3+ weeks in Europe just after their summer holidays, driving through a few countries and taking in the sights. That was the plan - but post covid, travel doesn't quite seem to be what it was. Here's my, well, frustrating experience in September 2022.
Flew Singapore Airlines from SYD - FRA with an overnight layover in SIN. It was the first 12+ hour flight I've taken since covid, but things went off fairly smoothly. Prior to leaving I'd head of horror stories at FRA about bags being delayed, but I had no issues. Journey was off to a good start. Spent a few days in Frankfurt then took a train to Berlin where again I spent a few days.
Here's where things started to go downhill.
I had a flight from Berlin to Linköping (Sweden) via Amsterdam. KLM is the only airline that flies to that city, with two flight options per day. Flight was due to depart at 5pm - at 12 noon I get an sms saying my flight from BER-AMS had been cancelled. Not delayed or rescheduled, but cancelled due to 'operational reasons'.
I call up KLM customer service and ask about my options:
Grabbed my bags and headed to the airport on the train from the city. 30mins into my train ride, I started to wonder why it was taking to so long to get to the airport - then I realized I'd taken the airport train, but in the wrong direction! I was now in a small town called Eberswalde, a distance of >100kms away from the airport! With slight panic and frustration setting in, I headed to the ticket counter at the station and sought my options to get back to the airport. The next two trains out of the station were cancelled due to 'trackworks', but if I made the 4pm train out of the station, get a connection back in Berlin, I should be able to get to the airport at 550pm. My Eurowings flight was scheduled to leave at 7pm.
So I get on the 4pm train. 10mins into the journey back to Berlin, the train comes to a halt. And stays that way for 20mins. Issue with signals or something. At this point I know I won't make the flight anymore, so I start looking for hotels to spend the night in Berlin and recoup the next day.
And then I get an sms. Eurowings flight to Stockholm has been cancelled. (!)
It's now an hour later. I find myself at Berlin central station, trying to look for accommodation for the night. Then an email arrives - Eurowings has rebooked me on a flight from Berlin -> Munich -> Stockholm. It would get me into Stockholm well past midnight, meaning I would miss my train, which was the last train of the night. Sprinting like a madman, I get myself on the airport train (in the right direction this time). While in the train, I sign up for Berlin's Security Queue reservation system (which I read about on AFF!). And luckily I did - regular queues were 40+mins long, and I barely made it to the flight, being one of the last to board. I made it to Stockholm at 1am, found an airport hotel and took a train to Linköping the next morning. Took a while, but I got there.
It's now a day later, a Saturday, and I'm sitting with family in Sweden. I had a return flight to Berlin the next day (Sunday) morning at 6am. KLM, via Amsterdam. Around 2pm, I get a notification from KLM - Your flight from AMS - BER has been cancelled due to operational reasons. Here we go again. I call up KLM customer care, my options:
So I make it back to Berlin, spend a night at a hotel and meet the Mrs the next morning. We start walking from the hotel pickup the car rental, which we plan to drive from Berlin -> Prague and then through the Austrian alps for the next 12 days. As we're walking, I get an email (from Avis):
we are very sorry but we cant provide your Reservation for today at the Avis Station in Berlin Central Station. We don't have any cars left and we need to cancel the booking. We hope you find a alternative way.
At this point I'm just deflated. With all the cancellations in the last couple of days, I felt like I really need to let out a scream of frustration. I call up the car rental place, the person on the phone says there's nothing he can do. He's called other Avis franchises in Berlin and none of them have a car either. And most are closed as it's Sunday. I look up other car rental companies, and a last min booking would cost me 1800€ more than what I had originally set out to pay with Avis (I get a generous corporate discount for Avis). The other alternative was to take trains, but given we were stopping at small Austrian villages, this wouldn't have been the most convenient option.
So I call back Avis, and the person on the phone says I could try Avis at the airport, they might have a car for me. So I asked him - you're the same company, surely you can tell me if they have car. And if they do, just transfer my booking over? Yeah, nah, no can do apparently. They're "different" franchises at the airport, so he can't do that. I try calling Avis at the airport, but it keeps going to a German automated system with no option for English. I decide to take the airport train (in the right direction!), get to the airport and manage to use my corporate discount to get a car. €110 more than the original booking, but at this point I really didn't care. It wasn't the car I wanted, nor was it in the best condition (>50,000kms on the clock).
After I started driving, the rest of the holiday went smoothly. Thankfully.
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Present day - now I'm trying to recoup all the extra costs that I paid with booking / rebooking planes and trains.
Edit: Chubb have refused my claim, saying till they get a more concrete reason for cancellation, they can't proceed. KLM are impossible to reach. So much for travel insurance.
Moral of the story? Ermm... I don't know. I don't think there's one. Just hope your next holiday is better than mine.
Flew Singapore Airlines from SYD - FRA with an overnight layover in SIN. It was the first 12+ hour flight I've taken since covid, but things went off fairly smoothly. Prior to leaving I'd head of horror stories at FRA about bags being delayed, but I had no issues. Journey was off to a good start. Spent a few days in Frankfurt then took a train to Berlin where again I spent a few days.
Here's where things started to go downhill.
I had a flight from Berlin to Linköping (Sweden) via Amsterdam. KLM is the only airline that flies to that city, with two flight options per day. Flight was due to depart at 5pm - at 12 noon I get an sms saying my flight from BER-AMS had been cancelled. Not delayed or rescheduled, but cancelled due to 'operational reasons'.
I call up KLM customer service and ask about my options:
- They could offer me a flight out the next morning in 2 days time.
- After insisting I needed to get to Sweden that very day, they offered to put me on flight from Berlin -> Vienna -> Amsterdam, which would then let me make my connecting flight to Linköping. Except the flight was departing in 90mins, and I wasn't at the airport yet, so I wouldn't make it.
- Another KLM flight was departing to AMS at 7pm (two hours after my original flight), but it only had business class seats available. And I would have to fork out an additional 900€. Yeah right.
- With no other options in sight, I said ok - put me on the morning flight the next day. Except now, that flight was sold out as well and my only option was to travel 2 days later.
Grabbed my bags and headed to the airport on the train from the city. 30mins into my train ride, I started to wonder why it was taking to so long to get to the airport - then I realized I'd taken the airport train, but in the wrong direction! I was now in a small town called Eberswalde, a distance of >100kms away from the airport! With slight panic and frustration setting in, I headed to the ticket counter at the station and sought my options to get back to the airport. The next two trains out of the station were cancelled due to 'trackworks', but if I made the 4pm train out of the station, get a connection back in Berlin, I should be able to get to the airport at 550pm. My Eurowings flight was scheduled to leave at 7pm.
So I get on the 4pm train. 10mins into the journey back to Berlin, the train comes to a halt. And stays that way for 20mins. Issue with signals or something. At this point I know I won't make the flight anymore, so I start looking for hotels to spend the night in Berlin and recoup the next day.
And then I get an sms. Eurowings flight to Stockholm has been cancelled. (!)
It's now an hour later. I find myself at Berlin central station, trying to look for accommodation for the night. Then an email arrives - Eurowings has rebooked me on a flight from Berlin -> Munich -> Stockholm. It would get me into Stockholm well past midnight, meaning I would miss my train, which was the last train of the night. Sprinting like a madman, I get myself on the airport train (in the right direction this time). While in the train, I sign up for Berlin's Security Queue reservation system (which I read about on AFF!). And luckily I did - regular queues were 40+mins long, and I barely made it to the flight, being one of the last to board. I made it to Stockholm at 1am, found an airport hotel and took a train to Linköping the next morning. Took a while, but I got there.
It's now a day later, a Saturday, and I'm sitting with family in Sweden. I had a return flight to Berlin the next day (Sunday) morning at 6am. KLM, via Amsterdam. Around 2pm, I get a notification from KLM - Your flight from AMS - BER has been cancelled due to operational reasons. Here we go again. I call up KLM customer care, my options:
- Take a flight out at 7pm on Sunday via Amsterdam, getting me to Berlin at 9pm.
- This wouldn't work as the Mrs was waiting for me in Berlin. Our plan was to rent a car and drive to Prague, spending the night there.
- Take a train to Copenhagen (4+ hours), then fly out from there to Amsterdam and then onto Berlin. Again, would get me into Berlin too late.
- Take a flight out in the next 2 hours (on Sat itself).
- If I could make it to the airport in the next hour, I would get into Berlin just before midnight.
So I make it back to Berlin, spend a night at a hotel and meet the Mrs the next morning. We start walking from the hotel pickup the car rental, which we plan to drive from Berlin -> Prague and then through the Austrian alps for the next 12 days. As we're walking, I get an email (from Avis):
we are very sorry but we cant provide your Reservation for today at the Avis Station in Berlin Central Station. We don't have any cars left and we need to cancel the booking. We hope you find a alternative way.
At this point I'm just deflated. With all the cancellations in the last couple of days, I felt like I really need to let out a scream of frustration. I call up the car rental place, the person on the phone says there's nothing he can do. He's called other Avis franchises in Berlin and none of them have a car either. And most are closed as it's Sunday. I look up other car rental companies, and a last min booking would cost me 1800€ more than what I had originally set out to pay with Avis (I get a generous corporate discount for Avis). The other alternative was to take trains, but given we were stopping at small Austrian villages, this wouldn't have been the most convenient option.
So I call back Avis, and the person on the phone says I could try Avis at the airport, they might have a car for me. So I asked him - you're the same company, surely you can tell me if they have car. And if they do, just transfer my booking over? Yeah, nah, no can do apparently. They're "different" franchises at the airport, so he can't do that. I try calling Avis at the airport, but it keeps going to a German automated system with no option for English. I decide to take the airport train (in the right direction!), get to the airport and manage to use my corporate discount to get a car. €110 more than the original booking, but at this point I really didn't care. It wasn't the car I wanted, nor was it in the best condition (>50,000kms on the clock).
After I started driving, the rest of the holiday went smoothly. Thankfully.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Present day - now I'm trying to recoup all the extra costs that I paid with booking / rebooking planes and trains.
- KLM refunded me the entire portion of original Berlin -> Sweden flight.
- I kicked up a storm with Avis support, and they refunded me the extra €110 Euros + some extra $$ for goodwill.
- My travel insurance is with Chubb via Amex. I filed two claims:
- 1. For the Eurowings flight / cancellation / trains etc that I had to pay out of pocket once KLM was cancelled.
- 2. For the extra night's hotel I had to spend in Berlin as I left Sweden a day earlier than planned.
Edit: Chubb have refused my claim, saying till they get a more concrete reason for cancellation, they can't proceed. KLM are impossible to reach. So much for travel insurance.
Moral of the story? Ermm... I don't know. I don't think there's one. Just hope your next holiday is better than mine.
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