Espada III
2nd Apr 2015, 18:01
Sunday this week my wife flew from Manchester to Tel Aviv via Amsterdam. At check in they advised that there was a 'bit of a delay' due to bad weather but nothing serious. I checked at the ticketing counter and was told that short haul connections were being denied boarding and were re-routed but TLV would be OK. I arrived home to be met by an e-mail that she was being re-routed and would have to stay in AMS overnight and would arrive 14 hours late. As it happens, she managed to make her connection as the onward flight was similarly delayed. So no real personal attention at MAN, poor service really, but they got my wife where she wanted to be on the flight she wanted to be on.
Contrast with Wednesday when I flew the same route with the children. Even before check-in I was asked where I was flying to, advised to go straight to ticketing for re-routing, offered refreshments and also pointed in the direction of a phone number for reservations. I made the call as the queue was very long and with ten minutes was completely sorted and re-routed (not an ideal trip involving three flights and an arrival eight hours later, but excellent customer service barring one hiccup over forgetting to book luggage for me on the replacement flights).
So who did better? My wife for whom it was very stressful not knowing what was going on but getting there only a couple of hours late or me who was sorted quickly, but had to fly through the night, stay in two airport lounges for a total of 7 hours, arrive much later but knew I had been looked after....
An education for the powers that be at KLM.
Contrast with Wednesday when I flew the same route with the children. Even before check-in I was asked where I was flying to, advised to go straight to ticketing for re-routing, offered refreshments and also pointed in the direction of a phone number for reservations. I made the call as the queue was very long and with ten minutes was completely sorted and re-routed (not an ideal trip involving three flights and an arrival eight hours later, but excellent customer service barring one hiccup over forgetting to book luggage for me on the replacement flights).
So who did better? My wife for whom it was very stressful not knowing what was going on but getting there only a couple of hours late or me who was sorted quickly, but had to fly through the night, stay in two airport lounges for a total of 7 hours, arrive much later but knew I had been looked after....
An education for the powers that be at KLM.