The Schip has truly hit the fan for thousands of air passengers in Amsterdam on Thursday.
After baggage systems at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS) malfunctioned on Wednesday, KLM informed many of its customers on Thursday that they won’t be able to check luggage on flights connecting through the airport.
This isn’t an issue if you only have a carry-on, of course, but more so if you’ve just huffed and puffed your way to the airport with a few massive suitcases ready to sling onto the conveyer belt.
To make matters worse, some KLM employees reportedly told travelers that they will be unable to check bags on international flights, too. This is not the case and the current issues should only be affecting European flights departing from AMS where the destination is within Europe.
The disruption has affected hundreds of connecting flights at Europe’s fourth-busiest hub, where many of the biggest airlines cover 300 destinations globally.
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An email from KLM that befuddled flyers read, “Due to a major disruption of the baggage system at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol we are facing an unmanageable situation which is beyond our control.”
Passengers unable to travel with only hand luggage could choose to rebook their flight free of charge, or request a travel voucher instead.
On top of the chaos now facing travelers at check-in, thousands of flyers in transit have been left without luggage.
The airline has asked passengers to check the status of their baggage by entering their name and reference number on its online luggage tracking portal, which you can find here.
On the back of this latest issue for KLM, its CEO, Marjan Rintel, emailed the airline’s customers Thursday promising it had “additional measures and resources in place to get the luggage back to its owners and solve the necessary aftercare and claims.”
“We understand that this is very frustrating and can leave customers feeling abandoned,” she added. “But rest assured that we are working on your case. Please use our online rebooking, claims and refund services as much as possible.”
While the airline has since claimed that the baggage system is back up and running, the problems may roll on for a while longer, especially after a KLM staff member using the carrier’s Twitter account said, “I cannot guarantee whether there will still be a disruption tomorrow.”
Other carriers are said to have been affected by the tech issues, but right now it appears the Dutch flagship airline has borne the brunt of the broken machinery.
