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BACK HOME… AT LAST!
What a relief, I am home again, after a great 2 weeks wine press-trip in Chile and Argentina, unfortunately ending in an anti-climax. Forced by an ash cloud to stay 6 more days in Santiago de Chile, I just could kiss the ground of Schiphol Amsterdam airport when I arrived, at last, in the Netherlands. Well, actually I didn’t, I preferred to kiss my wife after 3 weeks far from home.
Lack of information
In the morning of June 15, the very day I should have been flying home, I saw a newsflash on CNN concerning the eruption of an Icelandic volcano with a quite unpronounceable name: Eyjafjallajokull, sounding a bit like the Dutch ‘He ja, flauwe kul’ (freely translated as: Uh yeah, codswallop), and that was exactly the way I thought at that moment. Whoever had told me that such a ‘tiny’ ash cloud could have paralyzed such a big part of the world, would have got that kind of answer from me: Yeah, sure, nonsense!
We left the hotel on time, arrived as planned 2 hours before take-off at the in-check desk, just on time to see the whole row of desks announcing the same unbelievable nonsense in Spanish: “CANCELADO”… All the flights to and from Europe had been canceled. The whole airport seemed to be affected by the news; we actually felt a really different mood inside. No smiling faces, but tensed and sad people. The Air France representatives that should have been given us information were quite speechless, repeating the same sentences, the same operations, with the same neutral expression on their face. We had to face the facts: we were hopelessly stranded in Chile. No more news, no one could tell us when we would be able to leave. We had to go back to the hotel, the Air France employee noted our cellular phone numbers, but preferred not to use them, because it was … too expensive! They asked us to give them our name, room number and phone number at the hotel. But that appeared to be not so easy. Helen, our very kind and helpful contact person (from the Brandabout team that organized the whole press-trip) brought us the next bad news… No room left at the hotel where we stayed. Because of a huge congress in Santiago, all the medium class hotels in the center of the city were fully booked for the weekend. Was it fatality, fate, Murphy’s Law? A big anti-climax anyway… Helen could find us two rooms in different hotels. We gave this robotic acting Air France employee the needed information and left back to the city.
Lack of responsibility and follow-up
I had quite a good feeling about Air France before this trip, but the Air France representation in Santiago de Chile completely changed my vision about the whole Air France/KLM Company. 6 days long, Helen and the dynamic Brandabout team worked very hard to find for me a way out of Santiago. All kinds of possibilities have been proposed by Air France (through a call-center!), the one even more crazy than the other. Leaving from Santiago to Lima (Peru), wait there 8 hours, without knowing before leaving to Lima if the flight to Amsterdam Schiphol would leave or not… Flying to Rome and then? No train in France (strike in school holidays time!), no flight from Italy to Amsterdam… Flying to Marseille and then? Not only I would have got the same problem as in the Rome option, but actually I also had to sign a paper to discharge Air France for the rest of the trip… You got it, dropped in Marseille, with 1300 km more to go to Amsterdam, with no more than a hand-shake and a not even well meant “Goodbye and good luck”… The lack of direct communication with Air France/KLM at a desk-office was really frustrating. At last, the long awaited good answer arrived, one day before I could take off, but the confirmation arrived only 6 hours before the flight. I would fly with Iberia (operated by LAN) from Santiago to Madrid and then with Iberia from Madrid to Schiphol Amsterdam. Fantastic! When I arrived at the airport, perfect on time, I had to deal with the next robotic employee. “Sorry sir, we can’t book you in from Madrid to Amsterdam, the airport of Amsterdam is closed, no flight possible from Madrid to Amsterdam.” I was half astonished, half furious… That nonsense news was coming from the superior authorities, but those must have been sleeping the whole time, not having any internet connection, not being aware of what had happen in Europe in the past 24 hours… The European ministers of transport had decided to open the most part of the European airspace, and 70-80% of the flights from and to Europe would be operated… Whatever I could say to the robotic LAN employee, she had orders, and she would not even listen or call her superior. I was too tired to argue, and just desperately wanted to go home. We would see who was right…
The Madrid episode
The LAN flight to Madrid was long, exhausting and for me much too warm inside the plane. But there are always people who like to travel in tropical temperatures… I don’t. Because of the high temperature and the nerves, I just couldn’t sleep. We arrived perfectly on time in Madrid. Because of the subordinate attitude of the LAN desk employee at Santiago’s airport, I had to take the intern train to Terminal 4 to pick up my luggage., which took me at least 50 minutes. When I left, many passengers were still waiting for their luggage. I rushed to the Iberia check-in desk and was really pleased to see a human face behind the desk, completely understanding what happened and how I could feel. I was actually too late for the planned flight, so he had to change my ticket. Unfortunately, he could not find my official booking number in the computer database. It seemed to have been void for the part between Madrid and Amsterdam. He also found that I actually had 4 (F-O-U-R!!!) flight tickets registered on my name, the earlier alternative flights that had not been canceled by Air France Chile… Oops, thanks Air France Chile again! He ‘booked’ me, full of compassion for the next Iberia flight to Amsterdam (as you can notice, there was no problem at all with the flight between Madrid and Schiphol Amsterdam). But I had first to phone the Air France desk to ask them for an official booking code. I had to go to a central airport information desk that could help me to get the right phone number. A very kind man told me that calling the Air France desk would not help; they would not even pick up the phone. I HAD to go there, leaving the airport, taking – with luggage and all – the first internal bus for a transfer to Terminal 2 (kilometers away by road) and rush to the Air France desk… About 70 frustrated and depressed people were already queuing when I arrived… It took about one hour before I could tell my story. Unbelievable, most of the time only 3 persons worked behind the desk, later 4… All were from Air France, no one from KLM. Next door to the Air France/KLM desk was Alitalia. About 30 people were queuing there, but there were 5 persons to help them. What a difference!
Happy end thanks to Air France Madrid
When it was my turn, I tried to keep as calm as possible, while I actually was fully in panic and pretty upset inside. The Spanish lady in front of me must have noticed that I did my best to stay polite. I explained shortly my problems; she had a quick look in the computer database, most probably the same as at the Iberia desk. She moved her head from west to east and backwards many times, as if she understood what kind of incredible mess the Santiago office was responsible for. She just looked at me and said: “Don’t worry, this is a big mess, but we are going to help you sir. It is our duty to bring you home. We forget the whole mess, and give you a seat on the late KLM flight to Amsterdam. You are going home”. I just could have jumped over the desk to kiss her, for being HUMAN, for understanding my feelings, for daring to take a decision and forget about the whole hecking protocol. Three Air France employees helped me doing a quick check-in and drop my heavy suitcase. They thought I might want to enjoy a drink and relax a bit before take-off. Sure I did, you cannot imagine how nice it was to have a glass of cool Tio Pepe fino de Jerez with some jamón iberico de bellota (high quality cured raw ham), just sitting and enjoying, knowing that I was really going home. The flight to Amsterdam was really strange. The crew, the passengers, everyone was absolutely happy to be back to normal life again. It was like waking up out of a nightmare. It was quite an emotional moment at the airport when I met my wife again after 3 weeks. It was good to kiss her and hold her in my arms. It feels good now to be home again, despite a terrible jetlag.
Epilogue and lessons for the future
This was an educative experience, for all of us. And I certainly do hope that the staff and crew of all air companies, at home and abroad, will also learn from it. They will have to remember how to stay human and social, warm and understanding, against all odds. They will have to understand that the future of their company, of their job, depends on the way they treat their customers, the passengers. Whatever happens, they have to be prepared. The communication between the home offices, the airports and the abroad representatives must go faster and be more reliable. If a simple passenger like me could get the most updated information online at the airport and air companies websites, the abroad representations should know it as well and act faster and more efficiently. In a world where competition is killing, where low-budget companies are winning more and more terrain, traditional companies like Air France, KLM, Iberia, Alitalia, British Airways, Lufthansa etc. have to improve their service. This is the only way to be different, to distinguish themselves from the low-budget companies. We do pay more for a traditional ticket, and expect more for the difference of price. More means for me, and I am sure for much more frequent flyers, that the traditional companies have to learn how to be great in small things too, like understanding and reacting properly, always trying to find a good way to bring people safe home, despite all possible calamities.
This experience did cost me a little fortune. The Air France (Sky Team) company told me already that they will not pay anything back of the extra expenses due to this forced stay in Santiago. A case of ‘force majeure’, natural calamities are not included in the refund policy of the flight companies… My travel insurance was not really hopeful about being able to reimburse (a part of) my extra costs, but at least, they understood the problems and reacted humanly. May be this too is a lesson to learn of, and may be a central calamity fund could help… Together, we could make the world better, at least if we try.
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