Dear Ms Layh+1,
Thank you for your email dated 27 March 2022 regarding flight KL1750 from Bremen to Amsterdam on 9 March 2022. At the outset, I regret to learn that you were unable to travel as planned. I hope you and your family are keeping safe in this pandemic situation.
As per our records, the aforementioned flight was cancelled due to cabin reasons as a consequence of Covid-19. As a result, you missed your connecting flight KL623. Therefore, our colleagues had secured your journey by offering you the rebooking on the next available flights KL1754, KL641 and DL684 on the same day.
The Covid-19 pandemic continues to have a huge impact on the worldwide airline industry and most recently we have encountered the effects of the highly transmittable Omicron variant.
The self-isolation rules enforced by governments worldwide to limit the spread of the virus have had a detrimental impact on workforce availability in many sectors and none more so than the airline industry in The Netherlands.
Measures implemented by the Dutch government in reaction to the Omicron variant do not permit airline crew to report for work when someone in their family, household or another close contact has tested positive for the virus or is even awaiting the results of testing. All this is regardless of the crew member’s own infection status.
With the rampant spread of the virus across Europe during this time, there is little KLM crew members can do to prevent themselves coming into contact with potential infection cases in their everyday lives. Likewise, there is little KLM can do to avoid the substantial increase in crew members who are deemed not ‘fit to fly’ under Dutch government rules. This goes far beyond what is normal in our company or in the wider industry.
When it is necessary to cancel certain flights for this reason, our priority is to offer customers a rebooking best matching their needs, but of course subject to the alternative options available. We are of course fully committed to, and compliant with, the obligations we have towards our customers in terms of the care and assistance we must offer in these eventualities.
However, the EU passenger rights framework exempts airlines from paying additional compensation under certain extraordinary circumstances and the European Commission confirmed already that Covid-19 inspired flight disruptions fall under this exception. We therefore regret that since your flight was cancelled for the aforementioned reason, this is not a situation where there is an entitlement to further compensation.
Despite this unfortunate experience, we hope to see you on board our flights in the near future.
Best regards,
Inderdev
Air France KLM Customer Care Assistant
