international air travel - how bad can it be

By Shantanu -
I saw the plight of thousands of passengers stranded owing to the volcanic eruption in Iceland and was saddened. However this is an instance which is denoted as "Act of God" or "force majeure", airlines cannot be blamed for this. But what if passengers are stranded owing the problems of the airlines? They are supposed to compensate, but do they? I recount one of my own experiences here in this context. While returning from Toronto, I had a connecting KLM flight from Amsterdam. Because my original KLM flight got delayed I missed this connection in Amsterdam. The lady at the counter could not help. No hotel accomodation was provided, only a meal voucher of Euro 10 was handed (poor beggar, he won't need more than this!), no upgrade was provided despite plenty of miles on my flying blue card to justify one, and I was given two straight choices, either spend the night in the airport and board the next day's flight, or get yourself rebooked in another flight which will take you through 3 different ports, and instead of 8 hours you will spend 20 hours in flight. The prospect was daunting and the choice was between devil and deep sea. Worse, the lady at the counter had her shift ending and she was not ready to listen to me by spending time beyond her working hours. She at times was downright rude instead of being sympathetic. The third choice was simpler - it was "Go to Hell!, we do not need you!".


Customer Service! It is non existent in Europe.
 
I chose the second one, I will reach damn tired, but atleast I will reach few hours earlier. But still I shudder if somebody asks me to travel with KLM.
Other European airlines fare no better if stories are to be believed in different consumer forums.
 
Its sad that passengers are suffering. But then European airlines should learn it the hard way. If they make some losses today, tomorrow hopefully they will try hard to recover lost ground with better customer service.
Or am I too optimistic?

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