KLM ROYAL DUTCH AIRLINES   Passenger Reviews and Customer Trip Reports

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KLM customer review :  7 January 2010 by Mary Smith   (UK)

LHR-AMS . Check-in at London Heathrow was disgraceful, as it took nearly 60 minutes to get throughthe bag drop queue. It then took another 30 minutes for the BAA employee to figure out that my guide dog goes free of charge. I think KLM/Air France should seriously consider increasing its staffing at LHR as three staff for numerous KLM and Air France flights is not adequate. Perhaps they should also considering actually getting some KLM people to oversee the BAA staff as they clearly do not know what they are doing. They should also try implementing a fairer 'snake' queuing system as seen with the other airlines at Terminal 4. The flight to AMS was uneventful and actually quite good - it's a shame that the mess at LHR tainted the rest of the trip.

KLM customer review :  30 December 2009 by P Smart   (UK)

LHR-AMS to connect to CI flight to BKK - Check-in at LHR was an absolute disgrace - over 1.5 hrs to get to a check-in desk to be greeted by a rude and painfully lethargic clerk. On return flight, KLM left luggage at AMS and now, 48hrs later, I still do not have any pieces. Telephone enquiries go to a voicemail promising a call back - still no call back.

KLM customer review :  24 December 2009 by Ann Smith   (UK)

Beijing to Amsterdam was fine. Connection to Manchester was cancelled, as were most flights to UK. KLM resources at Schiphol totally inadequate. Booked own flight back to Southampton after 2 hour wait in queue of at least 500 people, with a similar wait ahead of me. Still trying to retrieve bags 3 days later. Impossible to contact and when I have done so the advice is contradictory and inconsistent. Currently driven to despair with poor and ill informed service - will not use this company again.

KLM customer review :  16 December 2009 by J Russell   (UK)

I can't comment on quality of the flights as KLM Heathrow was chaotic when I arrived for my LHR-AMS-YVR departure. Although I was already checked-in, over 100 people were queued at bag drop whilst three staff proceeded in a dilatory fashion to process bags. My own bag drop lasted 30 minutes exactly from arriving at the counter, including 15-20 minutes whilst the counter staff tried to work out between themselves how to charge for a ski bag. It seems the boss was away and no-one knew. In the end they found a paper instruction and charged £184 for one-way excess, rather than the Eur 50 which ticket services said was correct, or free if it is under the weight limit, which they didn't know. They commented that whatever the website said didn't matter. Paying involved another queue at the overloaded ticket desk, which appeared to be staffed by Air France employees who at least seemed to know what they were doing. Since I'd already spent 40 minutes in the bag-drop queue, the gate was closing as I completed bag-drop, and I was offloaded. Many other people missed flights that morning because of slow handling, and KLM declined to assist. It's a pity that KLM check-in appears untrained and unable to cope with their flights. They seemed overloaded and out of their depth. I didn't get any sense of pride in a national flag carrier. What a difference to any of the other carriers I have flown - poor service and high charges set KLM apart, and their cheap tickets are more expensive when things go wrong. I would not book with KLM again.

KLM customer review :  11 December 2009 by John Crump   (Tanzania)

I travel between JRO Tanzania and AMS about 6 times per year, usually connecting to the United States. I estimate that I have taken this flight about 40 times over the past 7 years. The flight is plagued with two chronic problems - loss of luggage. My luggage is lost on 20% of occasions I fly this route. Furthermore, the system for returning luggage is a disaster, usually taking 3 days and requiring constant calls to the JRO airport baggage authority. KLM claims no responsibility for this. I am fortunate to live in Moshi, but this must be a holiday disaster for people bringing gear to climb Mount Kilimanjaro and being on tight schedules. The food is terrible and is deteriorating on this route. Over the last few months the 'meal' provided at the beginning of the DAR-AMS leg is served in a plain cardboard box and consists of a pile of ground beef-like material deposited in the bottom, seeping through the folds and further contaminating the dirty aircraft. As a regular flier, one begins to anticipate the exact meal that will be served. The KLM cabin crew feign surprise when you decline the meal.

KLM customer review :  11 December 2009 by Jan Landman   (Netherlands)

Amsterdam - Singapore on B777-200,. Business class seats very moderate, had bad seat - row 5J - very noisy and chatty crew, especially in the middle of the night. Return flight, now leaving at a very bad time 1.25am - arrival in Amsterdam at 8am, just in the middle of rush. Check-in cumbersome, as many biz class customers were complaining about unclear time schedule. Lounge in Singapore below standard. Seats on B777-300 even worse, even less space. Crew helpful on first flight, very distant on return flight. Did not try the food, other than the good breakfast.

KLM customer review :  9 December 2009 by W Staab   (USA)

Paris-Amsterdam-JFK Economy. Paris-Amsterdam 40 minute flight, comfortable seats, served drinks and crackers or cookie - quite pleasant. Amsterdam-JFK on a B747-400 - no individual screens, sat in row 15 which seemed to have ample leg room, flight attendants efficient, superb service for economy. First meal quite tasty, ice cream midflight, drink servings, 2nd meal a packaged quiche not good.

KLM customer review :  7 December 2009 by E Cameron   (Norway)

OSL-AMS-JFK. Embraer 190 Legroom plentiful, and seats comfortable in 2x2 layout. Flight smooth and served tasty sandwich, soft drink /tea and biscuit. Long security queue in Amsterdam prior to boarding B777-200. Sat in 14G/H (suspect this will become one of the new economy plus seats where you have to pay extra) - about 36 inch pitch. A drawback was that it took an hour from when I got my first drink to the next, (clear rationing going on) and by the time meal was served we were last and had no choice. There was about 4 small pieces of chicken in the dish. However, ice cream and snacks were good. Cabin presence throughout was pretty poor and the crew didn't respond to the call sign. Coming back, all the negative reviews of KLM's B777-200 were realised. I thought, that as we were in the front part of the cabin, seats 24, that we would again have great legroom - no. When the person in front moved the seat back it made it very uncomfortable for the person behind. This happened to my girlfriend who could not see her avod due to a uncompromising passenger in front who reclined his seat the whole way. She couldn't eat her meal off her meal tray and when I told a member of the crew, if she could ask the passenger in front to sit up while she eats, she replied 'he's sleeping!'. AMS to OSL on a 737-400 generous leg room, sandwich and drink. Transfers in Amsterdam easy and luggage all arrived no problems. 3 out of 4 legs good!

KLM customer review :  5 December 2009 by Jieyuan Shen   (China)

Shanghai-Amsterdam-Athens, a very unsatisfactory long-trip! The attitude of KLM Shanghai check-in is poor. The luggage limit is 20Kg but rejected with 20.1Kg luggage - their attitude is so poor that laughs at you. The plane is an old Boeing 747-400, LCD screen is much less than Lufthansa. And the meal on the plane is unbelievable poor (even no meat at all in every meal) so that it's hard to imagine you're taking a China-Europe long-haul flight!