Should I complain to Lufthansa about this?

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  • Anonymous
    Guest

    SwissExPat
    Participant

    I write this slightly sheepishly when I consider the Korean “Nut-gate” saga but I thought I would ask.

    Last week I flew in J to FRA from ZRH with LH to connect onwards longhaul.

    The flight was fine but when I asked for coffee, it was given to me in a paper cup. The hostess was gone before I realised. She made no comment (any apologies/excuses might have been more acceptable at this stage)

    A few minutes later she returned to collect the empties etc and asked me if I wanted a refresh of the unconsumed coffee. At this stage, I told her that I regarded this as unacceptable in J to serve coffee J from a paper cup (especially on LH).

    Without any degree of apology, she told me that the outbound to ZRH had been very “busy” and only paper cups were left. I still informed her that I felt this was unacceptable (at these prices)

    I realise that sometimes things can go wrong but this seemed to be simply a lack of planning. LH would have know the # of PAX booked for both sectors (the curtain was 12 rows back so lots of J PAX booked and I was in row 3)

    Complain or just put up with (and simply book Y in future?)


    AviationGeek
    Participant

    I’d say while the crew should’ve apologised and / or explained the reason for using the paper cup things like this cannot always be avoided.
    It happens – return catered flights (as most flights within Europe are these days – it cuts cost by removing the need for catering services at outstations) are loaded to set numbers for standard equipment such as cups, drinks etc and only the actual meals are loaded per booked customer loads. So the crew may well have used up all the china cups on their way out with none left for the inbound flight and no way of uplifting more in ZRH. They could’ve held back some for your flight but that would’ve been guess wotk how many they might need for your flight and meant they’d have to use paper cups for some customers on the way out.
    The Onboard Logistics of loading the necessary catering equipment on any flight is a complex to and fro’ between want & need and the budget available.


    MrMichael
    Participant

    Couldn’t they have just washed a couple up?


    trident3
    Participant

    Get. a. life.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    I wouldn’t put it quite like trident3, however if a paper cup was the only real issue I doubt I would be bothered.


    seasonedtraveller
    Participant

    Trident3 r.u.d.e.

    Swiss ex……not worth complaining about…why get yourself stressed over a paper cup 🙂


    trident3
    Participant

    Consider myself admonished. . .


    KSHaggag
    Participant

    Hello Swiss ExPat ,

    I fully understand your point of view .
    Let me share with you an incident that happened to me on LH ( I still consider LH a decent ,quality oriented airline ) last year on a flight from FRA to BKK in First Class !
    Before boarding ,I was waiting for my flight in the First Class terminal and I was among the last pax to board since my flight was leaving towards 11 pm ;everybody on other flights had boarded already .I counted my fellow flyers and we were just 4 of us ( I had checked this the day before travelling online and realized the number of preassigned seats was 4 ) .
    Upon boarding ,I was not even greeted by the crew ..they were too busy i don t know why !..anyway ..let go ..
    I counted my fellow flyers again ;we were four in the F cabin on the upper deck .
    A few minutes later ,a young couple arrived and were seated in the row in front of me ..they were not dressed like F cl pax ..
    Then ,two other pax arrived and took the front row seats .Now the cabin was full !
    The crew were too rushy and did not give you the feeling u are a F cl pax or even greeted you !.
    After take off started the horror : upon serving dinner ,by the time the trolley reached me it was practically empty and looked shabby and poor !..there was almost nothing to serve !..in First Class ,on a 12 hour long flight !
    The purser asked me about my choice for breakfast for the next morning and I expressed my wish .Upon breakfast service ,my choice was gone ,let alone anything else to eat !!!!!!!!!!!!!..I settled for a cup of tasteless coffee before running to my hotel s executive lounge to have a bite !
    Swiss Expat ,maybe you will feel a bit better after reading my story …


    rferguson
    Participant

    I guess whether you should complain enough depends on what you want to achieve out of it.

    I agree, if I was the crew member when serving the coffee I would have mentioned the coffee cup situation.

    Is it worth complaining about? Are you likely to get anything other than a generic ‘we value your feedback….blah blah’ reply?

    Interesting to note though the ‘standard’ on BA on longhaul flights was to serve tea and coffee in paper cups in between services.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    @KSHaggag

    What should a F passenger dress like then?

    Not a good tale I must say, especially in first class, but I sense that airlines across the board are trimming costs and this is the inevitable outcome.

    I would certainly say that situation is more worthy of complaint.


    KSHaggag
    Participant

    Simon S1,

    I just meant they were back packers ,not the type of passengers who would pay a First Class ticket from Europe to BKK .

    I realized that the airline had to upgrade an overflow of pax into First Class ( though upgrade to F is strictly forbidden !!) and there was not enough food for the originally booked ,First Class paying pax !

    My complaint was dealt with with the least of concern and utmost relaxation ,just to mention .


    Charles-P
    Participant

    It’s always a risk to judge people by their clothes.

    Many years ago I was in Jack Barclays, a Rolls Royce dealer in London and saw a man dressed as though for the beach treated as if he was Bill Gates. I mentioned this to the salesman I was talking to and he said,
    “You would be surprised how many very wealthy people are dressed in such a way”


    rferguson
    Participant

    Or friends/family of the crew?


    KSHaggag
    Participant

    Gentlemen,

    This is not at all the aim or the purpose to raise the point of how ppl are dressed to fly ..never .I just meant those passengers were not First Class paying ones but rather upgraded from other cabins due to overbooking .The consequence was that the F cl originally booked pax did NOT get the service they had paid for and the airline treated the matter very poorly indeed .It affected my loyalty to LH big time ever since and my faith in the airline has not been regained yet .
    How can you LH allow a First Class cabin to be filled by upgraded pax while you have not loaded enough food for those originally booked even ??!!!..it was a game of musical chairs ..A DISGRACE .

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