flying_geek

So today I had my second (and I wanted to have my 3rd) Eurowings flight. I understand it is a low cost carrier and I didn't have (I think) terribly high expectations. The route was VIE-DUS-MIA in their Biz Class product. The flight from VIE-DUS was oversold in Y and we ended up with a fuller than expected C/J cabin. There was no priority boarding as advertised - but the crew was a true delight, helpful, caring - just great. The bagel I picked off the menu is not at risk of being repeated - but considering the low business class fare we paid, the flight was stellar value for money.

Now, the 12:30 departure to Miami got cancelled while we were in line for some secondary security or so. I called EW and they (allegedly) rebooked us again in business class for tomorrow. If I go online, I can only select economy seats - but I called again and they insist we are in BizClass and when we check it - we will get BizClass seats - after the rest of the day - I am cautiously optimistic. When I called to ask for flight options, I was told to find myself a hotel, and keep all receipts for taxis, hotel, meals etc and submit that later. I found such a "card blanche" statement a little odd. I ended up getting two connecting rooms for 179 Euros (total) in the DUS Sheraton - an expense I would consider rather reasonable for three Biz Pax, and it saves them on cabs. I am Marriott Premier Platinum or whatever that tier is called now, so I get free lounge access - but I do plan to have dinner here - and I am not going to buy anything I wouldn't buy if I was paying with my money, but it's not going to be a $10 meal either.

Is there any experience out there what I should expect from them?

Now, my real disappointment was the complete lack of recovery operations - it took till almost 4pm (4 hours after cancellation) to get our bags back. And EW's attitude was astonishing. First Luggage lost and found (outsourced for EW) told us there was nothing they knew and check in people would help us. Stood in line there - and was sent back to baggage people - stood in line there - was sent back to Check-in people - who then wanted to send me to the ticket desk... I asked for a supervisor and stood in line for someone who at least was sitting under a sign labelled supervisor. I explained that I had enough of being sent around and that I expect someone to figure out when and how I can get my bags. If there are reasons why they can't tell me when/where - tell me what those reasons are - but give me something to work with. He had a terrible attitude which I later described as "well, if you're dumb enough to fly with us - it's your own fault" - there were a bunch of passengers agreeing that this description nailed it. Anyhow - I asked for his supervisor - and to Ivan's credit he did appear to call her - but said manager refused to talk to passengers or give her name. I was told to call customer service if I am not happy and was given a little card with a UK number I couldn't call with neither an Austrian nor my US phone... I understand things go wrong, but this complete lack of accepting any responsibility for anything really annoyed me. I can live with "unfortunately it will take is 2 hours to get bags from a broken plane" or whatever the reason is - but sending us from one place to another and a manager refusing to talk to customers... really?

Now. I am one of those crazy people that believe companies might listen if they could learn something that helps them improve. Yes, my BizClass flight was an awful lot cheaper than other options - and I understand I should have lower expectations than when flying a legacy carrier where I have top tier status, but I really think there is stuff those guys could learn if they want to have a BizClass offering.

Anyhow - is it worthwhile complaining anywhere (worthwhile not defined in compensation, but anyone caring)? If so where? What would you guys do?

Often1

No. Other than filing your duty of care claim for hotel and meals as well as for the cancellation / delay presuming no extraordinary circumstances, do not waste your effort.

Simple things such as baggage return in IRROPS are exactly corners which LCC's deliberately cut. There are no extra staff around to offload the aircraft and that is intentional.

flying_geek

If this was Ryan Air - I'd instantly agree - but on many days EW is selling BizClass tickets that compare with LH or BA prices - wouldn't they want to some input about where the issues are? And quite frankly, a statement saying "This is a busy day and we won't be able to unload the plane (I am not sure if it was ever loaded BTW) for 3 hours since we don't have the man power" would have gone a really long way. It was the lack of information and "I don't care this isn't my problem" attitude that were the real issue.

I think deep in my heart I know you are right - I just don't want it to be so

Concerto

I loathe Eurowings and its whole culture, which is the legacy of germanwings. In a previous incarnation, Eurowings was a real airline. There is no way I would fly them longhaul, no matter what the price. DUS to ZRH or TXL is long enough for me, safe in the knowledge that I can at least resort to the train if something goes wrong. They should never treat passengers this way. On the other hand, I have always found DUS ground staff to be pretty good. Otherwise, Often1 is right, you just have to chalk it up somehow.

Agneisse

flying_geek

I guess it's still a viable option for MIA-DUS type flights. I understand the seats are the same as LH business class and if I wake up in the morning and can see the aircraft is on the way to MIA - odds are probably good it will fly back. If not, I have hours to find a decent alternative.
This morning there were two EW staff members including a supervisor that actually apologized. They still tried to give me economy seats - but quickly apologized (again) and fixed that.

The supervisor was rather certain the flight would operate today - should know in an hour or so. I am still rather curious about the flight. We (as a family) fly to Europe at least 3 times a year (I go a couple of times for business), The Eurowings flight (to/from MIA) was about $1800 in business class, less than half of any other viable option (Even TAP) was $2900 - so if every once in a while a flight gets cancelled - I wouldn't quite write them off yet. It would save quite a bit of change on the family trips. (and hey, with the 600 euros a person 264 - one of us flies free)

8420PR

I don't think Eurowings is any less reliable than other airlines, but when stuff does happen there are less employees (in-house or outsourced) to help, and (as you found out) the processes & procedure seem to be slower and less refined. On the flip side I would guess the same employees are handling the LH flights to Frankfurt and Munich....

As a quick and dirty comparison:
EW DUS to MIA: https://www.flightstats.com/v2/fligh...ng/EW/1183/MIA
LH FRA to MIA: https://www.flightstats.com/v2/fligh...ing/LH/462/FRA
So you could expect 54 minutes average delay on eurowings compared to 27 minutes of Lufthansa. Based on this data set (Nov and Dec 2018) neither airline cancelled a flight.