gulf_slf
7th Jan 2001, 15:12
See the story below from the Daily Telegraph(originally in the 'Gulf News') 05/01/01
With the schoolkids you would have thought that KL could have made arrangements to put the boys into a hotel until the next flight to DXB, the following day rather than send them off to Cyprus!
Complete Gaff on their part!
KLM in this part of the world are getting a bad reputation, after another incident late last year where two pax were marooned in Austria. They had won 2 airline tickets return from Dubai to Vienna at a function at a local hotel. Thinking that they had Fully confirmed seats, the couple were understandably very pleased.
When issued in DXB, they were given subload tickets, but with the assurrance from the KLM staff that there was no chance that they would be 'Bumped' by the airline.
Although uncomfortable with this assurance they duely went for their holiday.
All went well until the return trip from Vienna to Schipol, where they found that they had in fact been 'bumped'. After some fairy heavy handed treatment by local KLM staff, chastising them as if they were employee's themselves, they were unable to confirm seeats back to Dubai.
Eventually they had pay full fare for a Vienna to LHR to DXB on another airline!
There was little in the way of apologies or re-compense from the local KLM staff.
I believe BA offered the couple 80,000 airmiles on their FFP. Enough for 2 'Y' seats DXB - LHR return FIRM if booking is available!
THUS BEWARE ALL YOU SLF's OF AIRLINEs BEARING TICKETS WITHOUT THE 'OK' STATUS IN THE STATUS BOX.
******************************************
Boys' eight-hour air trip lasted four days
By David Graves
Daily Telegraph 05/01/2001
AN eight-hour journey from Manchester to Dubai turned into a four-day epic for three public schoolboys travelling to spend the Christmas holiday with their parents.
What should have been a routine one-stop flight for the boys, who were making their first international flights on their own, resulted in them catching five flights with three airlines. They arrived in Dubai, to the relief of their anxious parents, having visited five international airports and spent one night sleeping on the floor of an airport transit lounge.
The journey had lasted 59 hours and taken in Manchester, Amsterdam, Cyprus, Athens and Kuwait, instead of eight hours and a brief stopover in Amsterdam. Francis Ryan, 16, a pupil at Stonyhurst College, and Jeremy Aston, 15, and David McGrath, 16, both of Repton School, are due to return to Britain for the new term today. They are hoping for a shorter journey.
Their outward journey began at Manchester Airport on December 10, when they were due to catch the 4.30pm KLM flight to Amsterdam, where they were supposed to connect with a direct flight to Dubai. However, the Manchester flight was delayed by two hours.
When the boys arrived in Amsterdam, they had missed their connection and had to wait 16 hours in a transit lounge until seats were found on a Cyprus Airways flight to Larnaca the following day. But this flight was also delayed, by an hour, and they missed the connecting Emirates flight from Larnaca to Dubai by minutes, although their luggage was boarded on the aircraft without them.
Francis said they were told by KLM staff in Cyprus that they could either fly to Beirut the following day and arrange a connection to Dubai in Lebanon, or wait for three days on the island for the next direct flight from Cyprus. He said: "By this time we were getting frightened and didn't really want to end up in Beirut, but it seemed as though it was the only option."
David managed to telephone his father, who persuaded KLM to send the boys to Athens. After waiting for seven hours in the Greek capital for an onward connection through Kuwait, they eventually arrived in Dubai at 3.40am on December 13.
David's parents, Gerard and Valerie, both education supervisors in the United Arab Emirates, said the boy's luggage had arrived 24 hours before their son. Mrs McGrath, 45, said: "To see it sitting there and having no idea where David was was extremely upsetting. We lost complete contact with David twice and it was most disturbing, especially as he is not a seasoned traveller."
Her husband added: "When the lads got to Dubai they slept for 48 hours and have basically lost a whole week of their Christmas holidays. It was the first time all three of them had travelled on their own so I dread to think what it has done to their confidence."
Danny Dinesh, KLM's regional manager for Dubai and the Northern Emirates, described the incident as an "unfortunate chain of events", but denied the airline was at fault. He said: "KLM did everything it could to ensure the safety and comfort of the three boys. The incident is an extremely unusual case, and we have apologised for any distress caused." As compensation, KLM has upgraded the boys' return flight to Britain to business class.
With the schoolkids you would have thought that KL could have made arrangements to put the boys into a hotel until the next flight to DXB, the following day rather than send them off to Cyprus!
Complete Gaff on their part!
KLM in this part of the world are getting a bad reputation, after another incident late last year where two pax were marooned in Austria. They had won 2 airline tickets return from Dubai to Vienna at a function at a local hotel. Thinking that they had Fully confirmed seats, the couple were understandably very pleased.
When issued in DXB, they were given subload tickets, but with the assurrance from the KLM staff that there was no chance that they would be 'Bumped' by the airline.
Although uncomfortable with this assurance they duely went for their holiday.
All went well until the return trip from Vienna to Schipol, where they found that they had in fact been 'bumped'. After some fairy heavy handed treatment by local KLM staff, chastising them as if they were employee's themselves, they were unable to confirm seeats back to Dubai.
Eventually they had pay full fare for a Vienna to LHR to DXB on another airline!
There was little in the way of apologies or re-compense from the local KLM staff.
I believe BA offered the couple 80,000 airmiles on their FFP. Enough for 2 'Y' seats DXB - LHR return FIRM if booking is available!
THUS BEWARE ALL YOU SLF's OF AIRLINEs BEARING TICKETS WITHOUT THE 'OK' STATUS IN THE STATUS BOX.
******************************************
Boys' eight-hour air trip lasted four days
By David Graves
Daily Telegraph 05/01/2001
AN eight-hour journey from Manchester to Dubai turned into a four-day epic for three public schoolboys travelling to spend the Christmas holiday with their parents.
What should have been a routine one-stop flight for the boys, who were making their first international flights on their own, resulted in them catching five flights with three airlines. They arrived in Dubai, to the relief of their anxious parents, having visited five international airports and spent one night sleeping on the floor of an airport transit lounge.
The journey had lasted 59 hours and taken in Manchester, Amsterdam, Cyprus, Athens and Kuwait, instead of eight hours and a brief stopover in Amsterdam. Francis Ryan, 16, a pupil at Stonyhurst College, and Jeremy Aston, 15, and David McGrath, 16, both of Repton School, are due to return to Britain for the new term today. They are hoping for a shorter journey.
Their outward journey began at Manchester Airport on December 10, when they were due to catch the 4.30pm KLM flight to Amsterdam, where they were supposed to connect with a direct flight to Dubai. However, the Manchester flight was delayed by two hours.
When the boys arrived in Amsterdam, they had missed their connection and had to wait 16 hours in a transit lounge until seats were found on a Cyprus Airways flight to Larnaca the following day. But this flight was also delayed, by an hour, and they missed the connecting Emirates flight from Larnaca to Dubai by minutes, although their luggage was boarded on the aircraft without them.
Francis said they were told by KLM staff in Cyprus that they could either fly to Beirut the following day and arrange a connection to Dubai in Lebanon, or wait for three days on the island for the next direct flight from Cyprus. He said: "By this time we were getting frightened and didn't really want to end up in Beirut, but it seemed as though it was the only option."
David managed to telephone his father, who persuaded KLM to send the boys to Athens. After waiting for seven hours in the Greek capital for an onward connection through Kuwait, they eventually arrived in Dubai at 3.40am on December 13.
David's parents, Gerard and Valerie, both education supervisors in the United Arab Emirates, said the boy's luggage had arrived 24 hours before their son. Mrs McGrath, 45, said: "To see it sitting there and having no idea where David was was extremely upsetting. We lost complete contact with David twice and it was most disturbing, especially as he is not a seasoned traveller."
Her husband added: "When the lads got to Dubai they slept for 48 hours and have basically lost a whole week of their Christmas holidays. It was the first time all three of them had travelled on their own so I dread to think what it has done to their confidence."
Danny Dinesh, KLM's regional manager for Dubai and the Northern Emirates, described the incident as an "unfortunate chain of events", but denied the airline was at fault. He said: "KLM did everything it could to ensure the safety and comfort of the three boys. The incident is an extremely unusual case, and we have apologised for any distress caused." As compensation, KLM has upgraded the boys' return flight to Britain to business class.