AlexW1
I could be that the fare you paid had something to do with the selection for off-loading, but it should not. Well, the need should never arise, but if it does, a good company would probably call for volunteers to receive the denied boarding comp. There's usually several who aren't in a hurry and would like the cash.
Forgive me; MOR = Mandatory Occurrence Report. It's arguable that one should have been submitted in view of the potential hazard involved with a 1.5 Tonne overloaded situation. But I'm sure someone will say that the letter of the law, rather than the spirit, does not mandate an MOR in those circs. I was hoping that someone would respond from the handling company or indeed KLM.
An airline is totally responsible in all respects for the actions of a contractor acting on its behalf, as the handling company would have been, if they and not KLM handled the flight. They cannot be allowed to hide behind their contractor. Are they trying to fob you off with nonsense? Yes.
I don't know who got the sums wrong, if that's what happened, or why. Normally, with a scheduled service everything is planned and calculated in advance with adjustments (minor) being made for conditions or special circumstances on the day. A short runway shuld not come as a surprise, if it's the only one. Sudden changes from a main runway can happen, say if there's an immobile aircraft blocking the main, but that's very rare and KLM would have used it as their excuse without hesitation.
The point is that what happened to you is way outside the normal range of upset, and it almost certainly happened because someone, in KLM or its agent, screwed up royally. The flight should never have been booked with 1.5 Tonnes (or thereabouts) too much weight, let alone checked in and boarded.
My money's on a gross error with the loadsheet having booked and checked in too many people, spotted by the crew when asked to sign it, or a sudden realisation that the aircraft had 1.5 Tonnes more fuel in the tank than the dispatcher knew about, which is also a loadsheet error, really. Both count as "potentially dangerous screw-up".
Another possibility may be some very last-minute freight whose shipper has a great deal of long-haul business and clout with KLM. Possibly already delayed, with a very angry shipper? An oil company, perhaps?
Let's see if anyone pops up to enlighten us and perhaps exonerate them.
Last edited by Capot; 1st Jun 2008 at 18:18.