zaphod105

Another thing that has been bugging me - Star Alliance RTW tickets book into Z now, which makes them effectively non-flexible. A couple of weeks ago I was piecing together an RTW trip for June 2015 and on 1 leg (FRA-NRT) there was no availability in Z, so if I really wanted to take that flight, a downgrade into Y would have been the only option.

I mean that's ridiculous. I would even pay more to be able to book into D (as before), but forcing me into Z makes me look into buying a Oneworld RTW ticket.

Why do they make it so hard to stick with LH?

-Z

sunseeker

you may want to confront our LH geniuses with this ( i recommend to do so near the end of the session, unless you want it to be a very short one):

Quote from:
"Fanfocus Deutschland"-Studie der "forum! Marktforschung".

Billigflieger profitieren von den Schwächen des Wettbewerbs.
Dass Kunden verstärkt zu Low-Cost-Airlines abwandern, resultiere daher nicht aus der Stärke der Billiganbieter, sondern aus der Schwäche des Wettbewerbs, ein Alleinstellungsmerkmal herauszubilden. So seien bei der Lufthansa einerseits die Preise zu hoch, um mit den Billiganbietern konkurrieren zu können. Andererseits erfülle die Airline aus Kundensicht trotz hoher Preise nicht das Level in der Serviceorientierung, das nötig wäre, um in der Premiumklasse konkurrenzfähig zu werden.

Emirates gelinge es als einziger Fluggesellschaft, ihre Markenausrichtung konsequent auf ihre Zielgruppe auszurichten und die versprochene Leistungsqualität zu erfüllen, so Becker. Dadurch sei die Kundenbindung insgesamt deutlich höher als bei den Wettbewerbern."

Wickersley

Google translate >>>

Cheap flights to profit from the weaknesses of the competition .
That customers increasingly moving to low-cost airlines , therefore not result from the strength of the low-cost supplier , but from the weakness of the competition to forming a unique feature. So the prices are at the Lufthansa one hand, too high to compete with the discounters can . On the other hand, did not meet the airline from the customer's perspective , despite high prices , the level of service orientation , it would be necessary to be competitive in the premium class.

Emirates succeed , it is the only airline that consistently align their brand focus on your audience and meet the promised service quality , says Becker . This customer loyalty is overall significantly higher than that of the competitors ."

Rambuster

Here is a small summary of the meeting with Jens Bischof and Dr Huber on Thursday at the LAC in FRA:

- 4U situation/problems are known within LH. However it is a system issue. In the long run LH will try to harmonise the different systems but we shouldn't expect a quick fix.
- LH list a billion Euros over the last ten years with d central KONT flying and First Class, therefore they needed to act.
- On average they only had 0.5 fully paying customers per flight in F
- New C class will be on all longhaul planes by Q3/2015. Apologies were made for the delay but €100m have been put aside additionally to expedite.
- The call centre issues were noted, especially the Istanbul call centre quality.
- Mr Bischof asked Dr Huber to invite three HONs to visit the Berlin call centre together with Dr Huber on his next trip.
- There was discussion of whether to keep the Miles and More system as is or to change more to revenue based system. The later was favoured by quite a few of the participants (not me…)
- Mr Bischof also asked about C class configuration on KONT flights. Would we prefer the current style with a more comfortable cushion or rather US style “F” seats. Basically everyone agreed that the USA model would be unsustainable but rather to improve the NEK seat.
- The jump concept will see LH style planes and crews operating more secondary destinations and leisure destinations ex FRA and MUC. Only the configuration of the plane will change: no F, small C and then a combination of Y+ and Y (or whatever they think is best for those routes). Jump will be part of the 5* goal.
- Wings however is still a concept for a LCC longhaul airline. Perhaps similar to the Norwegian concept. Might operate ex DUS, CGN but not FRA.
- Mr Bischof took a lot of notes to all kinds of issues. (E.g. OpUp priority, ground handling issues, IT issues)
- Introduction last year of status stars was a mistake, but now they will add features and benefits. Announcement within the next month or so.
- Lifetime status could be part of the benefits but “not for someone in their mid 40s”. Other airline dish this out too early according to LH. I guess this is true IMHO.
- Improved HON service will result in each HON member being assigned a designated person at LH for day to day issues.
These HON contacts will also monitor flight activities and will proactively rebook should connections not be made.
Individual questions were answered after the official session for quite some time!

All in all a very positive meeting with Jens Bischof being very open and candid and also admitting that LH has been late in the game with several issues such as refitting new business class or even wrong (status stars).



Thanks again to Jens Bischof and Dr Huber but also to rcs and Oliver2002 for putting a lot of effort into is event.

more4less

Thanks very much for the summary Rambuster!

TRAVELSIG

++1

peter42

@Rambuster just two small notes:
- the 0,5 passengers in F was for certain routes only
- the invitation was for the IST callcenter

mamb0

Thank you Rambuster for your interesting and informative summary and thanks to RCS and Oliver and obviously LH to make this happen

on the expedited C/CL roll out, I am not so sure if I personally really want that. Had to do an unplanned emergency trip to Asia tonight, LH was the quickest option and I am sitting in it for the third time. It's just too small and the foot situation is really a joke. On the other hand, my feet found new feet friends. Unfortunately the man attached to them was unknown to me.

The new C/CL is good for daytime runs though.

sunseeker

"On average they only had 0.5 fully paying customers per flight in F"

award/upgrade tickets should be considered revenue, after all miles are a sort of currency and don't come for free....

seat 1a

^^

seat 1a

@ Rambuster
Any input on the " improved " HON service?

GBM.flights

Thanks Rambuster for both the topic list discussed and the attitude you saw in the LH representatives. Well done!

Can you just clarify this point? Is this the background of downgrading TLV, CAI, etc?

PaxCGN

Thank you, Rambuster, for the very good, condensed summary!

This one point still does seem to be slightly contradictory to me.

Could you or one of the other participants from this forum please kindly enlighten me?
Thanks
n_w_c

flyglobal

Jump = a worktitle with lower opertional cost (pilots still need to contribute) but a product close or identical to LH. LH said: Jump is LH. Only starting from FRA to new or previous destinations.

From MUC, eventually DUS and other Cities a new International Wings is still in definition phase. It is probably best described as an international Germanwings or something like Norwegian.

Regards

Flyglobal

Rambuster

Sorry, I forgot about this:
Improved HON service will result in each HON member being assigned a designated person at LH for day to day issues.
These HON contacts will also monitor flight activities and will proactively rebook should connections not be made.