The first mistake here is to assume that an airline ticket is a ‘dienstvertrag’.

Great! So you know exactly what you need to do and you clearly don't need advice from other people. Especially from those that know it better than you. Good luck!

You had a "Beförderungsvertrag", not a "Dienstvertrag".

Just for clarification:
Under German law, a contract of carriage with an airline is generally classified as a service contract, albeit with special legal overlaps.

Classification according to the German Civil Code (BGB)

• A service contract (Sections 611 et seq. BGB) does not owe a specific result, but only the proper performance of the services.
• In the case of an air transport contract, the airline does not owe the success of safe arrival, but the proper execution of the transport in accordance with the recognized rules of aviation.

👉 Therefore, the contract of carriage is not considered a contract for work (§§ 631 ff. BGB).

Special regulations
However, the contract of carriage is not a “pure” service contract, but a mixed-type or special service contract because:
Special laws apply, in particular:

• Montreal Convention (MC) – Liability for delays, baggage and personal injury
• Regulation (EC) No. 261/2004 – Compensation and assistance in the event of delays, cancellations, denied boarding

These regulations supersede the BGB.

As the MC and EC261/04 is very clear, you can ask for - as already previously mentioned - for compensation (600 EUR) and hotel and meal costs. But that's it.

You are (unfortunately for me) perfectly right regarding it. I forgot about the Montreal Convention.

Anyway I'm a victim of my loyalty to LH group. For flight to BOG with them there are two options available: ZRH and FRA (Transfer in USA is not an option due to political situation there). But at least on the days around my original flight FRA-BOG was not available in business class. The reason was I guess problems with certification of Allegris in 787 aircrafts.

I'd just add that even if pilot missed the flight due to their own fault, it's still not a reason to "end their career". Slap on the wrist, some financial penalty, sure. But failing to wake up in time once is not a reason to throw years (possibly decades) of experience, and insane cost of training away. If it was a repeating pattern, I'm pretty sure the airline would get rid of the pilot, but doing it for one mistake is just not proportional.

Not LH group all the way but MUC-(LH)-YYZ-(AC)-BOG is also an option and the transfer in Toronto is very easy.

Actually, the initial 25 min delay was caused by a missing cabin crew member (not the captain as you incorrectly suggest), who had to come in from another flight. Here is the FLIFO with the full information:



And if you look little more detailed, you did not miss your connection because of this initial delay, but rather because of the 43-minute taxi time that ensued. If you look the the historical performance of this same flight, you will see that the departure from the gate was not all that much later than normal. And with a 33-minute, pretty normal flying time, you would likely have made your connection just fine, if it were not for the 43-minute taxi, related to ATC restrictions.

So rather than randomly taking out your anger on the airline, you may have considered informing yourself just a little better. Maybe a rant towards air traffic control restrictions would have been in order?

There is another perspective on this, the OP had a complication of one award ticket & one paid, i imagine a few of us her can recognise this scenario ?

OP raised the issue of a very short connection with LHG & is a frequent flyer, they told OP to pound sand, so they now need to pay OP & pax 2 , 600 EUR x 2 plus any duty of care, this is not inconsiderable for a 2 day delay in rebooking 🤔

Is that a smart commercial move by LHG ? They now need to pay AV for 2 J tickets

Worth the negative resume here ?

The OP realized he made a mistake with the short connection they booked, then came here to ask for advice. I had some sympathy under these circumstances,

But when OP started not only to rant about firing the crew, but also about contract law, how to run an airline better than Carsten (not a very low bar, I admit ) and then the rest of the lot, he lost my sympathy. OP made a mistake, tried but couldn't fix it but didn't then owe up to the consequences.

OP should have said "Oh sh*t, I was worried it would go wrong and now it did. Taking a plane in the middle of winter is inherently risky, so how can I get the best possible rebooking for two different tickets and then the highest compensation for the delay?". But he didn't...

Completely agree with that but the OP did have a conversation with LHG & they just said tough sh.t & actually if the OP has travel insurance the costs come back to bite LHG on the … so where is the commercial sense in that ? not to mention they just potentially lost a customer & others reading this saga ?

The commercial sense in that is that the airline sells tickets that can be modified and cheaper tickets that can not be modified. There is also a MCT, which means that this minimum transfer time allows for smooth connections for most of the passengers under normal circumstances. If the MCT is respected and there are no extraordinary conditions, the ticket conditions apply, which means that the airline can change the ticket, but at a fee. Which is exactly what happened.

Customer bought a ticket, feels uncomfortable with the ticket afterwards and expects the airline to change it free of charge... it does not work like that in Europe. It is less customer friendly than for example in the US, but there is a commercial reasoning behind it. The airline offers a cheaper ticket that is restricted, if they don't enforce the restrictions, customers would not buy flexible tickets any more. In the end, the airline thinks it is more interesting to enforce ticket restrictions than to lift them to keep a customer happy.

I also totally understand the frustration of OP, and indeed LH messed up, but honestly they could not know the aircraft would be stuck in MUC witt ATC restrictions...

I however have no understanding for the drama, the judging, blaming, contacting LH to ask them to fire the employee, stating nonsense about compensation, ask other users not to comment simply because they don't agree, and so on.

Yes, i get all that but it has not worked out for the OP or the airline

And i do see the initial problem the OP had with one award ticket & the limited options OP had with a separate paid ticket, end result after the OP raised the issue everyone lost out 🤔

Just where did customer service go ? My businesses, customer first unless-it’s a beyond ridiculous request, good way to retain customers

LH said they would rebook at 2x€250 per the ticket conditions.

Even more so with hindsight, the OP should have taken that, especially if we now know how important it was to arrive on time.

I will gladly book risky, short connections so as not to spend more time than necessary waiting, but only when getting in on time is not critical. On the other hand, I will equally gladly spend more time at airports or in a hotel the day before when it is more important that I get to my destination. I buy my tickets accordingly, short connections or long connections, no flexibility or full flex. And I'm glad that I have that choice.

Indeed. Sometimes things go wrong. And it's not necessarily the fault of the airline. Sometimes .... just happens and then it's better if everyone does its very best to deal with it.

Everyone knows that in life. If you fly in winter, you know you need to plan in some extra time. If you book an unflexible ticket, you know you can't change it if you are not happy with what you bought. If things go wrong, you also know what to expect. And so on.

Of course, customer service is very limited in this particular business. But that's the market. BA of AF would also not change a restricted ticket free of charge just because you are not comfortable with what you bought.