gordo6

Hi everybody,

I flew LH a month ago for the first time after a long while, business class, TLV-MUC-KEF. While the inflight service was excellent, I had a very poor experience doing the connection. Or is it normal with LH?

Anyway, here are the details:

1. Originally - 55 minutes of connection time, however a delay shortened it to about 25.
2. Upon landing in MUC, the FAs told us that there will be someone waiting on the jet-bridge to take us straight to our next flight. So far, so good...
3. There was indeed someone waiting on the jet-bridge. However, according to him, there was no change we could make the flight, and we should just go to the customer service desks. When we said we need to be in KEF ASAP, he responded that we should try and run to the gate. And so we did...
4. On passport control, there was another employee waiting for us, saying that we should come with her to customer service and that she "forbids" us to continue running to the plane. We continued doing so anyway...
5. Upon reaching the gate to the KEF flight, the flight was still boarding, the the gate agent said that he was told by the operations centre that he should wait for us as long as needed. He was very much surprised to hear about what his colleagues told us, and said that he was told well before our arrival that the plane should be waiting for us.
6. Upon boarding we also spoke to the FAs who have said the same things.

So what do you think happened there? It really left a sour taste of, otherwise, very good flights... Has anyone else experienced such treatment?

BTW, it's not like they needed our seats for other passengers. The flight had about 10 empty seats, and we were the only one connecting from TLV (i.e. there were no other missed connections from those who landed with us).

Flying Lawyer

ROFL

I am pretty sure she told you "you must not run to the plane" which in one of the most beloved false friends in English for a German speaking English. She wanted to tell you "Sie müssen nicht rennen" which translates into "You do not have to run".

Kacee

Which would be consistent with . . .

So a (moderately amusing) language miscue.

Alls well that ends well.

htb

And also so consistent with "...saying that we should come with her to customer service...."

Instead of cherry-picking, let's wait for the OP to report back on the exact language used.

HTB.

Often1

OP should be praising LH.

It does not matter whether OP went to customer service or did an Olympic sprint to the gate, Operations had directed that the flight be held. Many carriers would not have held a flight at all and staff would have simply shrugged their collective shoulders if the passenger wished to run.

Kacee

Seems pretty clear to me already. It was an understandably stressful situation for OP, there was a miscommunication and/or mistranslation, but everything ended just fine.

So not sure what exactly you're waiting for

htb

2 out of 2 customer service representatives that should have known that the flight was being held directing the customer to customer service instead of to the gate gives a pretty clear picture to me as well. So not sure why you jump to a different conclusion to fast.

LH should be made aware of the situation. Had the OP done as directed (visit the nearest customer service center, wait in line then asked to rebooked, the plane might well already have left. And even if not, 100+ other customer would have been inconvenienced.

LH can do better to ensure that "everything ends just fine".

HTB.

gordo6

Hi all,

Sorry for not responding sooner. Had a pretty busy week. As for your comments:


The exact word used was "forbid". She also said that she will escort us to the customer service desk. So not quite a misunderstanding caused by language/culture difference.


The flight ended up not being held. In fact, when we reached the gate area, there were about 20 passengers that have still not boarded.
Had LH done as promised by the FAs, and arranged that there would be someone to take us directly to the next flight (or just telling us to take our time and not to run), I would have indeed praised them. However, operations only did part of their job, not telling the customer service reps that the flight will be held (or maybe had even given them the wrong information).

All those 2 employees did was to delay our arrival to the departure gate, which might have caused a delay to the flight, as the ground agents and the pilots were told to wait for us.

Exactly my point, thank you. I would understand if all passengers had boarded and they were waiting just for us. But while there were representatives waiting at our arrival gate to take passengers for flights that left 10 or even 15 minutes after ours, we were not taken care of (and, BTW, some of those flights were to destinations that had other LH flights the next morning, while to KEF there was only a flight the following afternoon - and this one was operated by FI).

Also, LH also has an economic reason for wanting us to board the flight - EC261, and in our case their incompetence could have made them pay us the applicable compensation.
The reason to the delay, as we were told by the cabin crew, was the change of equipment from A359 to A346, which meant that the A346 arrived from its destination closer to the scheduled departure time of LH688 (MUC-TLV). That equipment change was made over a week before our flight, and so was well known in advance. Also, all LH688/9 flights that were operated by A346 that month were delayed by 30-60 minutes, for exactly the same reason (which was also told to me by the FAs). So they could have even altered flight times in advance and just do the required rebooking then. Moreover, the operations division of LH @ MUC airport could have prepared for our delayed arrival well in advance.

KLouis

So, she actually said that "laufen in Flughafenbereich its verboten"? I would have gladly volunteered for a later flight and run to the gate, just to see how they enforce the rule. Well, perhaps your German was OK, but the agent said in English "God forbid, you don't have to run...".

gordo6

I do not speak German. Why do all of you just assume that? The agent spoke to me in English.

vbroucek

Well, agent's first language is not English, your first language is probably not English either, so I am not surprised there was a mutual misunderstanding... It happens. Time to move on...

gordo6

How can one misunderstand a sentence such as "I will be escorting you to customer service desk"?

sw1x

I don't know, but maybe you did...

Maybe not an ideal handling. Happens.

KLouis

I suggest, before getting angry because you don't get the answers you wish you would, to read again what you wrote in the OP. For instance:

4. On passport control, there was another employee waiting for us, saying that we should come with her to customer service and that she "forbids" us to continue running to the plane. We continued doing so anyway...

So, a) she forbid you to run, b) you continued to run, c) you arrived at the gate where you boarded the plane and, finally, d) you wrote this whole thing calling it "poor experience" bacause you still made a connection in spite of the 25 min. available for it due to a late arrival!

Obviously I'm not you. But if I were, and in retrospect, I'd be so glad that I made it that rather than writing a mini-libel, I'd write something in the sense of "try the impossible, it sometimes works".

vbroucek

^^^^^