Airlines seem to want to be in the spotlight by announcing waivers for rebookings and cancellations. Jet Blue started this off on February 27. Others then followed suit by announcing other similar waivers i.e. Alaska, United, Delta etc. However, if you read the fine print, you will notice that these apply for new bookings only. If you already have a booking to a destination that’s not on the list and/or if it was booked prior to February 27 or 1st week of March depending on the airline, the waivers don’t apply.
So, it was refreshing to see an announcement by KLM that you can book with flexibility with zero change fees on almost all tickets.
If you have a KLM ticket starting with 074, issued on or before Tuesday 31 March 2020, and valid for travel between Wednesday March 04, 2020 and Sunday May 31, 2020, regardless of the destination, you can postpone your trip at no extra cost. Your new departure date should be no later than Sunday 31 May 2020.
Whats great is that you can not only change the travel dates but change your destination too.
Heres the fineprint
To change your travel dates:
– You can only change your travel dates if the same fare type as mentioned in your original ticket is available. If you change to a higher fare type, you may need to pay the fare difference. This applies to any AF/KL/DL and partner operated flight
– Change fees are waived.
To change your destination:
– You may use the full value of your original tickets for new tickets on KLM, Air France, Delta Air Lines and/ or Virgin.
– You will not have to pay the change fee.
In addition, you can also elect to change the travel date to be beyond May 31, 2020 too with a slight difference. In this case, KLM will provide you with a voucher that will be valid for 1 year and can be used on KLM flights. This voucher will be non-refundable.
Its refreshing to see an airline offer real options to passengers and not just to get us to make new bookings and thereby generate revenue without really a concern for health of the passengers.
Stay safe out there while travelling.
Written by Dominic Fernandes aka CanadaPointsGuy
Image courtesy of facebook/KLM