Worst ever way to fly!. Review on Lufthansa

I flew this airline on 06/09/09 and was looking forward to fly international on my first flight.

When I checked in at Bangalore, I was told that I had excess baggage of 16kgs(36 total). I told the lady that when I booked my ticket, the agent told me students had an allowance of 20 extra kilos. She asked me for proof that I was a student(yeah right! The Irish Embassy stamped my passport with a student visa for nothing). I had to get out of the queue and take the admission letter from my baggage. Anyway, I wanted to co-operate with the staff and respected the procedures they had.

Took my letter and went to her. She tells me that only 10 kgs extra are allowed and I have to pay for the other 6 kgs. Ok fine, though the price of 30 Euros per kilo was atrocious and if she had told me this the first time, I would have taken out some stuff when I opened my bag for the letter. I didn't want to get out of the queue again and open my bags, so I agreed to pay. I was asked to go to another counter to pay this. This happened to be a glass room and my family were outside the airport on the other side watching me. As the lady was swiping my card, I told her that I was given rubbish information about baggage and this was not what I expected from Lufthansa. That was it.

She started yelling at me: “Don’t call my airline rubbish. You are already getting 10kgs extra”. Here I was. paying 180 Euros for no fault of mine and she has the audacity to yell at me! I told her what else could I say when I was given false info. She says “tell me who told you that and I would call them now!” Yeah, like my agent will be awake at 12:30 AM to answer her call! And then she spoke something that was totally uncalled for. She said “we don’t need people like you flying on our airline”. If that wasn’t enough, she also said “I will have you offloaded right now”. My family on the other side couldn’t hear the conversation, but were worried since it was obvious she was screaming at me.

When she threatened to have me off the plane, I was afraid that she may really do it because she also said “I am the supervisor here”(what her tone really meant was “I can put you in trouble”). My dream of studying abroad was coming true and I didn’t want it to be shattered by this daft lady. She picked up the phone and asked someone to hold on to my baggage and not load it. At this point, I knew she was determined to create trouble. So I told her “You want me to apologize? Ok fine, I am sorry”. It felt foolish to apologise for nothing, but still, to save myself the embarrassment of being offloaded, I did it! She then gave me my boarding pass and I walked away.

But let me tell you, it was the most disturbed journey I ever had. I felt low to think that someone had actually gotten away with this. My excitement went down the drain. Looked like the lady had had a bad day and took it out on me, but such behavior shouldn't be tolerated. No way! So I went on their website and just wrote a complaint, not sure if anyone ever reads those.

I wish I could have escalated this the same day, but I just got my laptop and this is the first thing I’m doing. To be honest, I had a high regard for the airline and that’s the reason I chose it over AirFrance. But now I want my return ticket to be cancelled. After all, Lufthansa don’t need people like me on their flights, so fine! I am never flying them again, ever!

The service on the flight wasn't great either. The crew need to smile while serving and not act like we were in a refugee camp asking for food! The in-flight entertainment was dismal to say the least. A few puny TVs for so many people was a joke. The seats were cramped and the airline itself was old and worn out. The crew was notedly biased against Indians. I don't understand what we Indians did to them. If they don't like us, they shouldn't have come here to make money! The Hi's and Bye's from the crew were definitely different for Indians.

I can forgive the in-flight service, but not the lady at the airport. I am considering going to the consumer court, so no one else would undergo such humiliation again.

Avoid this airline at all costs! Pathetic! Deserves half a star!