Originally Posted by
San Gottardo
HON Service Centre called back.
Response:
- No HMCO status for people travelling with me because this is an Air Dolomiti flight on which Lufthansa merely codeshares
- No limousine service in MUC for the same reason
To sum it up: I go to the Lufthansa website to book KRK-MUC. Three flights are offered. One says “operated by EN”. Nothing that makes me pause as often flights are “operated by EN” or “Cityline” or “Air Baltic” (for LX) with no impact on HON benefits. I pick the one that suits my schedule. I check in with Lufthansa. I receive a Lufthansa boarding pass. My boarding pass says HON and that of my wife says SEN, so my status is that of an integrated M&M airline (otherwise it should just say “Gold” or something similar as would be the case with another Star carrier or partner airline). Boarding zone 1. All in all, no indication that this flight isn’t a normal Lufthansa flight operated by one of their regional partners. When I call the HON service it first takes the sleepy guy on the phone a looong time to understand my question, then he tells me that all should be ok, and it’s only after I tell him to verify that I am being told that after all I am not flying with Lufthansa and that my HON status is worthless (despite being recognised on the BP). Very very poor showing by Lufthansa and I feel seriously misled.
PS: and the flight is one hour late. Great performance by Lufthansa
This, as the convoluted lounge access and privilege rules on the poultry division operated flights, is one of the most annoying aspects of LH‘s overly complex operating structures. How dare they assume that their paying customers are willing to dig deep into their fine print with differentiations between aspects that only selected industry experts can grasp? It should be seamless as you describe: buy a ticket on a LH group website with an LH group airline and receive an identical product as consideration.
After all: this is the nerd forum. If we are not clear on something, imagine how less frequent fliers or simply less engaged customers feel. And when even employees don’t have a clear view, surely the system has disqualified itself.