Oh, did we say dollars? We meant euros

Photo of author

By Christopher Elliott

When Kara van Wyk’s airline charges her in euros instead of dollars, her airfare bill takes off. Can her tickets be saved?

Question

In January, I contacted the airline through Facebook about tickets to Tanzania. My family and I are planning to fly there for three weeks in June and then extend our layover in Amsterdam for a week on the return trip.

KLM quoted me a price in dollars, including all taxes and fees. We said yes and followed the link to purchase tickets.

This week, checking my Visa statement, I saw that I was charged approximately $1,200 more. KLM charged me in euros instead of dollars!

The airline admitted its mistake, but its offer to resolve this was either to give us a full refund or upgrade our seats to “economy comfort” on the leg from Amsterdam to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Only one way.

Unfortunately, in the time that has passed, fares have gone up. At the time of purchase, the original price quoted was right in the range for a number of airline prices to Dar es Salaam in June. Now, the prices are around $300 more per person — making a refund a hassle and not really worth it.

The minor upgrade on one part of our journey doesn’t seem like enough to me. Yet the airline refuses to upgrade both ways in and out of Dar es Salaam.

I feel cheated. KLM quoted me a price and won’t stand by it, even though it was the airline’s own mistake. And I’m not very happy about giving the company my business now. Any suggestions? — Kara van Wyk, Minneapolis

Sodexo North America is part of a global, Fortune 500 company with a presence in 80 countries. Sodexo is a leading provider of integrated food, facilities management and other services that enhance organizational performance, contribute to local communities and improve quality of life for millions of customers in corporate, education, healthcare, senior living, sports and leisure, government and other environments daily. Learn more at Sodexoinsights.com.

Answer

KLM misquoted your fare. If it had refunded your tickets quickly, you would have had a chance to rebook your flights to Tanzania with another carrier. Instead, for reasons that are not entirely clear to me, it waited.

KLM’s offer to “upgrade” you to roomier economy-class seats one way is a little ridiculous. First of all, those seats have about the same amount of legroom as all coach seats used to, so it’s really not doing you any favors. And what about your return trip? Do you have to sit in the torture-class seats all the way home? Apparently, the answer is “yes.”

I recommended that you send a brief, polite email to the airline, which you did. But KLM only repeated its insufficient offer, this time by email. Interestingly, Delta Air Lines, KLM’s partner in the U.S., gets to clean up this mess. Ah, code-sharing! Don’t even get me started on that anticompetitive, consumer-unfriendly practice. (Related: Cheated by neimanmarcus.com?)

Delta had two options

The way I saw it, Delta had two options: either honor the original fare or buy you a ticket on a competing airline for the same route, and at the rate you thought you paid when you booked your tickets. (Here’s how to fix your own consumer problem.)

By the way, you can always appeal your case to someone higher up at Delta. I publish the names and email addresses of all the customer-service managers on my site at http://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/delta.

After several weeks of back-and-forth between you, me, KLM and Delta, I received word from Delta that you would be refunded the difference between the price in dollars you were quoted and the amount in euros you were charged for the tickets. You and your family also will be upgraded to “economy comfort” from Amsterdam to Dar es Salaam. Have a great vacation!

Photo of author

Christopher Elliott

Christopher Elliott is the founder of Elliott Advocacy, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that empowers consumers to solve their problems and helps those who can't. He's the author of numerous books on consumer advocacy and writes three nationally syndicated columns. He also publishes the Elliott Report, a news site for consumers, and Elliott Confidential, a critically acclaimed newsletter about customer service. If you have a consumer problem you can't solve, contact him directly through his advocacy website. You can also follow him on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn, or sign up for his daily newsletter. He is based in Panamá City.

Related Posts