Bad, bad customer service

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Sebastianluxe
    Participant

    Really bad customer service experience with Etihad subsidiary AirBerlin:
    Flight on AirBerlin from Cologne to Munich and AB decides 25min prior to departure to cancel flight AB 6113, due to depart at 8.10.
    This is the second flight that AB cancels this morning in Cologne and two (!) ticket office staff are looking after passengers of two fully booked Boeing 737.
    Chaos. Long queues. No reason is given for the cancellation, no offer of an automatic re-booking made (the next flight was Lufthansa to Munich at 8.45, next AB at 10.05).
    I give up queuing and try calling customer service – in total 3 times, last time 25mins past the scheduled departure time. Still, the airline system had not been updated and does not show the flight as cancelled so they cannot help with re-booking. I cannot speak to a supervisor (does not exist), nor can the hotline staff help in finding out whether my return flight will also be cancelled as they do not have access to the relevant system. The hotline staff always refers back to the two airline staff.
    I end up booking a new ticket with Lufthansa for the 8.45 flight, not to miss my meetings in Munich and try to sort everything out with AB in Munich.
    Here, the same picture. Flights cancelled, long queues in front of the ticket office – at least with 3 people working. So, finally, I cancel the full ticket and book the return with LH.
    AirBerlin, never again.


    CathayLoyalist2
    Participant

    Abject failure. Nothing more to add just do not fly them agaln/ever. Ironically I was looking at AB over the weekend as an option for an inter Germany flight.. I’ll look elsewhere


    TheRealBabushka
    Participant

    Bigger question is, what is oneworld doing associating with a quasi low-cost carrier which is salaciously cavorting with Etihad in a way that makes Qantas (and its liaison with Emirates) look positively prudish?

    Surely there can be another airline with a good network on the Continent? Perhaps lure one of Lufthansa’s concubines into the oneworld fold?


    FDOS_UK
    Participant

    Sebastianluxe – 04/08/2015 16:15 BS

    That sounds appalling.

    Unfortunately, all airline seem to have the innate ability to create utter chaos when dealing with what a reasonable person might think to be ‘business as usual’, so the question arises what will you do when LH mess up?

    I would have a look at whether any compensation is payable under EC261 and hit them in the wallet, if it is. Airlines are transactional by nature, so don’t expect any loyalty, but if people keep hurting them financially, they may improve their response, which is the purpose of EC261.


    jjlasne
    Participant

    Most likely a sign that Air Berlin will stop operating/file bankrupcy soon.

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