Why I Love KLM

Someone should start an airline named NOP.

KLM is all great until they are not. I know, I liked them too before they left me out to die. They lost all my bags, with all my vital medications in my carry-on they made me check. They didn't allow me to label my bags before checking them in as 'my last name was already on the label they put in'. Turns out they put somebody else's last name on it, the woman in front of me in a checkin line. Like a cheap , underfunded, 1-star air carrier they didn't have a process for recovering from that error, nor did they give a damn. I was flying as a disabled passenger with mobility support using KLM-cares to book extra disability options. I've been calling KLM lost baggage, claims dept (which lost baggage said I should call instead, and KLM-cares disability support). Since then it's been one horror after the other, and KLM is doing exactly nothing, and only getting in my way of trying to find my bags and medicines. Since they put somebody else's private itinerary on the baggage sticker that they attached to my boarding pass, I used that info to actually find that person on social media. Now both me and that person are trying to retrieve my bags, while KLM is continuing to be useless and only getting in our way. They agreed to create my missing-luggage ticket, only to change its owner to the other person, so I could no longer access it to see if anything at all was being done by them. Strangely enough, the other person, who they changed the ticket to, was also denied access into the ticket because these weren't 'her' bags. So I had to start from scratch with a new lost bags ticket. Throughout this ordeal, KLM has done everything they can to get in a way of me, a sick person, getting back my life-saving medicines that they lost. When they do pick up the phone (after about 5 hours on the phone, each day), they often hang up when they realize that 'this one is complicated'. When I called KLM-cares, a place I trusted with my health up to now, and asked them what I can do, they would just transfer me into the baggage claim queue. When I asked if I should contact the media as I am 2 days without my medications and will end up in a hospital soon, KLM-cares representative asked if I was threatening her, before pushing me back onto the lost-baggage queue. At every step trying to deal with KLM I encountered annoyance, resentment and anger, as if I was making 'their' life miserable. One thing I learned: KLM absolutely and completely cannot deal with lost baggage issues. If this happens to you, you are guaranteed to never get your luggage again. In my case, the other person whose name was on my luggage went out of her way to contact her airport in another country. Along with an airport employee (not from KLM), they located the luggage. Then it was up to me to try to convince another KLM lost baggage staff to act on it. It was all handed to them on a silver platter, the situation was dire for me due to my health, and I still had to try to talk them into accepting this information and acting on it (picking up the luggage from the wrong airport). They really didn't want to do anything. If I let them, my 2 bags would have forever remained in a foreign airport unknown to me, labelled with somebody else's name, never to be picked up. So stop sucking up to KLM to get your affiliate percentage. You have some other info here on how they treat their customers. More on trustpilot.com. It doesn't look good. You cannot in clean conscience recommend them until they start taking life of their passengers even a little bit seriously.

I actually have had some nice meals on KLM. Never experienced any problems on 9, 10 flights. Flying KL in March to Barcelona. they were the cheapest option.

I am so obssessed with the houses. I currently have 80 of the houses and looking forward to getting house 100 on my flight at the end of October. I typically try to book KLM for all international flights. I loveeee KLM so I totally understand :o)

You’re right, I agree with you. I lived in the Netherlands for five years as an expat and constantly flew KLM for work and leisure. Although I kept my Delta Medallion status with the JV fully acknowledged and status transferable. I would choose KLM over Delta for trips back to the U.S. What stood out about KLM is the consistency. No surprises. No matter boarding in NYC, Shanghai or Abu Dhabi, it was a consistent and re assuring delivery and expectation. It’s not fancy and not nearly as elegant as Air France, and the FA’s are not what I consider as “warm” but it’s efficient and consistent like the Dutch. Everything works in the Netherlands unlike most of the EU. I much preferred KLM over Lufthansa which comes off as stiff. I love the recent KLM branding to be more Dutch. I think they’re doing all the right things.