The plan was to fly to San Francisco via Frankfurt on Wednesday morning. A long awaited holiday that had been cancelled once before.
Nora Miller and her partner had originally scheduled their California holiday for 2020, but the Covid pandemic scuppered those plans. Now they were finally going to enjoy their relaxing weeks off… or were they?
It began with a text on Tuesday morning, informing them their Lufthansa flight was cancelled, but that the airline would offer them an alternative solution. When this didn’t materialize, they tried reaching Lufthansa themselves. An impossible task, says Nora Miller.
The only point of contact was Lufthansa’s chat assistant, which should have offered them an alternative route if they entered their booking number. But the server was overloaded with requests from customers and the bot kept freezing. A nerve-racking situation for Nora, who was worried that not only would they not make it to California, but they would be stuck with the cost of the activities and accommodations they had booked.
Booking a different flight themselves also proved impossible, as prices on nearby airports skyrocketed, with frequently only business seats remaining, costing thousands of euros. Nora and her partner spent the entire morning trying to sort out the situation, attempting to contact Lufthansa, Expedia or United Airlines, which managed the booking, all to no avail. The only alternative they were offered was a flight from Frankfurt via Munich at 1pm, was not feasible due to time constraints.
The couple spontaneously decided to drive to Frankfurt and try their luck there. At the terminal, they found a humongous queue at check in, full of people and tearful faces. Even as they were queuing, Nora kept trying to get through via the chat assistant. Suddenly, a confirmed booking! Wednesday morning from Frankfurt to Montreal with Air Canada and onwards to San Francisco. But Canada requires an electronic travel authorisation, even if you are merely transiting. With help from family at home, they were quickly able to get this.
While they were standing in queue, they noticed tensions rising around them. People tried to jump the queue, or were getting aggressive with the check in agents trying to find them new bookings.
The ordeal and the uncertainty, especially after their first cancelled holiday in 2020, left their mark on Nora. “I cried with relief when we had our booking confirmed and were checked in”, she says. “I cried the entire drive to the airport as I was telling myself, ‘No, not again’.“
Not only flights on Wednesday were cancelled, Nora tells us. A woman with children who was behind her in the queue had her flight on Thursday cancelled, also with no alternative offered. Nora feels particularly let down by the bad service she received from Lufthansa. The constantly freezing chat bot only exacerbated her frustration and despair.
Now the couple are hoping their rebooked flight will go on without a hitch and they finally get to enjoy their long-awaited holiday.