We have had a few cases lately where customer service replies, even at the top elite level, have become complete garbage, and you have been required to email back and forth a few times to find someone who understands the issue and has the authority to resolve it.
You have to credit Air France – KLM’s Flying Blue for fixing two misposted flights promptly and without a fuss.
You can access Flying Blue here.
What Happened?
I have been flying quite a few times on the very competitively priced AeroMexico fare from Barcelona to Sao Paulo and back, which has allowed me to take AM-coded Air France and KLM flights over the Atlantic that are far more comfortable than AM metal.
The benefit is that you get the miles based on the AM flights, even when AF or KLM operates them, and the ticket price doesn’t matter.
Everything posted just fine until the return from Mexico City to Barcelona on KLM. The segment that was posted was the MEX-AMS, which was, for some reason, listed as a KLM flight and not under the AM code. Nothing was posted for the AMS-BCN segment.
I knew how many miles should have been posted (roughly), as I had flown this and CDG routing previously when they were correctly credited.
I waited a week and then started the retro claim process on Flying Blue’s website, which requested just the ticket number.
The system found the missing AMS-BCN segment but incorrectly posted it as a KL flight. The display was also incorrect regarding the AM-coded and operated flights. They had all been correctly credited.
Flying Blue also sent me an email about this incorrect retrocredit.
I decided to use Contact Us, as there was no better option for incorrectly credited flights. The key is to keep the message very concise. I requested the flights be correctly credited under the AM codes instead of the KLM ones.
I knew they would probably ask for a copy of my boarding pass and the eticket receipt, so I already attached them at this point (no need for additional email rounds).
I always make sure to have a paper boarding pass (I am old fashioned in this sense), and either snap a photo of them or keep it until the flights have correctly posted.
You also have to give AeroMexico credit for sending you a PROPER e-ticket receipt rather than those “commercials” many airlines now call e-tickets that don’t show the ticketed fare class or the fare base. You rarely see a proper tax calculation, either.
So, I sent this over to Flying Blue on Wednesday night.
About 18 hours later, Flying Blue replied and basically told me that the flights had been fixed.
The missing miles were added as an additional line, a “Flight Adjustment.” These UXPs don’t help me (you need them to qualify for the Ultimate status), as most of my Flying Blue activity comes from partners. You don’t earn them for AM-coded flights.
I have had some of these short-haul segments between BCN and AMS/CDG, also under KL and AF codes, and the number of miles you earn compared to AM ones is abysmal. This just proves how awful these revenue-based programs are, even for competitively priced business tickets.
Conclusion
So, it is not difficult if companies invest some cash and have properly trained agents dealing with their customers rather than warm bodies copying/pasting replies that have nothing to do with the question/request.
I was chatting about this with Sebastian and Freddo, and it seems there might be a different level of service for non-elites of Flying Blue, who may not see the same quality level and promptness of replies (I hope this is not the case).
Companies that make it easy to deal with them when things go south or sideways get my business. I have no time or patience to work with businesses that don’t appreciate their paying customers.
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