SN2640 HAJ-BRU/05MAY 5 hour "technical" delay

Old May 5, 2016, 12:03 am
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Brussels call center agent refused to rebook UA ticket after delay

My flight from HAJ-BRU was delayed by 5 hours today (crew rest/tech) which would have misconnected me onto UA. All 50 pax had to line up for ONE ticket agent to handle the rebooking as LH no longer handles their own sub in HAJ. When I called SN res, I was told by the agent that he could not rebook me because I had a UA ticket which is completely untrue as the operating airline causing the delay/cxx is responsible for the rebooking. Having waited in line would have made me miss all alternative departures to reach they USA today. Fortuneately, UA did help me after SN finally unchecked me from the original flight. This is Lufthansa Group at its finest!!!
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Old May 5, 2016, 2:12 am
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SN2640 HAJ-BRU/05MAY 5 hour "technical" delay

At 6am we were informed by SN that our 6:55am departure flight would be delayed by 5 hours due to technical reasons. Since I arrived at the airport at 5:30am the plane was sitting untouched in clear view of the terminal where it had arrived the night before at 11pm. Throughout the next couple of hours nobody came near the plane to work on it in any way. My instinct tells me that the true reason was crew availability and not technical, but nobody from LH Group would comment. The crew was nowhere to be found during the entire time. Shouldn't they have known and proactively addressed rebooking customers knowing that they only had one ticket agent on staff to deal with 50 transit passengers? What should we expect from airlines and specifically from LH Group airlines? You get what you pay for......
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Old May 5, 2016, 2:42 am
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I honestly believe that at one point Carsten Spohr told his troops: Ignore EC261/2004!
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Old May 5, 2016, 2:45 am
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You could also assume that they are waiting for a part to come in on the 1025 flight from BRU.

BRU-HAJ is operated on wetlease by Flybe with DH4 aircraft, so there is not much what LH can do in HAJ. But let that not fool your 'true instinct'.
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Old May 5, 2016, 6:41 pm
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Originally Posted by oliver2002
You could also assume that they are waiting for a part to come in on the 1025 flight from BRU.

BRU-HAJ is operated on wetlease by Flybe with DH4 aircraft, so there is not much what LH can do in HAJ. But let that not fool your 'true instinct'.
Nice try defending the company.....not a single person was out at the plane since I got to the airport at 5:30am. Why go thru the trouble of checking in 2/3 of the passengers for the flight only to have to return the bags 30min later...... When I finally left o/b LH at 8:30 to FRA there were still about 10 passengers in line trying to get rebooked....two hours after they posted the delay......
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Old May 5, 2016, 10:38 pm
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Originally Posted by Christefan
Nice try defending the company.....
Why are you so abrasive? Fact is none of us knows what went on there...@:-)
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Old May 5, 2016, 11:40 pm
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Originally Posted by Christefan
When I finally left o/b LH at 8:30 to FRA there were still about 10 passengers in line trying to get rebooked....two hours after they posted the delay......
THIS is the critical point to me: Time of reaction after an event (whatever it is).

I experienced the same last year in December in CGN, with 1 ground staff trying to assist 100 passengers. He started to work 90 minutes after the original flight was cancelled. (At that time I was SEN, and I had to wait in the same line).

FRA and MUC are well equipped, but all other German airports are a desert in terms of assisting passengers on ground.
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Old May 6, 2016, 1:34 am
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Originally Posted by geilux
........FRA and MUC are well equipped, but all other German airports are a desert in terms of assisting passengers on ground.
I had the same thing at Frankfurt. One agent sitting at a temporary desk with all the passengers from a Manchester flight lined up before him after we'd been bussed back from a broken aeroplane. Then his printer stopped working...
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Old May 6, 2016, 2:22 am
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Originally Posted by Christefan
Nice try defending the company.....not a single person was out at the plane since I got to the airport at 5:30am. Why go thru the trouble of checking in 2/3 of the passengers for the flight only to have to return the bags 30min later...... When I finally left o/b LH at 8:30 to FRA there were still about 10 passengers in line trying to get rebooked....two hours after they posted the delay......
Why should anybody be at the plane by 8:30 (time you left) when they have been waiting for spare parts or even a mechanic which would arrive hours later? Most probably they noted the defect the night before during the flight/landing or taxing - not just in the morning. (assuming Oliver's theory is correct).

There is no use in having air crew sitting in a broken plane for hours timing down their service time. Much better use have them sit in the hotel or crew area until they get a proper estimated departure time.

Anyway, 3 hours to get rebooked is nothing new. Hurts if you are in line waiting but that's when a status level and cell phone comes in handy
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Old May 6, 2016, 4:06 am
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Lufthansa doesn't have a controlling stake in Brussels Airlines, so while there is some co-operation I think to blame Lufthansa group is misplaced.

Also, I am fairly certain the decision to delay the flight for 5 hours wasn't taken lightly, because as warakorn has pointed out the cost is paying hotels, meals and compensation for all passengers (regardless of the reason being technical problem or crew rest issues).

The valid point here, is that typically in my opinion EU airlines call-centre staff are not empowered to help with rebooking in these scenarios (as they seem to be still bound by the fare rules), whereas US airlines call-centre staff seem to have much more flexibility. The reduction and outsourcing of airline ticketing staff is happening everywhere, just in my opinion it is more successful where the call-centre staff can offer alternatives to passengers by phone.
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Old May 6, 2016, 4:34 am
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According to flightstats.com (SN) Brussels Airlines 2640 Flight Event Timeline
Code:
 	Time	 	 
Date	UTC	HAJ	BRU	Event	        Data Updated
May 5	03:22	5:22 AM	5:22 AM	Time Adjustment Estimated Gate Arrival Changed To 05/05/16 01:15 PM
May 5	03:58	5:58 AM	5:58 AM	Time Adjustment Estimated Gate Departure Changed To 05/05/16 12:00 PM
so they had already changed the departure and arrival times when the OP saw the plane was sitting untouched at 5:30am. The estimated gate departure time was later changed from 05/05/16 12:00 pm To 05/05/16 01:30 pm and the flight eventually left the gate at 01:35pm.

As others have said there was no reason for someone to be working on the aircraft until spare parts or a mechanic arrived.
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Old May 6, 2016, 5:53 pm
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Originally Posted by fassy
Why should anybody be at the plane by 8:30 (time you left) when they have been waiting for spare parts or even a mechanic which would arrive hours later? Most probably they noted the defect the night before during the flight/landing or taxing - not just in the morning. (assuming Oliver's theory is correct).

There is no use in having air crew sitting in a broken plane for hours timing down their service time. Much better use have them sit in the hotel or crew area until they get a proper estimated departure time.

Anyway, 3 hours to get rebooked is nothing new. Hurts if you are in line waiting but that's when a status level and cell phone comes in handy
....but that was my point.....if they knew the night before that a mechanical defect would delay the flight the next morning.....why check-in 2/3 of the passengers in the morning.....instead of starting to look for alternatives. When a delay or cancelation happens on Delta, the system automatically starts protecting customers on alternative flights..... No more need to stand in line....and you can even change these flights/route which the system selected for you right from your app.
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Old May 6, 2016, 11:09 pm
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Originally Posted by Christefan
....but that was my point.....if they knew the night before that a mechanical defect would delay the flight the next morning.....why check-in 2/3 of the passengers in the morning.....instead of starting to look for alternatives. When a delay or cancelation happens on Delta, the system automatically starts protecting customers on alternative flights..... No more need to stand in line....and you can even change these flights/route which the system selected for you right from your app.
Without any evidence there's no way to know what happened. Maybe, as some people are trying to claim, the problem was known the night before and a part was being flown in. Or maybe the problem was discovered in the morning, and mechanics were working inside the plane. I've had one or two delays due to cockpit issues requiring replacement parts, I don't think I've experienced any delays due to mechanical issues on the outside.

Or maybe even they started working on it that early in the morning and then discovered that a part had to be flown in. Without any hard data there are thousands of stories that could "explain" what happened.
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