mevr

If he was using a name tag then his name was public and for everyone to see. Also, you didn't request his name, it was already showing, so there was no agreement on your part to keep his name private. Security shouldn't have intervened at all nor removed your piece of paper, you didn't break any law. This is just the usual abuse of power granted to low qualified employees at nearly every airport.

davidj1

Pull out your phone and take a pic or video the situation. Best way to document the poor service standards and then escalate.

fransknorge

lhrpete

You can divulge anything in terms of subject data provided you've told people that you are going to do it and they've agreed. I somehow doubt LH have disclosing HR data to customers after disciplinary action taken against staff as a registered purpose.

HMPS

While I agree with you on a broader basis, when someone is obnoxious to me I do ask and write down the name. I may never do anything about it but hopefully the employee has second thoughts of the repercussions and may change his habits a bit.....So more feedback they get on such one on one may lift the overall service levels.

ISTFlyer

As I assume from the first post that the conversation between the customer service agent and the OP wasn't normal. Either there is something missing or either the OP was shouting or raised his volume to the agent ( which is a successful tactic to make your job in the USA ) But, unfortunately in Europe, raising your voice to a company agent won't work when trying to solve an issue and could make situations worse.

In this specific case, I assume that when the CS agent said
there was certainly something that the OP hasn't mentioned.
A Lufthansa agent won't report something such as when a passenger asks if his flight is delayed or in similar issues.

Also, I find the name noting part a bit like an ego, where the passenger noted the CS agents name on paper in front of him. It wasn't the right move. As earlier posts have mentioned, the OP could have written the name on his phone, not in front of the agent, which wouldn't cause any problems.
In a case where the flight was delayed overnight, for any kind of compensation, the name of the agent wouldn't be required according to EU laws.

So, as the OP is from the USA, I would link this issue to a conversation made in the American way which does not work in Europe.
A suggestion from me would be that arguing on the spot won't work all around the world and when someone is searching for their rights, sometimes staying silent on the spot and then making the necessary actions would be a better move.

hugolover

expert7700

Understand completely why you'd assume that.

I may have been speaking quick (due to flight almost ready to board) but not loud or condescending. Too many times I have seen an angry customer--even in the right-get out of control and offloaded involuntarily.

When he said he cannot at least note my file I had asked him to notate what he told me about agents being there if we divert at midnight and it being Lufthsansa's responsibility to get me there even ($50 cab etc). I think I joked that I am sure it won't be needed but after experiences with US carriers I ask to do this.

Up till the point of me writing his name everything he said was basically courteous. He had offered to change my flight to the next morning for free (which was not allowed by my restricted ticket) after I had showed him the arrival airport curfew time and prior diversion that week on flightaware. (I didn't take that option since FRA hotel would have been on my dime and was prepaid at my destination).

ISTFlyer

Now the situation is much more clear. Sorry if I misjudged you. Of course, it's Lufthansa's responsibility to take you safely to your final destination.
So yes, everything, until you wrote his name, looks normal at this point.

It's always understandable that people could have tight schedules and wants to arrive at his destination on time.
In your case, security shouldn't be called on you and they shouldn't ask you for that paper but I assume that the agent didn't know what to do when someone did note his name on a paper in front of his eyes.

HMPS

This is a good suggestion and will remove all he said-she said.
But I shudder to think what the LH agent would have done, what would he have told the "security" ! Would have resulted in confiscating OP's phone/camera to view and delete.....
OP do you know if this was part of a legit police force or as said before "Rent a Cop" outfit.

OP while you are thousands of miles away, I like others encourage you to ask LH to look into this and to take appropriate disciplinary actions including retraining.
Good luck.

N1120A

I'd have called the police over this. There is no GDPR violation in writing down information you may need for a complaint. In fact, I bet there is a consumer regulation that mandates you are able to know the name of the person you are dealing with. The physical attack on you was completely unjustified.

voweffekt

As others have stated, this is most definitely not a GDPR violation. It is consistent with how Germans view privacy in general. They get weird about it.
​​​​​​I've been stopped multiple times in Germany when taking photos in public. Worried bystanders demanded to know if they were in the photo and insisted that I delete it.
​​​​​GDPR is a good thing and the Germans generally love it but their view on privacy issues is a common enough cultural flashpoint so that GDPR gets thrown around in weird places.

I would complain to LH.
The CSR obviously didn't want to be reported but calling security on you was over the top. Why then do they have name badges? They only list the first initial of the first name and last name, so there is some level of privacy built in.

Another thing Germans don't like is defamation so say that the public calling out caused you embarrassment and other emotional harm. You'll likely get an apology but no points.

V

purch

If I was taking photos in public and a random bystander DEMANDED 1) to see my phone and 2) that I delete something, I'd tell him in no uncertain terms to get lost. Luckily after 6 years in Germany this still hasn't happened yet.


Back to the OP, given that the employee was wearing a name tag, it cannot possibly be a breach of privacy that someone might see it or *gasp* write it down. Simply the usual case of rubbish employees trying to hide so they don't get into trouble if you report them.

Unfortunately they know that most people back down when confronted by the whole security thing. I admit I probably would have too, just for the sake of not missing my flight and perhaps causing a major scene. There are some battles worth fighting but reporting a useless employee to LH is not really the hill I want to die on, especially when I know little will eventually come of it.

Concerto

No, it really does happen, this business of bystanders asking, often quite aggressively, to have that last photo deleted. I can think of at least two occasions, in addition to the airport incident I mention some posts above. Luckily I have just complied with a smile and the whole thing was over without another word, a non event quickly forgotten. But it really annoys me and I expect I am going to have a clash at some point.

IAN-UK

They've even caught the bug in the UK.

My near-final leg on a long trip home from Brasil was the train into Manchester from the airport. Received a Whatsapp message from a friend back in Sao Paulo asking if i was home yet. Messaged back "almost" with a selfie of me on the train. Then the oddness started.

A lady across the carriage said I'd taken a picture of her: said I'd purposely angled the camera to include her.

Maybe ungallant of me, but i asked why she thought I'd want a photo of her

She threatened to call the guard if i didn't delete the photo there and then. As it had already served its purpose, winged its way to Sao Paulo, i opened the whatsapp photo folder, showed her the offending image (she was right, she could be seen, fading into the background) and deleted it in front of her.

Life's too short to engage in silliness. But I'm sad to have reinforced her belief in the powers of data protection laws.