This remains me to the Lufthansa Munich station manager. That women also likes to terrorize passengers. I was refused to fly in business class despite the fact that I had a valid ticket and a valid SWU from United, see my story here.

LH are devils and should be avoided at all cost!

... this always happens to Americans travelling in Europe who fall foul of our different rules over here.

1. US hand baggage sizes are slightly larger than EU ones. 55x40x20cm (or whatever) in the US excludes wheels and handles whereas in the EU it includes them. And many US manufacturers understandably produce carryons that are as large as possible while fitting in the US size requirements. Unfortunately this means they'll be oversized in the EU.

2. US airlines appear to have a different approach to upgrades - people are actually entitled to them in some circumstances, and are often given them in others. In general in the EU people are not upgraded at all unless the airline needs the extra seats down the back. If you paid for a coach class ticket, even if you have a super-platinum card you'll travel coach 99% of the time. EU airlines don't issue upgrade vouchers and don't generally upgrade at the gate. It must be said that intra-EU business class isn't generally as different from coach as intra-US first class is - you usually get the same type of seat but with no-one sitting next to you, a meal, and the option of champagne, but in coach the seat is substantially the same and on most major airlines the wine and beer (no champagne) is still free.



LH isn't really that bad - try flying Ryanair! With Ryanair you have an allowance of one carryon. Period. Including anything, i.e. cameras, handbags, purses etc must be placed inside the one carryon. And anything you buy in the airport airside. (If they're feeling particularly generous they might allow you to take a book with you in addition to your carryon.) And it's then limited to I think 10kg. I've been asked to repack a 10.5kg bag because it was 500g (=a pound) overweight.

agreed 100%!

Excactly, bite back at the dragons. Of course try politely first.

Actually they have negotiated an exception at RYG. They allow you tax-free purchase in addition. No doubt Ryanair get a cut.

Not that I/we had anytime this kind of problem ( and we like to travel only with handluggage )
But didn't the OP post, him came with wife and "many" friends.
So @ least them could bring 2 pc. one for him + one for him wife, and may be give some overload to a friend.
Anyhow, I would have forced the GA to messure the luggage and compare with the written rules. After that it's simple if the luggage is oversize, Iam wrong and Iam responsible for a solution. If my luggage size/weight is ok, and the GA still not let me board, get a written confirmationn with the facts, and LH will have to pay for all expenses resulting from that.

I got to the point of not using LH unless no other carrier available after at Kiev they charged me over 1000 euros to take an extra checked in bag when in business class.

The final straw for me was on a trip from OSL to FCO via MUC when they left my check in luggage in OSL after cancelling a flight without even bothering to inform customers at check in even though the flight had been cancelled earlier - it was left to the lounge staff to inform me.

I didn't find out about the left behind luggage until I was sat in 2A at MUC. When there are irregularities like the flight I had when I had to be rebooked on to a later flight from MUC, I always check that my baggage is actually going to make it.

I checked at the lounge desk and handed them my baggage tags, and they told me that yes my bags were in MUC. When I got to the gate, I checked again this time to check that the bags were at the plane (I had been at MUC for 4 hours at this point) and i was told that they were on the way to the plane. I walked to my seat feeling puzzled as the flight was on final call. So I spoke to the flight attendant and asked her to check. She came back apologetically saying that the bags were still in Oslo. In spite of waiting at OSL for 4 hours they never got loaded on to the first flight. I was furious because I had been lied to twice.

The flight attendant asked me to fill in a customer complaint form, (this was early December 2010) and lo and behold have I ever heard anything back? Nope. Not a sausage. Zilch. The bags took 4 days to get to me, despite me giving correct information about where I was staying.

The result of this is that any travel to Germany, Austria or Switzerland I will not use any part of the LH group. If there is no flying alternative, then I will get the train. I have already done this for internal German journeys and have taken the wonderful Zurich to Vienna transalpine train journey 3 times. Losing a bag is one thing. Lying repeatedly to a business class or any other passenger is unacceptable, and I now see to it that LH gets none of my business in the future

Well now, of course BA don't have a specific weight limit for carry on. If you can lift it you can carry it on (up to 23kg)

This has gotten way too personal. From way back, where are the mods?

BA's won't even think of allowing the insults to go for even a short time.

I laugh at this attitude.
Let me remind you - I bought 3 seats, one of which was for a 1.5 y.o, who can fly for 10% of the cost. I called LH to ensure I had 3 consecutive seats, because i know it is important for us in order to make our child comfortable during the flight. LH confirms 3 consecutive seats for me, on both segments of the trip (I also have paper confirmation).
LH screws, up, gives my seat to someone else and when i tried to resolve the matter politely, gives me the finger! Hmm..... Live in the US or not, that is elementary common sence - a company screws up, oversellls, gives seat to someone else, says "Sorry, our computer dropped your seat reservation, nothing we can do". I drop politeness, bite them back, matter gets resolved. (After a lot of impoliteness, ofcourse).

So no, i dont expect them to kiss my hand. What i did expect is understanding, NOT GIVING "sorry, not our fault you are on your own, next customer" attitude.
As bad as Delta and AF can be at times, when kids are involved they would really try their best and not give you the screw you attitude.

What part of "The airline has confirmed your request. Request can be changed without notification" don't you understand.

If you only can fly when your little kid is sandwiched between you and your wife, perhaps do not fly. There is no airline that guarantees that to you.

This is a reminder to respect the FT TOS, discuss in a friendly manner and to respect the privacy of other members and airline staff (do not post full names of travel company employees and other members!).

Any further violation of the FT TOS will lead to disciplinary action.

Kind regards,

totti
Moderator M&M forum

But now, really, put yourself in their shoes. The FA had no idea what you've been through so far. No idea how the setup was or what really happened. All she might have known was what she was briefed on, and judging by your description, she probably wasn't briefed nice. So, she comes in, informes you they have a problem, goes back to somebody to report it, and they probably yell at her too that she should check (or it says so in her manual), so she checks. Everything turns out OK, she says "sorry for that."

Really, I don't see WHAT ELSE was *that particular FA* supposed to do? She's trained to perform her duties well. Being overly nice to people is left to her own discretion.

Really, other than "I'm sorry," what did you expect her to say/do?

I find it extremely fascinating that there are so many people here who are defending LH "Screw you" behavoir. Some are almost like the Apple cult, no matter what Steve Jobs does, people will bend over for more. Enjoy, people! Its a brave new world we live in.

That's absolutely not "the same". I fly a lot on United, US and Continental. One bag + one personal item = 2. Lufthansa says even on their boarding passes "ONE CARRY ON ONLY". That, and the fact that both the weight and size limitations are less than what is accepted on all major US carriers, makes LH inadequate for my travel needs. Anyone traveling with more than a few valuable items will have a problem with them, because LH's allowance is below internationally accepted standards and incompatible with the US air transportation system. E.g. if you buy a transatlantic ticket that involves a LH flight, you CAN NOT have your "1 carry-on and 1 personal item", so it doesn't matter that all other airlines on your itinerary will allow it, you can't take it with you because LH won't.

We were in clear sight, standing close to the counter with our luggage visible. Since we came early, pretty much all of the other passengers who were also standing (and not sitting down) were behind us. So I guess our "crime" was that we were in clear sight, easy to pick on. Maybe the guy had a fight with his wife just before and needed a target.

Sure :-) Got status matched to AA PLAT and buying my first transatlantic ticket on BA next week. No more LH madness for me.

Can't wait to read the upcoming BAA madness thread at LHR!