shadabing

We recently took a trip to europe. Used miles and did lufthansa first from lax to Fra. Obviously amazing. Not comparing to AB. We've taken regional stuff in europe many a time. We know what to expect. AB so lied to us, delayed us and handled us so poorly. They purport to be a "cool" hip airline where they are all about "you." They were all about them.

We were going Venice to Mallorca. So it would be a connection through DUS. The connection was not very tight but close enough...1 hour. Of course, the vce to dus was delayed. I spoke with a rep and they said, "no problem with connection and only a few minutes late." 30 minutes later still late and i asked the same kind question. Now more pissed at me, "only few minutes late." i said no problem i was just curious what options there were if i missed my connection. They promised it won't happen.

When i got on the plane 45 minutes late i asked the attendant. She showed my connecting boarding pass to the pilot. She came back and said... you guessed it, "only a few minutes late, no problem with the connection."

Guess what? I missed the connection. No one told us to go see the Air Belin desk. We finally figured it out. They were sending us to Barcelona. Then later that night to Mallorca. No offers. No compensation. No apology. No explanation for the lying, and unreal responses.

I wrote to the CEO of Air Berlin. When i've had problems in the past i write a simple, kind, clear letter to a CEO like of Virgin America and get immediate response and continue to be a customer and appreciate the communication. Hartmut Mehdorn, the ceo, has yet to respond.

This is simple stuff... COMMUNICATE. I know the expectations in europe is different. But they are starting to change. They will soon be doing priority boarding for business. Different kind of amenities and protocol. The world is getting smaller. Harmut has to update his airlines attitude and remember the customer comes first.

coplatflyer

AB is considered a budget airline. Don't expect much. EU customer service is almost non existent compared to US. I should know because I live in Germany. Have the right mindset and have a good trip.

nivsy

Sorry - but are you seriously suggesting customer service for airlines is better in North America? Now that is funny and you really are having a laugh!

Guy Betsy

Oh yes. I think customer service by comparison to anything related to "customers" is generally better handled in North America than Europe.. UK for that matter just gives you the run around. They're nice and polite about it , but still, you get the runaround.

shadabing

to all the precious protective people of Air Berlin fandom. No need to "huff" and "puff" at me. If you read my thread i clearly state that i've flown internally in europe many times and have a very clear understanding of what to expect. these forms aren't for throwing stones. they are to share experiences, learn from one another and to help better our collective experiences. throwing ones hands up the air and saying "well that how it goes in Europe" will lead to nothing but apathy.

As i've said, change is underfoot already in the inter-Europe carriers. Lufthansa domestic is going to begin a program of priority boarding. Other carriers are going to implement zone loading. and so on. i don't think excusing Air Berlin for bad customer handling is an option. I think they should be held accountable or nothing will ever improve. You all have the power. You provide them dollars and they continue to operate. You take those dollars away (Euros, Pound, so on) and changes will happen. I don't mean to sound condescending. I think someone just has to put it in it's simplest terms. It is what it is. Thanks for hearing me out.

planestupid

I'm not sure that underestimating a delay or displaying a cavalier attitude to your connection problem counts as "lying". Also, Im sure AB didn't "delay you". You made it sound like they purposely ensured you didn't get to your destination on time. Pub quiz question: if you miss your conection at an airport, where would you seek help? ("No one told us to go see the Air Belin desk.") The non-compensation is a different story but since you didn't indicate the reason for the delay I can't even say whether or not compensation is due. Customer service may vary by airline but in Europe there is clear legislation on compensation (http://ec.europa.eu/transport/passen.../en/index.html). I agree you received poor customer service and I feel your frustration but your assertion about being lied to is offthe mark. If your letters to various CEOs were written in a similar style I'm surprised you got very far.

shadabing

i think the lying is clear. this isn't their first rodeo. they know i wouldn't make a connection. instead of having to deal with the reality they'd rather shut me up, along with the rest of the fliers, by telling me "everything is fine." i think we all know that the attendants and pilot all knew better. No one wants to have to deal with a frustrated passenger. Can't say i blame them. But come on. They knew there was no way i was going to make the connection. They could have said, as a part of policy, "if you do not make the connection for any reason see our help desk... we will rebook you onto the next available flight... we don't have that information available immediately but the gate agent will be happy to assist you." Would that be so hard? We're all grown ups. it's lying. They know it. A policy of "push off the problem so you don't have to deal with it" just don't cut it. I'm shocked so many people excuse AB. Why not just say, "yeah, it's bad. They should fix it. Thanks for pointing it out to upper management so maybe my flight or his flight will run smoother one day." And yes, CEO's respond. It's their company. They take pride. They have large staffs that probably block the letter from going all the way but someone handles it. Well done in those cases.

gum

Contrasting to what some of the other posters say: I can only agree.

Had a similar incident some years ago with a very simple, one-way flight to Munich and to reach a ground connection.

After several hours lying, no compensation offered and the "highlight" was:
As we have no longer a base in Berlin noone is able to rebook and reschedule the ticket.

Insisting for a free charge to Lufthansa (in the meantime at least 2 aircraft of LH have left Berlin) and asking for a supervisor: The ramp agent was presented. Who is specialist in loading, turning around an aircraft, refuelling etc. . Needless to say that he didn´t know how to rebook a ticket (what was not his fault).

But presenting a ramp agent for a rebooking/compensation question is completely ridiculous.

And you may imagine what happened: Got to my destination about 5 hours late. So this behavior of denying responsibility hasn´t changed yet.

To make it short: I believe every word and would sue for compensation according to the EU rules

shadabing

Gum, great thought. And thanks to earlier poster for EU Passenger rights link. The fight continues. I never give up hope.

aceflyer2

Have to agree as well. We had an AB segment recently. My mom who had wheelchair assistance and had paid ahead for an aisle seat was asked to move to a window seat. The male FA said it was AB policy for those with WC assistance to not sit in an aisle seat. So he moved her. A man arrives who says he paid for the window seat she was now in and wanst to sit there. I see a female FA and tell her about it. She motions to the male FA who comes back and moves her back to the aisle seat. So much for AB policy. The pilot rudely stares at us as we depart the flight. Who knows what the FA told him. Interestingly, on another AB flight on the same day, my mom had an aisle seat- nothing was mentioned/she was not moved. They don't appear to have their act together yet, at least in this regard.

swiss_global

I also believe the OP's story and can imagine he was disappointed. BUT: From the limited information we have, it looks unlikely to compensation according to EU rules. These rules don't apply to connections, but only to individual flights. I.e. if the flight VCE to DUS wasn't delayed by more than 2 hours, no compensation is due. And even if it was more than 2 hours, it depends on the reason. The flight DUS to PMI was apparently not delayed and certainly not boarded by the OP - so no compensation based on the arrival to PMI.

But about AB's communication, I can't see any wrong. Connecting from a schengen flight to another schengen flight in DUS takes between 2 and 10 minutes, depending on the respective gate locations. Even if you take into consideration that they may close the gate 10 minutes before departure, a 30 minute delay in a 1 hr connection is no issue and even a 40 minute delay should generally be fine but tight.

And then: I had similar experiences with UA (yes, an american carrier), LX, IB - just to name the ones I can remember. No compensation from any of those airlines, nothing ... They all put me on the next flight, which was sometimes next day ... Not that I liked it, of course!

shadabing

i hear ya. but if you look at my original post i did point out that my original experience with compensation WAS on a domestic American carrier. I agree that the area gets grey but when it got grey with the US carrier... i took it to defcon and got the justice from the airline. I hold out hope for Air Berlin. It was many hours later arrival at PMI then originally ticketed. It was also additional connections. No offer for food voucher, any talk of any kind of compensation or anything. I know it's grey but i'm not going to follow the cut and dry route. I'm going to demand the airline take responsibility. They can ignore me but as a traveller they take my money... i can bring their attention to the faults of their practice. If enough people like me annoy them then you might... might... see changes one day. Might not too.

Thanks all for hearing me out.

Monty_GER

First of all: I don't think AB has any character of a low cost carrier left.

I used to have pretty good experience with AB flights during the last years. Even their customer service was ok. Delays and rebooking never was a problem.

Within the last one or two years the quality decreased generally. My last AB-Experience wasn't good. I felt kind of betrayed and the behaviour of ground staff was unprofessional and dissappointing.

The hotline is hard to reach without stucking in line for at least 25 minutes.

I don't think they will survive if they chase away customers in large numbers.

shadabing

i agree with you but somehow they grow. I mean they must be supplying a product that people need. Perhaps a low cost alternative for quick hops? Not sure. But from what i read, their reach is expanding. They are swallowing up a regional and somehow they are competing in this very tough airline biz. Even Ryan Air survives through very extreme cost cutting. They are basically the rush hour bus with wings.

I know i can't recommend them or financially support this carrier again with out follow through. But i'm sure many will. Hey, one drop at a time.

SwissCircle

The lying part:
seems standard business practice in Germany these days.

I have never experienced a place where more lies and false excuses were made up than in Germany.