Airline KLM should have communicated better this week with passengers who were stranded en masse at Schiphol this week due to snowfall because their flights were cancelled. KLM CEO Marjan Rintel said this on Thursday evening talk show Pauw & De Wit.
According to Rintel, there are “lessons to learn” for KLM, which they will “of course take up”. This concerns two points, the CEO believes: preparation for the winter weather and communication with customers.
“We have determined a certain capacity together. Is it sufficient for such a harsh winter?” Rintel says he does not want to make any statements about this yet, because “it is a cost-benefit analysis that you have to weigh carefully.” In addition, customers could be better informed this week. According to Rintel, this means that KLM can provide the information people need “carefully, up-to-date and proactively”, at any time of the day. “That has to be better than we have done now.”
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Schiphol
In recent days, KLM canceled hundreds of flights due to the persistent winter weather. Countless travelers were stranded at Schiphol and complained about the lack of information. Rintel says she understands customers’ frustration. According to her, people who are already at Schiphol need much more information than what is contained in “the KLM app, than what you receive in your email or what you can find on your phone.”
It is therefore important that “you still have to be there for all your passengers to help them,” even if you cannot provide information, Rintel believes. For example, more information could have been provided about where people can find a hotel.
Cancelled
“Several dozen” flights were also preventively canceled on Friday, Schiphol reports. KLM has announced that it will cancel 80 flights because bad weather is expected again in the evening. This mainly concerns flights within Europe.
“By canceling flights now, we provide our passengers with clarity in time and prevent a flight from having to be canceled at the last minute,” the airline told the ANP news agency. “We are doing our utmost to rebook passengers on the next flight with available seats.”
This week, many hundreds of flights have already been canceled at Schiphol. Because the weather conditions were relatively favorable on Thursday, KLM was able to operate almost all flights that day.
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