Intro
I recently book a flight with Lufthansa. Unfortunately, there was a strike and my flight was canceled. And when your flight is canceled then you get your money back. Easy.
Or so I thought.
It was not easy at all and highlighted some interesting processes at Lufthansa that scream for improvement. From a professional perspective it is nice to experience how a fuc*ed up process cost you money and customer trust.
I hope I do better in my own consulting projects.
Logbook
2024-02-12
- I booked the flight for my wife and me. Flight is scheduled for 2024-03-14 from Berlin to Malta. 879 Euro. Nice!
- We explicitly booked with Lufthansa to get some “good” service. There were cheaper options as well.
2023-03-13
- Ouch. A strike is announced at the Berlin airport security for tomorrow.
- I get my boarding pass.
- Berlin Airport website shows flight as canceled. No flights at 2023-03-14.
- Lufthansa still shows the flight as “ok and ready to go”.
- I tried to cancel my flight in the webinterface. Does not work Tried to call someone - too busy. Tried the ai bot. Did not work.
- Finally found the form to request a refund on Lufthansa’s website. Filled it out. When submitting the form you don’t get an email or a note in your lufthansa account - just a page saying “We got your request - we promise to get back to you soon - please don’t call us”. Got it. It’s a busy time for Lufthansa.
- In the evening Lufthansa now also shows the flight as canceled
2023-03-14
- The strike indeed takes place
- I get multiple mails that my flight got rebooked and is delayed by one day.
2023-03-27
- Nothing happens for two weeks.
- I call the Lufthansa via phone.
- The Lufthansa agent tells me that she can see that my flights are scheduled for being refunded.
- The Lufthansa agent also tells me that I optionally could fill out the refund form once again (!). What?
- I decide to not fill out the form once again, but to just wait
2023-04-14
- I call Lufthansa once again.
- I reach a nice Lufthansa agent that finds my issues and wants to deal with it. But first he has to check something and puts me on hold. After 10mins I get kicked out of the on hold call. Nobody calls me back. Ouch.
- I call again. Someone picks up the call. I again tell the Lufthansa agent my number, phone number, birth date and so on. That lady also promises to deal and handle my refund and puts me on hold. But this time after a while she comes back and tells me that everything has been approved and that I’ll get my refund in a couple of days. Apologizes for my trouble. Nice!
2023-04-17
- Lufthansa sends an email called “Informationen zum Korrekturbeleg”. The text is attached. But it is absolutely confusing.
Lufthansa. What do you want to tell me?
2023-04-18 around 10:00
- I get a refund from Lufthansa. But - to my surprise - only half the amount (879 Euro vs. 439,50 Euro). Wtf?
- I call the Lufthansa again. A lady picks up and looks into the issue.
- The lady tells me that she also does not know why only half the money has been transferred. She recommends me to fill out the “request for refund” form on the website once again. She had to apparently search for this for a while to tell me.
- I beg her to look into the issue. But she tells me that this is the process and that I should fill out the form once again.
- This was a very confusing call. Why should I fill out a form for a refund out again? Especially when my question is different? Why can’t the Lufthansa agent help me? Why can’t a real person quickly look into the issue?
- This made me really angry. Wtf?
- I pick up the feedback link I got for one of my interactions with Lufthansa via sms and vent my emotions.
2023-04-18 around 12:00
- I get another paypal notice of another refund (439,50 Euro) by Lufthansa. Hmm. 439,50 Euro + 439,50 Euro is 879 Euro. Cool.
- So it seems I got the refund - but in two tranches and have now all my money.
- Wait. But why did the lady in the call-center one hour earlier not tell me about this?. It is extremely confusing. A lot of anger for nothing? Or was it my feedback via the feedback link that helped? I have no idea.
- For me this is all fine. I’ll leave it like that. But will I prefer Lufthansa over other carriers when given the option?
Some Key Issues at Lufthansa’s Processes
- There’s no way for me as a client to see the status of a refund online (Self Service anyone?)
- Communication on status updates to customer is missing, broken or incomplete
- Call-center employees seem to be not informed on processes or what is going on
Conclusion
I don’t want to bash Lufthansa here. Many processes at companies are broken as hell. But the best companies in the world relentlessly optimize their customer facing processes. Lufthansa’s example serves as a good learning opportunity for me.
Optimizing and listening to customers is super important for two reasons:
- To get more business
- To save costs
How many hours have been wasted because of this interaction with Lufthansa? My time and the time of Lufthansa employees. What a freaking waste.
It’s also a reminder that technology has to be at the center of your operation, no matter (almost) in what business you are. And I think that’s not the case for Lufthansa right now.
Or.. maybe…
… just maybe - the process works as intended because getting your refund should be as legally hard as possible… Of course Lufthansa would never do that. (Thanks Martin for the great discussion!)
