Originally Posted by
Tafflyer
Lufthansa has never been good for the customers of any airline it ever took over or took a larger share in. The list goes from BD, through OS, SR (now LX), SN, EW and more. Standards get lowered in the name of cost savings, prices rise as competition is systematically removed, loyalty schemes get devalued, removed or circumnavigated and worst of all customer service goes down the drain. All very often with the blessings of the authorities.
Now, admittedly with TAP it would seem difficult to make customer service any worse, but watch this space. The one upside might be that punctuality will improve, that is the single good point I see in Lufthansa. Of course, they'll need to sort out that chaos which is LIS airport first.
This may indeed hold true for OS, SR and SN. Each of these airlines was pretty high standard in service (at least most of the time). But none of these airlines was able to survive alone. OS being the only one running not into a default, i.e. bankruptcy. But they were losing money for quite some time when they were bought by LH. Offering a high level of service is good for the customer, but if the company is losing money on it then something must change. So the options are:
- ticket prices get higher => the majority of the customers is not willing to pay that (complaints about a high price airline)
- layoffs of (overhead ?) people => complaints about layoffs
- save money on maintenance => a complete no-go as this increases the risk of flying
- use old planes and don't update the interior in contrast to the competitors => costs are pushed into the future where the problems are even getting worse and an old interior is keeping customers away
- downgrade service => complaints about lower quality of service
So what would you then do to bring the airline back from the bankruptcy path into the winning zone. Don't forget, bankruptcy means lots of lay-offs, broken pension plans, stranded passengers, ...