Originally Posted by
Lack
I've spent hours and hours on the phone holding while the first line of defense LH, UA, DL or AA agents gets my flight info and then call the rate desk to price out changes. Also, seen plenty of day of the week restriction for other carrier fares - sometimes though they're in the fare rules only listed as extra surcharges, so less issues then finding a completely new fare.
I don't have back office information on this, but I've seen plenty LO flights I was looking into go from available for cheap to not and back again. No idea what's their logic (for example I know that LH can have a seemingly oversold flight wide opened in all classes and then it just pushes higher fares for certain POS, UA might have a flight zeroed out at T-25 but then next hour it starts to open up so people can make same day changes etc but I see no clear pattern with LO).
I feel LO is very close to your heart and very honourable is that cause. I have had no such issues changing LH/OS/LX tickets and especially so on BA/AA. Of course, I am perhaps very inexperienced.In my experience, I call LO to make a change, I give them the details "mmm it might be possible", they pass me to the cashier who asks me the same questions I just gave to the previous agent but they are actually able to tell me if its available and the price. If, LH, UA, DL or AA are as inefficient, that is a pity but it does not mean that a fledging state owned carrier like LO should be. This is petty stuff, I continue to fly them and I have spoken favourably about them in this thread. I only mentioned it because the OP has had such big issues to get his relatively small problem resolved and it is my own experience of dealing with LO call centre team.
My general point is that LO is being pulled down by outdated back office processes, what I call "legacy" thinking-old fashioned state-owned slow to change mentalities. I see this across Poland and I have become quite friendly with management types across the country who share my view, but slowly it is improving. On the product front, I believe the food in the Elite lounge is of a higher quality than in BA's Galleries First and certainly LH Senator lounges (LX Goulash excepted
). I was literally shocked to be offered a massage or facial treatment- its open to guests of both lounges regardless of itinerary or carrier. For shorthaul this is unheard of, especially domestically; AF have their Clarins spa and EY's LHR lounge for AZ pax. That's all I can think of. It was much better than AF, a little behind EY and miles better than BA which is only open to LH CW/F/GCH and sometimes SH GGL/Prem pax.
I bang on about this, because if you told someone that LO have complimentary massages and spa treatments in their lounge they would probably accuse me of making it up. How fascinating the power of a brand allows such impressions whereas the likes of BA continues its race to the bottom relying on its so-called premium brand laurels.