Flight chaos: Lufthansa sees “bottomed out” – but relief is still months away

Created: 08/08/2022 05:15

By: Markus Hofstetter

Lufthansa sees itself on the mend.

Almost all planned flights take off again.

There are still problems, especially on domestic German connections.

Frankfurt – So far, Lufthansa has not been able to get out of the negative headlines.

In early July, the airline canceled hundreds of flights at the Munich and Frankfurt hubs.

A few thousand pieces of luggage from Lufthansa aircraft were left behind at Munich Airport, which is also due to the lack of ground staff at the airport.

After a work stoppage by Lufthansa ground staff, the union and the airline have now reached an agreement, the pilots are threatened with a strike.

Lufthansa sees summer chaos overcome: 95 percent of the planned flights take off

But now Lufthansa seems to have overcome the worst times in the summer chaos.

"The bottom has been passed, flight operations are largely stabilized," Christina Foerster told the newspapers of the Funke media group on Sunday.

According to the CEO, 500 employees from the administration at the airports help out to overcome the problems.

In view of the high level of sick leave, the situation remains a challenge.

Group CEO Christina Foerster sees Lufthansa on the road to recovery © Lufthansa/OLIVER ROESLER ORO PHOTOGRAPY

If there are flight cancellations, then mostly on domestic German connections, where there are alternative connections or several flights a day.

According to Foerster, 99 percent of all holiday flights take place.

"Despite the many painful flight schedule cancellations, we fly 95 percent of our entire summer flight schedule." However, there will only be a significant relief for the winter flight schedule at the end of October.

Lufthansa sees summer chaos overcome: call center staff should be increased

Regarding the stranded suitcases, the Lufthansa board member said that the global tracking system was not designed for the current exceptional situation in international aviation.

At the moment, it is not always possible to find the owner of the respective suitcase.

"The earlier a loss is reported to us, the easier it is to find a piece of luggage," said Foerster.

She announced plans to triple the number of staff in Lufthansa's call centers later this year.

Because of the irregularities, flight cancellations and the strike, there were “sometimes extreme peaks in demand” with hours of waiting on the hotlines.

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Lufthansa sees the summer chaos overcome: the principle of prepayment should remain

At the beginning of this year, the Internet portal Flightright saw Lufthansa in the back places when it came to refunding flight tickets.

Foerster, on the other hand, now emphasizes that when tickets are refunded, holidaymakers usually get the money back after seven days at the latest, or even earlier.

When it comes to compensating for delays, “digital options” have been created to speed up payment.

Foerster rejected criticism of the principle of prepayment when booking flights.

"The current regulation allows airlines to better plan, which is more sustainable, and they can offer guests a wide range of services," she told the newspapers.

If you book early, you also fly cheaply and have advantages as a result.