*UPDATED* Why I Will Never Fly KLM Again & You Should Probably Avoid Them Too!

It is obvious KLM spends more time trying to get customers to become FLY Blue account holders than they actually care about getting you to your destination on time. And if you are unlucky to be delayed by no fault of yours, with KLM to be wholly blamed, expect to be treated like a person who has forfeited all basic passenger rights.

Do they (KLM) understand what is meant by customer service? Even if they don’t, are they not aware they fly human beings who deserve to be treated with dignity and not robots?

Certain Airlines have no regard for customers after they have taken your money (paid for your ticket) and it seems KLM is leading this group of Airlines.

My experience with KLM today which I believe is not an isolated incident due to what I’ve heard from several passengers has ended my ‘not so good but manageable’ relationship with the Airline.

Sometimes, such incidences make you wonder if KLM has an idea about the number of customers they push away.

From today, I can confidently say they’ve lost a loyal customer and if you are lucky enough to be reading this before you become a victim of KLM’s absurd treatment of customers, count yourself lucky and never book them—again.

If you ever decide to fly and the only Airline in operation is KLM,  I think you should at that stage consider using a Canoe, you will probably get to your destination more relaxed, stress free and on time—more importantly, no neatly dressed in Blue staff will talk to you as if you a piece of firewood.

What has killed that lop-sided relationship I had with KLM?

It all started at London Heathrow today where I was due to fly off to Amsterdam via KLM at 11:45am and thereafter to Ghana at 13:05—by connecting to another KLM flight.

As usual, I checked in before 9:30am and waited around for boarding. When the boarding gate of my flight KL1010 was finally opened at 11:15am, we were told we could not board until 11:45—-I later learnt the plane had been delayed.

At 12:00, we were asked to board the flight which should have been in the air by that time as the departure time was 11:45. As usual, they started their gimmick priority boarding…What is the point of this if you cannot even have us board on time and get us to our destinations safe and on time?

At this stage, I began to wonder if KLM was going to be able to deliver on its ticket by successfully connecting us to the KLM flight KL0589 which was departing to Ghana from Amsterdam at 15:05 (UK time 14:05).

This is where they got most of the passengers worried…

Minutes after the plane rolled onto the runway, the pilot announced that he had to pull the plane back to the boarding gate area as a fuel red light is flashing. He quickly added that it will not take long and we will be on our way—yeah right!

After over an hour of being chained to our seats, the pilot once again announced that there is a fuel leakage, the reason for the flashing light. He also stated that, his other tank needs to be filled with fuel to enable us take off as that is empty —and with the other leaking, that is the only way we can fly off.

So KLM was trying to tell us we were not even safe and we were supposed to be calm–the frustration the huge delay brought was ‘killing’ us.

Here, if sitting in a plane with red lights flashing on some dashboard somewhere and leaking fuel tank is not enough to cause you panic, the fact that you were about to miss your connecting flight will probably make you start sweating.

For another hour, we sat in the plane without any information coming to us. Eventually, we were told the refuelling has been done and we were ready to fly off in a slowly leaking plane.

We were leaving London at 15:10 (Amsterdam time), 5 minutes pass the departure time of our connecting flight to Accra.

So we left London to connect to a flight which had already taken off….

When we arrived at Amsterdam Airport—This is when things got REAL messy for us all

Knowing that you’ve missed your flight with limited information as to what to do next coupled with the fact that some of us were flying to Ghana purposely for business meetings the very next day pulled a stress wrinkle on our faces.

Personally, I felt a little better when I got off the plane. More better when I saw a KLM staff who stated they were aware of the delayed and missed flights so we should head to T4 for further information.

Little did I know we were in to be treated like some ‘prisoners’ on their way to Guantanamo Bay—even I think they wouldn’t be treated like we were…Talking to passengers in such situation is the least you can do.

At T4, no KLM staff was ready to say a word to us; they kept asking us to use their machines to reprint new boarding passes for the next day’s flight.

Who cares about boarding pass at this stage when through no fault of his a flight is missed and the next one is 24 hours away?

We had other important needs such as; knowing where we were going to stay, what our entitlements were as passengers, how those without Schengen visas were going to get out of the airport even if a hotel is provided, what is the business excuse for the substantial delay among others…

But KLM refused to talk to us, and as if we were robots or worthlessly customers, they kept saying; use the machines, we cannot speak to any of you at the moment.

All the over 58 passengers connecting to Ghana were furious and those with children got more desperate with time—as no coordinated information was coming from KLM.

They wouldn’t even talk to us? This busy is a real mess. After they’ve taken your money, they cannot even render basic customer service to ‘stranded’ passengers?

And did you know that KLM does not allow their staff to tell you their names? How can you be dealing with a human being who cannot even tell you his or her name—what if you later want to complain or take up the conversation to the next person in position?

I guess all you have to say is, the lady wearing the BLUE shirt said this and that—-and they all wear the BLUE shirt, you know!

After nearly 30 minutes of hanging around and refusing to print any boarding passes until we actually speak to a real human being about the situation, a bloke was called to speak to us—remember I don’t even know his name because KLM doesn’t allow any of their staff to mention their names, according to them.

But I bet I heard the Captain mentioned his name and some of the cabin members’ names on the flight we came with—what a joke!

The bloke without name told us KLM had not planned any compensation for us but a hotel voucher, 5 minutes calling minutes and £10 euro food voucher had been arranged for us.

Is that all? He answered; “you can complain to our Customer Care Team online if you are not satisfied”. And that is all he will say or was allowed to say to us by KLM.

Information began spreading around that per KLM’s own policy, passengers of delayed flights of over 3 hours (our next flight will be in 24 hours—far delayed) were entitled to compensation.

Some of us were tired, frustrated and couldn’t believe we had missed our all-important meetings, courtesy KLM’s fuel leakage and refuelling of already boarded flight. So we needed to get some rest and then figure out what the next line of action would be.

Then I realized some of the passengers could not get out of the airport to find a bus to the hotel, because they needed visas. KLM could not even assign a staff to guide such strained passengers as to how to acquire a day visa.

Passengers with children were seen sitting on the FLOOR downstairs where they were supposed to get the visas—as the few seats could not accommodate the over 30 passengers who needed  visas.

Once again, does KLM care at all? You have given us some CHEAP vouchers so that should make us happy and be adequate for us to sort ourselves out…right?

One of the ‘police men’ at the visa desk informed the passengers who needed the visas it will take 2 hours for the visas to be provided. What the heck! And they were supposed to stand or sit on the floor for this long waiting for a visa when KLM should have at least arranged that or intervened to help?

As an EU passport holder, I did not need a visa so after standing around for an hour with these passengers; I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to leave to inform those who were expecting me in Ghana that I was not coming on the expected flight…I really felt bad for the passengers with little children.

It is 3am and I am writing this from my hotel room in Amsterdam—hoping we will all able to get on today’s flight to Ghana. And never bother to book KLM again.

Did I state that, KLM gave each of us a £50 discount voucher to be used the next time we book an outbound flight with them? What a joke!

I will have time when I get to Ghana to check KLM’s policy on such flight delays and try to get any compensation due….As to if they will pay and do so on time, I will let you guys know the outcome.

For now, KLM has lost a loyal customer and my friends and family will probably say goodbye to them too.

Should I add that, I pray  the millions of readers of my blog-GhanaCelebrities.Com (home and abroad) who would want to use KLM may learn from my experience and look for an alternative—that is if they want to be cherished as paying passengers and be treated as human beings…

What has your experience been with KLM?

I sent a link to this article to KLM’s official facebook page and they replied by saying (ignoring all the issues);

Surely, KLM does not have control over visa restrictions but they could have assisted or come down with them and make them feel ‘being helped’, especially those with children—we are back to the issue of customer service again!