AF/KLM website flight purchase - terrible experience

[Kbboca]

Wow. I just had perhaps the worst flight purchase experience ever.

I'm from the US but have been living and working overseas for 20+ years, so I do a lot of flying on lots of different airlines.

I've had some poor airline customer service over the years, but I think KLM / Air France have just taken the record for worst online purchase experience ever.

1. On the final "review your flight details before purchase" page, it was only showing the flight numbers and dates. I clicked once more on see details to see the full itinerary, just to confirm that the times & details were correct. I made no changes, but when I then clicked on "purchase" it took me back to the first page of the process and I had to re-enter all my personal details and credit card info all over again. Wow.

2. An $11 added fee to use a credit card to purchase the tickets. Really? I've never ever seen such a fee, or such a high fee. Wow.

3. There is 0 checked bag allowance on these flights, even though I'm (sadly) an Air France/KLM flying blue member. (I'm in the lowest category.) But it said I could get a 50% discount or use my miles to purchase baggage allowance. So, I proceeded to do that.

For my first flight, the listed price was CHF 8.50 or 1500 miles. fine
Second flight, listed price CHF 15.00 or 1500 miles. fine.

So, I go to pay. After entering all my Flying Blue account details so I can pay with miles, I'm then told that I can't actually pay with miles, so I have to pay with a credit card. CHF 23.50 (basically $23.50) is the amount shown. Fine. So, I enter my credit card details to pay, and I get an error page saying, the price of baggage for the second flight is not CHF 15, but actually CHF 16.50.

Wow. Not a big deal, I paid it. But really, listing one price, and then when you pay giving you a different higher price? And saying you can pay with miles on one page, and then refusing to let you pay with miles on another.

Just AWFUL. I hate Air France so much. Wish I had more options where I work, but unfortunately they are one of the main carriers here. UGH.

Sorry, just wanted to vent, and also maybe if I see other worse case scenarios of bad customer service, I'll feel better. But seriously, if AF/KLM is wondering why they're losing so much money, this is a big reason. I've had so so much better online service with Turkish Air, Royal Air Maroc, and even some small regional African carriers.

KLM/AF this is just shameful customer service.

[Heathrow Harry]

they're not the only one unfortunately

I had hours of fun with an Italian site a few weeks back - they wanted my "Fiscal Number" as I was booking from Italy - and they also insisted on a US ZIP Code, even though the credit card was UK based

A nice lady on the phone fixed it in 5 minutes - I think she said they just put in any old rubbish into those fields..............

You wonder if they ever try the sites out with real people

[ExXB]

Re #2, credit card fee. I think just about every European airline charges credit card fees. $11 isn't bad

[Alsacienne]

I would have booked a flight with them (KLM) recently, having found flights for the routing I wanted on their website timetable, but could find no information about baggage allowances for this multisector European flight.

On contacting KLM by mail for clarification my query was transferred to Austrian, who told me that they (KLM) did not operate the flights I wanted to take, so could not inform me about baggage.

I then replied sending a screen shot of the timetable, and was advised that no baggage was included free of charge for this routing, and that I had not given them sufficient information in the first place about the flights I had envisaged taking.

Strange that flight numbers and airport codes were not considered sufficient information in my original email, but sadly it seems that KL/AF could do with reading emails before copying and pasting what turn out to be unhelpful replies at best.

[Kbboca]

Thanks ExXB for the info about European airlines & credit card charges. Good to know for future planning.

It's been awhile since I've booked a flight directly through a European airline's website instead of using Expedia or similar sites. Also, since I was booking a intra-european flight originating in Switzerland, as opposed to a flight from Africa to Europe, or from the US to Europe, it probably made a difference...

[Hotel Tango]

As one who fairly regularly uses the KLM/AFR website, I have to agree that it isn't the most user friendly site. It often has glitches too. What's even worse is then trying to convince the peson on the end of your eventual phone call that THERE IS a problem with a particular function on their website.

[cavortingcheetah]

One of the problems with the KLM website is that it is airline specific. In other words, although KLM is part of Sky Team, the KLM website only really gives you access to KLM. Try booking a Delta flight on KLM and then trying to get decent seats. The full seating plan simply isn't shown in the KLM site. For that reason, I book Delta's own website if flying on with them from a KLM start flight. It works better that way.
Similarly, it's usually impossible to satisfactorily complete a check in when in JNB returning to AMS. Seat plans for the actual flight thirty hours later just are not available.
KLM are perfectly well aware of these problems. I've telephoned them many times from all over the world and sometimes received MCOs as an apology for various intrusions into my own convenience. The link up with Air France hasn't helped. It would seem that AF is actually the dominant partner, or at least that's the KLM staff's excuse. The Air France website is more dangerous to navigate with a credit card than any airline site I know and Air France simply have no such thing as customer service. One of the reasons for that of course is that after the KLM/AF merge, AF got rid of most, if not all, KLM out station staff, reservations etc, outsourced everything and then stood back to await the time when lousy service would improve profits.

[PAXboy]

cavortingcheetah
... outsourced everything and then stood back to await the time when lousy service would improve profits.Beautifully put. It is the mantra of almost every large company in business today, not just the ailines. Oh and the British govenment is now run the same way. :sad: