BEST flight and service!
 

I've noticed threads(?)that mention poor service but I would like to tell you about one of our best flights ever and the service that to this day is unsurpassed in our flying experiences.

First of all my husband of 41 years is from Genoa and that is where all his family is. So over the years we've made behaps 12 trips there...using just about every airline in the process.

This particular trip was on Lufthansia (sp?) about 15 years ago (we lived in Houston at the time). We were in coach and got a great fare to boot! We were late getting to Frankfort and missed our connection to Genoa. Others missed a connecting flight, too, and the desk people were very nice and patient in explaining to everyone their individual options. When it was our turn they said we could either (1) spend the night in Frankfort (at their expense) and take the next day flight to Genoa or (2) we could take a flight to Torino that was leaving in a couple of hours and they would provide ground transportation from there to Genoa. We decided on the latter and they handed us vouchers for food and drink in the interim and let my husband call his family in Genoa right from their desk to let them know what was happening.
When we arrived in Torino the 'ground transportation' waiting for us was a TAXI. It was a VERY long ride to Genoa and he offered to drop us off anywhere but we opted for the airport as we knew someone was probably waiting for us there even though it was very, very late by then.

Needless to say we were dumbfounded by this treatment to us with our bargain priced tickets. We are still shaking our heads over that one! During our cab ride I told my husband that I was sure we were costing THEM money!

That is the only time we ever missed a connecting flight so I don't know what the norm is under those circumstances, but somehow I don't think that was it!!!

But they were supposed to fly you to Genoa.

I had a Japan Airlines flight that missed a connection. Got a meal voucher at my departure airport (JFK). In Tokyo, they gave me a voucher for the $35 ride to the free hotel room in Tokyo, voucher for dinner and for breakfast and 400 yen for the bus to the domestic airport. The miss was due to a sick passenger on the flight from JFK the day before mine. They notified me the night before that my flight was going to be late. The trip was on AA and JAL, and AA had a plan to reroute me so that I wouldn't miss the connection, but I didn't understand and took the JAL solution.

I missed a Lufthansa connection in Frankfurt also, but there was a flight 4 or 5 hours later that I was able to get on. There have been a few other posters here complaining about missed connections/bags when going through Frankfurt.

My impression is that Lufthansa schedules these tight connections in Frankfurt because they get away with it more often than not, enough to make a profit even counting in things like a taxi from Turin to Genoa. With the tight schedule they can maximize the use of their crew, aircraft, ground crew, use of the airport gate, whatever. If the schedules were looser, there would be fewer missed connections (and associated costs) but there would be more cost overall. I think they have found a balance that is acceptable to them.

And in that balance, you pay by having to ride in a taxi for 75 or 80 miles after a transatlantic flight and a few extra hours at FRA.

(correction: it was a $35 voucher for the bus to hotel; 400 yen for train to airport)

Heck, in all these years I have never thought of all your responses. And here I was thinking we got the royal treatment! I still have no complaints and in this case I don't think it was a such a tight connection that we should not have made it in plenty of time. But then I don't remember why we didn't.

Oh, well, I did see a part of Italy that I haven't before, untill it got dark that is. Gotta' love it!