Oh Lufthansa. Sometimes I should just listen to my gut and not the ground staff.
My flight home from Frankfurt was booked via Munich because I just prefer the A380 (operating from Munich to Los Angeles) over the A340 (operating the morning service from Frankfurt to Los Angeles). To avoid waking up at 5am and to give me some time to enjoy a meal in the First Class Terminal prior to departure, I booked a 10:15a flight to Frankfurt to Munich, leaving a 50-minute connection in Munich.
When it came time to board, our first class attendant in the Terminal approached John and me and stated that our flight was delayed for 30-minutes. I mentioned our short connection but was told not to worry about it.
So we waited. I enjoyed another cappuccino in the meantime.
The half hour passed and our flight still was not ready for boarding. Finally, at about 10:30a, we were collected for boarding and driven across the tarmac to our flight. Before leaving, I asked once more if we would make our connection and was told YES, that our plane would be held if necessary.
Onboard, the captain announced a further delay, projecting a wheels-up time between 11:00am and 11:20a. He apologized for a late-arriving crew from Berlin.
Finally, around 11:20a, we took off. The captain promised a flight time of 25-30 minutes. It was indeed a quick flight, and we were on the ground by 11:50a. As we taxied to our gate, we passed the A380 that would…or was supposed to…take us to LAX.
A 10-Minute Connection in Munich?
By noon we were off the flight. The scheduled departure time of LH452, from Munich to Los Angeles, was also noon. A ground staff agent holding a sign with our names met us on the jet bridge. We assumed he would be escorting us downstairs and onto a car to drive us over to the LAX flight.
Unfortunately, he said, “I’m sorry but your connecting flight has departed. We tried to hold it for you, but could not.” John was shocked but I was hardly surprised. We asked what was next and he escorted us to the First Class Lounge, where he said an agent was already working on alternate booking options for us.
In the lounge, the agent presented a couple options. First, a British Airways flight leaving almost immediately via London. But it left a one-hour connection in London…no thank you. First Class on British Airways is second-rate compared to Lufthansa and we still would have arrived in LA more than four hours late. Second, an overnight in Munich and the same flight the following day, with a room at the airport Hilton.
After conferring with John, we proposed a third way: back to Frankfurt and then nonstop to Los Angeles the following day. The agent was happy to accommodate us and this allowed us a night at the Hyatt Regency Mainz, one of my favorite hotels in one of my favorite cities.
So after lunch in the lounge, it was back to Frankfurt for us.
Let me commend the ground staff in Munich for the excellent service. The agents were simply tremendous. They were incredibly apologetic for our missed connections (though they threw their Frankfurt colleagues under the bus, claiming they should have never put us on the flight). Furthermore, they made every effort to offer us flexibility in getting back to Los Angeles.
Such a shame we arrived too late to fly Air France first class home…(we asked, and the agent cheerfully checked).
EU-261 Compensation?
The delay was due to a late-arriving crew, therefore it seems to me we are eligible for EU-261 compensation of €600 cash each, along with compensation for our hotel and meals in Frankfurt. We were informed we must reach out to Lufthansa customer service to “request” this.
I’ll update you on how the collection process goes…
CONCLUSION
In the future, I am not going to book such a tight connection…I really did want to get home. But kudos to Lufthansa for such excellent service on the ground in Munich after we missed our flight. And there are worse things than an unexpected night in Mainz…
But I knew we’d miss the connection. I should never have boarded that flight to Munich.
image: Toyotaboy95 / Wikimedia Commons
So whatever happened with your dispute with SwissAir and Aeroplan?
Were these paid tickets, awards, or one of each? I’m just wondering, because if they treated you that well while both of you were on awards, that speaks quite well of Lufthansa.
Both award tickets.
Or you could have just taken the Frankfurt flight to begin with and gotten home earlier to the wife and kid (or other business matters). Priorities.
+1 Or taken the BA cxn if he “really did want to get home.”
With a 1hr connection in London and a carry-on bag full of liquids? No thank you.
And downgrade to British Airways?
I certainly wouldn’t.
Thank you for seeing it my way.
That is absurd. He paid for LH not BA… unless they were refunding the miles (lol) then no way.
Especially because that’s just asking for another missed conx at lhr
@AL: Yes, priorities. Like a blog that puts food on the table and the fact that more people will read an A380 than a A340 review. Turns out you can look forward to a 747-8 review…
Mainz is one of your fav cities? Sure Frankfurt is not particularly pretty but in that area I’ld pick Heidelberg or Marburg over Mainz. In general, most of Germany was bombed to heavily during WWII to preserve much beauty.
Mainz has a great Hyatt, great pizza, and great Spaghetti Eis. It’s just a great place to relax.
“But I knew we’d miss the connection.”
Then…why book it in the first place? Especially if you say you “really did want to get home.”
I knew I would miss the connection ONCE THE DELAY OCCURRED.
Absent a protracted delay, we would have easily made the flight.
Matthew I really wish you would address the SWISS / Aeroplan dispute. You have been avoiding questions about yet you were the one who made a BIG deal about it in the first place.
If you can’t talk about it then just say so because your credibility is in the toilet otherwise.
Perhaps a deal was reached and a NDA is involved?
You can usually still disclose the existence of an NDA. Perhaps not in this one, but it would be atypical.
You can always say. “I can’t talk about that…”
Hi Matthew, did you ask them about the possibility of putting you on the LX ZRH-LAX flight? This seems like a great opportunity to have snagged a cabin that is usually out of reach (like times in the past when LH has gone on strike). Thanks in advance for your reply!
As much as I love SWISS First, I prefer Lufthansa First. This, however was a business class ticket (John was in first class). Had I been able to get home same-day in SWISS First, I would have taken that…but we had missed that too.
See my SWISS First review here:
https://liveandletsfly.boardingarea.com/2018/02/08/swiss-777-300er-first-class-review/
I’ve sometimes made extra connections for special products, but never in the world would I choose to connect in MUC (great airport though it is) for an A380 over a direct flight from FRA in an A340. Sure the A340 is older, but Lufthansa’s interiors are immaculate. The hard product is exactly the same; unlike other carriers Lufthansa has absolutely nothing “special” on its A380, like showers or a bar or lounge. Both aircraft are very quiet.
so how did the compensation go
600EUR/each plus hotel, meal, and taxi expenses.
Two months later attempting to get ECI compensation for a fcancelled flight Where we sat on the runway for three hours and had an exploded tire. July17. I have sent them over 20 emails and every time they have an excuse starting from: we will give you $300 instead of 600, to you or get nothing, to the airline is NOT In EU . Who can I reach out to you to get my compensation? Thank you!