When flying to Europe I favor flying through Amsterdam Schiphol AMS, a generally efficient port of entry to Europe. Having two to four daily nonstops by Delta and partner KLM helps.
Dwight and I, our nephews and their parents, are currently in-flight with KLM from Minneapolis MSP to Amsterdam Schiphol AMS. It’s not how we planned it, but we’ll get to our final destination airport, Malaga, on time (probably), as originally planned.
Today we’ve rebooked flights to Malaga three times.
Original Reservation #1: July 4, Delta 450, depart MSP for AMS 4:50 p.m.
This morning, while out for a walk in Minneapolis, Delta messaged me that the flight was delayed, we wouldn’t make our connection in Amsterdam to Malaga, we needed to rebook.
Online, we were given few options, all with departures from Minneapolis the next day (July 5). So we’d have something, I opted for a flight to Paris with a connecting flight to Malaga.
Reservation #2: July 5, Delta 197 depart MSP for CDG (Paris) 4:40 p.m.
This was a day later than planned for leaving Minneapolis, but at least we had a plan. Later I planned to reclaim the cost of the missed hotel night in Spain from American Express.
On the walk back home I became increasingly dissatisfied with the idea of flying through Paris. Last time we flew through that same terminal we took two buses and endured a long passport-check line. We almost missed our flight home to Minneapolis.
Reservation #3: July 5 Delta 450, depart MSP for AMS 4:50 p.m.
At Schiphol we’d just have the long passport line. So, when I got home I went online, found a routing via AMS, and changed our reservation back to MSP-AMS, albeit a day later than originally planned.
But I didn’t want to wait until the next day, so I messaged Delta and amazingly got a response within a minute. The agent, Venecia, initially confirmed we’d have to travel a day late, as rebooked. I pointed out KLM options, then she found something better than I’d been asking for.
A KLM flight from Minneapolis today had been delayed, we had time to get to the airport, catch it, and be on our originally planned flight to Malaga. This had not been offered to me online.
I supplied Venecia with an employee reward code.
Reservation #4: KLM 656, depart MSP for AMS 3:32 p.m.
And here we are, on a lovely KLM flight to Amsterdam, arriving in Amsterdam earlier than planned, giving us plenty time to catch our original flight to Malaga.
Over the years, I’ve found airline employees to be remarkably service-oriented. Venecia is just one more example.
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