Air France KLM and Cape Twon International Airport ATROCITY with NO SINCERITY or COMPASSION! DISGUSTING!!!

Item: KLM Royal Dutch Airlines
Rating: 1
Author: brandlc B

I would like to share my experience and dealings with Air France KLM and Cape Town International Airport over the last 48Hours, along with the condescending, bland and generic apology email from Air France KLM Cutomer Care Europe. Before I begin I would like to ephasize the reason for booking my step daughter a buissness class ticket. Just over 10 Months ago my step daughter had a stroke at the young age of only 32 years old, which has left her in chronic pain in multiple parts of her body, gout effecting her hands and feet, high blood pressure and diabetes. The reasoning behing booking a buissness class ticket so much in advance and paying insanely high prices for said tickets was to ensure my step daughter would have the utmost comfrotable, trouble free and pleasurable of travels as this was suppose to be the FIRST vaction and work break after her stroke. On the 10th of October 2016 I purchased and booked my step daughter a buisness class ticket from Air France KLM to fly from Cape Town International directly to Amsertdam Schipol and from Amsertdam Schipol to Malaga Spain which is her final destionation, with a return ticket booked from Air France KLM and once again PAID for in full! Upon my step daughters arrival at Cape Town International and procceding to check-in and book in luggage with Air France KLM she was not greeted by an upbeat and friendly check in lady but instead by a group of rude and condecending employees of Cape Town International Airport aswell as Air France KLM employees. My daughter was checking in at 20:00 PM and her flight was only at 00:30 PM which is 4 and a half hours early for an international flight which is well above the giving recommonded check-in time for flights. The employess of Air France KLM then procced to tell my step daighter that her PAID and BOOKED for ticket had been downgraded from buissness class to low class economy with no previous warnings or contact made with neither ME nor my step daughter, even though the ticket was booked over 2 months prior to this event. At this point she is then told that she MUST wait in a giving lounge until space can be made for her on the flight with no exact details on when, where or even if she will deffinitely catch her flight. At this point my step daughter made contact with me and my wife in Malage Spain where she explained the situation. My wife at this point burst into tears and frustration, she then immediately grew huge concerns and discomforts for her daughters well being and previous stroke and medical history. I then insisted my step daughter let me get in contact with a manager of Air France KLM at Cape Town International in turn they refused point blank to speak to me or my wife and insisted that they would only communicate with the passenger. This was the point when I thought I might be able to get in contact with somebody who was competent and educated at Air France KLM via telephone at Cape Town International, I tried calling approximitely 8-12 different contact numbers I had found scattered all over varies websites and forum posts online about Air France KLM. Me and my wife then grew even more concerned about this whole situation due to the fact that all 8-12 attempts of communication via telephone failed and not a single phone called had been answered even though the calls were made in the specific buissness hours and after hours times stated on the official Air France KLM website as 08:00 - 00:30. Approximately after 3 and a half hours of arguing and termoil my step daughter managed to atleast get a low economy seat to Amsterdam Schipol with no compasion or sympathy giving by Air France KLM or Cape Town International. They did force a EXTREMELY MINUTE and small compensation onto my duaghter, considering the actual cost difference between a BUISSNESS CLASS TICKET AND ECONOMY CLASS tick! This compensation was not accpeted on a mutual basis and agreement, thus I will be sending it back to Air France KLM. My step daughter eventually went to proceed and board her flight with her newely acquired economy class seat, where she was greeted by an extremely uncomfortable seat with minute amounts of leg room compared to what she was suppose to get giving with her original ticket. The fact that she is severely affected by gout in multiple parts of her body after her stroke but mainly in hear hands and feet made this A GREAT DEAL WORSE! Just the thought of making somebody who has severe gout attacks sit in such a small and confined space is disgusting and disturbing, it is something I would consider to be close to human TORTURE! The said economy seat did NOT even have a TV or monitor yet alone a usb port for my step daughter to charrge her mobile device incase of emergencies. She was also only given a SINGLE(one) beverage to consume on the flight even though she was once again suppose to be a buissness class traveler. After 18 Hours of pure flight my step daughter reached her first stop and destination which was Amsterdam Schipol when she then got in contact with me and my waife to let us know she had arrived safely, she also exclaimed to us that she had suffered multiple gout attacks during her flight and also during the layover at Amsterdam Schipol. In this time she had also mentioned high blood pressure readings and low sugar levels which are taken every sevral hours. After another 4 hour layover and her last flight my step daughter had reached her final destination in Malaga Spain where she intends to spend her remaining holiday with me and her mother and try lose the disgusting, foul and bitter taste Air France KLM and Cape Town International have left in our mouths. I would like this matter to be resolved and dealt with quickly and efficiently in the most proffesional and competent manner in which I think Air France KLM and Cape Town International should at the very least apologize with a respectful, sincere and well thought apology to myself, my wife and THE MAIN VICTIM OF ALL THIS TRAUMA AND TERMOIL MY STEP DAUGHTER! I would like my review and experience to warn all future travelers to proceed with caution when booking a flight with Air France KLM or any airline in general and do some research into the airline and their EXTREMELY SHADY, DISHONEST and DICEITFUL policies in place to trick,****,***** and take advantage of consumers and travelers. In future I will make sure myself and my family avoid EVER travelling with Air France KLM again and do so at all costs, I urge other consumers and travelers to do the same and vote with their wallets and make informed decisions for future travels. I would also like to show what a generic, disrespectful and uninterested apology we got via email which is not accepted by neither myself, wife or step daughter. This email in my opinion has no sincerity or genuine compassion. The email also states in laymans terms that no matter how far in advance you book a flight that it does not matter, all that matters is who PAID THE MOST for their ticket and the time frame is not a factor. The first come first rule does not apply to them or any other airlines, the most accepted rule is the highest bidder wins the booking regardless of actual reservation dates. "Dear Mr _____, May I add my sincere apology for the difficulties Ms _____ encountered on her recent journey with KLM from Cape Town and also for the dissatisfaction you have expressed after she was downgraded. I want to assure you that we want to transport our customers to their destinations in a timely, comfortable and enjoyable manner. I've reviewed your concerns and the flight reservation did not show that special assistance would be needed. Nevertheless, our service has let her down and I apologise. I am very sorry if you feel we did not provide the impeccable service Ms _____ deserved. The majority of airlines are permitted to overbook services to allow for customers who may not arrive for the flights in order to ensure they operate to full capacity. The method for selecting a customer who is selected is entirely automated by the check-in system and is based on several criteria such as the fare basis and status within our frequent flier programme. This gives the customer a 'Process Customer Value' rating which determines if they are to be placed on the waitlist and if so, what position they will hold. For scheduled airlines it is extremely common for customers to change their travel plans at the last minute and is very rare that any customer who is placed on the waitlist to be denied boarding or downgraded. I can fully understand that this is of little or zero comfort to Ms _____ when she was placed in this situation. It is of course the frontline staff who have the ultimate responsibility of providing timely and accurate information to the customer to reassure and ease them during such occasions. We accept that things sometimes do go wrong in our line of business but it is the way in which it is handled that determines its lasting impression on our customers. I sincerely apologise that this was inadequate on this occasion. As Ms _____ may be aware, in an effort to demonstrate how truly sorry we are for this flight disruption, our Cape Town Airport Customer Service team issued an electronic voucher (EMD)___-_________ in the amount of ZAR____ that may be used towards future Air France, KLM and Delta Air Lines reservations. I have also arranged for the fare difference to be refunded. This will be processed electronically to the original form of payment. Please accept our apology for the inconvenience Ms _____ experienced. We look forward to serving her under better circumstances. Yours sincerely, J Silverstone (Mr) Customer Care Europe" Nope sorry apology not accepted and neither is your "token of apology".

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