Ah, the Dim Sum duck. My first LH duck. Picked it up at FCL A on Aug 3, 2019. I remember this trip:

On Aug 2 I was in San Francisco and received a call that morning that my mother was in terminal decline. Two hours later I was in the car to SFO. Without a ticket. That morning the entire LH ticketing system had broken down and was still frozen.

Somehow I was able to get through to the F call center and the agent booked me in F with miles. That worked after she tried various purchase options, including Y.

At SFO they were confused since the ticketing systems were still down. The ticket dragon finally told me that she cancelled my F reservation since I was also booked in Y - I wasn’t allowed to double book and so she cancelled*both* reservations … You can imagine how I felt.

Well, there was an hour to departure and somehow I was able to get through to the F call center again. I calmly explained to the agent what happened and five minutes later she told me that I had a confirmed F seat on LH 455 and could just check-in online and proceed to the gate. Which I did. They had a separate line for F passengers and when it was time to board it was the ticket dragon who welcomed F passengers and let them on the plane. When she saw me, her jaw dropped and she asked: “How did *you* get on this flight …?” I just smiled and walked on.

I am eternally grateful to that F call center agent. She got me on the flight against all odds and I was able to see my mother before she passed away a few days later.

That turned out to be my last trip on the 380 and my first duck.