LH lowering standards of service?
 

Has anyone else noticed how LH have started cutting back on the standards of their Business Class cabin service on European services? I normally fly BHX/FRA; since the beginning of April the standard has noticeably declined. No refreshment towels on boarding, no aperitif offered, a small cold snack instead of a meal - but a bigger bread roll intended, I suppose, to compensate? Even the refreshment towels (which now seem to come with the meal) are 20% smaller than they used to be...

What is going on? Last year things were so much better, these cut backs are very obvious. I hope other travellers took the opportunity to state their opinions in the in-flight survey as strongly as I did!

Perhaps it's time to look at what other airlines offer.....??

And when will someone at LH learn to make decent coffee??

Coffee? They serve Coffee!

I took Finnair from Helsinki to Stockholm this week and the did not do hot drinks! (In Economy.)

I know it's a very short hop, but personally I would rather of had Coffee and a couple of decent biscuits than the snack and coke.

Memetic.

I think it's a question of airlines bringing their onboard service in line with lower business class fares in Europe. Equally, airlines are allegedly told by their top customers (gold card holders or the equivalent basically) that food, hot towels etc on a 45 min flight are not the essence to a good journey, but more seat preference, punctuality and overall efficiency.
I think, therefore, if you do want to blame someone, it is probably your fellow business travellers who want to get to that meeting in Frankfurt on time rather than attempt a 3 course meal in the confines of an A320!

As long as they still give you a Warsteiner when you ask I'm not bothered.

Er, what lower Business Class fares? You are joking of course?

The point is that LH used to provide all the things which I mentioned and have now stopped bothering. Having a meal served 13 minutes after take-off which takes a mere 8 minutes to consume is hardly a comprehensive Business Class service!

The bottom line is money , ticket costs stay the the same but service content is reduced . BA does the same . The Business Class meal (Club) is now more or less what was served in Economy a few years ago - ie a cold salad meal . Economy now gets a sandwich . Fares at the same level - Business Class in Europe is not worth the money in my opinion .

I completely agree, zed3, if restricted economy fares are reduced to compete with LoCOs it's reasonable to reduce the frills as well, but if I'm paying £500 for a 1 hour hop, I expect to get a bit more for my money than a cold salad.

That said, there may be little difference in cost between a fully flexible economy ticket and club. I've personally observed a £2 difference on a £400+ fare - my colleague 'down the back' was not amused!

I flew LH from MXP to FRA and back a week ago ....
Noticed (sadly) the standars was a bit low for a major carrier. Minimum number of cabin crew, poor service (only water with your sandwich! and no choice of feeling, so to bad if u r a veggy!) and the poor girls were running like mad around the cabin :rolleyes:

I flew with LH LHR-HAM-LHR yesterday in Y and the standards have indeed slipped! It was a 737-300 in a very shabby state. I used to fly this route regularly when they used A321s which were always full! Service was pretty poor - I accept they are now competeting with the lo-cos but my company paid around £500 for the day (well afternoon due to the poor schedule) return! Both flights were full but on the way out they had 4 cabin crew, meaning the service was I suppose at least acceptable. On the return there were only 3, apparently meaning they were not allowed to serve tea or coffee with the horrid sandwich served. Is this true? I know 3 is the legal minumum for a 737 with 123 seats but can they not serve hot drinks?

I think when an airline use minimum crew on a flight, the cabin crew are there for CAA safety regs. only (door coverage etc) and therefore do not have to complete a full service (if any!). Pax are probably unaware of this and it's actually very cheeky of LH to reduce service costs in such a sly way.
BA wanted to reduce crewing on certain shorthaul routes to the extent that an A319 would have 3 crew only and a B757 only 4, even if full. This so far has not gone ahead as the unions feel the pax's safety and service standards would be compromised for the sake of Rod's BEP!
A lot of the time, the crews don't do certain things because management tell them not to! I always remember a crew circular at BA a few years ago, when I worked there, that basically told crew not to 'show' champagne on the trollet top as pax were more likely to have it!!! Passenger first???

You're correct - there is always the temptation to reduce costs by under-crewing, and it is rarely to the benefit of the customer, sadly.

There have been very few occasions when I've been unable to do hot drinks on any sector: When it has happened, it has been because of a technical fault, either with the potable water system or the galley electrics. In either case, an explanation to customers usually sorts things out.

In my experience, when short crewed, it is usually quicker to serve hot drinks than to have to explain 130 times why you can't - but I wasn't on board this particular sector, so can't know all the facts

LH are also taking weeks to respond to complaints made to them. I can only assume that so many people are complaining that their customer service department are snowed under...

So don't give us such cause to complain then!

I also note that they're cutting back on the scale of 'Miles and More' points awarded for travel on low cost economy flights and also within Germany. That should make them a few more friends...

The same goes today with many carriers no longer openly publicising the availability of complimentary alcoholic drinks even though they are still provided.

LH now tell me, following comment, "We have therefore reviewed our product once more and are looking to make some more adjustments which we trust will be more acceptable to our customers"

Interesting. I didn't notice any 'adjustments' last week; perhaps I will on Sunday. If not, I shall be asking them to describe their nature.

Meanwhile,

1. Take own refreshment towel from previous flight. Use it ostentatiously when the cabin crew don't offer one.

2. Take own packet of nuts. When cold meal comes, put it to one side for later. Same with the bread.

3. When asked what sir would like to drink, ask for a gin-and-tonic. Then enjoy aperitif at a civilised pace.

4. Press call button to ask for wine with meal.

5. Eat meal slowly. Cabin staff will probably be on the coffee run by then. When asked, politely reply "Later please".

6. Press call button for coffee.

This means, basically, recreating for oneself the level of service which was normally provided last year by LH. Be polite, not awkward. If it means pressing the call button a couple of times, well - that's LH's fault for cutting back on their 'Business Class product' as they call it. But it doesn't lead to a relaxed flight atmosphere.

Oooh , if only I dared ..... but then , I'm paying , right .....RIGHT.
Well said sir .

It's all very well saying 'later'....but on a European flight, the 'later' equates to the crew saying, "sorry, Sir, we'll be landing soon....no more drinks!"

Take it or leave it.

Write loads of letters to complain. But please don´t call cabin crew for coffee 10 minutes before landing... ;)

No of course I wouldn't ask for coffee at such a time! 15 minutes before top-of-drop is hardly unreasonable though.

It was a BA pursar who tipped me off about the 'early coffee' trick. He regularly has to stop his team trying to do it and tells them to wait until the passengers are on their dessert course. Early coffee = finished early = cleared away early = more time for his 'girls' (as he calls them) to relax (he's long haul) - I hope he was just joking...... But more seriously, if the airline can get away with less cabin service then they'll be able to reduce crewing levels to the minimum required under JAR-OPS - that'll please the bean counters until the passengers vote with their feet.

Write letters? Certainly! And fill out the in-flight surveys giving high marks for the cabin crews' standard and low marks for the airline's service. They used to be able to provide such levels of service on a 1:20 flight - and that included a 3 course hot meal, not just the current 2 course cold snack!

Although I'm fortunate enough normally to travel Biz Class, I spent a few M&M miles to nip home in the middle of a business trip to Germany and travelled in Economy Class.

Well, if I thought that standards had dropped in Biz, then the new 'service' in Economy was far worse. The old "Kaese oder Schinken" Lufthansabroetchen has gone, to be replaced by an utterly appalling offering of a little carton of squash, a small bread roll containing 2 pieces of plastic cheese and a limp lettuce leaf - plus a very small Toblerone bar. I nibbled the Toblerone with some coffee (you have to ask for non-powdered coffee whitener these days, it seems...) and threw the rest of their junk away.

LH really are taking the pi$$ with their abysmal standards of catering on European shorthaul - are they deliberately trying to drive Economy passengers to the low cost airlines?