2 minutes (Delta acting under KLM)
 

Me and my business partner had an unfortunate trip over to JFK today, our taxi had a minor incident while on the freeway. However, because of this incident we arrived 45 minutes later at the airport than expected which would've been just shy of 2 hours before flight take off.

When we did finally make it to JFK (after getting our bags and taxi sorted out), the signage of where we should go pointed us in the wrong direction (we knew that was Delta operating under KLM, so naturally we went to Delta's desk (KLM was nowhere to be seen), but after waiting in line at Delta they only then told us we have to be at the other side of the isle of desks), which resulted in another 4 minutes of running around at the airport.
At which point we arrived at the desk only to hear that we were 2 minutes late to check our bags. 2 MINUTES, on top of that, something that wasn't mentioned in the KLM agreement and conditions is that we should have our bags checked 1 hour before flight take off. Even if they did, really? 2 minutes late, which then gave us the only option to stay at JFK for 18 hours (plus an additional $400) to take the next flight.

Being a Dutch citizen myself and my colleague as well, we of course tried calling KLM in the Netherlands first, but after a long wait, the lady on the phone basically told us they were powerless because the decision was in the captain's hands (another 20 minutes lost). Which I understand, but no effort at all was made from KLM nor Delta to even work with us a little bit.

The lack of care when people get stranded on an airport is absolutely stunning and extremely unprofessional from a big and (supposedly) respected airline such as KLM.

Shame on you KLM and Delta!

Look at this page, it is very clearly indicated that Check-in closes 1 hour before departure.


http://www.klm.com/travel/us_en/prep...imes/index.htm, KLM also recommends checkin in 3 hours before departure.

Your time buffer for unforseen events was simply too small.

Not the pax fault. It never is.