[Anonymous]

[DavidGordon10]

I wonder which planet KLM are on tonight. I have a ticket from LHR to CPH via (of course) AMS. I have received an email saying “Please enter the missing details for your flight to Copenhagen”. What missing details?

If you follow the links on their email, I can find a form for preliminary details before I enter the USA. Denmark is one of the least USA-like countries in Europe. I can find a complicated web page that invites me to list the place where I am boarding, the place where I am in transit, and my destination. (Excuse me: that information is already available in my booking….) Admitted, this page does give information about any visa you might need if you are not a mainstream EU citizen: but then why not just ask that question – “are you an EU citizen” – in the email.

If KLM are going to start sending out repeated unecessary emails (like London Airways) before you can get on the plane, I will stick to SAS, thank you very much, even though SAS are more expensive for this journey on this day. The taking of Air France-KLM flghts to keep my Fying Blue Gold alive can just get lost.

[Edski777]

Strange indeed. I fly KLM on a regular basis with transits at AMS, but have never received any of these emails.

Have you tried getting some sort of clarification from them? Normally they respond to questions very quickly when you approach them via email or Facebook.

I am very much interested whether this is a “new” feature or that is just an error on their website or booking system.

[capetonianm]

Are you sure it is from KLM and not a ‘phishing’ scam? A couple of months ago I got a very authentic looking email apparently from KLM with an e-ticket attachment. As I had made a booking with KLM a few days before it could have fooled me but I knew the record locator was incorrect.

The ‘e-ticket’ was a zip file, which it would not have been if genuine, and could have been a virus – probably was.

1 user thanked author for this post.

cybertravller

[DavidGordon10]

Many thanks Edski and Captonian – I looked at the mail again, in the middle of the night, and on a smartphone rather than on the computer. On the smartphone it went straight to a request for details such as nationality, unlike on the computer, when it went into a routine to explain that you would need a visa if your UK passport was issued in one of the various offshore territories where UK passports are issued.

Yes, it could be phishing, but there was no attachment and no sensitive details were requested, so unlike any phishing email I have ever met before. I have asked KLM but no reply yet.

So – either an ill-thought out addition to the KLM internet process, or a scam. I will keep the news posted!

[Speedbird_ABZ]

I flew ABZ/CPH via AMS a fortnight ago and got the same sort of e-mail – in French, so I really didn’t have a clue what they were asking me despite using a translation site. The link did take me into my booking and it didn’t look like anything was missing so I left it. I got another one a few days later and ignored it – despite the fact I was a tad concerned. I checked-in online and flew as normal with no problems, so I really don’t know what this is all about. Strange it was CPH as well though?

[DavidGordon10]

KLM responded quickly to my email, with a bland comment about the need sometimes to collect API.

I have replied to ask them to explain the anomalies – such as the way the “API details” form would open on the smartphone and not on the computer; the appartently incomplete API requested; and the suspicion that it looks like phishing. I also entered a plea that, if this is genuine, not to go down the route of BA and bombard travellers with needless emails.

When there is a reply I will post another note.

[Edski777]

I contacted KLM and it doesn’t apply to me as I hold a Dutch passport. There are apparently no limitations as the Dutch government only issues one type of passport, also for people from the islands in the Caribbean, valid for travel throughout the world under the same rules and regulations.

The UK apparently has different passports for UK citizens and those from the commonwealth. Different visa rules may be applicable, so Advanced Passenger Information may be required to prevent people from being denied boarding or denied access to certain countries.

I am not sure how this applies to travel from the UK to other EU states, but the UK government has decided against entering into the Schengen agreement and therefor makes it a bit more difficult to travel within Europe.

[capetonianm]

GB passports can be any of the following :

GBR BRITISH CITIZEN
GBD BRITISH DEPENDENT TERRITORIES CITIZEN
GBN BRITISH NATIONAL OVERSEAS)
GBO BRITISH OVERSEAS CITIZEN
GBP BRITISH PROTECTED PERSON
GBS BRITISH SUBJECT
PCN PITCAIRN CITIZEN
SGS SOUTH GEORGIA AND THE SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS CITIZEN

The differences are significant.

A few other countries also issue different passport types, Norway, France, Australia, and possibly others.

“the UK government has decided against entering into the Schengen agreement and therefor makes it a bit more difficult to travel within Europe.”
True, it also means that the UK might not be invaded by quite as many free-roaming criminals as the countries that have opened their borders to all and sundry.

[syclik5]

I suspect this email may have something to do with this:

https://www.britishairways.com/travel/flightops/public/en_nl?p_faqid=4744

[DavidGordon10]

Interesting – but I was not asked for either the passport number or the passport expiry date!

[Edski777]

They shouldn’t. That could be a step towards identity theft.

Never give those details online.

[syclik5]

But Passport Number and expiry date are required in every API I’ve ever encountered.

[DavidGordon10]

Yes syclik5, my experience is the same. My regular airline, SAS, has my passport details in its system. BA asks for those details, repeatedly.

In the meantime, just to report that KLM have not replied to my comments on their original response – but the journey has passed without incident, and was both efficient and pleasant. Let us see if I get a similar email before the return flight.

[MarcusUK]

I fly KLM weekly, various routes, and the API details are always included with the FFP information, via the card number.

A few times, it has not registered, but when the booking is made, always best to include the API right off. You cannot check in on line for some KLM flights within Europe without the API, unlike an airport check in.

Having said this, KLM have been amongst the leaders in using Technology, and their website, one of the leaders in development and its content of any Airline in Europe. But things do not always operate smoothly!

[Author]

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