Lufthansa Business Class- Charlotte to Munich to Florence
Jun 6th, 2010, 10:35 AM
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Lufthansa Business Class- Charlotte to Munich to Florence
I contacted USAIR about seven months before my date of travel to redeem miles for two business class seats to Milan. Unfortunately USAIR had cancelled its service to Milan just days before I called. The agent told me I did not have enough miles for two business class tickets on USAIR but I had sufficient miles for two business class tickets on Lufthansa, a member of the Star Alliance Team. So she booked me rt on Lufthansa. The Florence-Munich leg was served by Air Dolomiti, a Lufthansa regional carrier.
Outbound:
We arrived at the airport fairly early and went to the Lufthansa gate for our boarding passes. I tried to get them when we did our first leg on USAIR from GSO but USAIR was unable to access the Lufthansa system. When I explained why I needed the passes the gate agent very loudly said "USAIR sucks, they can't get anything right. But I can take care of you." After getting our passes we were able to wait in the USAIR lounge, which is fine. We had internet access and comfortable seats. Bottled water, some fruit and snacks were available.
The flight from CLT to Munich was about eight hours. Unfortunately my "entertainment" center did not operate correctly. Dinner was below par, I had a smoked trout appetizer, salmon entree. They did serve excellent bread. Breakfast was not particularly good either.
I slept most of the flight. The seats are not comfortable even in recline. The foot rest is always considerably lower than the rest of the body and the seat has an uncomfortable pitch. The massage function lasted three or so minutes at a time.
The flight was delayed about forty minutes arriving in Munich. I was concerned about catching our connection to Florence as we had to go through both passport and security controls. We made it to the gate in plenty of time (under thirty minutes).
Air Dolomiti gives each business class passenger two seats. They also serve a small snack and drinks, nothing special. It was a short flight, under two hours.
It is a very small airport. No one checked our baggage claim, passports, or any documentation on arrival. We claimed our luggage and went straight to the information desk. I wanted to use the ATM before leaving the airport. The staff told me there had been an ATM in the baggage claim area but I had missed it. The only other ATM was not working.
Return.
We were scheduled for 0820 flight from Florence to Munich on Air Dolomiti. We arrived at the airport at 0615 (returned our car the night before). We got in the line marked Business Class and suddenly a group of eight Americans rushed past us. I asked them why they were rushing and one said "Our flight to Munich got rescheduled for an 0620 departure and no one told us" It quickly became clear we were in the same predicament. The Air Dolomiti agent rudely announced the flight was full and ready to depart and they could not delay it for us. Although no one got loud, it was plain we were all upset. A supervisor showed up and instructed the agent to let us board "You have to run or the plane will leave." Running through security is not an option. It took about fifteen minutes for us to clear, then another ten or so minutes to board but we made it. The view on the flight was super and they served an excellent cappucino.
The business class lounge in Munich was very comfortable. We had breakfast (although a small meat and cheese dish was served on the Air Dolomiti leg, we were still hungry).
The Munich to Charlotte leg was much more pleasant than the outbound. The FAs were very friendly and polished, all the entertainment equipment functioned and the food was fine.
On my return I wrote to Lufthansa about three issues:
a. the behavior of the gate agent at CLT- immediate apology for his conduct
b. the failure to notify us of the time change on the flight schedule- finally after four days
orry about the miscommunication....my response: it wasn't a miscommunication it was a total failure to communicate
c. the courtesy of the return FAs-immdiate thank you for the compliment.
Outbound:
We arrived at the airport fairly early and went to the Lufthansa gate for our boarding passes. I tried to get them when we did our first leg on USAIR from GSO but USAIR was unable to access the Lufthansa system. When I explained why I needed the passes the gate agent very loudly said "USAIR sucks, they can't get anything right. But I can take care of you." After getting our passes we were able to wait in the USAIR lounge, which is fine. We had internet access and comfortable seats. Bottled water, some fruit and snacks were available.
The flight from CLT to Munich was about eight hours. Unfortunately my "entertainment" center did not operate correctly. Dinner was below par, I had a smoked trout appetizer, salmon entree. They did serve excellent bread. Breakfast was not particularly good either.
I slept most of the flight. The seats are not comfortable even in recline. The foot rest is always considerably lower than the rest of the body and the seat has an uncomfortable pitch. The massage function lasted three or so minutes at a time.
The flight was delayed about forty minutes arriving in Munich. I was concerned about catching our connection to Florence as we had to go through both passport and security controls. We made it to the gate in plenty of time (under thirty minutes).
Air Dolomiti gives each business class passenger two seats. They also serve a small snack and drinks, nothing special. It was a short flight, under two hours.
It is a very small airport. No one checked our baggage claim, passports, or any documentation on arrival. We claimed our luggage and went straight to the information desk. I wanted to use the ATM before leaving the airport. The staff told me there had been an ATM in the baggage claim area but I had missed it. The only other ATM was not working.
Return.
We were scheduled for 0820 flight from Florence to Munich on Air Dolomiti. We arrived at the airport at 0615 (returned our car the night before). We got in the line marked Business Class and suddenly a group of eight Americans rushed past us. I asked them why they were rushing and one said "Our flight to Munich got rescheduled for an 0620 departure and no one told us" It quickly became clear we were in the same predicament. The Air Dolomiti agent rudely announced the flight was full and ready to depart and they could not delay it for us. Although no one got loud, it was plain we were all upset. A supervisor showed up and instructed the agent to let us board "You have to run or the plane will leave." Running through security is not an option. It took about fifteen minutes for us to clear, then another ten or so minutes to board but we made it. The view on the flight was super and they served an excellent cappucino.
The business class lounge in Munich was very comfortable. We had breakfast (although a small meat and cheese dish was served on the Air Dolomiti leg, we were still hungry).
The Munich to Charlotte leg was much more pleasant than the outbound. The FAs were very friendly and polished, all the entertainment equipment functioned and the food was fine.
On my return I wrote to Lufthansa about three issues:
a. the behavior of the gate agent at CLT- immediate apology for his conduct
b. the failure to notify us of the time change on the flight schedule- finally after four days
orry about the miscommunication....my response: it wasn't a miscommunication it was a total failure to communicatec. the courtesy of the return FAs-immdiate thank you for the compliment.
