Receiving compensation for missed flights?

[wholthuijzen]

Hello,

I recently attended a research conference in Montpellier France, flying from Knoxville, TN to Atlanta, GA, then Amsterdam (Netherlands) through Delta/KLM (booked with Concur). However, my flight to Amsterdam arrived late; moreover, the plane could not get to a gate promptly. By the time I was off the plane and through customs, I had missed my connecting flight from Amsterdam to Montpellier, France. There is only one flight to Montpellier each day from Amsterdam, so then I waited in line to speak with KLM for over 4 hours to try to get rebooked to another flight. When I got to the end of the line, KLM closed, and instead told me to find a hotel and they would "try to reschedule me as soon as possible." This never happened and thankfully I was able to find another flight from Paris and then to Montpellier. I have tried to work with Delta and KLM to get compensation for the hotel and extra flights that I had to purchase, but they have both said that it is not possible to receive compensation as my flight was booked through SAP Concur. Any help? Thanks in advance!

[KevinD · Accepted solution]

@wholthuijzen SAP Concur is just the booking tool. The flight was purchased from Delta/KLM. The responsibility should be theirs to compensate you. I don't know who you worked with at Delta/KLM, but calling their customer care phone number is the way to get compensated.

My wife worked in customer care at an airline for over 8 years and situations like yours are exactly what she handled and compensated travelers for. She never once told anyone that because they booked through SAP Concur, there wasn't anything the airline could do. 

Keep contacting Delta/KLMs customer care and ask for a supervisor if you have to. You could also reach out to your company's travel agency and explain the situation and have them contact the airline.