On 27 June 2022, I flew from Dubai to London; on 4-5 July, I returned to Dubai via Amsterdam on KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
On 27 June, I received very late notice that my KL flight was cancelled and that I was to board an Emirates flight instead. But I had already purchased seating with KLM, and paid extra for an aisle seat with more space. This was not honored by Emirates, and the money was simply taken by KLM.
On 4-5 July, my flight from London back to Dubai via Amsterdam was delayed at Heathrow. Passengers didn't even get notice of a gate until 15 minutes prior to departure. Meanwhile, there was no communication or information from KLM. Passengers just waited in uncertainty until hearing the gate, then literally running to it, and bunching up in a confused line until we all somehow boarded. And once again, KLM did not honor my advance purchases of seats -- they put me in an aisle and I was told there was nothing that could be done about it as it was the last minute and the flight was full. So sorry.
Next, this flight from London landed very late in Amsterdam, and I barely had time to board the flight from there to Dubai just as the gate was closing. In fact, I had to beg KLM personnel to let me board, explaining what had happened. They did, telling me "today's your lucky day." They can keep that luck, thank you very much.
Finally, upon arriving in Dubai, I learned that the airline had mishandled my luggage in Amsterdam and that it would not arrive in Dubai for another day. Meanwhile, the airline had contracted the handling of this to Dnata, a third-party baggage handling/recovery service. Dnata has been unresponsive, but after about a dozen calls and emails, they have explained that it will take approximately 5-10 working days to locate my baggage and get it to me.
The last insult comes from KLM, whose website asks passengers in this situation: "As the KLM Customer Contact Centre can't provide you with more detailed information, we kindly ask you not to contact us."
This is unacceptable in an airline that has taken money from its customers, then alienated them through incompetence and non-responsiveness.
What they are saying is that there is currently a problem. They are not able to deal with this problem. They have thrown in the towel on communicating with their customers about this problem. And they are just plain in over their heads in the world of airlines and airport operations. It's deeply disappointing.