Football Fan

On some recent LH flights, after flying quite a bit during the past months with other airlines, I noticed how some (certainly not all) LH staff (both flight attendants and ground staff) seemed to have this weird attitude towards the customer.

In Frankfurt, some older lady tried to carry on a (in my opinion) regularly sized carry-on bag, and the LH staff member working at the gate took it away from her in a very rude way. She tried to say that she carried on the exact same bag on the first leg of the roundtrip ticket, and he rudely interrupted her and said "whatever you say, I don't even listen, this does not belong, end of discussion." She was stunned. Not only that, then he turned to some other lady that was standing there and started trying to gain her approval, joking around, saying something like "pff, these people, always trying to argue, I don't even get into that" and kept making remarks how he was the savior of LH by enforcing the carry-on rules and telling stories of how he once took a carry-on bag away from an off-duty pilot etc.

I just thought that even though he might have been right taking the bag, the tone and ensuing behavior was entirely inappropriate (it went on for quite a while).

Then, on a recent flight, I noticed that some LH flight attendants (the German ones) seem to joke a lot among themselves and talk to each other (which I guess is fine) and kind of showed that they felt interrupted in their conversation by a passenger requesting something. The overall attitude was not "we try to do whatever is possible to please the passenger" (my impression of, e.g., SQ staff on some of my recent flights), but more like "we know exactly what we HAVE to do and if you ask for anything out of the ordinary, we will make you feel that we are really doing you a special favor by even listening to you".

I cannot describe it 100 %, and I am the last person to put LH as my home airline down, but I could really notice general differences between "average LH attitude" and "average (for instance) Asian airline attitude" (I recently flew with SQ, TG, UL, also EK (not Asian) etc.) - not only based on these isolated incidents.

Other examples were the treatment of business and first class passengers on these other airlines and on LH. In Frankfurt, there was no priority boarding for an intra-European flight, but quite some chaos (full flight). There is really no advantage at all of flying C within Europe on LH other than added flexibility and maybe the equivalent of one more piece of bread. No priority boarding or deboarding. I actually went to the person responsible at the gate and asked if there was no priority boarding anymore for intra-European flights. She kind of laughed at me and said "you know, the SEN always show up late and as the last people anyway, so what's the point of allowing them to enter the plane early, we don't even do it for intercontinental flights".

On my flights with the Asian airlines, they would really make it a point to let F de-board first, then C and then Y. They would actually have separate busses waiting, and the bus would depart as soon as all the F passengers were in it, then C, then Y. I thought that was fair, considering the large difference in fares.

Again, the last thing I mean is to put LH down with this post, I just want to share some observations and would like to ask you to share your thoughts on this topic...

I have read some recent very angry posts about LH which I thought were completely out of line (making Nazi references, etc.).

But I think that should not mean we cannot calmly talk about how we see LH staff's attitude (on average) as compared to other airlines, especially airlines such as SQ...what is your opinion on this and do you think that with regards to staff behavior and attitude, training can help? Thanks.

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[This message has been edited by attorney28 (edited 10-17-2003).]

Tazmania

FULL ACK !

Gaucho100K

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Tazmania

ACK = internet acronym for Acknowledgement

BayFlyer

Just share with us more out of your -I guess- stunning chest of experience!

bernie

The percentage of incidents I had not been treated "well" by LH staff is quite the same as with any other non US airline (OS, NG, RG, TG, SQ, NZ, LX, KL, AC). The percentage of "mistreatment" by US airlines staff is significantly higher (UA, US, AA, NW).

Uli

i agree with bernie
dont forget to include BA in the list

Football Fan

Yeah, I also agree with Bernie. I just think LH should try to measure themselves with the best, not the worst... .

One other thing, on LH and some US airlines, I often seem to have crews or staff who try to be funny or have a very informal tone with the passengers. Sometimes it works, but sometimes I just find it inappropriate. What do you think about that, do you like it or would you prefer if they rather erred on the side of being too formal when addressing you?

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shuly

Well, I never heard a LH captain address the pax as "folks", which is pretty standard on UA.

Shuly



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curt

Plus UA always has this hillarious joke on their shorthauls, which is especially funny if you fly in Economy: "Sit back, relax, and enjoy the superior service on United"



[This message has been edited by curt (edited 10-18-2003).]

shuly

On the other hand, I rather like it when they say "we appreciate your choosing UA today: we know you have a choice." Sometimes LH seems to take my business for granted.

Shuly

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daysleeper

on all the (domestic) LH flights I took in the last weeks, one of the cabin staff adressed the pax in the same way.

Snoopy

Ok, sometimes it's nice to be fawned over by a F/A, but sometimes I just want to be left alone to read/work/whatever. I find the LH crews professional. They are not fawning, but neither do I find them particularly unfriendly. In fact more often than not, if I do start a conversation I find them quite interesting to talk to. Most of them actually have a brain....which can't be said for all airline, particularly those who choose their FAs by looks rather than by a combination of looks and intelligence.

Did a circle trip in Asia last week and flew OZ, TG, CX and UA. Quite honestly UA was no worse than OZ or TG and I would consider LH to be just as good as those three, if not better. CX, on the other hand, were just miles ahead....

[This message has been edited by Snoopy (edited 10-18-2003).]

Gaucho100K

Gaucho100K

Superior Service and United are about the most perfect example of an oxymoron you can find...