Experiences with a KLM reservation

Recently I had made a reservation to fly from Amsterdam to Kyiv, Ukraine. When I learned that Ukraine has closed its borders for foreigners as part of their COVID-19 containment measures, I had to cancel my flight.

I went to the website, forgot and entered 3 times a wrong password. Now the system kicked me out and I had to get a new password. All my fault and I cannot complain about that.

With the mew password I entered the website and tried to cancel my flight and request a refund. That was not easy since it stated that when you cancel the flight, you cannot get a refund but get a voucher. I then decided to call KLM.

I explained that I had to cancel my reservation since I would not be allowed to enter the country. I mentioned that if I cancelled, I would not get a refund but instead receive a voucher and therefore needed assistance. The answer was shocking. Since the flight was still on the schedule as operational, KLM would not issue a refund when I cancelled. The best I could get was a voucher.

I found that appalling. I fully understand that airlines go through difficult times but when a passenger cannot take the flight because the borders of the country where they are supposed to go to, are closed because of the pandemic that we are in, then I expect more flexibility than what was shown in the call.

The website by the way also mentions that a refund can take up to 3 months before it can be refunded. In this time of automation, I also find that difficult to understand.

Come on KLM, you can do much better!

Jan M Bult

September 2020