Lufthansa Bites

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July 20, 2009

Shame on you, Lufthansa. You should be appalled are your company’s surprising lack of customer service. A family vacation that started so wonderfully ended so poorly and your airline is only to blame.

Nearly a year ago I made a reservation for my family (my husband, son and I) to fly round-trip between Florence, Italy (FLR) and Washington DC (IAD). Our out-bound flights were no problem. The same cannot be said for the return trip. When I made the reservation, we were scheduled to fly on flight 4079, departing FLR on 7/19 at 6:50 am, with an arrival into Munich at 8:25 am. Our flight to IAD (#414) was scheduled to depart at 9:50 am, with more than enough time to get ourselves and our luggage on the flight.

At some point, Lufthansa changed the itinerary. We were placed on flight 4073, departing at 1:00 with an arrival into Munich at 2:35. Our departure to IAD on flight 414 was now scheduled for 3:15.

Lufthansa made the first mistake by changing our flight to a later one that left us and our luggage limited time to get between flights. The second mistake was made when Lufthansa put us on a flight that departed at the beginning of Italy’s siesta time - 1:00.

On July 19, we checked in two hours early at the Florence, Italy airport for a return trip home. We were first in line, so our luggage clearly had time to make it on the flight. We checked two pieces of luggage, the same number when arrived in Florence two weeks earlier. The check-in attendant was adamant that we check in our carry-on bag because of the weight. Nothing new was in the bag that wasn’t there when we arrived in the city, but she left us with no choice but to comply with her request. So, now we had three checked bags.

The third mistake occurred when the Lufthansa attendant would not let us carry-on luggage that was clearly allowed to be carried on two weeks prior.

We arrived in Munich with 35 minutes to get to our flight back to Washington Dulles. After running through the airport, the plane was delayed due to the arrival of passengers on another flight. We thought this was actually good because it gave us more of a chance to get to our luggage on the plane.

When we arrived at IAD we were told two of the three bags would not arrive until the evening of July 20, 2009 (through Frankfurt!) - that was Lufthansa’s fourth mistake. The fifth Lufthansa mistake was the fact that the third bag never arrived either.

Let’s note here…if the luggage was coming on the Frankfurt flight it’s clear the luggage never made it on the initial flight out of FLR; the same flight we check in for two hours before departure.

We spoke with the attendant at the Lufthansa lost luggage department, who was unhelpful. We still do not know when our bags will actually arrive, where they are and why they were all separated. I asked the attendant for a phone number to the Lufthansa customer service department and she replied, “There isn’t one. You can have to go to the website, send in a request and they’ll get back to you in two or three days.” Two or three DAYS! Clearly, Lufthansa mistakes six and seven.

What kind of airline (or any business, for that matter) has a customer service department that will get back to you in “days”?

I want my luggage and I want it now. I want to be compensated for my time, frustration and aggravation for having to deal with a changed flight, lost luggage, severely lack luster customer service polices, and the cost of replacing items that I now do not have it. Moreover, I want to speak with a customer service representative that can actually help this situation to a successful conclusion.

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Comments

[RobynPorter]

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I've heard from more travelers with the same poor service from Lufthansa. The airline is definitely serving up some bad PR. By the way, as of today, August 10, with the exception of some auto email that said my message was received, I have never heard one word from Lufthansa. Not even an apology. My luggage did eventually turn up, but some items were missing. My camera WAS there...thank goodness.