NETHERLANDS: KLM Declines To Accommodate Its Stranded Passengers

Dutch airline, KLM, is ignoring its legal obligations to stranded passengers and telling them that it is unable to book hotel rooms.

The false assertion is contained in a letter handed to travellers at the airline’s main base, Amsterdam Schiphol, which claims that hotels do not allow KLM to make reservations.

KLM emphasises that: Only individual travellers are allowed to book rooms.

In fact KLM, like any airline, is perfectly capable of booking rooms for stranded travellers. Indeed, it is obliged to do so under European air passengers’ rights rules for passengers who are stuck overnight.

Initially the flight was delayed. But then the airline apparently told passengers that due to a shortage of cabin crew the flight was cancelled.

At this stage the airline is obliged to provide them with a flight booking for the following day, a hotel and transport to get there as well as meals until they are due to leave.

Instead, staff handed passengers a bottle of water, a bar of chocolate and a letter containing a series of misleading statements, starting with: “Hotels do not allow us, an airline, to book rooms for our passengers.”

British Airways, easyJet and the Netherlands Board of Tourism have confirmed that there is no restriction on airlines booking hotel rooms around Amsterdam airport.

The letter goes on to say: We are left with no other option but to inform you of ways to book accommodation yourself. It suggests a number of websites, and recommends that passengers unable to find accommodation in the airport area should try Rotterdam, The Hague or Utrecht.

The rail journey to Utrecht late at night takes over an hour and involves a change of trains at Amsterdam Centraal.

Some passengers had no money and were very upset at the idea of spending the night in the airport.

They ended up flying on Aer Lingus from Amsterdam via Dublin to Manchester, where they arrived 22 hours late.

Under European air passengers’ rights rules, they asked for compensation of €250 each. But KLM rejected the claim, saying the cancellation was due to gusty wind from an unfavourable direction.

The passengers say that at the time of the delay they were simply told no cabin crew were available.

KLM insists that it is compliant with our obligations under the passengers’ rights rules.

KLM said that it has contracts with hotels for a certain amount of accommodation: Once the quota of rooms as per contract has been reached, hotels will not accept airline bookings as they require direct payment.

But there is no reason why the airline should not make payments via company credit cards or even cash.

KLM said: In the interest of good customer service, KLM offers its passengers information on ways to book accommodation. This is a genuine effort to be helpful to passengers.

Rather than having its passengers staying in lengthy queues, KLM prefers to give its passengers an opportunity to book hotels themselves.

There is nothing wrong with offering travellers choice, but they must always be provided with rooms if they prefer or unable to pay.


Tourism Observer

NETHERLANDS: Tourist Attractions Worth Visiting In Netherlands

Sandwiched between Belgium and Germany, The small, densely populated but amazingly clean Netherlands is best known around the world for tulips, windmills, canals.

It is one of the most popular tourist attractions thanks to unquestionably beautiful landscape including fantastic gardens, romantic village, medieval castles, but also museums housing rich heritage of artists, a tide control system that is listed as one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, cityscapes, 13,800-acre national park.

One of the most interesting things about the Netherlands is that it is a relatively compact area and quite flat the highest point is barely a thousand feet above sea level.

It is the most bike-friendly country in the world with the number of bikes exceeds the population. So that fresh air, less noise, and peace make tourists so comfortable and relaxing while visiting this country. Below is a list of Top tourist attractions in the Netherlands:

Windmills of Kinderdijk

Netherlands is considered as Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, The Kinderdijk village is well-known for the Netherlands’s largest surviving windmill concentration, consisting of 19 of amazingly preserved 18th-century windmills, built from 1722 to 1761.

The windmills with 92-foot sails were used to drain the fenlands and are open to the public from April to October, especially are set in motion on Mill Days.

Located on the river between Dordrecht and Rotterdam, the Kinderdijk village was also called Children’s Dike after a child’s cradle had been stranded on the dike during the St. Elizabeth’s Day flood of 1421.

Keukenhof

A trip to Holland could not be complete without admiring the beauty of tulip, the most popular flower in the country. Keukenhof on the outskirts of Lisse is considered as the Garden of Europe is a must thing to do in the Netherlands.

Encompassing more than 70 acres and displaying more than endless colorful rows of 700 varieties of tulips, hyacinths, crocuses, and daffodils which blossom almost year-round.

Canals of Amsterdam

Canals in the Netherlands are an essential part of many cities, especially Amsterdam, capital of the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, there are more than one hundred kilometers of canals, about 90 islands, and 1,500 bridges which definitely leaves unforgettable memories.

Walking, biking or taking a boat or water taxi along stunning waterways, lined with great museums, art galleries, and many other things. Built in the early 1600s for house workers and immigrants that came here for religious tolerance, the wonderful neighborhood Jordaan is a highlight of Amsterdam.

Do not miss hidden hofjes, secret courtyard with almshouses around it. Another picturesque neighborhood is the Grachtengordel with quaint 17th-century homes, numerous small bridges, houseboats, gardens, beautiful architecture, cafes, boutique shops.

City Hall of Delft

The historical Delft City Hall is a Renaissance-style building, built in around 1200, originally designed by the Dutch architect Hendrick de Keyser, changed many times, and restored in the 20th century.

Visitors can not only admire the beautiful architecture, including the tower Het Steen that was once used as a prison but also some group portraits.

Delta Works

Built between 1950 and 1997 in the provinces of Zeeland and South Holland and declared one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, Delta Works is a huge engineering project for protecting large areas of land from the sea.

It consists of locks, dikes, dams, sluices, and storm-surge barriers and controls how much water enters the area’s key estuaries from the North Sea in the Netherlands.

Valkenburg

Romantic little Valkenburg city in the picturesque Geul Valley has been a major domestic tourist destination for decades.

It is home to 12th-century castle on Dwingelrots (Castle Rock) – the country’s only hilltop castle, 14th-century St. Nicolaaskerk Basilica, especially Christmas Market that is open from mid-November to December 23rd in the Velvet Caves, the maze of old passageways leading to and from the castle.

Leiden

Leiden the second largest city in the nation is renowned for the birthplace of Rembrandt who is usually regarded as the greatest artist of Holland’s Golden Age, Universiteit Leiden the oldest university in the Netherlands, and wonderful canals.

Enjoying the outstanding beauty of canals, checking out The Wall Poems of Leiden, viewing telescopes and other equipment that is at least a century old in Leiden Observatory, admiring the ancient architecture of Hooglanse Kerk, seeing one of the largest and oldest windmills the Molen Museum de Valk are some of the most popular attractions in the city.

Rijksmuseum

Founded in the Haugue in 1800 and moved to Amsterdam in 1808, the Rijksmuseum or the Dutch National Museum is dedicated to arts and history.

The museum houses a huge collection of 7,000,000 works of art, including some 5,000 paintings in more than 250 rooms, a large library of about 35,000 books, lots of traditional Dutch handicrafts, medieval sculpture, and modern art.

Coming the Rijksmuseum, you can be lost in many rooms containing endless treasures and learn so much about art, history, and culture.

Kasteel De Haar

Built on a spectacular 250-acre park and designed by the famous Dutch architect, PJH Cuypers in the 14th century, restored in 1892, Kasteel De Haar is the largest fortification in the country.

It required so much land so that the entire village of Haarzuilens had to be relocated to accommodate it. Highlights include beautiful gardens and the fairytale looks of the castles. It also houses impressive collections of furniture, paintings, antiques, and tapestries.

West Frisian Islands

The West Frisian Islands also called Waddeneilanden in the North Sea off the Dutch coast. These islands are ruled by mighty tides, which shape everything from their sandy shores to their maritime history.

The islands can be reached by walking on the mudflats during low tides under the supervision of licensed guides. Exploring these islands will make your trip memorable.

Van Gogh Museum

Ranked 35th in the top art museums in the world, Van Gogh Museum is home to one of the world’s largest collection of Van Gogh paintings including more than 500 drawings, 200 paintings, 700 letters, most of which were donated by Van Gogh’s family.

Maastricht Vrijthof

Maastricht Vrijthof is one of the most famous squares in Maastricht city. It features the massive Saint Servatius Church and Saint Jan’s Cathedral. It is also the place where large festivals, including autumn and winter festivals, are organized.

Towns of the Ijsselmeer

Small hamlets along 1100-square-meter Ijsselmeer also called Zuiderzee which is the freshwater lake, resulted from the closing of the sea entrance to Ijsselmeer and also the biggest lake in Holland.

The fishing village of Marken and the seaports of Volendam and Enkhuizen with numerous colorful houses that have become shops and museums.

Volendam houses a collection of colorful old wooden boats. Enkhuizen features preserved buildings, seafaring industries, and the open-air Zuiderzee Museum, related to cultural heritage and maritime history of the old Zuiderzee region.

Hoge Veluwe National Park

Covering approximately 13,800 acres, Hoge Veluwe National Park is the largest continuous nature reserve and one of the most visited attractions in the country.

The park is home to dense woodlands, one of Europe’s largest sculpture gardens, red and roe deer, Rijksmuseum, housing one of the biggest Van Gogh collections in the world and paintings by other artists.

A good place for birdwatching, as well as hiking and biking, is an area of dramatic dunes interrupted in the south and east by moraines up to 100 meters high, interspersed with heath and woodland.

Anne Frank Museum

Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam is one of the most visited tourist attractions in the capital as well as the entire country.

The house’s writer museum and biographical museum dedicated to a Jewish refugee, Anne Frank who hid in this place with her family during WWII and wrote a famous wartime diary that has since been translated into 51 languages.

Opened on 3 May 1960, the museum preserves the hiding place, houses a permanent exhibition on the life and times of Anne Frank, and has an exhibition space about all forms of persecution and discrimination.


Tourism Observer

NETHERLANDS: Transavia Introduces New Flights

Transavia passengers can purchase airline tickets for the 2018-2019 autumn and winter seasons.

Compared to last winter, over 123,000 additional seats are on offer.

As well as for the four new routes, the additional capacity will primarily be used for the flight schedules from Schiphol Amsterdam and Eindhoven Airport.

The winter schedule starts on 1 November 2018 and ends on 31 March 2019.

In winter 2018-2019, Transavia is flying to 70 destinations, of which four are new.

Transavia will be flying Amsterdam – Beirut in Lebanon twice a week.

Beirut offers you everything you could want for an ideal city break.

The right temperature, good restaurants, shops and an extensive night life. Transavia is the only airline making Lebanon directly accessible from the Netherlands.

Furthermore, this winter Transavia will be flying from Schiphol Airport to Eilat in Israel.

Eilat is one of the better-known destinations in Israel and it will be flown twice a week this winter, alongside the flights to Tel Aviv.

Eilat is known as a perfect holiday destination for sun lovers because it has summer temperatures almost all year round.

Eilat is a great addition to the popular winter destinations such as Dubai and the Canary Islands.

This winter, Transavia will be flying to Krakow in Poland four times a week from Eindhoven Airport.

Transavia already flies to Poland, to Katowice, from Amsterdam. With the new destination of Krakow, we are making this popular region in Poland even more accessible for people travelling from the Netherlands.

Last but not least, this winter the airline will be flying from Rotterdam The Hague Airport to the Moroccan Nador.

Nador was already one of Transavia’s charter destinations, and you can soon book it directly as a scheduled flight.

With the addition of the new routes Rotterdam-Arrecife and Groningen-Tenerife, these Canary Island destinations are served from no fewer than four Dutch airports Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Groningen and Rotterdam.

With 71 flights per week form its home bases in Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, Eindhoven Airport and Rotterdam The Hague Airport.

Transavia is also the best choice for winter sports enthusiasts. Convenient flight schedules with a regular choice of three flights per day allow passengers to tailor their trip to their needs from a short weekend trip to a long ski holiday.

The winter schedule starts on 1 November 2018 and ends on 31 March 2019.

Transavia acknowledges overcapacity in some European leisure markets, but notes North Africa is not struggling right now for tourism and that Turkish demand has made a small improvement.

I think the trend in the past couple of years has been a bit of over-capacity towards Spain, says Oliver Newton, network planner at low-cost leisure operator Transavia at the Routes Europe event in Bilbao.

A lot of people have moved capacity, for example, from Turkey towards Spain and Portugal.

But Newton states that North Africa is actually doing really well, adding that the Morocco market is growing each year and Tunisia will eventually come back as well.

Further boosting fortunes for the Air France-KLM Group carrier is the improving Israeli market, which prompted it to add a service from Amsterdam Schiphol to the resort town of Eilat during the coming winter season.

We’re constantly looking for new destinations, especially in the winter, that have a good climate, that have year-round sun, says Newton.

Eilat was a really good opportunity for us as an alternative to the Canary Islands, Egypt or Dubai.

The Eilat flights will be in addition to new winter services from Amsterdam to Beirut, its first scheduled operations from Rotterdam to Nador in Morocco and a link to Krakow from Eindhoven.

Those markets are helping to offset the impact of reduced demand on Transavia’s mainly charter services to Turkey, he says, where security concerns and political instability in recent years have damaged the country's appeal to tourists.

Demand has reduced quite significantly since about five years ago, he states.

There was a small improvement since last year but it’s not quite reached the levels of five years ago.

He adds that Transavia's overall yields and load factors have been on an upward trend.

Transavia busiest routes from its Netherlands bases are to Spain and Portugal.

Tel Aviv, Nice and Athens also rank highly in terms of seats.


Tourism Observer