supermasterphil

Looking forward to the next issue of the German "Manager Magazin"....

Head title "Always trouble with Lufthansa"

https://heft.manager-magazin.de/epaper/start/index.html

TRAVELSIG

Wow.

YuropFlyer

Can't wait for that issue

volta

Best to read it in LH lounge, provided by LH

YuropFlyer

I _somehow_ have the strong feeling this edition of the MM won't hit the lounges

Anyone read it yet? Maybe could do a scan for us to read the article?

supermasterphil

I expect to have it in the mail by today... (it will only be published today, a couple of days ago the first teasers showed up online)

supermasterphil

Actually the article is rather short and most of the stuff is no surprise for most Flyertalkers. Mr. Franz doesn't come out very good in this article, neither does Mr. Mayrhuber. No word of Antinori.

Allthough the article doesn't come with any surprises, it is again another PR disaster for Lufthansa!

oliver2002

Franz is Mayerhubers successor, Antinori was succeeded by Spohr. The latter got his 15 minutes of fame this year in the Sueddeutsche article

Rambuster

The latest issue of the German "Manager Magazin" has a very well written article about the trouble at LH, especially alianating frequent flyers:

http://www.manager-magazin.de/magazin/

(The print issue can be found in any respectable FCT or FCL ! )

The highlight for me was the story about a consultant who was asked to research the internal management struggles. During his presentation to the 50 top managers at LH the presentation was stopped half way through in a commotion because they did not like what they heard (internal power struggles between Franz and Spohr, etc). The cosnultant was thus fired and a new consulting firm was hired ...

cas_de

I read the article over the weekend. It's fairly interesting and combinded with the following Handelsblatt article it shows the overall situation:

http://www.handelsblatt.com/unterneh...f/6563124.html

However, it is scary that there seem to be so many internal struggles that lead to severe customer dissatisfaction. Of course, Meilenschwund is taking notice of all these things...

supermasterphil

That was my favorite part as well!

SMK77

The most interesting point about this presentation is the fact that Franz is usually very open to hear inconvenient things and is encouraging people to put all facts on the table to make rationale decisions. The power struggle at the top is costing customers and money.

Everyone is discussing whether Mayrhuber should follow Weber. But the real question is: Who should take over after Franz?

YuropFlyer

Am I the only person who is remembered of the "Hundred Flowers Campaign" when I read about the consultant who was researching LH's internal problem and then got fired mid-way in his presentation?

First, LH looked for help to solve it's internal problems. Then, when too much issues were discovered by the consultant, they fired them, as they couldn't/didn't wanted to hear the truth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hundred_Flowers_Campaign

N1003U

The whole anecdote of the consultant certainly does seem to be a classic (and nearly literal) case of "shooting the messenger."

It is a difficult but important skill to listen honestly to criticism from customers. My observation is that LH decision makers are currently way too brittle to even the friendliest criticism. Yes, LH are in a financially difficult position position right now, and the solutions are not easy. That makes it even more important to listen to everyone, especially outsiders. I have heard it said that complaining customers are your best friends. They tell you what they really think, and they still care enough to be won over. If all you want is consultants that tell you what you want to hear, or you want only to hear solutions that you agree with, then you are in deep trouble.

One excerpt in particular caught my eye from the _Handelsblatt_ article:

"...Wer sich aber beschweren will, landet in Telefonschleifen. „Kundenmonolog“ nennen Kunden das Dialogangebot der Lufthansa. „Die Qualität der Antworten aus den Call-Centern hat unterstes Niveau erreicht“, sagt Vielflieger und Unternehmer Ralph Treitz aus Heidelberg. Die Lufthansa dagegen lässt einen Sprecher ausrichten: „Da wir die Produktqualität in den kommenden Monaten und Jahren deutlich steigern, haben wir die Befürchtung, Vielflieger zu verprellen, nicht..."

So, what should one believe when Lufthansa says, "...As we are significantly improving product quality in the upcoming months and years, we are not worried about annoying frequent flyers..."? Should we believe what LH says, or what LH actually does?

TRAVELSIG

That is a very strange quote- just because you are updating product quality- how would that justify annoying frequent flyers? Weird.