fancynick

Dear Flyertalk community,
after a disastrous experience with Eurowings ground staff in Cologne, a >4h delay from CGN to SFO that involved taking a train to FRA and arriving without luggage, I have a few questions. Maybe some of you know what I could do:
1. Most important: Is there any way I can speed up getting my luggage?
2. How to help the EW staff in Cologne get a better job training?
3. How to make sure a call with the FTL hotline, that was recorded for training purposes will actually be used for training purposes?
4. How to best thank the gentleman in charge of the LH lounge in Cologne, who went above & beyond to get me on a flight to SFO?

Here's what happened (sorry for the long text):

I had booked CGN-ZRH-SFO, using M&M miles to fly business class (EW to ZRH, Swiss to SFO). I checked in luggage without anyone informing me that the flight to ZRH was expected to be 70 min delayed (the layover in ZRH was supposed to be 60 min). --> This should not happen imho. I could have looked for better options while still having the luggage.

About 10 min after check-in, I was in the LH lounge and noticed that the flight to ZRH would be so delayed that I would most likely not make the connection.
The lounge staff referred me to the Eurowings transfer desk near gate B80. The young lady sitting there informed me that I would not make the connection because the flight to ZRH would take 2 hours (!), that I should nonetheless take the flight to ZRH (!) and then contact the transfer desk there, and that she couldn't do anything more to help me, because she cannot access the Austrian airlines (!) booking system. She then handed me the standard EW complaints flyer and suggested I contact their hotline. --> I was speechless!

Back in the LH lounge, the gentleman in charge was a bit shocked at this and promised to see what he could do. In the meantime, I called the SWISS hotline, as I felt they might be in a better position to tell me whether I might miraculously make the connection due to a delayed SWISS flight. They told me that I would not make the connection and that I should contact the FTL hotline for other flight options --> As far as I have learned, this is not quite right; Eurowings as the carrier causing the delay should get me rebooked.

I called the FTL hotline and after I explained the situation, the guy taking the call put me on hold for 10 min to figure out my options. In the meantime, the friendly lounge gentleman told me the LX flight from ZRH to SFO was on time and suggested two alternative routes: FRA-SFO, arriving about 4 hours later than booked, and CGN-MUC-SFO, arriving about 3 hours later than booked (one seat left in business class).
The FTL hotline guy suggested CGN-MUC-ORD-SFO, arriving more than 7 hours later than booked and with the last leg from Chicago flying in ECO. I was not happy with that and asked about the direct flight MUC-SFO. He told me that I could only get on flights on which seats can still be puchased with miles, and therefore the direct flight was not possible for me. --> No! EW causes me to miss the connection, so I shouldn't be constrained to flights that at this point are still available for miles.
After a bit of back and forth I said something like "ok, can you tell me the times of your suggested flight?" (he still hadn't given me those details). While he did that, the lounge gentleman gestured that I should not take this flight and went on the phone with Eurowings. The FTL hotline guy then told me the flight details and informed me that he had already rebooked me! I told him that I didn't want to be rebooked to that flight. He insisted that I had given that order, became quite rude and said that the call is being recorded and that they could send me the recording to prove I had ordered the rebooking! --> Again, speechless! I am glad this call was recorded and would like it to be used for training purposes to show how NOT to work.
The friendly lounge gentleman now had the problem that Eurowings could no longer find my booking, as it had been deleted. Nonetheless, he managed to convince the Eurowings ticket staff that they were indeed responsible for rebooking me and asked me to leave the security area, go there and get rebooked.

I did and was rebooked on FRA-SFO (the one seat on CGN-MUC-SFO was no longer available at this point), having to collect my luggage at CGN and take a train to FRA. After a while, the friendly lounge gentleman even called me on my mobile to check whether everything had worked out! Great example of great customer service in a bad situation! --> How can I best thank him or notify his superiors of this great service?

I then wanted to collect my luggage, which should have been unloaded. It was nowhere to be found. I was told that probably the plane had left with my luggage to ZRH(!). Is that even possible? I took the train to FRA and checked in with UA. The check in agent called Eurowings to inquire about my luggage but was told that they couldn't give him any information until I had filled out a lost luggage form in SFO. We tried to do it with UA already in FRA, but were told I would have to do it in SFO.

After a nice flight, I reported the lost luggage with UA. They recorded the UA flight details and the EW baggage tag number. Maybe they also recorded my original flight details, but they don't show up in the United Baggage Tracing Results I can see online. More than 24h after it was first discovered in CGN that my luggage was lost, there is still no information on where it might be. --> Anything I can do to speed up getting my luggage? I will only be at this hotel for two days and go on a road trip afterwards.

Thanks!