After bringing to light the poor customer service we suffered in the hands of KLM following the delay of flight KL1010 which I was on, making us miss our connecting flight to Accra on the 11th September, 2013—-KLM has responded to my article with series of apologetic pieces and I am impressed with how they’ve handled this…(Read My First Article Here)
Few hours after I published my article detailing my dissatisfaction springing from the poor manner KLM treated the over 58 passengers connecting to Accra, the airline’s online team responded to my article via Facebook and Twitter.
Two days later, KLM’s Customer Care Department followed this up with an official apology—explaining in detail what they think went wrong. They also accepted they got it wrong and will do all that is necessary to ensure this never happens again.
Yesterday, I received another E-Mail from KLM’s Europe Customer Care Department which was full of apology and explanations, just like their previous email.
However, they went a step further this time to give me a compensation of 170 pounds…I guess I can use this 170 pounds alongside the 50 Euros travel voucher they’ve already given out.
One of the paragraphs in the E-mail states “While I fully understand your disappointment, I hope that the explanation above will help soften the negative impact of this situation. Of course, I would not wish this situation to be your lasting impression of our company and therefore I would like to offer you a non-refundable travel voucher of 170.00 GBP as a gesture of goodwill and as a tangible expression of our concern and regret. You will find it here below.”
It seems KLM genuinely does not want my last impression about the company to be what I outlined in my initial article…
Thanks KLM and I hope you have given all the other passengers your apology and an equal amount of compensation as we ‘suffered’ in your hands together.
With the way KLM has handled this issue, I will surely be flying KLM again—-more importantly, to see if they will live by their words, especially when it comes how they treat their passengers travelling to Africa.
What do you think?
Read KLM’s E-mail below…
Mon, Sep 23, 2013 at 9:38 AM
Mon, 9:38 AM
Our reference: 6689496001
Dear Mr Febiri,
I am writing to you following the report from our crew of flight KL589 on 12th September, to Accra, about the situation you experienced following the delay of flight KL1010 on 11th September from London Heathrow to Amsterdam. Please accept on behalf of KLM my sincere apologies for the discomfort you experienced as, as a result, we had to postpone your flight to Accra to the day after.
From the outset, I would also like to express my regret for this delayed reply, I can assure you that no discourtesy was intended.
As you know, your flight from London was delayed due to an unexpected technical issue at the moment of departure. An issue like this, which presents itself beyond our scope of influence and is a threat to flight safety, can be regarded as an extraordinary circumstance and therefore is not one here where there is an entitlement to compensation under EU regulations.
For our airline, one of the major performance indicator, is on-time delivery. The ability to adhere to a published schedule is an important ingredient of any airline product. The delay of a flight is therefore a major frustration to our aim of providing passengers with the reliable service they demand.
On another hand, our prime concern is to ensure the safety of our passengers, our staff and the general public at all times. To this end we maintain the highest maintenance standards on all our aircraft. We will not allow departure of an aircraft that is not in full working order. An utmost effort will always be made to minimise any possible inconvenience arising from this unfortunate situation.
I can assure you that all reasonable measures were taken in order to minimize the impact of this delay, providing all care and assistance due and arranging alternative flights at the arrival in Amsterdam for all passengers in connection. I am of course sorry that you were unable to travel as planned and recognise the inconvenience that this must have caused you and offer my renewed apologies on behalf of our Company.
You mentioned your dissatisfaction to our crew regarding our staff in Amsterdam. Your comments are disappointing as we expect our staff to perform their duties in a friendly and efficient manner. All KLM staff members are aware that excellent customer service is one of our company’s top priorities. I am sorry that your expectations have not been met and sincerely apologise on behalf of my colleagues. I can assure you that your comments have been logged in order to improve our service.
I would like however, to mention that issues related to immigration and security controls are beyond our control. These checks are carried out on all passengers from all airlines, and are directly handled by airport authorities, and imposed by the Government authorities.
While I fully understand your disappointment, I hope that the explanation above will help soften the negative impact of this situation. Of course, I would not wish this situation to be your lasting impression of our company and therefore I would like to offer you a non-refundable travel voucher of 170.00 GBP as a gesture of goodwill and as a tangible expression of our concern and regret. You will find it here below.
I can assure you that we are well aware of our commitment to provide excellent customer service and so I do hope that despite this experience, you will allow us the privilege to better serve your travel needs again in the future.
N. Foy (Ms)
Customer Care Europe
I guess they are afraid to loose their GH customers now what’s next a free KLM T-shirt
#GC keep us posted cos I still have to book 10 tickets for the family to go Ghana this December and it’s a lot of Pounds to pay for a s**t service. But since they’ve apologised, if really and truly they are sorry then I’m gonna give them a chance to prove themselves that it was a one off thingy.
Well ,i wish i had a compensation lyk dat ,i arrived frm IT to GH on de 11th of may wiv TaP PORTUGAL ddnt get ma luggages on ma arrival u can imagine how stranded i was it came 3wks latr only for sam of de importnt stuffs in it missing and all dey cud do was 2 replace one of ma damaged bag ,i evn had 2 cal n go 2 de airport severally ,latr dey said we gonna compensate u so go u will hear frm us ….i dnt knw if dey are nw searching 4 ma number
@trix…now you’re sounding like you need some 170GBP but don’t know how to go about it. Or is just me getting it all wrong???
@marioxclusive mmm ,nt realy iv gottn ova id cz i knw nafn lyk dat will happn …it hurts though
Chris, i think you shouldn’t be happy since the article you wrote is yet to have the needed impact. I remember you were about 50 passengers who went through this difficult situation but you are the only person they have thought it wise to compensate. what about the others who don,t have the medium to air the difficulty. When i read your article initially, i thought you were fighting for those nursing mothers who suffered the most. They have compensated you because you have the medium to criticize them, what about those of us who don’t have the voice to cry when hurting. I can tell you bluntly that they want to use you and your medium to do their damage control. I have already decided not fly their airline again because i am an ordinary Ghanaian who doesn’t have a vioce to cry foul. Thier apology will only be genuine if they compensate all the passengers who were affect just as they have done for you PERIOD!!!
ahhh its cos ure media man…if u was d ordinary man, u wont even get a penny