number machine was brought in and everyone took a number. I was number 915 and they were on number 600. Although this at first appeared bad, I appreciated the fact I could get something to eat and relax away from the line while awaiting my turn. A KLM helper told me to check back in about 2 hours which I did. I asked about getting out earlier (those flights were already full) and got my boarding passes. Did get 2 overnight kits (T-shirt, toothbrush, shampoo, comb etc) and found a hotel which we had to pay for.

Day 2- Part 1
 

We arrived back the next morning to find out our flight was cancelled. The deli style number machine was gone and the lines to the counter were 4 hours long. My wife (bless her heart) spent the 4 hours in line as I tried to phone NW. This involved internet and phone lounges (.40/minute, but they don’t work for 800 numbers for some reason), renting a cell phone ( a Delta pilot let me have his, but all I got was disconnected due to the “extremely high call volume”. Then I figured out how to buy a Dutch calling card and was using that to make the same call only to get hung up on due to the high call volume.
While wandering the airport looking for phone options, I stopped at the Delta counter, which had absolutely no line whatsoever. I asked whether they could get me to DTW. They said they had plenty of room from AMS- ATL and ATL- DTW, so getting me home by 9 PM that night would be doable.
I asked one of the KLM helpers to run our tickets around the back of the counter to get them signed over to Delta. Otherwise, we would miss the flight, which was in 1 ½ hours, because the line would take another 2 hours at least to reach the counter. Originally said he wouldn’t do it. He finally agreed, and came back with the lame answer (given by a lamer supervisor) that they couldn’t do that because my bags would not be able to make the flight and I was required to fly with my bags! (Later, you’ll see this isn’t the case.) :mad:

Day 2- Part 2
 

Two hours later, made it to the counter. My feelings were 90% percent of the agents were really trying hard to sort out the madness and were hustling and trying to help. ^ However, our agent and the two supervisors that could authorize any deviations to your original routing were totally lame and moving like snails. :td: Unbelievable. :mad: I saw 3 people arrested in separate incidents during the day, and thought this power play was ill advised and completely unprofessional.
I started out by asking to get to DTW through a different city that day. “It is not possible.” I asked to get to any place in the US that day. She replies “It is not possible.” (This turns out to be a lie.) I ask to get the ticket endorsed over to Delta. She says Delta is in the same position NW/KLM is in and don’t have any room. I tell her I talked to the Delta agent because they had no lines at all and they had room for me. She says what time is the flight? I tell her actually I’ve already missed today’s flight due to the long NW/KLM lines, but have way more faith I’ll get home on Delta than NW/KLM the next day. She says “We never sign tickets over to Delta.” Yet another lie. I have her name and it will be include in my letter to NW/KLM.
She then tells me there is no availability on the DTW flight tomorrow, which doesn’t surprise me due to 2 out of 3 flights being cancelled today. She then asks which airports are close to DTW and she will try to route me through them. I say NYC, WAS, MEM, MSP and Chicago. She goes to see a supervisor with this info and 45 minutes later says she has me booked through ATL. The entire 45 minutes she stands with her back to me and even though she is literally 10 feet away from me offers no progress reports the entire time. Approx. every 15 minutes I ask how things are going.

Day 2- Part 3
 

I felt absolutely horrible for the people stuck in the line behind us. There is room for 2 group of people at the counter (one on either side of the monitor), yet our agent decides to drink Coke and talk to the supervisor for the entire 45 minutes instead of helping the others stuck behind us in line at the other side of the counter. I ask the person next to us how long he waited in line and he replied “One and a half hours”. The poor people behind us were there for 5 hours due to NW/KLM not bringing the deli number machine back out. MAD
Then, a male KLM agent walks to the center of the counter and with a bullhorn announces there are 90 spots available on a flight to Dulles and it is leaving in 15 minutes. So much for no flights to the US today, let alone I told our agent to try Washington. He then announces if you are holding a boarding pass to any location in the US, they will honor it on that flight and to go to the gate where a new boarding pass will be issued.
My hour wait to generate the new AMS-ATL-DTW ticket for tomorrow is now in vane, let alone “we can’t let you take Delta because you must fly with your bags” denial earlier in the afternoon. Plus, rumors are now spreading through the airport that AMS will be getting snow for the next two days and you better get out while you can.
Our agent now tries to generate boarding passes for IAD quickly. It appears this is the first quick work she has done in a long time and is horribly out of practice. She makes several mistakes and needs to backtrack to correct them. She hands me the passes and my wife and I literally do the OJ Simpson run through he airport.

Day 2- Part 4
 

The run is not necessary. The plane leaves late by about 1 hour in an attempt to get as many people on as possible. Everyone must be issued new boarding passes and it is a slow process. The pilot announces that the door must be closed by 6 PM or the crew will time out. We leave with about a half dozen empty seats.
I was looking foward to the VOD and individual screens of the A330. Instead, we are on a KLM 767 with what appears to be console TVs attached to the ceiling every 5 rows. But I am happy to be going to the US under any circumstances.
We land in Dulles and I immediately call my Mom while still on the tarmac to get on the internet and see if there are any flights to DTW or FNT from Dulles tonight. She reports the last one left 10 minutes ago. There is one to DTW at 6:19 AM tomorrow.
We clear customs quickly and get to the NW counter. A platinum elite in line in front of me says there is a flight to DTW on United at 9:30 tonight. It is now 8:30.
There are two agents at the counter. He gets there first and says he wants his ticket endorsed over to United to catch the 9:30 flight. His agent is telling him something I can’t hear. I tell my agent I want my wife’s and my tickets endorsed over as well. He lies to us that there is no more room on that flight. I ask how the guy next to us at the counter can get a seat? He says it’s the last one.
Anyway, we settle on the 6:19 AM flight. I ask will NW pay for the room since it is the second night. The agent says no, but he will give me an Interrupted Trip Voucher that gets me the same rate as the airline would pay. We also get 2 more amenity packs, the first 2 being given in AMS. $50 or 50 euro off coupons, 2000 miles, and 5 minute calling cards in each.
We call the 800 number on the Interrupted Travel Voucher and they tell us to go to the Holiday Inn for $62. We board the shuttle and after about 15 people are aboard (mainly Delta cancelled flight refugees going to London) and pull away, the driver gets radioed that the hotel is totally full and to take us back. This is despite the ITV people giving a confirmation number. I instantly get on the cell and call the 800 number again and get the Embassy Suites for $67. We get dropped off at the upper level, walk back to the lower level and get on the Embassy Suites shuttle.
We make it to our room at 11:15PM and request a wake up call for 4:45AM. When I wake up, the bill under the door says $304. I call the front desk and they have a new bill for me by 5AM as I catch the shuttle.

Day 3
 

We have SSSS at the bottom of our boarding passes so my wife and I get the full pat down and bag search. We get to the gate by 5:40 and who is there but Mr. Platinum Elite from last night. He says the agent wouldn’t sign over the ticket and when he finally demanded a supervisor and the supervisor showed up the ticket was finally endorsed over. But, by the time he made it to the Delta counter, he had missed the boarding pass window by 2 minutes. This after 15-20 minutes arguing with the agent. So NW saved paying United for the flight, but had to buy him a hotel room instead and pissed him off. This also confirmed that the KLM agent I had at AMS was lying about tickets never being endorsed over to Delta.
I made it to DTW by 7:45AM Friday 3/4 and was home by 8:30. Boy, can you get through airports fast with no luggage. Ours is still in AMS. After a quick shower, I was into work by 10AM. My boss had expected me back Thursday. Worse off is my wife, who is scheduled to work a 24 hour shift and misses the first 3 hours of it, arriving at 10AM.

Issues
 

It appears NW/KLM has a policy to never endorse over any tickets no matter how many hotel rooms and vacation days a customer needs to burn through to eventually get home. Even if the policy was to get the interrupted trip traveler home within 24 hours, fine, but after a day, quit messing with me and sign the ticket over to someone who can. Also, I know NW saved a ton of money canceling 2 of 3 DTW-AMS-DTW flights. Use some of that money to help pay for my hotel rooms. Also, if the deli machine number system worked so well the first time, why get rid of it the second day and force people to spend 4 hours in the line? Lastly, if AMS is where the problem is, when you call NW and push the numbers indicating you already have an international ticket and need a change, don’t hang up on me.

Compensation
 

I will be sending most of this in a letter to NW requesting some compensation. I don’t believe any compensation is owed to me for the weather delay part, but have serious problems with the lack of allowing another carrier to get me home and the lying. Also, the 4 hour waste of time the second day in line was also uncalled for. ( Actually, 5 hours if you count the hour wasted with us at the counter.) I believe it is reasonable to have them pay for the second night’s hotel room and food. I know they are not required to pay for it, and if I couldn’t have gotten home on Delta Thursday night either from AMS or IAD and been lied to multiple times, I wouldn’t have an issue with it.

Observations
 

I also want to say the camaraderie of the passengers helping each other out and the effort of most airport employees was spectacular. I was allowed to use no less than 3 cell phones from different people to place international calls to NW, including one from a Delta pilot. Several of the KLM agents were very kind and understanding and really went out of their way to make the situation the best possible. The majority of people I interacted with were great.

Lastly, I want to point out this was written after a good nights sleep and more than a day after I got home to allow myself to become more objective about the situation.

Any advice about what to ask for due to these circumstances would be appreciated. Thankfully, I have never experienced anything like this before.

AMS has to be the most inconsistent Airport in the world... when it works- it really works. When it doesn't- be prepared for the very worst! Sorry to hear about the hassle- if it is any consolation a colleague of mine was stuck for 9 hours at CDG-trying to get to VCE- the weather really was a disaster for Italy at least!

I am not sure about this---- I had a flight from LVG-MNP-AMS-VCE last year that went mechanical in LVG. They put me on Virgin Atlantic to LGW and then BA to VCE- I acutally got home EARLIER than my scheduled flight- and the Upper Class on Virgin puts NW WBC to shame....

AMS -- DTW trip...
 

Wow...sounds like the trip from Hell! I give you credit Bikeguy for not "cracking up" after that trip!! You hopefully will notify NWA and detail your trip! Good luck

.....

The first evening when I heard we were on the flight the next day, that was exactly my attitude. I had never been to AMS and decided I wanted to go into the city. Unfortunately, all our bags were in some holding area and my wife did not have shoes that would work in several inches of snow. So I went into town the morning before our rebooked flight and looked around for a few hours. In hindsight, it was a terrible mistake to not check whether the flight was on time (It would have been cancelled by then.) I didn't have internet access at the hotel, but certainly could have called my Mom and had her look while I waited. I even could have checked the departure screen at the train station at the airport (where I boarded for downtown). Lesson learned, I guess. Then I would have been in line much sooner to rebook.

And thanks for the 12,500 miles info. I wasn't sure how much others had received and that is great info to have.

"it is not possible" is typical dutch speak. It does not exactly translate and you may have more wiggle room than you think. The KLM board hears this term all too often.

In my experience this past year trying out NWA, I have found they are very bad with irregular ops. I realize most passengers think they must stay at the same gate where their flight is cancelled, overwhelming the agent. I always try and get on the phone right away. The agents on the phone have uniformly been hostile, always refuse to rebook me on another carrier.

Although inflight experiences on NWA have been uniformly pleasant, I have to give them an F on irregular ops. And to use weather as a scapegoat gets very tiring.