This is apparent from a recently made public ruling by the Haarlem subdistrict court.
Free rebooking
The woman has been working at KLM since 2018 as a so-called agent who handles flights for KLM Cityhopper. She also sometimes assisted in the handling of other flights.
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In February, the airline announced that it was firing the woman after an investigation alleged that she had rebooked her sister’s five-member family to another flight to Dubai at the beginning of January free of charge. She also allegedly gave them free upgrades to business class.
Business class
The investigation revealed that the employee performed those actions on computers on which a colleague, a temporary worker and an intern were logged in.
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With the first upgrade, even five passengers who had booked business class were transferred back to economy class.
Denial
The woman denied having anything to do with the rebooking and the upgrades. She stated that she had had an argument with her sister, and that she was not aware of the family’s travel plans at all.
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From the recently made public pronunciationabout which business magazine Quote wrote before, it appears that the sub-district court does not believe anything of her defence.
According to the judge, the investigation by KLM into data from the systems, camera images and interviews with the woman and her colleagues has shown that she has committed the acts with which she is accused.
No severance pay
The subdistrict court also finds that the woman acted ‘seriously culpable’, as a result of which KLM can put her out on the street without a transition payment or additional severance payment. Moreover, the chance of being awarded unemployment benefits in the event of culpable dismissal is small.
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