Originally Posted by mamb0

Dear LH Team,

my boss has a very specific question in this context. Since most of our corporate travel books into the company tariff in Z per the framework agreement between Lufthansa and our corporation, he was wondering whether this technically means if he makes use of the company tariff he automatically is excluded from any potential upgrade.

Happy Holidays,
mamb0

Originally Posted by kenadams

Dear LH Lurker,

we need to talk, I'm not sure I love you anymore.

If you have ever traveled in the Muslim world, you will certainly have heard the expression "Insha'Allah": it is used as a wish when making plans to acknowledge that future events are in the hands of God, not of humans.

Two years ago, while travelling in Somalia, a customer service agent for Daallo Airlines somewhat sarcastically wished Insha'Allah (with a grin) after creatively rerouting me: instead of a ticket, my travel buddies and I had a piece of paper with our names on it and a letter - "dear Khadar, please board... on our today flight...". I lacked any faith in that letter, but I was wrong. It worked like a charm! I am not a religious man, but I now know that Insha'Allah is more purposeful than Zen during irregular flight operations.

Insha'Allah was all I could think on December 28. My wife and I were booked on a FLR-FRA-SFO business class itinerary on Lufthansa. The morning of the flight, I woke up and found an email advising that our flight was estimated to depart FLR with a delay of 2 hours (ETD 9.15 instead of 7.15). There are no customer service telephone lines available at 5am other than a German phone number: I tried calling it but could not get through to an English-speaking operator.

We arrived at the airport at 5.35 and joined the business class check-in line: we were denied check-in and told to line up at the ticket counter where we would be rebooked. A single agent staffed the Lufthansa-Swiss ticket counter (no priority lanes). The line moved very slowly (the pace of resolution was roughly one passenger/group every 15-20 minutes). No explanation was provided for the delay other than generic "operational reasons" and "it was snowing in FRA yesterday". I later realized it must have been a crew rest issue. I reassured my wife - "we can still make it to SFO today, Insha'Allah".

After about an hour in line and very little progress, I checked flight availability online and noticed that at least two business class seats were available to SFO via ZRH on Swiss International Airlines, with a departure time of 9.50 and arrival to SFO at 16.25 (only 4 hours late compared to the booked itinerary). This would have been a very reasonable rerouting. Other options were available out of Frankfurt on United (via IAD), Condor (via LAS), British Airways (via LHR). Unfortunately, we were still in line waiting for assistance. Insha'Allah!.

At 7.30, a second agent joined the ticket counter: she was wearing a Lufthansa uniform, but claimed to be working for Swiss and gave priority to “customers of Swiss”. I pointed out that she was wearing a Lufthansa uniform, and that I was indeed a customer of Swiss, as my trans-Atlantic itinerary is operated by the joint venture of the whole Lufthansa group, United Airlines, and Air Canada. She said that that part of the ticket counter was paid for by Swiss and that I was a Lufthansa customer, and that I should stay in line for the “the ticket counter I had paid for”. Admittedly, my reaction was not very Zen. After a handful of passengers of LX1679 were assisted (most of them dealing with overweight baggage fees, I believe), the agent marked her line as priority for business class and Star Alliance Gold customers. I joined that line behind only one other customer. After that customer had been handled, again we were told to wait while the agent assisted a passenger of LX1679. Finally, at 8.35, it was our turn to be served: unfortunately, we were denied service and told (along with other passengers) to check-in to Frankfurt and seek assistance there, as we would otherwise not make our delayed flight on time. After standing in line for 2 hours and 50 minutes, we were refused service. Insha'Allah.
We hurried to check-in, then past security to board the aircraft and discover from the Captain that the flight was now an additional 45 minutes late, now scheduled to push at 10.00. The time we could have spent at the ticket counter making alternative arrangements was instead spent sitting on the plane on the tarmac.
I called the Lufthansa Senator line in Italy (a paid phone line) and tried to obtain assistance that way, but the agent could not reroute us from there.
Finally, we joined a line at the service desk in Frankfurt at 11.52, and were assisted 15 minutes later. By the way: only one service desk was open with a total of 6 customer service agents in the entire terminal A (fine if you are a Senator, but I feel really bad for the Florence passengers who had already spent hours lined up in FLR and were now at the tail end of many more hours of waiting). We were offered a hotel room and seats on LH454 the next day, as by that time all available combinations on the same day had been booked. I do believe a same-day itinerary via LAS on Condor and Virgin America would have been available, but the agent refused to consider flight options on airlines other that LH Group, Air Canada and United.

The flight the next day also turned out to be late (little over an hour), because a whole A380 was deiced by a single truck! (Insha'Allah). I came home and found my shiny new Senator card waiting in the mail: it even has a star on it in recognition of many years of loyalty - and yet I feel betrayed. You've changed, Lufthansa, I don't recognize you anymore. I think we need a break.

Originally Posted by LufthansaGermanAirlines

Hi kenadams,
reading your words made me feel very uncomfortable. :-/ I truly understand your frustration and disappointment. I failed. And I'm sorry.
I don't want you to need a break from me. Because I know, I can do better... /Lufthansa (Stefanie)

PS: Please send us your post and contact details via http://f.lh.com/kwZc. We will forward your case to Customer Relations.

Originally Posted by kenadams

Thank you: I have filled out the form.

One additional note: while I think Lufthansa (as an organization) has failed miserably in this instance, while many decisions by LH staff were questionable, and while the behavior of the "Swiss" agent in Florence was offensive and indicative of a complete lack of aptitude and affinity for customer service, one individual deserves praise.
The lone gentleman who staffed the LH ticket counter in Florence was professional, thorough (hence the long resolution times), courteous: I did not get to deal with him, but I stood a few feet away for almost an hour and could observe his composure, patience, and professionalism while he dealt with several upset passengers. Please do pass that message along - his behavior was exemplary. And please clone him: three of him would have made this flight irregularity a small hiccup.

Originally Posted by htb

Since this experiment has been going on for quite a while now, is there any indication that this transactional approach will be abandonned in favor of the old loyalty-first approach? If not, I'd really like to understand why LH believes the current system is better. As an economy-only flyer I favored LH over other airlines also in view of my better (i.e. realistic) chances of receiving an upgrade as a Senator. Now, with the certainty that I will never receive another upgrade since we usually book a a bit in advance, I couldn't care less whether I fly LH or another airline. LH seems to understand this as well, otherwise the revised OP-up priority list would have been widely advertised as an "enhancement". Instead it was secretly introduced and almost denied whenever disgruntled asked about it.

HTB.

Originally Posted by mamb0

Dear LH Team,

my boss has a very specific question in this context. Since most of our corporate travel books into the company tariff in Z per the framework agreement between Lufthansa and our corporation, he was wondering whether this technically means if he makes use of the company tariff he automatically is excluded from any potential upgrade.

Happy Holidays,
mamb0

Originally Posted by LufthansaGermanAirlines

Hello MambO, hello HTB,
with the implementation of the new Check-In system, the "Loyalty First Approach" feature will apply again. However, selected less expensive booking classes – such as Business Z – will remain excluded from this.
Kind regards, Maria

Originally Posted by mmff

Can we please have a list of the "selected less expensive booking classes"? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Rus925

On a much lighter note, but I have no idea who to ask about this: I got a birthday email as an FTL, and after using the app to see the augmented reality cake appear on my FTL card, a pop-up told me to check my email for my birthday surprise. Still no birthday surprise.

Originally Posted by Rus925

Still no birthday surprise.

Originally Posted by garel75

Dear LH team,

I am a M&M fan since ever.
Anyway this time Lufthansa really disappointed me.
My child won a prize on Lufthansa advent calendar and so far didn't receive anything. I wrote and called to Jetfriends and M&M to sort the things out but nobody helped me or gave precise answer...They just told me that unfortunately they don't know what to do...They see he won but don't know anything about the prize (words of the supervisor)...What kind of answer is that?
Is not for the value of the prize itself but because they cheated on a 4 years old child, and this is now a matter of principle for me.
Already 2 times he was standing 2 hours in front of the window waitng for the postman to come with his prize. And almost every day he reminds me "where's my prize"?
If at Jetfriends they are unable to handle such promotions it would be better not to make it at all.
Hope someone will answer my question.
Many thanks
Gianluca