Hi All,

I recently travelled with Lufthansa and encountered a whole bunch of problems that I would like to share and consult with you with regards to my claims against the airline.

Here's the story:

My customer made a cash booking for me for an economy class return flight:
LHR-FRA-ALA with Lufthansa, outward on May 10, returning on May 18.


LHR-FRA LH 901 0930 -1210 (10/05/2014)
FRA-ALA LH 646 1330 - 0135* (10/05/2014)

*arrives 11 May

ALA-FRA LH 637 0350-0655 (18/05/2014)
FRA-LHR LH 900 0800-0845 (18/05/2014)

I am a Miles and More Frequent Traveller.

I used my Miles and More miles (50000 of them!) to upgrade
the FRA-ALA LH 646 segment (long flight with a stopover in Astana) on May 10.

When travelling from LHR via FRA to ALA (LH 901 on May 10), my first fligth (LHR-FRA LH901 on May 10) was delayed at departure from Heathrow and in arrival at Frankfurt (ca. 50 minutes, arrived ca. 1300).

When we landed at FRA, a cosy Lufthansa limo was waiting for the
First Class passengers, but no arrangements have been made for
Business and Economy class passengers.

All Business/Economy passengers had to take a bus to the terminal,
then a train to another part of it, then go through security etc,
and when we arrived at the gate at 1330, the plane had left.

The plane left without around 10 passengers travelling
in Business/Economy, they all had to rebook their flights.

I was rebooked with Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, arriving FIVE HOURS later than planned (scheduled arrival 5 AM, May 11, actual landing time
0630 AM local time, May 11, in Almaty).

Both Turkish flights were an utter disappointment - A321 FRA-IST
and B737 IST-ALA, cramped business class, no flat bed, no in-flight
entertainment etc

When I arrived in Almaty on May 11, I immediately e-mailed Miles
and More to complain and demand that my miles be refunded or
the return leg upgrade to business, as I had only upgraded
the flight to get a full business class product including a flat bed,
direct connection and decent entertainment.

I also e-mailed Lufthansa customer services immediately asking for delay-related compensation under EU Law (600 EUR) due to over 5 hours of delay (and distance over 3500 km).

I got no reply to my e-mails by Friday, May 16, so I decided to call them.

Here's what happened:

I ended up trying to contact Lufthansa using FOUR phone numbers:

I started with the number provided on my M&M FTL website:

+ 496986799555 - here I was told they cannot help, I should call the UK Customer service, so I called

+ 448719459747 - a customer service rep (Oliver) on this line had no idea how to help, he told me to call M&M in Germany:

+ 4969209777777 - here, another person - Michael - said he would love to help, but his manager is off home as this is the WEEK-END, and they cannot process a "goodwill upgrade/refund", and he advised me to call:

+ 496986799400 - on this number an automated system message told me lufthansa is CLOSED, please call on Monday (May 19, after my trip!).

Today (May 18) I received a "standard" reply from Lufthansa Customer Services via e-mail, stating that:

"We would firstly like to take the opportunity to apologise to you for the inconvenience caused by the delay of flight LH901 from London to Frankfurt on 10 May 2014, which resulted in you missing your connecting flight to Almaty. Please be informed that this delay was due to the late arrival of the aircraft from a previous flight due to the deboarding of passengers with reduced Mobility."

AND that

"In accordance with the EC Regulations 261/2004, the airlines liability in such circumstances is limited. As the flight delay that you experienced was out of our control and as we have fulfilled our Contract of Carriage to transport you to your final destination, we regrettably cannot honour your compensation and mileage refund or upgrade requests."

So I now have a whole row of questions:

- can Lufthansa claim the missed connection is not their fault - I don't see
how deboarding passengers with reduced mobility is not their issue (management), plus First Class passengers made the connection,
only Business/Economy did not, so this is a simple logistical issue,
LH fault in my opinion; how can I pursue the claim further - should I take them to court, contact UK Civil Aviation authorities, German ones maybe?

- how do I go about claiming my miles back from M&M - as their
Service Centre seemed friendly (but lack of manager on a Friday
evening shift made it impossible to process), but LH Customer
Services just stonewalled me;

- how is it possible that a Lufthansa customer, FTL or not,
cannot be helped outside of Monday-Friday office hours???
Has this happened to any of you? BA are always ready to help 24/7!

Any advice/comments will be welcome, and let me know if I need
to supply more details about my case!

Thanks!

Melafafon