KLM refusing to reimburse delayed passengers

eslick

Pootle1 wrote: »

Yesterday I received the following email from KLM. KLM did NOT attempt to contact me, and the telephones in South Africa were NOT answered. I was in Cape Town, not Johannesburg. No repatriation flights were provided to Cape Town.

The whole thing is riddled with ridiculous lies. I don't think KLM even READ my compensation claim letter. I am angry and insulted.

What should I do now? Should I accept?

> Claim Noxxxxxxxxxx KL xxx 1xxxxxxxx
>
> Dear Mr Coetzee
>
> In spite of this totally unexpected and unprecedented situation, KLM
> made every effort to offer you the best assistance possible under
> these exceptional circumstances:
>
> We mobilised teams worldwide, dedicated to keeping our valued
> passengers up-to-date on any developments; We provided assistance and
> accommodation to the majority of passengers in transit at our hubs in
> Paris and Amsterdam, subject however to hotel availability; We changed
> our customers¿ reservations or refunded their tickets free of charge;
> We operated extra flights to repatriate stranded customers as quickly
> as possible after the reinstatement of our operations.
>
> Despite all these measures, you unfortunately had to organize your own
> accommodation in Johannesburg.
>
> As a gesture of goodwill, but without acknowledging any liability, we
> would like to offer you the reimbursement of your accommodation costs
> and other necessary expenses for your first night to the value of EUR
> 200 upon presentation of the relevant original receipts. Because the
> situation was due to extraordinary circumstances, we are unable to
> honour your request for compensation.
>
> We truly regret that these exceptional circumstances disrupted your
> trip and hope that your next flight with KLM will be to your entire
> satisfaction.
>
> Yours sincerely, Kristine Omokhodion KLM Customer Care

thats a standard email only changing the wordings of where you were stranded they offered us 400 euros for 4 of us, heard someone with AF been offfered 150 euros plus 50 euros per person so looks like they rounded up our figures. How many people was your offer for.

I replied straight back to them and heard nothing else

withabix

Voyager2002 wrote: »

Since KLM is an EU airline, they are in fact obliged to provide "care", which means meals and hotels. If they have any presence in the UK, then you could enforce your right through the Small Claims court.

You can take out a Small Claims Court (County Court) action against any company in any EU country at YOUR local County Court. They don't need a UK presence.

This has been enshrined in EU Law since January 2009.

Enforcement when you win (because you will win) may be a problem, but it is worth issuing the threat.

I did this against Nissan Ireland last month over engine failure on my Nissan X-Trail outdside the 3yr/60,000 mile warranty and am now in the process of them providing £6500 of new engine and approx £2000 of car hire as a result. They keeled over as soon as I wrote to them giving them 14 days Notice of Action.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

beedj

1. I've had a letter from KLM with same wording as above, offering me EUR 350 for 5 of us (stranded 2 nts/3 days in Amsterdam). I intend to write to reject this offer and give them 14 days to reconsider, otherwise small claims.

2. Has anybody had a "goodwill gesture" as above, rejected it, and heard back from KLM yet ? ..... just wondering what their next move is likely to be.

3. I'm not sure the comments above re compensation are 100% correct in the case of KLM. Under KLM's own document "Assistance & Compensation" (Edition 3), which I believe forms part of my contract with them, they are also obliged to pay cash compensation (in addition to the "duty of care") which in my case is EUR 250 for each passenger. Note however that KLM have recently revised this document to Edition 4 (I don't have enough posts on MSE to include url - go to klm website and search for compensation) which now states that these compensation payments will not apply where the cancellation is due to extraordinary circumstances. However this wording was not present in Edition 3 - which was in force at the time of the ash chaos.

4. I can no longer find Edition 3 online - but I have a hard copy which I can scan if anybody needs to see it.

beedj

Agree 100% re EC261 and already aware of points you raise re no monetary limit etc - but thanks for restating - there must be many people still ou of pocket.

My point was that the compensation provisions in KLM's own document, is in addition to what they absolutely must provide under EC261 (which as it happens is also covered in the same document - KLM essentially re-state the EC261 terms).

The KLM document referred to above forms part of my contract with KLM, it does not exclude extraordinary circumstances or have any general force majeure provisions etc (or at least Edition 3 didn't) therefore why do you think it won't apply ?

In other words, yes I'm relying on the law re EC261 & "care" costs; and (entirely separate point) breach of contract if they don't pay the compensation.

eslick

Beedj let us know what they come back with, they offered us 400 euros for the first night of 7 stranded in the US so far 14 days later and no response to my rejection email.