Triple3

Another story in line with my LH hates LH elites epic:

This morning in FRA, trying to get a BP for my C flight to ZRH.

The ticket was neither put on my CC nor on my SEN card so I entered terminal A and turned right. As there was a queue before the F check-in I stopped short and decided to use the C check-in which was completely empty. I just walked towards it when suddenly one of LH's agents stood in front of me and between me and the check-in counter.

LH agent: "Can I see you BP pls.?"

"Well, I guess if I had one I would not want to go to a check-in counter, right?"

"O.K., then pls. show me your ticket."

"Uhm ... you mean an itinary receipt? Do not have that yet, I'll start my first leg here."

"Well Sir, then pls. show me your Silver Card."

Unfortunately I knew that my SEN card was buried somewhere deep in my coat and I was in no mood searching for it.

"Uhm, what the heck do you need that for? All I like to do is to check-in for my C flight to Zurich. "

"That is not allowed for you."

"What do you mean? I'm not allowed to use a C check-in for a C flight?"

"Oh, sure you are. But before you can use the priority counter you must prove to me that you are allowed to use it!"

I looked at her, then at the F check-in. Unfortunately the queue was still in place. So I decided to jettison part of my dignity and started the search for my SEN card. After a little while I found it and showed it to her:

"So madame, may I proceed now? Is this proof enough?"

"Thank you Mr. Triple3. But as a SEN you should know that SENs are not allowed to use C check-in. SENs MUST only use the F check-in. So pls. step aside!."

Urgh.

Now there were two options:

1. Jettison all my dignity, give in and walk to the queue before F check-in.

2. Realize that 1. is not an option.

I decided for 2.

"I'm so sorry, I was not aware of this new LH enhancement. May I get that confirmed from your supervisor?"

That made her look somewhat angry:

"No Sir. This matter here is that uncontrovertible and self-evident that a supervisor is not needed. Pls. step aside now!"

"Uhm, I'm sorry again but to me it is not really self-evident, so I won't step aside. Get your supervisor or I'll stand here as long as you make me to. Be aware that the check-in deadline for my flight is coming up in 12 minutes."

This funny game might have gone on for a long time. Unfortunately for her she was compromised by a check-in agent who yelled towards us "Just let him pass, we'll know whether he as a C ticket soon."

So I got my C BP.



Now putting this "LH hates LH elites" theme aside for a second:

Assuming that someone is on his very first flight with LH, only has the M&M papercard and is booked in C. I wonder what would have happened, if that guy was stopped by the agent, made to walk to Y check-in and - due to the 2 hrs wait - missed his flight. Will this be treated under the IDB rule?

bau31888

If I understand this comment correctly, you thought that you can't use the Quick-CKI-terminals. Hoewever, with an eticket you can use Quick-CKI with your SEN-card (or CC), even if the number has not been stored during ticketing!
http://www.lufthansa.com/online/port...nodeid=1771318
I've done so several without any problems.

btw, I sometimes check-in at the economy counter, even when flying in C and being FTL at that time, when the queue was shorter than at the C desk or no queue at both. I had never problems with this, they even have priority labels at the economy desk.

Rambuster

seems like there is an inflation of nincompoops suddenly at LH !

fradoc

"Sorry sir, we cannot sell you a C/Y ticket, SENs must buy F tickets."

Have they gone completely nuts @ FRA???

E3A-Sentry

hey triple3,

it is so bad, that it is funny already again.
never underestimate the unpredictability of stupidity.

since you still had time until your flight departed, i would have taken that to the supervisor´s level.people like her wearing the lh uniform are a disgrace for the company.my "company" is full of people like that.there aren´t enough closets to put them all away.


cheers

LH_Fan

Another approach might have been to call the SEN line on the spot, asking them to sort things out for you and offering to have them talk directly to the LH "representative". In any case, I think you should complain.

flo-e

^ that you didnt step aside!

f0zzyNUE

i would have ignored her and continued my way to the checkin counter. no reason to waste time with such stupidity...

raghav

^ Bravo!! Good you didnt give in. LH can be very nasty at times.

Once while I was connecting to FRA-MAA from LHR, my seat was issued to someone else. I was shocked when the other passenger also had the same seat no on his BP. Later I was told that i was upgraded to F and i declined as i was travelling with 3 other people. The FA nearly made a scene,despite me talking politely, cos i declined the upgrade and then I convinced the other passenger to go to F. I felt like throwing the FA out of the plane!!!! Wonder where LH get such arrogant FA's from!!!!

flysurfer

Unfortunately, FRA is well-known for some bad apples in this regard. I'm not aware of arrogant FAs based in MUC, though (hopefully, it stays that way), and since MUC is a much smaller station than FRA, there's more "mutual social control" among the flight crew employees (everybody knows everybody), so it's much harder for bad apples to grow and thrive undetected.

Hence, the inevitable FRA/MUC discussion shouldn't lead us to regional stereotyping, as this may simply be a function of size.

andre1970

I love theories. Especially the easily refutable ones :

Writing from the temporary 1st class lounge at the TBIT terminal at LAX, lazily munching some 4th class (minus-minus...) so called, "sushi".

As usual, I'm a lowly SEN, booked in C, exact same setting as in my 3 most recent flights out of LAX on LH, all within the lounge refurbishment period. Today, I received a pass for the FC lounge (which is anything but "first", "if you know what i mean") from the same lady who usually checks me in here (amazing ground staff BTW, TFM yer lucky!), instead of the "business" zoo.

Considering the hassle of scheduling my (bussed) departure from the Business class zoo well in advance, I loved this move by the LAX Lufthansa ^

Asked and told that it is available to all SENs, regardless of class of travel ^. All other *Gs (unless booked in First, of course) are taken to the Business lounge.

Any theory refinements now?

crossings

Hopefully they kicked out all HON's flying in Y to make space available for the hordes of SENs

LHWolf

It would be very interesting to know what LH officials would say about it.

There are quite a few unqualified "Dragons" of this type around in LH.

supermasterphil

Always ask for names, that helps. Then they know that you might complain and will improve the "service".

Why didn't you just ignore her and walk to the C counter? Especially there it would have turned out that you are a C customer. Afterwards I would have taken my C BP and talked to the lady and her supervisor, service like that is really a shame for LH.

flysurfer

So my theory about a policy change (as mentioned in the "other" thread in the "other" forum) appears to be correct. After gathering some experience with the new lounge situation at TBIT, LH found that the temporary FC lounge is large enough to take their F pax, HONs and also SENs. At least with the current flight schedule at TBIT. So this might change back once the more busy summer schedule kicks in.