thbe

Even if I understand that you are disappointed, I recommend not to talk about yourself as "us travelers". Maybe the customer service presumes, that you are not entitled to speak for all travelers and won't take you serious anymore.

cook100

athome,


Thank you for the welcome and I appreciate your feedback.


What has me upset is that since my original booking the reservation has not changed. It's a long-haul international flight, same aircraft, same configuration as when I purchased my tickets many moons ago.


The seats I had selected are not in a location to be impeded by a curtain move. The Representative and Supervisor did not have a legitimate reason for my seat reassignment. In fact, when I asked to speak to a supervisor the representative said he would be glad to connect me as he would like to learn the reason as well for the reassignment as he was at a loss for an explanation.


I may be new to flyertalk but have traveled extensively with many ups and downs that were taken in stride. This bump in the road has me chapped as the airline cannot provide a reason for the change and have no intention of working with an unsatisfied customer.


Thanks again for the welcome!

cook100

Wow, that is what you took out of my predicament. I'm at a loss for words.

Grog

Our situations are very similar except that my seat reservation keeps dropping out, but so far I'm been lucky enough to reselect the same seats.

At some point, if this continues, I won't be able to because my seats will be snatched away from me by other travelers.

I contacted the LH Lurkers here on FT and they responded that it's not a previously known issue prior to my reporting of it. They had me call LH Tech Support who took note of it, but left me with the feeling it wasn't considered anything of significance.

Grog

One can't blame a LH customer service failure on an phrase used by the OP afterward. LH had already not taken the OP seriously and did not serve the customer properly in the first instance.

thbe

You assume, he started to talk in god mode after the 'failure'. I assume, that this was his attitude from the beginning.

If you fly Eco, have no status and complain about something that is covered by the t&c, i definetely recommend not to use the god mode.

I really understand, that the OP is disapponted. But to get reseated also happened to me sometimes, even in business, even with the highest frequent traveler status and even with very good airlines.

To take that as a reason that an airline sucks, is inappropriate. If that sucks, every airline in the world sucks.

The 'another reason' in the title seems to refer to another thread, where the OP were totally wrong, when he blamed LH for something caused by Delta. Maybe it's better not to refer to threads like that.

Grog

Unlike you, I assumed nothing. I read his initial post.

It's a good recommendation in life to, in general, not use god mode. It's also wise for an airline to take any customer seriously, god mode or not.
And if one is re-seated due to sound reason, that's one thing and completely understandable. But for the system to simply fail (i.e., no change-of-aircraft and yet the seat reservation changes, etc.), it's not understandable. Certainly not when the customer consciously paid extra but instead receives what amounts to a bait and switch covered by fine print.

An airline sucks when it takes extra add-on revenue for an added service, but then fails to deliver any value for that revenue, instead falling back on T&Cs to make an excuse for faulty IT systems.

But there's a difference here. The OP is not totally wrong, after paying extra for a seat reservation months in advance, expecting to sit next to his PNR partner as long as there's no operational reason it shouldn't occur. The system losing seat reservations is not an operational reason.

I understand that you don't like the OP's writing style. But his points are more than valid.

KLouis

+1

By the way, in thousands of flights, my being moved from my pre-booked seat without excuse has only happened on LH (twice) and LX (once). I was *G and FT, and in the LH case I was flying business (BKK-FRA).

DaRealAd

I consider paid seat reservations on LH a big scam. I'd not recommend anyone to pay for it.

If they would at least offer a refund in case the the reservation gets cancelled...

transportprof

What is "god mode"?

thbe

I.e. thinking, that you are representing all travelers and that you are entitled to speak for all of them. Also to scathe a company for fulfilling a contract, that you were to lazy to read before closing it.

If you understand, that you need the company's goodwill, you should try to achieve your objective in a more appropriate way.

thbe

I also recommend not to pay for seat reservations, not at LH, not at another airline. You never get more guaranteed than the kind of seat. And you can't be sure to sit next to your wife. In the case of problems or changes you will be disappointed. I think, LH should offer to return the money for the seat reservation, if there are changes.

But it's not a scam and the points of the OP are not valid, because at least LH does not try to hide anything about the rules for paid seat reservations. They offer you exactly what they will deliver - even if there are problems or changes. And it is also not a LH problem. Or do you know an airline that guarantee that you get exactly the seats you made a reservation for, paid or unpaid?

And the OP insisted on getting the seats, he made a reservation for. There are enough reasons, why it is impossible for all airlines to guarantee that.

Grog

Please inform yourself on the definition of scam in its manifestation as a "confidence trick". It is not necessary illegal.

The scammer gains the confidence of the mark through past reputation or other ambiguity. The mark gains an over-confidence due to the misunderstanding. The scammer profits. This is exactly what has occurred.

You even say yourself that LH should offer to return the money for the seat reservation, if there are changes. You're confirming my assertions. LH's rules--while legal--are easily prone to misinterpretation. Hence, it is a confidence trick...a scam!

purch

+1 Sure, the OP should have known the fee wouldn't be refunded in his case. But it's still hard to see how people can defend the policy as it stands as reasonable. It's one thing when an airline says it can't guarantee free seat reservations. But when an airline charges for the privilege of selecting a seat, then the right thing to do is to deliver something against that charge, or refund you if they can't.

I have no problem with them not being able to guarantee your seat. Things happen, like equipment changes or broken seats or whatever. But then the appropriate thing to do is refund the customer, even if the official fine print says they don't have to.

htb

You mean there is any reason other than wanting to sit next to your travel partner for reserving and paying for a middle seat?

You do remember that LH initially advertised seat reservations as a way of making sure you will be seated next to your travel partner. When they weren't able to pull that off -- and unwilling! to pay back the money for seat reservations in cases where two seats next to each other suddenly were scattered across the plane -- instead of fixing the problem, LH decided to change the T&Cs and to blame the customer to expect that he would be seated next to his travel partner when paying for a middle seat.

This is a recurring theme with LH's customer care and is heavily eroding the corporate image of LH. It's greedy instead of customer oriented. I mean: the original idea was spot on, then technical incompetence and greed took over.

Grog's assessment on "scam" are spot on: have a look at LH's advertisement: https://www.lufthansa.com/online/myp...en&cid=1000390 (hope the link works..)

Right under "Lufthansa enables you to reserve seats for you and your fellow travelers in advance.." you see two close friends sitting next to each other, rather than waving to each other from opposite ends of the plane.

HTB.