Originally Posted by LAXFlyer00 (Post 8801026)

It seems some people get so stuck in their opinions, the most important thing to them is they stand their ground and defend to their death if necessary (ok, maybe not that far, but...), that original opinion and never stop for a second to step back and to to look at all sides and consider reassessing what's happen. "I'm right!! I'm right!! I'm right..!! don't nobody tell me I'm wrong because I'm right!!" Sad.

This is NOT bait-and-switch. For it to be bait-and-switch, there's a requirement of willful and intentional mispresentation by the party providing the goods or services. That's NOT what happened here.

As I (and I believe the majority) see it, GA made an offer of 600 EU with the assumption the OP would be delayed overnight. I am certain the GA did not think "we need volunteers to bump, I'm going to offer 600 EU, but later rescind that and only offer 300 EU". That would be bait-and-switch.

There was much chaos and such getting the plane boarded and on its way, for the GA to be fully aware of all the various bump options is going beyond reasonable expectations. As it turns out, a flight was available to put the bumpees on and incur only a 45-min delay, IMHO, 300 EU is quite a good deal in this case.

If some kind of written agreement had been handed out and signed off on, this would be a different matter. It's why I think things like mistake fares need to be honored-- a<mistake> amount is advertised, money is exchanged, an agreement is made in writing <albeit electronically>. But there's a purely human factor here-- a GA who's difficult job is to get that plane off. Like many here have already pointed out, agreeing to a VDB means giving up some things, including boarding at a time where there's enough overhead luggage space. In the end, it wasn't necessary to stay overnight and put up with the hassles of returning a day later.

In the words of Howie Mandel, the OP got, "a good deal".

Originally Posted by SchmutzigMSP (Post 8800450)

I guess I'm not sure why you haven't moved on to other threads yet...obviously nothing can be solved here, and it's clearly a KLM issue, not NW. You should consider taking it to their forum.

Originally Posted by GBadger (Post 8802075)

This isn't a bad idea (taking it to the KLM forum). There, there will be many more people that have experience with the KL GAs, as well as the EU rules governing those things. I would check over there to see whether or not you got screwed.

My guess is that you'll find less sympathy there than you have here. But, there is really only one way to find out.

Originally Posted by RichMSN (Post 8798559)

Yup, I'm with Yaatri. How is this NOT bait and switch? He's offered 600, he gives up his seat, then he's told he's only getting 300? If there's a seat on his original flight, he should've been told that they didn't need him to volunteer anymore, not be given a lesser offer.

Originally Posted by Yaatri (Post 9518047)

A few months ago a thread titled Bait and Switch regarding VDB compensation for volunteering our seats.

Many people felt that my characterisation of the situation as "Bait and Switch" was unreasonable, and I was to be blamed for the situation which I brought upon myself. Some personalised the issue claiming once they volunteered their seats and ended up getting nothing, suggesting that I was "well compensated". A few felt it was indeed bait and switch, while some others felt it was not simply a black and white call.

I usually do not complain, I know I should, about minor things such as malfunction of AVOD or seats, and have not complained about even some major incidents, some of which I have mentioned here on FT.

This time I drafted a note and faxed it to NW/KLM European Operations people at an address in MSP, different from that for Customer care.
After about a month, I got a response from Customer Care.



To those of you who felt KLM did not do anything wrong, and that my complaints were hollow, NW felt otherwise. To those who were rather rude, to the extent of making remarks bordering on personal attacks, making judgement about my behaviour, I hope they will refrain from doing so in the future and apologise if they made insulting remarks about my attitude and/or eat crow. ;)

$1.65 to 1 Euro is better rate than any I have seen.

Kudos to NW.

Originally Posted by Yaatri (Post 9518047)

To those who were rather rude, to the extent of making remarks bordering on personal attacks, making judgement about my behaviour, I hope they will refrain from doing so in the future and apologise if they made insulting remarks about my attitude and/or eat crow. ;)

Originally Posted by Yaatri (Post 9518047)

A few months ago a thread titled Bait and Switch regarding VDB compensation for volunteering our seats.

Many people felt that my characterisation of the situation as "Bait and Switch" was unreasonable, and I was to be blamed for the situation which I brought upon myself. Some personalised the issue claiming once they volunteered their seats and ended up getting nothing, suggesting that I was "well compensated". A few felt it was indeed bait and switch, while some others felt it was not simply a black and white call.

I usually do not complain, I know I should, about minor things such as malfunction of AVOD or seats, and have not complained about even some major incidents, some of which I have mentioned here on FT.

This time I drafted a note and faxed it to NW/KLM European Operations people at an address in MSP, different from that for Customer care.
After about a month, I got a response from Customer Care.



To those of you who felt KLM did not do anything wrong, and that my complaints were hollow, NW felt otherwise. To those who were rather rude, to the extent of making remarks bordering on personal attacks, making judgement about my behaviour, I hope they will refrain from doing so in the future and apologise if they made insulting remarks about my attitude and/or eat crow. ;)

$1.65 to 1 Euro is better rate than any I have seen.

Kudos to NW.

Originally Posted by Yaatri (Post 9518047)

$1.65 to 1 Euro is better rate than any I have seen.

Originally Posted by notyouraveragejt (Post 9518088)

Here have a cookie for starting another thread instead of adding this to the oginial thread. Another cookie for acting like a kid in this situation. Look here I was right and you were all wrong now say your sorry to me.

Originally Posted by MikeMpls (Post 9518315)

This is just a consolation prize -- a good will gesture for family of Plats. Remember that you were demanding an additional 300 Euro each, and my arithmetic says you're 3 x 200 = 600 Euro short of that.

The agent might have been wiser to say "300-600 Euro depending on how much later you arrive", etc., but you can't expect her to stand there reciting the entire policy manual while she's asking people to volunteer.

In the original thread, you admit that you were given an opportunity to board your originally scheduled flight when you objected to the "switch". You should count your blessings (to the tune of 1200 Euro = $1980) and move on.

The link to the original thread is incorrect. This is the orginal thread: Bait and Switch

Originally Posted by baccarat_king (Post 9518201)

congrats, Yaatri^

but, in all seriousness, why do you need the apologies?

We're all friends here :D The debate, and contrary opinions, are just the general nature of FlyerTalk.

Dewd, make love --- NOT war. :):) or, at minimum, relax in front of a warm fire with a nice glass of Woodford Reserve. :p

Originally Posted by RichMSN (Post 9518364)

Congrats. I was on your side then and am glad you received the compensation you were promised. The reaction in your original thread was bizarre and the embodiment of the old adage "no good deed goes unpunished."

On a semi-related note, I was asked to volunteer at MSN to take a different routing to LGW as the MSN-DTW flight was oversold. $250 in order to arrive at LGW an hour later. No brainer as I was going in 2 days early.

In the end, though, they had the wrong number of seats programmed into the system for the new RJ they were flying and there were 4 extra seats, hence they didn't need the volunteers.

As I was boarding the plane and heading for my new Y seat (they gave my F seat away thinking they WERE going to route me differently) the agent told me that there'd be something for me attached to my WP account and when I checked a few days later, sure enough, I got an ECV for $250 or 25K miles.