LH to the rescue? Don’t be stupid
Back to Forum- This topic has 22 replies, 15 voices, and was last updated 8 Oct 2010
at 08:35 by flier74.
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lsd1908ParticipantGuess the question about humour is linked to where you from.
Germans tend to react more sensitive to “Fuehrer”.In any case if OzTraveller paid a fullfare Business Class all the way through, I cannot understand why Asiana wants additional $600,00 and why LH should be responsible for it.
Fullfare tickets are fully flexible!As I mentioned earlier, NO AIRLINE on this planet is covering Force Majeure.
Not even LH.8 Oct 2010
at 02:27
OzTravellerParticipantI recall not so long ago seeing a sign above the driver’s seat on a tour bus from Frankfurt that said “Bitte nicht mit der Wagonfuehrer sprechen” …. seems it’s a perfectly acceptable word no matter where you are from, even Germany …
And, if no airline is covering “force majeur”, why did they pay for a 24 hour stay in Munich? By doing so, they accepted they were liable for a missed connection due to the French air traffic controllers.
I was questioning LH service attitudes in Munich .. we here in Asia Pacific know what customer service is, obviously not in the UK where it appears it must be a thing of the past judging by the hasty responses to my post.
8 Oct 2010
at 03:36
LindsayWParticipantOzTraveller, the LH captain on flight MUC/SIN was following standard operating procedures – after all, whilst there may have been a number on your flight that were going to mis-connect to that flight, he has the responsibility to taking the departure slot he was allocated, otherwise LH would have been up for additional delay costs and possibly have more people mis-connect in SIN (thus an even greater cost to LH in SIN, than was spent on you and your fellow travellers in MUC). So, it was to the greater good (unfortunately) that they left on time (of little comfort to you).
Am I right in my thinking that you were on a Asiana Business Class ticket SIN/ICN (separate to your LH ticket). Knowing that there are generally a number of fare buckets in Business (such as J, D, I, C etc), some are in fact some fare buckets (contrary to what some have said here), that are non-flexible or have limited flexibility (such as D, I and C). After all, these are discounted business class fares and righly may not have the full flexibility that some expect with a full fare Business Class ticket.
Yes, it would have been nice to have been shown due courtesy and at least, referred to the *A ticketing counter to deal with the Asiana ticket (which may have been more appropriate than having to ring your Travel Agent back here in Australia, depending on the time).
However, having a separate ticket woul have meant that your onward sectors weren’t protected, as they would have been had they been included under the LH ticket. Therefore, any onward journey beyond the ticket (which sounds like it ended with LH MUC/SIN) was at your risk. Having said that, some tickets may not have allowed putting the whole itinerary within, thus you were always going to have some risk with non-connection.
Trust you got to ICN safely. I believe LH did what was required of them under the initial ticket (accomodation and re-book on next available flght to your destination on the ticket – SIN). As was pointed out by another poster, whilst as the SIN/ICN sector was part of another ticket (contract), I’m not sure that LH would be abe to recover the ticket cost of the SIN/ICN sector from Asiana, if they were to have offered you their MUC/ICN flight.
Wie schade
8 Oct 2010
at 05:06
OzTravellerParticipantLindsayW, I was going to cut myself off from further discussion on this post however I do want to refer to your 1st para. regarding the LH captain following standard operating procedures and departing on time and not waiting for us and other delayed passengers.
And the reason is this: We boarded the flight to SIN in MUC 24 hours later, however approx. 45 minutes prior to ETD a huge thunderstorm passed over the airport and arriving flights had to circle over the airport and once the storm had passed, they landed. This I understand involved around 5 flights. The captain of our flight DELAYED the departure for 1 HOUR to wait for the connecting passengers on those delayed flights! When I mentioned this to the Chief Purser, she said “Oh Sorry for you last night. It was the Captain’s choice to wait or not.” So, I am not sure about departure slots, additional delay costs etc. One captain delayed his flight by 1 hour and another couldn’t even wait 20 minutes.
Guess I just chose the wrong captain.
8 Oct 2010
at 05:48
LindsayWParticipantGenau! Whilst there are SOP’s, I’m sure the captains have some leeway and perhaps in discussion with grounds ops, as you said, the captain chose to leave. Perhaps the percentage of affected people was higher on your subsequent flight and thus it was better for them to wait (or any other perfectly good reason?), Then again, we’re passengers with our one-eyed perspective on things 😉
As we say on another FF website, YMMV (your mileage may vary – but is also interposed with non-mileage meanings).
8 Oct 2010
at 05:54
PsyDtoBeParticipantHey Oz Traveller, I wonder why you chose to travel with LH while SIngapore is your stopover. Munich-Singapore-Seoul is also served by SQ a Star member which uses 773ER (better Biz CLass than LH and Asiana). I had similar situation with you a couple years back.
Was booked in Business class from Jakarta to Frankfurt via SIN, but my Visa to Germany is not approved cos My passport stated that I lived in Singapore, yet my SIngapore Student Visa is about to Expire. so the German Embassy in SG asked me to apply my visa in Jakarta and The German Embassy in Jakarta asked me to apply in SG, which cost me a lot of delay and numerous changed of ticket.
Here what impressed me about SQ:
1. I need not to pay for every change i made.
2. when i finally give up on visiting germany and instead go to The UK straight away for my further studies, they offer me rerouting with no additional charge, while it is clearly stated in my ticket no rerouting allow.Up to today, SQ is still the only airline that i know who let you change your ticket with no additional charge in all type of J and F business class fare (even a promotional one) and economy flex. Some goes with a friend who flew from LHR-DPS in heavily discounted Y, who had an emergency in his house, called SQ, rebook, and fly, no hassle.
8 Oct 2010
at 05:57
SenatorParticipantDear all,
I will not comment on the spirit of this discussion, but offer some suggestion to avoid problems like our fellow traveller from Oz experienced.
Whilst online buying today is our preferred way of buying tickets, I tend to use a travel agent when I am booking complex routing involving multiple airlines and multiple tickets. In my experience, a single PNR with multiple tickets is much easier to deal with than multiple PNRs. This typically allows for seamless check in process with bags being transferred between airlines at no hassle, and the occasional boarding pass all the way through. Also, it helps when issues arise from delays and so forth. Whilst I can sympathise with our Oz Traveller in this matter, strictly speaking the Condition of Carriage from Lufthansa is to get the traveller to SIN. A single PNR will not solve all of this, only a single ticket will. However, I find airlines much more cooperative when it is all on the same PNR. In addition, if it is all on the same PNR the carrier can take preventative measures if they know you will be delayed to re-route you from the originating airport to your final destination.
So spending an extra €40 on the phone on a €3000 PNR is worth the money in my view.
8 Oct 2010
at 08:20
flier74ParticipantI think that is the sentiment form almost all of us with regards to the single booking. I myself have found myself in deep waters once as I had two seperate bookings (PNRs). Generally speaking one will have a lot less problems in delay situations if it is all booked on one booking itinerary. I do think lh has done well in offering hotel accomodation and so they should, strike or not but you have to see the bigger picture of it, of course they offered free accomodation as OzTraveller is clearly a valued (Business) Passenger. Whether the Captain should have waited oir not, well this all depends if it was only OzTraveller and his party they were waiting for then the Captain will hardly inconvenience 200 odd other pax, however when there are large numbers involved, which seems the case the next day as OzTraveller mentioned waiting for several flights then they probably will as they would struggle to reroute a large number of Passengers. I am sure LH will get back to him with a reasonable explanation but whether they have to re imburse him for the change fee of the Asiana Segment I do not know.
8 Oct 2010
at 08:35 -
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