Two months ago, I posted about my hectic return to the UAE. I would love to say things have gotten better, and in some aspects, they have, but in other ways, life is still feeling chaotic.
Here’s the first of my updates. My suitcases were never located. KLM’s lack of communication throughout the entire process was probably the most frustrating part. I still honestly believe that my bags are sitting at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam either under my name or under Kassandra’s (as the bags were originally tagged under Kassandra’s name despite the fact that she didn’t even travel that day and KLM has never been able to confirm if the luggage tags were ever changed to my name or not. Nor have they been able to ever tell me if they even bothered looking under Kassandra’s name). KLM’s customer service representatives have been rude and condescending during the entire process. I have spent hours upon hours completing their forms (multiple times) and speaking with them on the phone (thank goodness for Skype). And now, finally after two months, they have paid out compensation. A meager amount of compensation. It doesn’t even come close to making up for the amount that I spent for the items in my bags, and it certainly doesn’t solve my problem of finding a way to re-purchase needed items that are exorbitantly priced here or not even available.
Fortunately, my credit card has travel insurance. Now that KLM has finally closed my file, I have been able to open a file with Chase Visa. Here’s to hoping that they can offset a bit more of the expense. If nothing else, at least they have been friendly, sympathetic, and helpful which is a hell of a lot more than KLM has been.
As I promised, we have already bought tickets home for the summer, and we will be flying Emirates. I will never give KLM my business ever again. Thankfully, I have enough miles through Alaska airlines (partner of Emirates) that one of our tickets was only $66! Guess all those miles I earned flying to Las Vegas has finally paid off. So, yes, even with the ticket purchased with miles, we are still paying a little bit more to fly Emirates than we would if we flew KLM, but in my opinion, totally worth it.
Tori's Adventure 