Airlines/ Airports

On 08/11/06, i had reservations to fly from London, Heathrow (LH4727) to Frankfurt, and onward (LO364) to Poznan. Now spite the terrorist scare, all flight were grounded for that particular day till further notice. My journey began initially from IAD (Washington Dulles International Airport) via Virgin Atlantic (VS22) on 08/10/06, with all my luggage belongings checked in with exception of my laptop and backpack. My VS22 flight arrived in terminal 3 with my luggages checked all the way thru to my final destination as the luggage tag enclosed indicated (routine). As I arrived at Lhr I proceeded to terminal 2 where pick up my boarding card for my next flight(LH4727) set to depart around noon to Frankfurt, Germany and lastly( LO364) to Poznan Poland.

Unfortunately, to my amazement I now learnt not only from the chaotic scene and sound of passengers scattered throughout the Lufthansa lobby, that my flight was canceled till further notice. I was urged by one of the personnel to go to the ticketing counter and rebook my flight for the next available time. After standing in line for several hours, I lost hope of gracing the ticket desk, but I did while in motion happen to call and reconfirm my flight for the next earliest departure. I was told by the representative on the phone that I’m scheduled to depart at 1715 that evening but thru Munich instead. I now took it upon me while awaiting my flight to go back to Virgin Atlantic and find out the whereabouts of my luggage since my flight was canceled. After getting the runaround, I discovered that my luggage was within Lufthansa’s grasp and I need to the proper documents to claim it. I did however succeed at so doing; moreover as I now waited till 1715 only to hear the announcement over air that no flights would be departing that day. So I rescheduled only to be put on standby for earlier flights but confirmed for the same time flight as of previous. Mind that hotel accommodations were never offered, spite all that were happening.

On 8/12/06, I arrived back at Lhr at 515am with hope that I’d be able to fly out on the first available flight. However, I wasn’t the only one hoping. After standing in line for about 4 hours I arrived at the ticketing counter with my necessity of documents. The agent told me that he’s unable to offer me boarding, claiming that he didn’t see my reservation in his system, but eventually with some figure heads lurking by I was able to locate my existing reservation. Well, I checked in my luggage since we weren’t allowed to take nothing aboard other than a wallet and passport in a transparent bag. I was ordered to take out my laptop and check it in separately. Routinely it was tagged, checked in as I wasn’t charged excess baggage spite the weight differentiation due to the ongoing terrorist mayhem.

Moreover, after arriving in Germany I was in baggage claims declaring my belongings and I found one of my checked in luggage opened upon arrival on the baggage belt. I discovered my watch missing and my keys to my apartment missing from its inserted pocket space within, and other small toiletries open, missing and wasted. My laptop baggage didn’t accompany the other luggages checked in. I now proceeded to the lost and found office to make a claim hoping that it would surface.

After that was done, I ventured upstairs to the departure desk to recheck in again. I explained to the representative (Ms. Cambata) what was going on, and pointed to her that there might be a disparity in the weight of my luggage’s since my initial transatlantic flight was canceled. I also stressed that there was some annotations made under my file from the London leg (office). Despite, my plea Ms. Cambata rudely and uncooperatively said, “Whatever dealings occurring in London have nothing to do with Germany,” and that she can only oblige to companies policy. I now asked, to speak to a station manager because she was being unprofessional in her tone and sly racial remarks which I’m not enthused to repeat at this time because it beside the point (Doesn’t represent your company in any way). After all was said and not done, I was charged 80euros (102USD), which I wasn’t supposed to be charged for in the first place. I’m kindly requesting my refund (enclosed is the original receipt of the charge). I now paid and proceeded to my gate for boarding.

Finally, as I arrived in Poznan I cleared customs and went to baggage claims to make another claim of whom to address my other loss and damaged claims to. On the evening of 08/12/06 I received a call from one of your offices, stating to expect my luggage in Poznan the evening of 08/13/06. Unfortunately, since then and with sporadic visits and routine calls to UK, Germany and Poland I’m yet to find my luggage or a resolution to the matter. I’m also requesting some form of compensation for my luggage being in my absence for over 24 hours, and also my items lost/Stolen from my checked in luggage (i.e. Casio Ceptor Watch, Apartment keys, Memory Stick, etc.).

I must point out that I’m a 3rd year Medical Student and my laptop is very vital to me with its history of resourceful contents within its memory especially as I prepare for my upcoming USMLE board exams. I’m taking the exam at the end of September so I need full compensation to replace it along with its other missing articles (i.e. Motorola phone, laptop bag, Flash Drive, etc.).

Once again, thank you for your time, service and patronage as I look forward to your anticipating response/action.

HI ,
I have to travel with my pet to SEattle ,this is the first experiece for the PET,i need some help on this can anyone who has travelled with pet to any forieng country suggest to me which is the best airline and which is the airline i should avoid,iam very worried about this .Please help me and provode info in case anyone knows anything.

Hi,

Anyone tried direct flights to India from chicago and Newark? I think CO, AA and even Sahara are having direct 15 hours flight non stop to Delhi.

Please share your experience if you have. how were you able to sit in plane for so much time and how were things overall, food, condition of toilets, seats movies etc.
Thank you.

On 06.09.05 I traveled from Birmingham to Sofia via Frankfurt on flights 4907 and 3430. On arrival at Sofia airport, I and a number of other passengers waited to collect our luggage, only to discover 30 minutes later by observation alone that our baggage had not arrived. No announcement was made, passengers were not furnished with any information whatsoever, no Lufthansa representation was available anywhere in the airport, and more importantly no apology was proffered at any time.

I and others then queued for 3.5 hours to file missing luggage reports, without any trace of sympathy from airport staff , and passengers were not even offered of a glass of water during this time or the courtesy of any kind of explanation or public announcement. It should be noted that Lufthansa representatives were still nowhere to be found throughout this time. When I eventually managed to speak to the lost luggage company (Tourist Holdings) I was advised that my luggage had been routed via Vienna and would be arriving in Sofia at 11pm later that evening (06.09.05). The representative then stated that my luggage would be sent on by car to my booked accommodation in Sozopol, and would arrive by no later than 10pm the following day – why the need for a 24 hour delay between the luggage arriving in Sofia to it making its final journey to my hotel was not explained. Is this the gold standard in customer service set and aspired to by Lufthansa?

As expected, 10pm on 07.09.05 came and went and all attempts to contact the Tourist Holdings office in Sofia failed. My luggage eventually arrived in Sozopol at 3.15am on 08.09.05! On speaking to the driver I was informed that he alone had delivered all the lost and missing Lufthansa luggage and had that day been ‘driving all over Bulgaria’ delivering bags!! As a result of this extraordinarily shambolic series of events I rang an acquaintance of mine who is employed by Lufthansa to get his views, and who shockingly advised me that this often happens when a flight has reached its payload capacity, particularly affecting passengers like myself who are connecting on later flights, and whose baggage never even makes it onto the aircraft in question. This unwritten policy is a disgrace and deliberately misleads and affects passengers who are kept in the dark throughout.

Lost luggage aside, on 09.09.05 I received a call from my office back in the UK requesting my urgent return to the UK on 11.09.05, at an earlier time to which I had booked (flight 3435 Sofia to Munich at 1655). I attempted to call the Lufthansa office in Sofia at various times over the following two days to check if a change would be possible only for the phone to ring and ring without answer. Because of this I was forced to catch the 2330 night bus on 10.09.05 from Sozopol to Sofia in an attempt to get to Sofia airport early enough to speak to Lufthansa in person. At 7am the Lufthansa desk was unmanned and the security gate was closed, but a representative from Austrian Airlines, a Star Alliance partner who share the desk with Lufthansa was at her post. She checked flight details and confirmed that seats were available on the 1315 Sofia to Munich flight, but stated that as my ticket was non-transferable I would have to purchase another ticket, which I was willing to do. I was informed that Lufthansa staff were ‘on their break’ and would be back at their desk at 10.30am; or as an alternative I could visit the first floor Lufthansa office which I duly did in an attempt to resolve. When I knocked on the door I was eventually ‘greeted’ by a surly Elena Milenova(?) and explained my predicament. Without bothering to check any system or paperwork I was immediately informed that the flight was full and that there was no alternative to catching the later flight. I stated that Lufthansa’s Star Alliance partner at Austrian Airlines had checked the system just two minutes earlier and that seats appeared to be available. Elena responded by confirming (again without checking) that the Austrian Airlines system was ‘different’ and that there were indeed no seats available. No offer of standby or any other solution was proffered; indeed I got the distinct impression that I was interrupting Miss Milenova’s day and that she had much better things on which to be spending her time than assisting Lufthansa customers.

In any event I decided to wait around and visit the Lufthansa desk at 10.30am to ask Elena to check her computer and confirm the lack of seats. When I returned at this time the Lufthansa desk was still unmanned and the security gate was still closed. So, once again I spoke to the Austrian Airlines representative who confirmed that Elena had spoken to her in the interim, and stated that her system was indeed different and that the available seats she had identified earlier were not actually available to be purchased, just available to book as Lufthansa operate an overbooking policy on all its flights. I would add that whilst sitting in the viewing area at Sofia airport I observed the boarding of the 1315 Sofia to Munich flight and the number of passengers boarding the aircraft did not seem to equate at all to a completely full flight.

The above catalogue of errors clearly demonstrates that the level of service provided by Lufthansa falls woefully short of the minimum standard expected, and has raised serious doubts as to the commitment Lufthansa has to customer care and hence my confidence in the airline.

Incidentally, I would point out that as of 12.09.05 the contact page on their website does not work, the telephone number (01803803803) listed on their website does not exist, the telephone number listed on their Yellow Pages advertisement (08457737747) is incorrect, and the statement on their website to contact Lufthansa with ‘Complaints and Compliments’ via email is apparently untrue, as when I spoke to a representative on 0870 8377747 she informed me that no email address actually exists to send comments, and that any feedback has to be submitted by letter to a PO Box address in Dublin! And finally, the country code and fax number listed for the European Customer Relations Centre in Ireland is also incorrect!! This is hardly a ringing endorsement to Lufthansa’s commitment to customer care.

Despite faxing their European Customer Relations Centre and Wolfgang Mayrhuber on four occasions since 12.09.05, Lufthansa have just chosen to ignore my complaint!


BE WARNED!!

Hi,

My advise to all who are travelling on international airlines, please call 1 or 2 days before their 800 number and confirm baggage allowance.
My Mother was returning to India on Lufthansa and at teh airport we found out she can't have one suitcase more than 23kgs! We had to take out so much stuff, all gifts for people back home.
So please, do check with your airlines (I don't know if it's only LH or others too); better to be prepared than have tough time at airport.

hii i got h1b visa at mumbai consulate at 21st oct.
my entite visa interview stuff is on techanical side.
my expreince is as follow.

 myself : good morning sir
 v.o: good morning
 v.o:give me pink token.
 v.O: tell me about your comapny?
 myself:......
 v.o: tell me about your designation in current comapny.
myself: .....
 v.o:how do u come to know about u.s based company
my self:...
v.o:give me your educational certificate
VO: plese givw me your marksheet copy
vO:which elective subject u chose in your final year?
my self: mobile communication and telematrics
vO: tell me about telemeatrics.
my self:....
vO: give me more result of your B.E qualification
myself...
Vo:i approved your visa u got your passport with in the 2 days.

Hello, this is my email to the American Embassy:

I applied today September 2005 for a TRANSIT
VISA..because I have to travel to England (by American Airlines) in
October.
Your person in charge rejected my application.

I brought all the documents indicated in your web page and more that
she did not want to see... and just rejected this.

So I want to complaint because in your web page you don't say that to
apply to a transit visa is going to be as difficult as a more important
visa.... you don't say that people should bring many proofs that you
have big bank accunts.... you just say: the form, the payment of 100
US, the passport, the photo.... and SUGGEST t bring some ther documents
to prove enough means....

I didn't have any other problem with my last passport, and I traveled
before to the USA before, to Japan, to England twice... without any
problem but now your PERSON ON CHARGE rejected my
application to be in the airport sme hours on October...

I asked her if I could bring more documents to have this application
aproved but she didn't help me at all.
I wanted to show her my tickets to go and return, and some other
documents to prove my links with La Paz- Bolivia. But she was just a
non-helping person.

I FORMERLY ASK YOUR the UNITED STATES EMBASSY to explain clearly IN
THEIR WEB PAGE that to get the transit visa is going to be AS DIFFICULT
AS THE TOURIST VISA.

Otherwise THE UNITED STATES EMBASSY IS just misleading the people
who had the mistake of buying a ticket to travel by AMERICAN AIRLINES.

This was my mistake and I regret this already.


Sincerely

A sad and angry Bolivian

I have to share my bad experience with PLANET TOURS AND TRAVELS(NY)with everyone so that no body gets fooled by such people. I talked to one of the travel agents in this travel agency for tickets till Ahmedabad. She quoted me the cheapest fare so i asked her to keep my tickets on hold. After 2 weeks I asked her to issue the tickets. When i got the tickets they were till bombay instead of ahmedabad. When i called her to correct the error she said that she misunderstood our conversation . She thought i need tickets till Bombay. How can anybody misunderstand a conversation 4 times???. By that time prices and taxes had gone up because of the fuel reasons. I asked her that because it was her fault she should give me a better deal. The explanation she gave that everybody makes mistakes and that she cannot do anything about it. But becuase of her mistake i ended up paying $200.00 more per ticket.

M and K travels operates from several places viz., san jose, SFO, texas etc., You should never trust this agency after hearing my experience and several others. I booked a flight ticket to India via Lufthansa through M and K, for which his wife came to my office and took cashier's check and en-cashed it next day i.e 27th June, 05. When asked for ticket his wife so called Debbie said, I can get only E tickets. When I called called president M & K Mr.Paul promised to send tickets by mail. Two days later, I recieved a mail with itenary with fake ticket numbers and expired reservations. I found out by calling Lufthansa. When I called him back he said he doesnot have time to argue with me and sent another link. I called Lufthansa with second itenary as expected the ticket numbers are fake and reservation expired. This is going on for 2 weeks. When I called him again, he suggested me to cancel the tickets by loosing $200. I sent him an email to cancel but there is no response from this agency. I am sure he would not refund my money. He is not afraid of police or courts. I spoke to other people who have been cheated by this agency. Lufthansa airline said, paper tickets can be issued once the payment is made, obviously this agency never paid and they keep cancelling my reservations and I can never get tickets.They encashed my check and keep dodging me by one lie after another. I will be loding a complaint against this agency for this. Please send an email or join me for putting an end to this agency. America believes in trust and respect for each other. Other honest indian travel agencies may suffer because of this one agency, I learnt does not care or afraid of courts or police. I do not know when I will get back my hard earned money ~$3000. I strongly suggest not to fall in their trap and loose your hard earned money.

Dear Madam/Sir

I am writing this email considering the horrible experience I’ve had to endure during one of your flight from Warsaw to Chicago on May 14th . My story begins with one of your employees asking me very nicely if I could help, because she had noticed that I spoke Romanian and none of your employees spoke this language. The help consisted in translating what an old man said and explaining why he would go in and out of the plane while the passengers were boarding. I’ve done what I was requested to do out of common sense, and asked the person what the problem was. (he thought he already was in Chicago and was upset that no one expected him). I explained that he was not in Chicago, and if he wants to go there he will have to get in the plane. He calmed down, and the stewardesses asked me to take him at his seat. I did that and went for my own seat. After the plane left, a half an hour later the old man started to move in the plane asking to let him get off. It was then that I realized that he was not well, he had Alzheimer disease (he forgot very easily things he said and done 5 minutes ago). Again because I was the only one speaking Romanian I was asked to calm him by one of the stewardesses and I did. Unfortunately again, after 5 minutes he was up on his feet at the plane doors. Because I was at my seat, one of your stewardesses came and practically yelled at me that the old man was my responsibility, that they would not have boarded him if I didn’t say it was ok to do so.
I have never said that I would take care of him, and never said anything about boarding him on my responsibility. I take extra care with my words and I helped only as a translator, even though the old man was an American citizen.
Nevertheless, because I saw he became very nervous, I chose, out of my own will, thinking of the people around me , to seat next to him for the last 9 hours of the trip. I wouldn’t wish you or anyone else to stay 9 hours near a person that , at every 5 minutes, tries to get off from a flying plane, a person that forgets that 2 minutes ago you’ve told him that he was in the air and that he can’t actually get off. I also, do not wish to any of you to go through the panic states That I have been through when he became nervous or furious with me because I wouldn’t let him step up from his seat.
At the end of the journey most of the people in the plane found out about my situation and apologized for the behavior of your stewardesses towards me. Well, after almost two weeks I am still very upset with your company, with the attitude and the lack of responsibility of stewardesses. So I decided to write you this message, because I intend to send an official complaint against LOT, also at the Star Alliance.