PresRDC
Aug 17, 04, 1:54 pm
I swear to you that every detail in the following story is true.
This past weekend, I attended a wedding in Bad Iburg, Germany. The nearest airport to Bad Iburg is Muenster/Osnabruck (FMO). Not wanting to drive and finding the train connections from Frankfurt inconvenient (at least two transfers and a bus), I decided the easiest option would be to fly LH from FRA to FMO. I booked the ticket using some soon to expire United miles I had (at 590 Euros, it seemed like a good use of orphaned miles).
I arrived in FRA on Friday, Aug. 13 on Continental from Newark and, owing to a delay leaving EWR, had just over two hours to make my connection. No big deal, I made it fine with plenty of time to spare. I checked my bag through to FMO in EWR.
When our bus arrived at the Eurowings operated ATR-72 that would be LH 2092 to FMO, I noticed the ground crew removing luggage from the plane, but did not think anything of it, as I figured they must be unloading from the incoming flight.
When I got to FMO, only fifteen bags materialized for a nearly full flight. I was not too concerned as I figured my bag did not make the connection in FRA. I gave the baggage info to the Eurowings "lost & found" office in FMO and headed to my hotel in Bad Iburg. I was told that my bag would likely arrive on the next flight and, as the wedding was the next day, did not worry about my suit not arriving on time.
When I called Eurowings in FMO later in the day, I was told my bag had not arrived on the next flight, but that it was in LH's possesstion and that it would arrive later in the day and be delivered to my hotel. Once again, no worries.
This pattern continued all day Friday and Saturday. I would call Eurowings in FMO and they would tell me they had received a telex from FRA that the bag was loaded, only for it not to show-up. Calls to LH's main lost luggage numbered confirmed this information. Both FMO and FRA were aware of my need for the bag for the wedding and assured me it would arrive in time.
Apparently, owing to the Germany school holiday, the flights were quite full and they could not accomidate all the checked luggage.
By Saturday morning, I was getting quite upset and, after being told that about 50 people were affected, reccomended that they dispatch a courrier from FRA to deliver the luggage. FMO is barely over 100 miles straight line distance from FRA and is a three hour drive. I was told this was not possible.
Of course, my bag did not arrive and I had to attend the wedding in shorts and a t-shirt. Germans are wonderful people, but are not known for being informal, so I felt very much out of place and like the dumb American who did not know to wear a suit to a wedding. Fortunately, everyone was understanding and made me feel quite welcome despite the clothing snafu.
I ended up telling them not to even bother sending the bag as I was scheduled to overnight in Frankfurt and I could pick it up there. Frankly, I did not trust them with it.
My specifc complaints are as follows:
1. This seems like a pretty common occurance, or at least one that was entirely forseeable. LH could have looked at the loads for the upcoming flights and determined that it was unlikely that they could accomidate extra luggage. At the end of the day on Friday, they could have sent a courier with the extra luggage. I went to school in a small city in Indiana and, during school holidays, not all the luggage would make it onto the small planes flying to the city from Chicago. The baggage always arrived the next day. The city was only marginally closer to Chicago than FMO is to FRA.
2. Had I been told upfront that the luggage would not get there in time, I could have taken corrective action by getting another suit. By the time it became clear the bag would not arrive, it was too late for that.
Basically, I expected much better from LH. You don't fly LH for its comfort or graceful inflight service (at least in Economy), you fly it because it is efficent and gets you there on time with your luggage. It would have been one thing had the bag been mistakenly loaded onto a flight to HKG or something, mistakes happen. But for it to be sitting in FRA for two full days when it was needed only three hours away by car is totally unacceptable.
I am not the type to ask for compensation, but in this case, I feel that LH's performance was so sub par that I should be entitled to something.
A free ticket is not going to cut it, I would rather walk than fly LH again.
This past weekend, I attended a wedding in Bad Iburg, Germany. The nearest airport to Bad Iburg is Muenster/Osnabruck (FMO). Not wanting to drive and finding the train connections from Frankfurt inconvenient (at least two transfers and a bus), I decided the easiest option would be to fly LH from FRA to FMO. I booked the ticket using some soon to expire United miles I had (at 590 Euros, it seemed like a good use of orphaned miles).
I arrived in FRA on Friday, Aug. 13 on Continental from Newark and, owing to a delay leaving EWR, had just over two hours to make my connection. No big deal, I made it fine with plenty of time to spare. I checked my bag through to FMO in EWR.
When our bus arrived at the Eurowings operated ATR-72 that would be LH 2092 to FMO, I noticed the ground crew removing luggage from the plane, but did not think anything of it, as I figured they must be unloading from the incoming flight.
When I got to FMO, only fifteen bags materialized for a nearly full flight. I was not too concerned as I figured my bag did not make the connection in FRA. I gave the baggage info to the Eurowings "lost & found" office in FMO and headed to my hotel in Bad Iburg. I was told that my bag would likely arrive on the next flight and, as the wedding was the next day, did not worry about my suit not arriving on time.
When I called Eurowings in FMO later in the day, I was told my bag had not arrived on the next flight, but that it was in LH's possesstion and that it would arrive later in the day and be delivered to my hotel. Once again, no worries.
This pattern continued all day Friday and Saturday. I would call Eurowings in FMO and they would tell me they had received a telex from FRA that the bag was loaded, only for it not to show-up. Calls to LH's main lost luggage numbered confirmed this information. Both FMO and FRA were aware of my need for the bag for the wedding and assured me it would arrive in time.
Apparently, owing to the Germany school holiday, the flights were quite full and they could not accomidate all the checked luggage.
By Saturday morning, I was getting quite upset and, after being told that about 50 people were affected, reccomended that they dispatch a courrier from FRA to deliver the luggage. FMO is barely over 100 miles straight line distance from FRA and is a three hour drive. I was told this was not possible.
Of course, my bag did not arrive and I had to attend the wedding in shorts and a t-shirt. Germans are wonderful people, but are not known for being informal, so I felt very much out of place and like the dumb American who did not know to wear a suit to a wedding. Fortunately, everyone was understanding and made me feel quite welcome despite the clothing snafu.
I ended up telling them not to even bother sending the bag as I was scheduled to overnight in Frankfurt and I could pick it up there. Frankly, I did not trust them with it.
My specifc complaints are as follows:
1. This seems like a pretty common occurance, or at least one that was entirely forseeable. LH could have looked at the loads for the upcoming flights and determined that it was unlikely that they could accomidate extra luggage. At the end of the day on Friday, they could have sent a courier with the extra luggage. I went to school in a small city in Indiana and, during school holidays, not all the luggage would make it onto the small planes flying to the city from Chicago. The baggage always arrived the next day. The city was only marginally closer to Chicago than FMO is to FRA.
2. Had I been told upfront that the luggage would not get there in time, I could have taken corrective action by getting another suit. By the time it became clear the bag would not arrive, it was too late for that.
Basically, I expected much better from LH. You don't fly LH for its comfort or graceful inflight service (at least in Economy), you fly it because it is efficent and gets you there on time with your luggage. It would have been one thing had the bag been mistakenly loaded onto a flight to HKG or something, mistakes happen. But for it to be sitting in FRA for two full days when it was needed only three hours away by car is totally unacceptable.
I am not the type to ask for compensation, but in this case, I feel that LH's performance was so sub par that I should be entitled to something.
A free ticket is not going to cut it, I would rather walk than fly LH again.