jkingsle

Got to the gate an hour before departure...as fast as I could after my inbound flight to Frankfurt.

Tried to use a paper UA Upgrade coupon. First class had four open seats. Told they wouldn't upgrade due to the lack of catering, as food needs to be ordered 90 minutes prior. I made it clear that I didn't care about the food, just the seat. They called the purser who said no they would not authorize the upgrade.

Seems like a bad business decision to me. I'm sure that they get paid for accepting the coupon from United... Lost revenue in my mind, granted, probably not much. But more importantly a big customer service fail... Will have to rethink using LH when there are other choices out there that offer similar timings/price.

Bruchpilot

Honestly, LH did the right job and I doubt, LH will miss you and your business including the amazing UA upgrade voucher.

jkingsle

And why do you think that?

UnitedFlyGuy

It's moreso about regulation than actually caring about the food. You might not care for the meal but if that seat is filled they NEED a meal. If they have already started catering, it's just going to take more time to redo it.

PebbleBeach

Agreed, the point has some validity until the meaningless threat of taking business elsewhere.

seat 1a

I would be pi**ed as well .
But Bruchpilot , you are lucky who are in possession of the now highly valued
e- voucher.

It is of course very warming to note that LH manages to upset not only HON's .

sentom

IMHO nothing to be pissed or even upset about, i don't remember any airline that would upgrade if they have no catering (at least on longhaul). problem seems to be that there is some nutjobs out there who complain after the flight that they didn't get fed properly. just read thru some of the "maximizer" threads here, and you'll see that this seems to be the unfortunate truth.
that said, some airlines (or even stations) try harder to make last minute catering possible. i personally never had an issue with it, but it might be due to SEN/HON status...

seat 1a

I really doubt that would be the issue.

Of course , if you never had an issue with , you have no reason to be upset .

Often1

Just look through FT and you will see more examples of "no good deed goes unpunished" than can be imagined.

It may well be that OP, as an individual, doesn't care about a meal and just wants the seat. Perhaps he is one of those who would have declined catering in any event. But, there are those who would have agreed and then later whined that they couldn't even find a snack bar.

In addition, LH has a legitimate brand issue. If asked about his F experience, what if OP slips up and says to a colleague, "they didn't have any food for me." without explaining the circumstances?

Same thing with conformance for check-in, bag drop, security, gate & boarding and the like. The kindly agent who checks your bag at T-59, gets slammed when the bag doesn't make it.

In the USA, CO used to allow people to keep connections below the MCT and note the record as "PAX WARNED ON MCT." They stopped it when pax who missed their connections became loud whiners about compensation and other atrocities.

Can't blame LH one bit for this. Even though in OP's particular case it may have worked a hardship.

TerryK

Many non-USA airlines have this policy: no catering, no passengers.@:-) USA based airlines always cater full as premium cabins are always full of upgrades. Many other threads about this same issue.

sannmann

While catering may be a valid concern on the part of the gate agent and the purser, it would behoove LH to come up with a formal policy on when UA GPUs must be presented. Perhaps UA could then state on the paper GPU that the document must be presented at the gate by T minus X minutes from departure.

LH could also come up with a formal directive to its employees/contractors in out-stations on how to get UA customers with paper GPUs on its grading lists. If I'm flying from FCO-MUC-IAD and only have an hour connection at MUC, I certainly should have the ability to get on the grading list at FCO so that I actually have a shot at getting the upgrade.

sentom

ever since i started flying on a very regular basis this has been one of the reasons given on why the "no meal no upgrade" rule was put in place (at least with LH/OS)...

oliver2002

The 'no meal no upgrade' policy is also in place for LH elites trying to upgrade with miles/evouchers/cash etc. They only load in sets of two, if you had a full paying guest in there who doesn't get his meal choice...

Boghopper

This is a longstanding issue with LH for both C and F. They won't upgrade if they don't have the catering sorted, and I don't think they would accept a revenue booking at that point either. I think it's smart, actually. Can you imagine the DYKWIAs who would conveniently forget what they had been told and create a huge fuss/tantrum somewhere at 35,000 feet? LH is much better about protecting their premium classes from legions of upgraders (which is why the upgrades are actually available, unlike on UA) and the revenue from a SWU is likely chump change. Ironically, UA 1Ks get more upgrades than LH SENs or HONs do.

jkingsle

Many fair and valid points here. I know my original post was a little snippy and negative against LH.

As one poster mentioned previously, maybe they should allow a passenger to be put on the waitlist at the originating station, so that if there ends up being a short connection, as there was in my case, this issue would not present itself.

The overall flight was pleasant, and the purser came and apologized and brought me a F amenity kit, as well as a glass of champagne.

Hopefully next time all works more smoothly!