Plasberg is surprised in the talk about the travel chaos about the green woman: "What's not all there"

Created: 06/21/2022, 09:31 am

The guests at "hard but fair" (ARD) on June 20th, 2022.

© ARD media library (screenshot)

The travel industry is ailing.

And the vacationer has to pay for it.

"Hart aber Fair" provided insights into the tourism industry.

And a solid tip on how to defend yourself.

Berlin – "It will be chaotic, it will be full and yes, it will also be expensive," says moderator Frank Plasberg and, at the beginning of his program "Hart aber Fair", lists what summer vacationers currently have to expect when traveling: flight cancellations, staff shortages, moon prices .

"What can you do to avoid losing money in addition to your nerves?"

"Hard but fair" (ARD): Plasberg speaks of "revenge trips"

Corona lockdowns and travel restrictions have accumulated a lot of savings in consumers' wallets, and the tourism industry is registering a lot of catching up to do.

"Two years of renunciation could go into the savings box," says Ute Dallmeier, member of the executive committee of the German Travel Association and managing director of several travel agencies: "More is spent and sometimes a better hotel is taken."

Frank Plasberg calls it “revenge travel”, i.e. traveling as a kind of revenge.

And for journalist Dirk Schümer, "the term last minute takes on a whole new meaning": "I think that these are people who say to themselves: who knows if we'll even be able to do that in a few years.

Gasoline prices keep going up, hotel prices keep going up.

There have been so many restrictions that many people are not only looking forward to it, but also fearing that we may not be able to travel soon.”

"Well, you're in a good mood," Plasberg rattles, and Schümer replies: "Well, your show started like that!

The explosion that is taking place now.

Who knows what else is to come?” All the bans were already in place before the pandemic.

"It has always been said: All flights must soon be banned."

"Hard but fair" (ARD): Long traffic jams on vacation?

"I've never seen anything like it"

Presenter Amelie Fried proudly reports that she will be going on holiday by car, with a hybrid, that is, quite correctly and with a clear conscience, even if the electric motor will certainly not start once on the motorway.

Schümer tells the cheerful future traveler to Italy about his recent trip to Florence: "It was crazy.

The traffic jam at the Gotthard stretched as far as downtown Lucerne.” That's 65 kilometers.

"I've never seen anything like it." The audience laughs.

"Well, you encourage me," says Fried.

"Hard but fair" (ARD): Plasberg is surprised by the Green politician - "what is not there"

Plasberg brings Green politician Claudia Müller into the conversation and cannot hide his astonishment.

"You are the federal government's tourism officer, which is not all." How can you avoid the impending travel chaos?

The addressee recommends “online check-in” and “baggage self-drop-off” in good new German.

"That means you do the airline's job," summarizes Plasberg, "prints out the wristband, briefly cleans the plane, refuels it and..." This advice is obviously a bit too thin for him.

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He turns to Matthias von Randow and throws a few hard numbers at the association man: 900 canceled flights with Lufthansa alone.

Significant staff shortage.

Since March 2020, Lufthansa has shrunk from 137,000 employees to 104,000.

The check-in counters are chronically understaffed and the queues are extremely long.

"Is it really such a surprise for the airline industry that people are jerked off and wanting to get out when they can?"

Von Randow is unable to explain the reasons conclusively, instead coming up with a truism, a “cookie” as Plasberg calls it, which he immediately shoves back into his mouth.

"It's summer, there's tourist traffic, you're preparing for that, that's perfectly clear," says von Randow and the group is wondering whether he might not have understood the question.

Always smiling, he starts to make an apparently well-formulated statement, but Plasberg stops him immediately: why does Easy-Jet cancel 1,000 flights in the high season of all times "and also sells that as a customer measure"?

Lufthansa canceled 900 flights, EuroWings also several hundred.

"You call that preparation?"

"Hard but fair": These guests discussed with Frank Plasberg

• Ute Dallmeier

  (Member of the Executive Committee of the German Travel Association, Managing Director of several travel agencies)

• Amelie Fried

  (moderator and author)

• Claudia Müller

  (The Greens, Federal Government Commissioner for Tourism)

• Matthias von Randow

  (Managing Director of the Federal Association of the German Aviation Industry BDL)

• Dirk Schümer

  (Europe correspondent of the daily newspaper "Welt")

"Hard but fair" (ARD): The airlines' dilemma

"Of course the airlines have prepared, that's perfectly clear," replies von Randow.

“Air traffic has been flat for practically two years.

Companies have ramped up staff.

The people who work in our companies have a thirst to help customers have a good travel experience.”

Plasberg summarizes: "Actually, the question is: Are the companies great or super great, if I understood Mr. von Randow correctly." Boom, he sat.

Von Randow's smile falters.

Colleague Dallmeier describes the situation in the travel industry without frills: "We have been doing nothing but crisis management for three years."

"It's a problem for every service society, and tourism is very, very vulnerable," explains Schümer.

The problem is the shortage of skilled workers.

Von Randow takes the same line.

Many have migrated to the logistics industry.

“Most of the workforce has been out of work for a long time.

That does something to you."

"Hard but fair" (ARD): Turkish employees: slowed down by German bureaucracy

However, the industry has just recruited 2,000 employees in Turkey for aircraft handling.

However, their start of work failed because of the German bureaucracy.

Claudia Müller promises that the government will soon regulate this.

"There are talks, departmental coordination takes place." Plasberg repeats it with relish.

"When I hear department votes, talks take place, I'm very optimistic about the Christmas vacation in 2023." General laughter, the one being presented also laughs.

But she remains stuck in her language style: "The goal is to be much faster here."

Von Randow once again explains the absurd situation of the 2,000 potential guest workers.

In all seriousness, German law requires a “case-by-case assessment of whether someone is available for the job somewhere on the German labor market.

"You can forget that.

A case-by-case review.

With 2,000 people!”

The association official tries to counter Plasberg's allegations again.

He declines.

"I'm with you all the way.

But we make cancellations to take capacity out of the system.”

Plasberg is slowly losing patience: "May I just nail you rhetorically?" he begins.

"A few cancellations.

Then I'll ask you again: Why did you offer the flights in the first place?" Von Randow: "I just wanted to explain it to you..." Plasberg: "You always say that it's what you wanted to do.

I don't understand why you want to sell me as a preparation that you offer thousands of flights, cancel them now and then say we're doing it out of concern for you, dear passenger.” The applause shows how much the audience's soul speaks.

Von Randow tries again.

"Part of the reason we're canceling is to take capacity out of the system because in some places the capacity isn't there."

"Hard but fair" (ARD): "Flying is an adventure vacation these days"

Plasberg is now on the verge of surrendering to this rhetorical windmill battle, briefly mentions the missing co-pilot and states in consternation: "Flying is an adventure holiday these days and Mr. von Randow faces the adventure of being here, that's nice too."

Inga Böhle comes into play, a vacationer who was stuck in Fuerteventura for a full three days because the flight was canceled.

"We were driven back and forth like sheep," she says in the clip.

Nobody bothered, there was no food for a whole day.

The crisis management of the tour operator TUI is "catastrophic".

Wolfgang Schuldzinski, head of the consumer advice center in North Rhine-Westphalia, takes up the example: "Cancellations are just "a nuisance on top".

"The special thing is that you have paid for everything in advance." Refunds come too late or not at all.

"Communication is always the biggest annoyance." Plasberg: "If it hits you, it's a negative lottery win."

"Hard but fair" (ARD): compensation via app

In order to help, the consumer advice center has programmed a complaints app that customers can use to find out what compensation they can expect in terms of compensation after just a few clicks and can start the complaint right away.

Plasberg tries again with von Randow: "How do you like this app?

"We think it's good," he says, boasting about the electronic communication between airlines and customers, which has long existed.

For this he reaps a general shake of the head.

And Schuldzinski counters: “We had to sue Eurowings, Lufthansa and Ryanair.

Iberia and TAP too.

It was precisely this form of communication that mattered.” In a complaint case, he himself received a form with small print in English from Lufthansa.

"It didn't look very professional."

"It's a bit unfair, isn't it, Herr von Randow?

They get everything,” says Plasberg pityingly.

That doesn't bother him, he praises the moderator: "When you work with customers, the customers must also have a representative who asks questions.

Do great.”

In times of high inflation, Schümer has a pragmatic solution: "If I can't afford the destination, then I won't fly." He himself always wanted to go to Bath in England.

“A perfectly preserved 18th century town.

A lot of English classics play there.” Amelie Fried is surprised.

She only knows Bath as a "boring seaside resort".

Schümer enlightens her: "It's not by the sea.

Is at Bristol.

In West England, but not down in Cornwall with Rosamunde Pilcher, but a bit further up.”

Schümer paints a bleak picture for the future: “The prices will knock out more and more low-income people.

Then we have it again like in the 19th century.

The lord and the factory director and the professor are on a little educational leave.

And the rest is plowing away at home.”

Conclusion of the "hard but fair" talk

There was no real desire to go on vacation in this show.

As well as.

Because that was definitely not the goal.

With the complaint app, however, viewers received a solid tip on how to defend themselves against tour operators.

There was also an impression of how ailing the tourism industry actually is.