Lufthansa Service / Venting My Spleen
So here I am in Terminal 2 at LHR and here is my problem.
(It's not everyday I get to write from the other side)
After being told that there was no spaces on the mid-morning flight to Hannover, I was forced to book the early bird at 0705. (LH6611). Having got up at 0330 I was never-the-less in high spirits as I waited in the Departure Lounge. Suddenly - without any announcements - the flight was delayed. This was followed 30mins later by it being cancelled altogether (again no announcements were made until afterwards).
After a 20min trawl through baggage reclaim, us disgruntled pax made our way back to the 30min queue at the Lufthansa desk to be told that the only alternative was a flight to Frankfurt at 0910, followed by a 3hr coach trip to Hannover.
Follwing a further 30min wait to check in again, I was then told that I had missed checkin for the 0910 flight and would now have to wait for the 1125 flight to Frankf. followed by a 3hr coach journey. All in all, I will arrive in Hannover 5hrs late and will still have a further 2hrs to drive after I get there. Deep Joy.
My complaint is not so much with the staff, who tried to help and genuinely looked as peeved as the rest of us, but rather Lufthansa's Crisis management. I am now waiting to board and have the following questions which I would be most grateful if anybody could answer:
Why did the ac go tech this morning?
Why was there only three members of staff physically at the desk of Lufthansa's ticket collection point (one of whom was a trainee) when there were 6 booths plus the first class booth. This led to quite a queue as they had to deal with both the cancelled pax and those on regular flights.
Why did they then only provide two check in desks at which the staff seemed to flap about a lot for not much action.
Finally, as Lufthansa is part of this Star Alliance Thingie, why was it unable to acquire either a spare aircraft or more direct or punctual flights from their partners?
Right, vent over. All wil be forgiven when I've calmed down
I'm now off to spend my £3.50 compensatory refreshement's voucher on a £3.80 cup of coffee!
Cheers!
SVK