Hotels FAQ

Question:

KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Good grief. A year ago we flew from the US to Nice and they lost luggage both going and coming. Are they spending too much money on coffee? Bob — compassionate conservatism is an oxymoron

Response:

Thanks for the warning!! WAS considering KLM for AMS to DTW on way to MCO. Think I’ll settle for NW, leave from LGW!!

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

"Breakfast in London, lunch in New York" on which someone added: "Luggage in Bombay" I love that! lol

Response:

> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded.

<toriad> Just come back from Peru with them, and the luggage of about 30 people never made it out of Amsterdam. At Lima airport, about the same number of people were there to collect their luggage from the flight 2 days earlier! Anyway, we got compensation there and then (USD100 each), but finding clothes/toiletries in Lima at 9pm at night is not the easiest thing to do! On the way back, they’d overbooked the leg from Amsterdam back to the UK, so had to put us up in a hotel near Schipol for the night so we could get back home the next day. Luckily, we weren’t part if the group who were kicked off the plane at Aruba (carribean island stopover on the way back from Lima) at 2am because KLM had overbooked. Phew. hwyl! geraint.

Response:

Could you explain "Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next to the runway in a force 9 sidewind"? Thansk

> airlines. From my research KLM is one of the safest to fly and has been for > many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for > your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

KLM is getting worse every day. They have trouble handling the luggage of the passengers. The capacity of the luggage system is not enough. Many people have their luggage send in another plane. When people complained and sued the KLM they simply changed their conditions into "KLM will do her best to transport the luggage in the same plane". A month ago the condition was "All luggage will be sent in the same plane". Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next to the runway in a force 9 sidewind. All passengers got out alive.

Response:

Would the fact they are now part of Northwest Airlines have anything to do with it?  After several unpleasant experiences with Northwest here in the U.S., I will go to any lengths (including changing planes in Phoenix or Denver, with the resulting delay) rather than fly Northwest to ANY destination.  (It is the only airline in my experience to lose my baggage on a direct, non-stop flight from LAX to MPLS-StP – baggage checked in well in advance of my flight!) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

>Well just a week ago I purchased tickets to Amsterdam via KLM after doing a >little research on them. They dont seem to be that bad of an airline from

I’ve just got back from a trip where I flew with them a few times. Sydney-London, Edinburgh-Paris, Munich-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Sydney. (1 hour stopover in Singapore on the 2 long flights, and change of plane in Amsterdam on the way over as per schedule). I think there was once or twice we got off late, but usually made up the time by arrival at destination. I found them fine to fly with though. Although coming back to Sydney (from Amsterdam), they served meals according to dutch time rather than Sydney. This meant that in the middle of the night, Sydney time, when I’m trying to sleep (and readjust my bodyclock), they served dinner, it being dinner time in The Netherlands. My main problem was that they tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up, other airlines they’ve just let me sleep. Other than that hiccup KLM were fine. Coming back, I was travelling in a group of six and we all got our baggage fine. Mind you, we only had one backpack each, so there wasn’t much to lose. I did have one other flying hiccup: I was late getting to Luton Airport (UK) and missed my easyjet flight to Edinburgh (by 10 minutes) and they were able to put me on the next flight, free of charge. I thought that was pretty cool. The ticket itself was only $OZ100 (GBP40) oneway so I was prepared to pay if required. >what I gather. This type of stuff happens all the time on many different

Yep, Sydney Airport was having its fair share of baggage problems in the runup to the Olympics, but from what I’ve been told it’s managed quite well. >many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for >your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

Similarly, that’s pretty bad service. —   I’m a man of my word. In the end, that’s all there is. – Avon

Response:

> Would the fact they are now part of Northwest Airlines have anything > to > do with it?

KLM is not "part of" Northwest Airlines. The two airlines have an alliance, but are still separate and independent companies. The problems with luggage at KLM are not really KLM’s problems, but Schiphol’s (Amsterdam Airport). With unemployment in the Amsterdam region approaching 0% (we can not even find a secretary at my company), Schiphol has huge problems finding enough staff. Northwest has helped them out by sending 50 American baggage handlers to Amsterdam. That said, in my experience most airlines these days provide similar service. If you are lucky, your flight is on-time, your luggage arrives with you, and the flight attendants are friendly and efficient. If you are unlucky, your flight is delayed, your luggage arrives someplace else (reminds me of the Virgin Atlantic (?) billboard that said: "Breakfast in London, lunch in New York" on which someone added: "Luggage in Bombay"), and flight attendants are grumpy. Sjoerd

Response:

> Could you explain "Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind > just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next > to the runway in a force 9 sidewind"? Thansk

This is not KLM’s fault, but of Schiphol Airport and Dutch politics" Because of complaints of NIMBY’s some runways are closed at night, only the runways that cause less noise to houses are kept open. This means that sometimes the planes have to take off and land on runways with sidewind, which is more dangorous, while there is a safer runway. Dutch pilots complained about it some time ago. GreetZ, David

Response:

Well having worked in a hotel in Birmingham, and now working in a hotel next to amsterdam airport, I must say that most guest I encountered who had lost their lugage did fly with klm. One guest flew twice to birmingham with klm both times they lost their luggage. Furthermore good luck trying to reach their Lost lugage line, I am strting to suspect that most of the times there is actually nobody there to pick up the phone once I was on the phonme for over an hour and still did not get trough. Also working in an airport hotel I am rethinking my vews that flying is safe. We had guest whose flight fell down 3000 meters before recovering after the engines malfunctioned and instead of landing at the nearest airport flew all the way back to amsterdam. Never saw guest so glad to get a warm meal and a bottle of wine. Other guests had their engine catching fire etc… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

> airlines. From my research KLM is one of the safest to fly and has been for > many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for > your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

KLM is getting worse every day. They have trouble handling the luggage of the passengers. The capacity of the luggage system is not enough. Many people have their luggage send in another plane. When people complained and sued the KLM they simply changed their conditions into "KLM will do her best to transport the luggage in the same plane". A month ago the condition was "All luggage will be sent in the same plane". Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next to the runway in a force 9 sidewind. All passengers got out alive.

Response:

KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

Well just a week ago I purchased tickets to Amsterdam via KLM after doing a little research on them. They dont seem to be that bad of an airline from what I gather. This type of stuff happens all the time on many different airlines. From my research KLM is one of the safest to fly and has been for many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

"Breakfast in London, lunch in New York" on which someone added: "Luggage in Bombay" I love that! lol

Response:

> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded.

<toriad> Just come back from Peru with them, and the luggage of about 30 people never made it out of Amsterdam. At Lima airport, about the same number of people were there to collect their luggage from the flight 2 days earlier! Anyway, we got compensation there and then (USD100 each), but finding clothes/toiletries in Lima at 9pm at night is not the easiest thing to do! On the way back, they’d overbooked the leg from Amsterdam back to the UK, so had to put us up in a hotel near Schipol for the night so we could get back home the next day. Luckily, we weren’t part if the group who were kicked off the plane at Aruba (carribean island stopover on the way back from Lima) at 2am because KLM had overbooked. Phew. hwyl! geraint.

Response:

Could you explain "Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next to the runway in a force 9 sidewind"? Thansk

> airlines. From my research KLM is one of the safest to fly and has been for > many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for > your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

KLM is getting worse every day. They have trouble handling the luggage of the passengers. The capacity of the luggage system is not enough. Many people have their luggage send in another plane. When people complained and sued the KLM they simply changed their conditions into "KLM will do her best to transport the luggage in the same plane". A month ago the condition was "All luggage will be sent in the same plane". Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next to the runway in a force 9 sidewind. All passengers got out alive.

Response:

Would the fact they are now part of Northwest Airlines have anything to do with it?  After several unpleasant experiences with Northwest here in the U.S., I will go to any lengths (including changing planes in Phoenix or Denver, with the resulting delay) rather than fly Northwest to ANY destination.  (It is the only airline in my experience to lose my baggage on a direct, non-stop flight from LAX to MPLS-StP – baggage checked in well in advance of my flight!) – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – > KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

>Well just a week ago I purchased tickets to Amsterdam via KLM after doing a >little research on them. They dont seem to be that bad of an airline from

I’ve just got back from a trip where I flew with them a few times. Sydney-London, Edinburgh-Paris, Munich-Amsterdam, Amsterdam-Sydney. (1 hour stopover in Singapore on the 2 long flights, and change of plane in Amsterdam on the way over as per schedule). I think there was once or twice we got off late, but usually made up the time by arrival at destination. I found them fine to fly with though. Although coming back to Sydney (from Amsterdam), they served meals according to dutch time rather than Sydney. This meant that in the middle of the night, Sydney time, when I’m trying to sleep (and readjust my bodyclock), they served dinner, it being dinner time in The Netherlands. My main problem was that they tapped me on the shoulder to wake me up, other airlines they’ve just let me sleep. Other than that hiccup KLM were fine. Coming back, I was travelling in a group of six and we all got our baggage fine. Mind you, we only had one backpack each, so there wasn’t much to lose. I did have one other flying hiccup: I was late getting to Luton Airport (UK) and missed my easyjet flight to Edinburgh (by 10 minutes) and they were able to put me on the next flight, free of charge. I thought that was pretty cool. The ticket itself was only $OZ100 (GBP40) oneway so I was prepared to pay if required. >what I gather. This type of stuff happens all the time on many different

Yep, Sydney Airport was having its fair share of baggage problems in the runup to the Olympics, but from what I’ve been told it’s managed quite well. >many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for >your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

Similarly, that’s pretty bad service. —   I’m a man of my word. In the end, that’s all there is. – Avon

Response:

> Would the fact they are now part of Northwest Airlines have anything > to > do with it?

KLM is not "part of" Northwest Airlines. The two airlines have an alliance, but are still separate and independent companies. The problems with luggage at KLM are not really KLM’s problems, but Schiphol’s (Amsterdam Airport). With unemployment in the Amsterdam region approaching 0% (we can not even find a secretary at my company), Schiphol has huge problems finding enough staff. Northwest has helped them out by sending 50 American baggage handlers to Amsterdam. That said, in my experience most airlines these days provide similar service. If you are lucky, your flight is on-time, your luggage arrives with you, and the flight attendants are friendly and efficient. If you are unlucky, your flight is delayed, your luggage arrives someplace else (reminds me of the Virgin Atlantic (?) billboard that said: "Breakfast in London, lunch in New York" on which someone added: "Luggage in Bombay"), and flight attendants are grumpy. Sjoerd

Response:

> Could you explain "Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind > just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next > to the runway in a force 9 sidewind"? Thansk

This is not KLM’s fault, but of Schiphol Airport and Dutch politics" Because of complaints of NIMBY’s some runways are closed at night, only the runways that cause less noise to houses are kept open. This means that sometimes the planes have to take off and land on runways with sidewind, which is more dangorous, while there is a safer runway. Dutch pilots complained about it some time ago. GreetZ, David

Response:

Well having worked in a hotel in Birmingham, and now working in a hotel next to amsterdam airport, I must say that most guest I encountered who had lost their lugage did fly with klm. One guest flew twice to birmingham with klm both times they lost their luggage. Furthermore good luck trying to reach their Lost lugage line, I am strting to suspect that most of the times there is actually nobody there to pick up the phone once I was on the phonme for over an hour and still did not get trough. Also working in an airport hotel I am rethinking my vews that flying is safe. We had guest whose flight fell down 3000 meters before recovering after the engines malfunctioned and instead of landing at the nearest airport flew all the way back to amsterdam. Never saw guest so glad to get a warm meal and a bottle of wine. Other guests had their engine catching fire etc… – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

> airlines. From my research KLM is one of the safest to fly and has been for > many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for > your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

KLM is getting worse every day. They have trouble handling the luggage of the passengers. The capacity of the luggage system is not enough. Many people have their luggage send in another plane. When people complained and sued the KLM they simply changed their conditions into "KLM will do her best to transport the luggage in the same plane". A month ago the condition was "All luggage will be sent in the same plane". Right now they  somtimes take off and land with sidewind just to avoid complaints about the noise. Some time ago a plane landed next to the runway in a force 9 sidewind. All passengers got out alive.

Response:

KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! Aubrey Blumsohn

Response:

Well just a week ago I purchased tickets to Amsterdam via KLM after doing a little research on them. They dont seem to be that bad of an airline from what I gather. This type of stuff happens all the time on many different airlines. From my research KLM is one of the safest to fly and has been for many years, reguardless of baggage service. I hope everything works out for your grandparents. THat really sucks. Thanks for letting us know though.

– Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -> KLM seems to be slipping badly. I was horrified to observe the way my > elderly parents were treated on a recent trip from Norway to the UK. > Lost baggage, stranded in the UK without any clothes, promises to > deliver bagage failed to materialise. They were then told that they > could spend 50 GPB each on clothes to tide them over and that this > would be refunded. There has never been any response to their claim > (with full receipts). Attempts to telephone KLM in the UK lead to > plenty of frustration and lots of going around in circles. I > understand that the current problems with lots baggage on KLM are > huge, but has anyone else been stranded in this way, and then had to > battle to get any sort of expenses refunded. We are thinking about > taking them to court so contact me if you have had similar problems > Not an airline I would choose at the moment!! > Aubrey Blumsohn

Response: