The Response from Lufthansa

Here is the reply from Lufthansa if you were wondering what they’d say about my rant about BiP’s flight from hell …

 

Dear Mrs. Falchetto, dear Mr. Falchetto,

 

Our Lufthansa Social Media team informed us about your post on Lufthansa’s Facebook and Twitter accounts. We also read your detailed report on your personal blog “Mummy in Provence”. Thank youvery much for making the effort to let us know about the unfortunate experience you had on your recent Lufthansa flight.

 

Lufthansa considers itself to be a global airline with an open mind towards all travellers, placing great value on the personal attitude and service ability of our staff. You are therefore right to expect our staff to be courteous, helpful and respectful at all times, especially when travelling with a young child – a fact that is surely stressful enough on it’s own. It therefore goes without saying that wesincerely regret to hear about your experiences on May 26 – the lack of service and even of generalcourtesy that you encountered is simply unacceptable. Please accept our sincere and heartfelt apologies for this.

 

Please rest assured that we as the Head Office for Customer Relations have informed our personnel management responsible for the respective crew, and there will be an internal follow-up with all involved regarding this matter. In addition, your feedback will be used – of course anonymously – in future trainings to help our staff visualize what impression certain inadequate behaviour can evoke with our passengers.

 

While we cannot make up for the unfavourable impression you gained from us on that flight, we have sent your daughter a gift by post to your address in France, as well as a token of our appreciation for Mummy and Daddy as well.

 

Dear Mrs. and Mr. Falchetto, we truly hope that this recent experience will not prevent you fromchoosing Lufthansa again for your next flight. We place great value in your patronage and can promise you that we will do everything to make your future flights with us once again a pleasant experience.

 

Sincerely,

 

Lufthansa German Airlines

Customer Feedback Management

 

27 thoughts on “The Response from Lufthansa

    1. Kristi

      Hear that? That is the sound of my jaw hitting the floor in disbelief that a company sincerely understands the best chance to retain a customer for life (thus gaining valuable word-of-mouth goodwill) is to handle a complaint well. In this case I’d say the they handled it flawlessly. Let’s hope the crew do so as well. Cheers Lufthansa!

      Reply
      1. mummyinprovence Post author

        LOL Kristi – guess coming from a legal standpoint it’s well handled! I think it’s just the bare minimum – they are polite, handled the complaint correctly but certainly did not seek to win me back as a customer. Given some of the other comments on here it looks like there is a fundamental issue with the crew so I can only hope that they take my comments and do something about it but I am doubtful!

        Reply
  1. MLMom

    I agree with the above posts. I am glad not all complaints go unanswered and that they handled it with professionalism.

    Mistakes do happen, glad sometimes they are noticed and hopefully corrected.

    Reply
  2. Susana

    Wow! That is a great letter! And I agree that it seems sincere.

    Reply
  3. Taleah

    Wow – that’s a very polite letter! It sounds very sincere, and it’s sweet that they’re dispatching a toy to BiP! I know a letter doesn’t make up for the bad experience, but they do seem shocked that such a thing happened. Thanks for letting us know their response.

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Polite! Yes Taleah, it really is polite, nothing special just polite. Certainly does NOT make up for the 6 hrs of hell we, as a family had to endure on that flight though! Hope some other families benefit in the future though!

      Reply
  4. Kylie

    I love the fact that social media can now get large companies to be held more accountable for their actions! Great result and I am glad to see they take the time to listen and check on what their customers are saying! Are you pleased with the result?

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Hi Kylie, Social media is great huh? I am pleased that they actually responded to it – not pleased with the response itself. It’s like telling a kid who slapped another kid to say sorry (because that’s what you say, not because you mean it).

      Reply
  5. Erin

    That’s a great letter! Can’t ask for a much better customer service response than that — BiP gets herself a new toy and you get the satisfaction of being heard so that others traveling with small kids will have a better experience than you. Nice job, Mum!

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Thanks Erin – am not quite as thrilled as perhaps I could have been but I do hope this helps other parents flying with kids in the future.

      Reply
  6. Helsinki flyer

    I flew on LH401 from New York to Frankfurt (the same A380 route) on May 9th, and experienced what I would call my worst flight ever. Particularly one elderly cabin attendant demostrated all the same behaviours as described by Mummy in Provence. So I can totally imagine and relate to everything that was written.

    At one point during my flight, I talked to her collegue to ask if he thinks her behaviour was acceptable. He was nice but defended her bahaviour, saying there are 500 people onboard. What an excuse. It’s like saying “you are just a number”. I felt miserable on that flight and hated the whole A380 economy class experience.

    Back in FRA and waiting for my connecting flight I decided I would fill in a customer feedback card. I did not get any response from Lufthansa, but now I understand this was not a single crew member having a bad day; the customer relations office must be busy with a lot of negative feedback.

    Even if I got no response, I’m happy for the sincere and polite response that was posted here. Especially where it says that the customer feedback will be used in their training. This is excactly what I suggested in my feedback, that Lufthansa would train their people to better handle customer service situations.

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Thanks for your comment. I do hope you get a response from Lufthansa. There seems to be a serious issue with this route.
      I do hope they use my comments to train their crew but in all honesty I am doubtful!

      Reply
  7. Mark Harai

    Hi Ameena!

    Well, it took them a while… they may want to figure out how to respond in a more timely manner to their customers on social media.

    I do like the tone of this response and if I was in your shoes, I think I would accept their apology and fly again with them on future trips.

    Although, I certainly didn’t have to go through the hell you did..!

    What do I know…

    I hope this provides you closure on one bad experience 🙂

    Cheers to you my dear!

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Hi Mark!

      Oops! Took me a while to get back to you! I think their response was a bit on the slow side considering my initial tweet went out Friday at 7am and they didn’t get back to me until Wednesday ….! I feel the response was, as Yael put it, “correct” – there is nothing there to say that they value my custom nor do they wish to keep me as a customer.
      Of the 3 Marketing principles I try to work by: 1 – how can I get your attention? 2 – how can I dazzle you? 3 – How can I keep you forever? They only managed to get my attention in a negative way and, well, looks like they’ve never heard of 2 & 3!
      I’ll be looking for a different carrier from here on!

      Cheers to you too Mark!

      Reply
  8. Marta

    I agree, I think it was a very sincere message. Its great that they took the time to read your blog post as well as the fb post and tweets and then respond. Hopefully the gift will be something nice 🙂 Also, sounds like that awful staff is going to get the talking to they deserve.

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Here’s hoping Marta! Not received anything yet for BiP. The message was “correct” as Yael said in her comment. Nothing to make me angrier but nothing to win me back as a customer. In all honesty I doubt they’ll do much about this with their staff!

      Reply
  9. Yael Rozencwajg

    Hi Ameena and hi everyone.

    Personally I think the answer is “correct”, the content of the response is serious and honest and it’s clearly not easy for any company to recognize such issues.
    But let’s look at the big picture : you’ve made a shout, you’ve been waiting for an answer, the customer service replied you quite correctly.

    Now, you can stay on your position and get in touch with them to follow up their efforts otherwise I’d pass it on.
    The main thing is you’ve done very well to talk about it on social platforms and they will probably work on it.
    Anyway, let’s look ahead, this too shall pass.

    Yael

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Hi Yael,

      Yes, the answer is, as you put it, correct. From my side there are no cheers, no smiles, no jumping for joy nor any finger twitching to book with Lufthansa again.

      They handled it professionally but personally I feel that they have no desire to win me back as a customer.

      Reply
      1. Yael Rozencwajg

        Hi Ameena,
        Yes I agree.
        So in order to not feel like a number and if you’ve got enough energy and time if I were you I ‘d go on : there are several websites proposing customer services, feedbacks, testimonials. It’s maybe time to get on. Or maybe to not fly on Lufthansa anymore…but I’m quite sure you won’t.
        Anyway, I’m sending you all my best thoughts and much energy.

        Reply
  10. Annie Andre

    I’m both impressed and surprised that they were monitoring their presence in the blogosphere and twitter world.

    It’s great that they openly admit to the trouble you encountered and i think a small token for baby is great. But.. ……
    I don’t know, i kind of think they should do more. I mean, i’ve flown with kids that are sick and i felt the pain you went through. I mean most airlines give a way free flights just for giving up your seat to people on a wait list and you only get a toy?

    Lol, i’m probably stirring up the pot here a little. I’m just saying..It’s just my opinion. Remember, travel with that recorder handy 🙂

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      I have to admit I am slightly numb at the response. Ok, it’s good they are taking social media seriously but I don’t think they actually got what I was complaining about. So yay, BiP get’s the toy she never got on the flight? I’m home now, she has toys – anyway – we’ll see what they’ve sent … I have been given more for being politely being told I was stranded in Malaysia for an all expenses paid night.. (a different airline)

      Reply
      1. Annie Andre

        well atleast show a photo of the consolation prize so that we can all oohh and aaaah over it….Maybe if we make enough noise again, they will take notice again… 🙂

        Reply
        1. mummyinprovence Post author

          I will when I have made sure what the sent is really ALL they are sending …

          Reply
  11. Samantha Collier

    This should have never happened in the first place. If the flight attendants had been courteous and helpful they wouldn’t have to write letters like that in the first place. It’s much easier and cheaper!

    The letter was a well rehearsed apology letter written by a PR team. It’s similar to when a politician has to say sorry. He has a team of speech writers making every word count. They sympathize with us, feel our pain and send a gift to try and make up for it. It’s great that they responded in a “kinder” way but it is “too little, too late” in my books!

    Reply
    1. mummyinprovence Post author

      Exactly! A well rehearsed apology – nothing more, nothing less – it wasn’t even signed by a human which is appalling in my book. Who is this from? A faceless machine. It’s words – there is nothing human about it – except maybe for the typos.

      Reply
  12. ExpatDoctorMom

    Thanks for posting the response from Lufthansa. I have used them before from Frankfurt to Seattle. The flight was pretty uneventful. Nice way to get there quickly. I flew with Liv when she was 4 mos old! Liv refused to BF on the flight. That was her response to change. This nice man with 4 children of his own, held her so I could pump 🙂

    I find that some of the flight attendants are so jaded and then you as the consumer get the brunt of it.

    I think the American flight attendants are amongst the most jaded. It makes me think: How do they get treated to act this way? And perhaps it is time they find another job?

    Qatar Airways has the best service :0 And the seats in economy seem to be the roomiest.

    cheers,
    Rajka

    Reply

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