A pilgrimage across southern England

[Mendip]

^ I'm a bit tired today.

[malmomike77]

^ have a rest, you deserve it, put your feet up and get mini to wait on you with G&Ts. I made me son run around all day yesterday

[hallelujah]

Btw, just to add that the north does quaint and beautiful too!

And to emphasise my point...

Aint no beautifuler than Blacky, right?

[Mendip]

Btw, just to add that the north does quaint and beautiful too!

And to emphasise my point...

Aint no beautifuler than Blacky, right?

The leaning tower of Blackpool?

Do you have such a thing as a spirit level up north? There doesn't seem to be a single lamppost or telegraph pole that's vertical. But quaint it is.

I'll be taking the daughter to Weston-Super-Mare's Grand Pier for the tacky seaside experience. I must admit I'm quite looking forward to that and a young daughter is a great excuse as I'd feel a bit weird playing the 2p games on my own.

[Mendip]

Anyway, I've been busy today... this was the letter I sent to Lufthansa. I toned it down from the original since after all, I do want to be reimbursed and what's the point in being humorous or overly sarcastic here?

I'm only copying it here because I'm pissed off. I sent it earlier today... obviously no reply as yet... as would be expected.

You send an email to their sales department and they bite your hand off.


26.06.22

Delayed Flight LH2455 OSL – MUC, 20^th June 2022

Dear Sir/Madam,

I would like to complain in the strongest possible terms regarding my treatment by Lufthansa during my recent tortuous journey between Haugesund in Norway and Bangkok, Thailand.

This was my booking:

Booking ref. xxxxxxxxxxxx

You will doubtlessly be aware of the delay with Flight 2455 at Oslo. I think I had seven consecutive emails in my Inbox advising me of each new delay, usually increasing the delay by around 20 minutes or so each time. It was noticeable that there were no Lufthansa personnel at the gate throughout this series of announced delays to explain anything or offer any advice. We were later told that the delay was due to a medical emergency and diversion of the incoming flight to Copenhagen. I am sure that no-one would criticise Lufthansa for doing so, if true. However, I am equally as sure that everyone unlucky enough to be booked on Flight LH2455 to Munich has nothing but blame and criticism for Lufthansa for the debacle that followed.

A cynical person would wonder how on earth such a diversion to Copenhagen could first add just 20 minutes to the flight departure time, and then a further 10 minutes or 30 minutes? Maybe 40 minutes after the last delay announcement quoting a new departure time of 21:25 (email received at 19:51), a Lufthansa employee did indeed turn up at Gate D07. It was almost as if he knew that all the preceding delay announcements weren’t actually genuine and offered just to give placate the waiting passengers and give them false hope to keep quiet. Incidentally, during this time I was offered the princely 75NOK food voucher, which as you know wouldn’t even cover a bottle of water and sandwich ad Oslo Airport. This is a moot point anyway since the only bar/restaurant in the vicinity of Gate D07 where the voucher could be redeemed was of course shut. So that saved Lufthansa 75NOK, but I guess the offer ticked another box in the airline good ethics code.

Anyway, the lone Lufthansa employee who finally arrived at Gate D07 soon realised that he couldn’t deal with a plane load of passengers with missed connections, so must have called for help and was soon joined by a second Lufthansa employee… so two people to deal with maybe 30 or 40 queries in the 30 minutes or so until the flight was due to depart? Lufthansa were obviously pulling out all the stops here.

It soon became apparent that these two Lufthansa employees had no interest in helping in any way, and just said that new flight re-bookings would be announced en-route on Flight LH2455 and that there would be a team of people on the ground at Munich to deal with any problems. This was the first bare faced and blatant lie I was told. I actually asked the guy if he could guarantee there would be someone to help at Munich, and he looked at me with a condensing smile as though I was a complete idiot, and said, “of course there will be”. A blatant lie, twice told.

During the flight there was indeed an extended announcement listing all flight re-bookings for the poor customers unlucky enough to have been booked on Flight LH2455 from OSL to MUC. Amongst the list was a message for Bangkok-bound customers, of which I was one. We were told that the unlucky ones were re-booked on the following night’s (21^st June) Lufthansa Flight LH0772 from MUC to BKK and that due to a full flight, the lucky ones were re-booked on the Thai Airways TG925 at 14:25 on the next day, 21^st June. This was the second blatant lie I was told by Lufthansa.

On arrival at Munich around midnight there was not a single Lufthansa employee to help. I arrived at the Service Desk that the onboard announcement had given detailed directions on how to find, to discover it was closed. Well, ‘closing’ to be exact. Several of my fellow passengers at the very front of the queue had made it there in time to talk to the few remaining staff while the great majority of passengers were denied access. The Lufthansa staff wouldn’t even tell us the way out of the airport (as the closest exit was closed) and I had more help from an airport cleaner than the entire Lufthansa ‘ground staff’ put together. Oh, but there was a trolley laden with cartons of water and chocolate bars left out for us! Thanks Lufthansa, that was really great! Basically one lady just told us that the Service Centre was closing and we were on our own… no help or advice offered whatsoever.

By this time I had been joined by a Thai lady and a Norwegian man. The Norwegian man had received an email from Lufthansa telling him he was rebooked on the following night’s 22:45 Lufthansa flight LH0772 to Bangkok, but neither I nor the Thai lady had received any such notification. Yes, you couldn’t even be bothered to tell us what flight we were re-booked on, this after umpteen emails detailing each and every delay for flight LH 2455 while we were stuck at Oslo for hours. Oh, but I forgot to thank you for the email you sent at 20:34 while I was still stuck in Oslo with no hope of making my connection at Munich… yes, you advised me of a gate change for flight LH0772, Munich to Bangkok, the same flight I had no hope of catching. Thanks for that… was it just to rub salt into the wounds?

Anyway, I decided to find at hotel to stay in (this was now around midnight) along with my two new fellow stranded passenger friends. I guess it was just lucky that I have the means to pay for unexpected taxis/hotel rooms etc. Maybe you should forewarn future passengers to have extra money available and to pre-arrange hotels and taxis at every connection point on Lufthansa journeys and make it very clear that if connecting flights are missed, they are on their own?
As Lufthansa were no doubt aware, there was a very large exhibition on at Munich last Monday and almost all hotels in the vicinity of the airport were full. How wonderful it would have been if a company with local knowledge, possibly even a relationship with local hotels and with some kind of duty of care for it’s customers was available to help out… but no, we were on our own.

Eventually I found a reasonably priced hotel (The Courtyard by Marriott – Munich Garching) that appeared to have vacancies, however Booking.com was no longer taking bookings so it was a gamble to just arrive… but it was either that or just wait at the airport for the night. It was no around midnight. I paid for the taxi to (and back again the next day) and we were lucky and there were vacancies. We checked in around 01:30am, very tired, hungry and extremely cross. After spending an hour or so sending emails to re-arrange my now missed appointments in Bangkok I eventually turned the hotel room lights out at 3am.`
Of course, seeing as I had no idea what flight I was booked on the next day I had no idea of when to head back to the airport. Should I go back to the airport in the morning in case I was indeed lucky enough to be booked on the Thai Airways 14:25 flight? Or should I go back late afternoon in case I was unfortunate enough to be re-booked on the Lufthansa night flight? I guessed that the complete lack of communication from Lufthansa indicated that I was now with Thai Airways? Or was it just that Lufthansa can’t even send emails out of normal working hours? I didn’t really want to return in the morning and then risk waiting the entire day until 22:45 for the Lufthansa flight, but what choice did I have? And I also knew that I wouldn’t even be offered a 75NOK sandwich voucher from Lufthansa a second time, now that they had seemingly cut communication. By the way, what is your slogan? “Say Yes To The World”…

I returned to the airport the next day around 10am after paying for a breakfast and giving away my duty free (yes, thanks for that Lufthansa… it would no longer clear security… or would the security guards at MUC also “Say Yes To The World” in the famous Lufthansa manner? I doubt it. I travelled back to the airport with the Thai lady after paying for another taxi. The Thai lady was at a complete loss due to not being familiar with travel and poor English. Amazingly enough she hadn’t realised that Lufthansa would just dump her in Munich and wash their hands of her… she actually assumed a duty of care existed… what a foolish lady.

We found the Service Centre landside and it was actually open, and with staff. We approached an available counter very cautiously, all the time expecting Lufthansa to suddenly close it and turn us away (maybe with another bar of chocolate to sustain us for another six hours), but amazingly enough it remained open until we arrived at the counter. The Holy Grail… we had actually found a Lufthansa employee to talk to. This was lucky as there were no cleaners around in sight to help us again if we were dumped a second time by Lufthansa. We spoke to the Lufthansa employee and get this… you will probably not believe this… we actually weren’t booked on any further flights. Yes, Lufthansa had completely and blatantly lied to us again and hadn’t even bothered to re-book us on new flights to Bangkok. Thank you, Lufthansa, you really have taken customer care to a new level (yes, that was sarcasm).

The Lufthansa man did eventually book myself and the Thai lady onto Emirates flights to Bangkok via Dubai (EK050 & EK0384). The first flight to Dubai was scheduled to depart at 15:40 so we were saved the torture of an entire day at the airport waiting for Lufthansa’s 22:45 flight. Yes, we only had around another four hours to kill, but to be honest we were getting quite used to waiting at airports by this point of the journey.

You won’t be surprised to learn that once we were booked on Emirates the remainder of our tortuous journey went without problem and we arrived at Bangkok around 22 hours after we had first anticipated with Lufthansa, by which time we had both been travelling for almost 48 hours. (Well, of course there was one further problem for me when my Duty Free was confiscated at Munich security as we went airside. Despite being in the regulation sealed and un-opened bag, as you are doubtless aware, if you have left an airport any liquids will no longer clear security).

I have been a regular air passenger for 31 years since I started working internationally and have to say that in all that time I have never been treated with such contempt by an airline. I accept that delays happen resulting in missed flights but I have always experienced airlines trying to put that right and help out. In all the time I’ve lived in Asia I have twice missed onward connections resulting in overnight stays. One time was with KLM resulting in a night in an Amsterdam hotel. The strange thing was, that once I’d missed the connection, KLM actually kept their Service Centres open to deal with customers who had problems (what an amazing concept) and they booked me a hotel (with late check-out because my re-booked flight was also a night flight) with all meals covered, and they even arranged transport from and to the airport. The second occasion was at Addis Ababa when my Bangkok bound flight developed a problem on the runway and the flight was cancelled. Despite visa issues, Ethiopian Airways also arranged accommodation, food and transport until the next day. A so called ‘Third World’ airline who left Lufthansa standing. What amazing customer care from KLM and Ethiopian… (sarcasm again), no, it was of course just the bare minimum a fee paying passenger should expect from a professional company showing some respect, duty of care, and dare I say it, gratitude, for it’s customers.

Needless to say I will never be flying Lufthansa again and have instructed my company to never again book me on Lufthansa flights. I doubt that this will bother such an appalling airline with such total disregard for their customers, but my hope is that at some point in the future there will be an empty long haul seat on a Lufthansa flight while I am sitting elsewhere, on a plane operated by a decent airline. I hope that I can persuade my company to re-think using Lufthansa altogether… and they are a big company, constantly sending employees internationally to crew vessels. Again, I doubt you will care but it is all I can do.

Oh, and I have now been back in Thailand for four days… I must have missed your apology email and the obligatory ‘How did we do?’ email…

Lufthansa… “Say Yes To The World!”

I have of course incurred considerable costs during my Lufthansa experience. Before closing the Service Desk at Munich and washing their hands of plane load of stranded passengers from Oslo, a Lufthansa employee did in fact say to back-charge all costs to Lufthansa, no problem. After being so blatantly lied to by Lufthansa on at least two occasions I of course take that offer with a pinch of salt, but have attached receipts totalling 480.60 EUR for my costs incurred.

Namely:
· One night in the Marriott Courtyard – Munich Garching: 174.00 EUR
· Taxis (x 2) to and from Marriott Hotel-Munich Airport: 91.80 EUR
· Meal at Munich Airport: 17.80 EUR
· Confiscated Duty Free (1332 NOK): 128 EUR
· Re-booked additional night at Hotel Mermaid, Bangkok (2590.12THB): 69.00 EUR

The expenses are namely, taxis to and from the Marriot Courtyard – Munich Garching Hotel, a night with breakfast at the hotel, my confiscated Duty Free, a modest meal at Munich Airport while waiting four hours for my 15:40 Emirates flight to Dubai, a re-booked hotel night in Bangkok (I had to re-schedule business in Bangkok and re-book the lost night at the end of the Bangkok stay). I am sure this is the bare minimum Lufthansa will be willing to re-imburse and there must surely be a case for compensation for such appalling treatment and customer ‘care’.

Regards

Mendip

[Joe 90]

Do you think anyone will actually read all that?

The complaints departments at these big airlines don't exist.

[Mendip]

Probably not, but it made me feel better.

You have to do something.

Of course there's no email address or anything, just a restrictive automated system to log your complaint, but this is a start. Mike sent me a link to write a review, but I have to do a lot of editing. These things take a lot of effort and I guess the airlines rely on apathy to take over before you finally give up.

[HuangLao]

Probably not, but it made me feel better.

Better for one's soul to live one's protest - broadly speaking.
Don't play the game.


Most don't, as it compromises their already conditioned and comfortable nature.
Going along only confirms the contradictions of it all.

[DrWilly]

Good luck

[Edmond]

#whinging.poms

[Edmond]

45 yoyos for a taxi to the hotel!

Bet you get one from Bkk to Khorat for that. With a penicillin stop included!

[Reg Dingle]

Do you think anyone will actually read all that?

I reckon someone at Luftansa will copy and paste some of that email into Google to see where he's been leaving bad press, then arrive on here and see where his 'confiscated' duty free really ended up, then forward photos of cutlery and his splayed toes to Emirates security staff

[hallelujah]

I reckon someone at Luftansa will copy and paste some of that email into Google to see where he's been leaving bad press, then arrive on here and see where his 'confiscated' duty free really ended up, then forward photos of cutlery and his splayed toes to Emirates security staff

All well and good, but have you decided who's spooning who yet?

[Looper]

and giving away my duty free

That was generous Mendip. I did not think of that.

I drank a 1/4 of a bottle of Cuarenta-y-tres at Heathrow airport, standing at security in 2008 when they would not let me take it on board a connection, after buying it in Barcelona due to liquids security bollix.

Could not bear to just put it in the plastic bucket.

9/11 touched everyone's lives in different ways.

copy and paste some of that email into Google to see where he's been leaving bad press

[Reg Dingle]

^ ^Not yet, buddy.

We are currently on the lookout for a cone boy or something. I forget the nautical term he used.

Did you apply?

[Joe 90]

We are currently on the lookout for a cone boy or something. I forget the nautical term he used.

Withnail in Stoke is your cone boy!

[baldrick]

You need to start a YT channel with live posts from the garden

with the wicking reg grundies , an only fans channel might be more suitable

[Mendip]

^ ^Not yet, buddy.

We are currently on the lookout for a cone boy or something. I forget the nautical term he used.

Peg boy. It's not a popular job, to be honest.

[Mendip]

Well, that's not much good for taking them out of Thailand.

It is.

I can.

It's a travel consent for minors letter that your local amphur would set up. They will stamp it with the details of all. Likely that all 3 parties will need to be there in person, and will likely need to be the amphur office in the district the kid is registered in. The mother will need to sign the birth cert etc copies.

It's pretty much a global thing, not a Thai only thing, due to child trafficking and parental kidnapping.

We leave for our oddysey in two weeks today so it was time to get serious.

Thanks to Edmond I now know that I'll need a special form with the wife's permission to take the daughter out of the country without her mum. Today we went to sort it out at the Korat Amphur offices in the city, if that's the correct terminology. Btw Ed, did I ever send you that green for this advice? If not I still owe you one.

This is the building...



And this is the office... (it's the same place I go to get the Kor Ror 2 re-affirmed for visa extensions).



I settled down outside while the wife went in to sort things out. I was going to offer this girl one of my face masks to match her sweatshirt but thought better of it. The wife doesn't like me striking up conversations with random girls on the street.



The wife came back out 5 minutes later to tell me that they had run out of queue numbers and it would be around 1pm until they could see us. This was soon after 9am. Bollocks to that, I'll try again tomorrow.

Of course no trip out of the house is complete without picking up some food. That's the missus there... just to scotch any rumours about me and the gardener.



I don't know what you call this stuff but I quite like it. So long as it's pet nitnoi...



So, an early lunch. Not the most productive of mornings.

[katie23]

I agree with @Edmond (lulu) that it's not only in Thailand - the parental consent thing. Here in PH, there's a similar process. The parent going abroad must present a form to Immigration (passport control) from the DSWD (Dept of Social Welfare & Dev't) stating that the other parent agrees to the child/ minor travelling out of the country. Again, it's to prevent human/ child trafficking & kidnapping.

@mendip - that ftied rice looks good. Hope you get all your papers (and your itinerary) in order.

[Headworx]

Mendip seriously (for once) if LH don't respond you could shorten your letter up and post it on a forum like Flyertalk. You'd definitely get a response from them then.

[Mendip]

^ Thanks HW.

I need an edited version also for the website Mike put up a link to: A-Z Airline Reviews - SKYTRAX

I've heard nothing yet from Lufthansa of course but I'll give them a couple of days before I start leaving reviews at every website I can find. Incidentally, Emirates have already sent me an email asking 'How did we do?' They did very well as far as I'm concerned, although let's be fair, Lufthansa couldn't have lowered the bar any further.


Anyway, I haven't wasted this morning and things are firming up nicely, although there's still a few blank squares to populate.



I booked up a Travelodge just off the Thames and a short walk to The Mall (not the one in Korat), Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace and all that kind of stuff. It cost about 350 quid for three nights which didn't seem too bad. I also booked up train tickets to/from Paddington, and fearing the worst from what I've heard, was pleasantly surprised at the £69 cost for returns for the two of us, plus a quid to get the tickets posted to my mum's house!

[Edmond]

I don't know what you call this stuff but I quite like it.

According to the sign it is minced testicles.

[Mendip]

^ Thank God for that, I was worried it was something weird.

[DrWilly]

Best to get some sort of certified letter written by the wife, as you are travelling in the UK and they may not recognise or read the Thai version of your form.