sevendown

I was scheduled to fly KLM from Amsterdam to Nairobi on Christmas day. Apparently KLM has just up and cancelled the flight, no explanation. Luckily they accomodated me on a flight into Kilimanjaro Airport in Tanzania the same day, which is actually where I was heading the next morning after arrival in Nairobi. So all is well (in fact, better).

But I was just wondering if any of you airline experts would know why the flight was cancelled this far in advance. Apparently it was cancelled just on that day. They did not cancel the route entirely, as the same flight is still operating the next day, previous day, and the same day of the week the week before and after.

Just curious.

abram

Perhaps because not very many people want to fly on Christmas Day?

rkkwan

I remember last December, a fodorite is having problem with finding a business class seat on KLM NRO-AMS, also around Christmas time. Flights seem to operating, but they're only selling coach tickets.

Very strange.

But airlines canceling flights on Christmas Day or New Years Day is not that unusual. Not many people flying that day, while lots of crew want to get day off.

sevendown

Well, this isn't the first Christmas that airplanes have flown. Seems like they should know approximately what the load factor will be that day from past experience before they even schedule the flight.

Actually, that was me trying to fly NBO-AMS. KLM is still only selling coach tickets on the day I want to fly that route, unless you buy your business class seat NBO-AMS "married" with another segment flying AMS to Atlanta. Yes, very strange.

My guess is that on my Christmas flight they did not have enough bookings. I am flying on award miles, and every other day near the holidays is completely sold out. But when I tried to book Christmas day, they told me it was wide open with as many award seats available as I wanted.

Of course a few months later they cancel the flight!!

Now I just have to hope they don't cancel the AMS-JRO flight they put me on. After all, it's still Christmas.

rkkwan

Oh, that was you. Wow, you sure have your problem with KLM going to NBO!

Have you thought of using Air France instead? [But I guess it wouldn't make sense if you live near Amsterdam.]

Anyways, I know we may have discussed this last year, but will they put you on the Kenya Airways codeshare?

sevendown

The KQ codeshare NBO-AMS leaves in the morning, not the evening, and that will be too early for us.

We finally had to solve the problem by purchasing tickets on the KQ flight from NBO to Paris. I actually live in the US, so from there we fly back to Houston. It works fine schedule-wise, but of course purshasing tickets when you are traveling the rest of your itinerary on free award seats is a bummer.

I am still holding out hope that the KLM flight NBO-AMS will come available for award seats, but I'm not holding my breath. As opposed to the Christmas flight going there, my return date is on a very popular Saturday, and I think it will likely never be made available.

Yes, KLM is very strange. They won't give you the seats for miles, they won't sell you the seats for money, and then when you finally do get a ticket because the flight is on a slow day, the cancel the flight altogether.

I think the KLM executives are visiting those Amsterdam coffee shops on their lunch hours.

BlueSea

Looks more like crew-related. If KLM was selling coach only it means they do not have crew available to serve First class.

It's true that planes go 1/2 - 3/4 empty on Xmas Day - we've done that a couple of times.

sevendown

No, BlueSea, they were selling business/first, but only if you bought two segments together -- Nairobi to Amsterdam, PLUS Amsterdam to Atlanta (and perhaps other non-European destinations - I didn't check every combination). I doubt it was a crew issue, when the flight was 8 months away, the plane has a business cabin and the airline makes so much more profit on a business class seat.

No, its the dreaded "married segment" concept, which I never knew about until this happened. I always thought that if a plane had a seat on it, I could buy it. Wrong.

Patty

OMG, could you have more problems?

Hey, at least you don't have to worry about whether you need one or two Kenya visas now

Glad they were able to accommodate you on the AMS-JRO flight and hope it all works out!

rkkwan,
AF doesn't fly to NBO. You might be seeing the codeshare operated by KQ.

sevendown

Patty, I thought the same thing when I saw the flight had been cancelled -- "How can this airline thing get any worse?" And at first Delta told me we would just have to look for some other available award seats. The agent asked if I could fly the day before or the next day (of course being the holidays, nothing is available for 2 weeks either side of my travel dates). I said no, but why don't you just switch me to the Kilimanjaro flight since I am heading there anyway. Not surprisingly, it wasn't available for award seats either.

But this time misfortune turned into fortune after I asked, pleaded, begged, insisted, and demanded that they open up more award seats and move me to the JRO flight. Delta got KLM on the phone and pulled it off. Since that is the flight I wanted in the first place, KLM actually did me a favor by cancelling the AMS-NBO flight that day.

Maybe I should be thankful that out of 7 international flights we will be taking this trip only 1 will be on KLM!!